Copper Canyon

Copper Canyon, or Barranca del Cobre, is a network of canyons in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua, Mexico, cut into a thick sequence of volcanic rock, mostly rhyolitic tuff, erupted roughly 30 million years ago and later uplifted as part of the Sierra Madre Occidental. The canyon system, whose combined extent and depth exceed those of the Grand Canyon in the United States, was carved by six rivers draining the plateau, whose downcutting kept pace with regional tectonic uplift over millions of years, producing steep-walled gorges that in places plunge more than 1,800 meters from rim to river. The canyon takes its name from copper and other mineral deposits found within its walls, and it remains home to the Raramuri, or Tarahumara, people, whose traditional settlements are built into the canyon terrain.