Online Encyclopedia

CANYON (Anglicized form of Span. cano...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 224 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CANYON (Anglicized form of Span.
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canon, a tube,
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pipe or cannon; the
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Spanish form being also frequently written)
  , a type of valley with huge precipitous sides, such as the
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Grand Canyons of the
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Colorado and the Yellowstone rivers, and the
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gorge of the Niagara
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river below the falls, due to rapid stream erosion in a " young "
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land . A river saws its channel vertically down-wards, and a swift stream erodes chiefly at the bottom . In rainy regions the valleys thus formed are widened out by slope-
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wash and the resultant valley-slopes are gentle, but in arid regions there is very little side-extension of the valleys and the river cuts its way downwards, leaving almost vertical cliffs above the stream . If the stream be swift as in the western plateau of North
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America, the cutting
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action will be rapid . The ideal conditions for developing a canyon are:
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great altitude and slope causing swift streams, arid conditions with absence of side-wash, and hard rock horizontally bedded which will hold the walls up . A B C D .

End of Article: CANYON (Anglicized form of Span. canon, a tube, pipe or cannon; the Spanish form being also frequently written)
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WILLIAM CANYNGE CANYNGES (c. 1399-1474)
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