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Geological Formations

Blyde River Canyon

Erosional and Karst Formations

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Blyde River Canyon runs about 26 kilometers through Mpumalanga, South Africa, ranked as the third-largest canyon on Earth after the Grand Canyon and the already-live Fish River Canyon. It is cut through dolomite rock, and within it the Kadishi Tufa waterfall shows a distinctive reverse process: water flowing over the dolomite absorbs calcium and deposits tufa rock faster than the flow erodes it away, building a formation about 200 meters tall, the world's second-highest tufa waterfall, nicknamed the weeping face of nature for its facial appearance. The canyon also holds the Three Rondavels, a rock formation whose three rounded peaks resemble traditional African rondavel houses. Unlike most arid canyons, Blyde River Canyon is a green canyon covered in subtropical vegetation, and it forms part of the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve along the region's popular Panorama Route. This entity documents Blyde River Canyon specifically as a geological formation.

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