Chicamocha Canyon

The Chicamocha Canyon (CHEE-kə-MOH-chə, Cañón del Chicamocha) is a steep sided canyon carved by the Chicamocha River in Colombia. With a maximum depth of 2,000 metres (6, 600 ft), an area of 108,000 hectares (270, 000 acres) and a length of 227 kilometres (141 mi), the canyon is the second-largest worldwide. The canyon is situated in the departments of Boyacá and Santander, stretching from Soatá in the southeast to Girón and Betulia in the northwest. The canyon is a major tourist attraction at approximately 55 kilometres (34 mi) from the capital of Santander, Bucaramanga and close to backpacker destination San Gil. National Route 45A, connecting Bogotá with Bucaramanga, between San Gil and Piedecuesta crosses the canyon and offers spectacular sights on both sides of the Chicamocha River. The heavy truck traffic through the canyon, with frequent accidents and very restricted access can lead to long traffic jams. The canyon is currently administered by Chicamocha National Park (Parque Nacional del Chicamocha, PANACHI). The Chicamocha Canyon started forming in the Early Oligocene, when Colombia was undergoing a tectonically active phase of the Andean orogeny. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta was emplaced during the Eocene and active subduction of the Caribbean and Coiba plates caused uplift in the Eastern Ranges. The climatological changes of the Oligocene, with a

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