Articles for tag: Earth Science, Geochronology, Hells Canyon, River Ecosystems, Snake River, US Geological Wonders

Hells Canyon Reservoir on Snake River views of Wallowa County from Idaho road. Wallowa County.

Deeper Than the Grand Canyon But Only 2 Million Years Old? Meet Hells Canyon

Suhail Ahmed

While the Grand Canyon’s 1.7-billion-year-old rock layers and 6-million-year-old chasm have long dominated America’s geological imagination, a far deeper and dramatically younger gorge has been hiding in plain sight. Hells Canyon, slicing 2,400 meters (7,900 feet) into the Idaho-Oregon border, is North America’s deepest river gorge, yet a groundbreaking study reveals it was carved in ...