Sierra Tarahumara

The Sierra Tarahumara is part of the Sierra Madre Occidental in northwestern Mexico. The region is named after the Tarahumara Indians, who inhabit this remote area of southwestern Chihuahua and northern Durango. Numerous deep canyons or barrancas, as they are called locally, cut through the area; consequently it is commonly referred to as Canyon Country.

We've shown the depths of some of the canyons in the Sierra Tarahumara in the table on the right. All of the canyons are the results of erosion. They have been cut away by young rivers--Rio Urique, Rio Verde, Rio Batopilas, Rio Candamena, Rio Septentrion, Rio Oteros, Rio Mayo. The Sierra Tarahumara probably possesses the world's largest proliferation of great canyons confined to a relatively small area.

By way of comparison, here are the depths of a couple of other great canyons. The Rio Colca canyon is generally considered the deepest in the world.