Difference Between Valley and Canyon

Whenever there is a river flowing through a mountain, after some time, it divides out a massive area for itself to flow. This large area between two cliffs of a mountain is known as a canyon. In simple words you can call it a deep valley cut of a mountain by a river. On the other hand, in case of a canyon and valley, a large area is created in a mountain that goes down to the other end of the mountain with a V or U shape being made on with an angle on any side of canyon and valley. However, these two have some similarities and it is difficult to understand the difference between a valley and canyon.

Be aware of the fact that both valleys and canyons seem to have an appearance like deep groves in the ground encircled by cliffs or mountains on a side or both sides. Moreover, another difference is that valleys can be very small that is a couple of hundred square miles in area or very big such as thousands of square miles in area. Nevertheless, canyons are not that big and are smaller in size with comparison to valleys. Also know that despite being small, canyons are much deeper than valleys in all cases.

Instructions

  • 1

    Canyon

    Understand that canyons are deep valleys created by the flow of water over time with steep slopes on both sides. Some people think they are the same as valleys and geologists say that canyon is a unique kind of valley and is generally known this way more in the United States than other countries of the world. Canyon is taken from a Spanish word whose meaning is tube. Grand Canyon is a very well known site and is frequently visited by a number of tourists. Therefore, it is a kind of valley which is very deep and consists of steep slopes on mountains or cliffs.

  • 2

    Valley

    In the case of a valley, it is a lowland area between any two mountains. A valley will have gentler slopes in most cases. However, they can also have steeper slopes but that is not common. Also it quite wide with mountains on either side and is defined with heavy vegetation. Furthermore, valley is a deep depression between two mountains or cliffs, and also consists of a river. For instance, popular valleys include Kashmir Valley located in India and Indus Valley in Pakistan.

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