Emily Chan
If you’re a fan of rock climbing, hiking, or simply observing the wonders of nature, you would probably love to visit the deepest canyon in the world. Its steep walls and rugged terrain create a picture-perfect landscape that leaves visitors awestruck.
The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon is the largest terrestrial canyon on land. It plunges into depths far beyond every other known canyon on land. The only gorge that surpasses it is the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
The canyon is located in Tibet, China, and is 314 miles long, which is 37 miles longer than the Grand Canyon.
It reaches a maximum depth of 19,175 feet from top to bottom, making it three times deeper than the Grand Canyon.
It is named after the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which has the highest average elevation of any major river on Earth, at 13,000 feet.
The river originates in the west of the Tibet Autonomous Region at Angsi Glacier. It flows east across the Tibetan Plateau before making a sharp bend to the southwest to drain into the Brahmaputra River.
The canyon then extends around Mount Namcha Barwa, which stands at about 25,530 feet tall, and Gyala Peri, which reaches 23,930 feet.
Overall, Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon has an average depth of 7,440 feet. The canyon formed three million years ago when tectonic forces pushed up Earth’s crust and steepened the path of the Yarlung Tsangpo River.
Throughout the years, the river caused massive erosion, leading to the development of the canyon.
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