Yarlung Tsangpo: The deepest canyon on land hides a tree taller than the Statue of Liberty

By Sascha Pare published yesterday

The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon is Earth's largest terrestrial canyon, stretching 314 miles long and almost 20,000 feet from top to bottom at its deepest point in the Tibet Autonomous Region.



A composite satellite image of the Yarlung Tsangpo River surrounded by mountains.
A composite image of one of the most rugged and inaccessible sections of the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon between two major mountain peaks. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory)


The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon is the world's largest terrestrial canyon — longer than even the Grand Canyon in Arizona and deeper than every other known canyon on land (the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean surpasses it).

The canyon is named after the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which adventurers have dubbed the "Everest of rivers," because it is mostly inaccessible and has the highest average elevation, at 13,000 feet (4,000 meters), of any major river on Earth. The headwaters of the Yarlung Tsangpo are located in the west of the Tibet Autonomous Region at Angsi Glacier, and the river then meanders east across the Tibetan Plateau before bending sharply southwestward to join up with the Brahmaputra River.

Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon is 314 miles (505 kilometers) long, which is 37 miles (60 km) longer than the Grand Canyon. It includes some of the most rugged and least-explored places in the world, including a treacherous section in the southeastern Tibet Autonomous Region, where it passes between two towering peaks: Namcha Barwa, which stands 25,530 feet (7,782 m) tall, and Gyala Peri, which sits slightly lower, at 23,930 feet (7,294 m).

The canyon dips to its deepest point along this stretch, reaching 19,715 feet (6,009 m) from top to bottom, or three times as deep as the Grand Canyon. The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon has an average depth of 7,440 feet (2,270 m).

More:
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/yarlung-tsangpo-the-deepest-canyon-on-land-hides-a-tree-taller-than-asia-the-statue-of-liberty



Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon