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Is the Grand Canyon as deep as the ocean?

Incredibly, the Grand Canyon never passes below sea level. In a rather tricky way, the Grand Canyon is incredibly deep, but it doesn't ever pass below sea level. Still, even with all the impressive stats, like being 277 miles long and 18 miles wide, the Grand Canyon doesn't actually dip below sea level.



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Size of the Grand Canyon Located in northwestern Arizona on the Colorado, the Grand Canyon is about 277 miles long with a width of 18 miles wide and a depth of 5,000 feet deep. The size of the canyon cuts all the way through the Colorado Plateau with an elevation of about 5,000 and 9,000 feet above the sea level.

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Nestled along the Idaho and Oregon border lies one of the greatest natural wonders in North America: Hells Canyon. Carved by the Snake River, the gorge is ten miles wide and plunges 7,913 feet. That's 2,000 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon – making it the deepest river gorge in North America.

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The Colorado River through Grand Canyon averages 300 feet (91 m) across and about 40 feet (12 m) deep. The average flow is between 12,000 and 15,000 cubic feet per second (cfs).

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The Paleozoic Strata contain many fossils that help scientists learn about the geologic history of North America. Most of the fossils are ocean-dwelling creatures, telling us that the area now in the middle of Arizona was once a sea.

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Encompassing an estimated 1,218.37 acres (1,904 square miles), the Canyon is capable of holding 1 – 2 quadrillion gallons of water. Really. If you poured all the river water on Earth into the Grand Canyon, it would still only be about half full.

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Although the Grand Canyon is known around the world for its vast vistas, beautiful colors, and incredible geology, it's a lot more than just a big hole in the ground! People have been living in and exploring Grand Canyon for thousands of years, forging human connections to this incredible landscape.

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With only 150 years of exploration into the Grand Canyon, there is still so much to discover. While it is one of the most sought-after landscapes for geological study in the entire world, we are just beginning to tap the surface of the wonders found within the Grand Canyon.

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The canyon is 446 kilometres long by an average of 16 kilometres wide and 1.6 kilometres deep, which gives a volume of about 10 million billion (1016) litres. So by simple division Daisy would take about 1.8 million million (1.8 × 1012) years to fill the canyon.

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The Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon in Tibet, a region of southwestern China, was formed over millions of years by the Yarlung Zangbo River. This canyon is the deepest in the world—at some points extending more than 5,300 meters (17,490 feet) from top to bottom.

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Only a mile a deep, Grand Canyon is not the deepest in the world. For example, the Washington's Colombia River Gorge measures over a mile and a half in depth. Though not the deepest, Grand Canyon remains an incredibly impressive natural landform.

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From the top of the Seven Devils Mountains to the deepest part of the Snake River, Hells Canyon is nearly 8,000 feet deep. That's almost 2,000 feet deeper than the famous Grand Canyon in Arizona.

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Despite these strategically located private in-holdings, the vast majority of the Grand Canyon is owned by the federal government, held in trust for the American people and managed by a varied collection of federal agencies. Indian reservations, state land, and private land surround these federal lands.

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Precipitation falling on the Coconino (South Rim) and Kaibab (North Rim) Plateaus creates Grand Canyon's only native waters - waters derived in place - as they percolate through porous, faulted, and fractured rock units to discharge later as springs and seeps below the canyon's rim.

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