page_title: Vikos Gorge
section_title: Geomorphology
hierarchical_section_title: Vikos Gorge / Geomorphology
caption_attribution_description: The Vikos gorge, Vikos-Aoos National Park, Epirus, Greece. Panorama of several photos, ranging approximately 180 degrees.
context_page_description: The Vikos Gorge is a gorge in the Pindus Mountains of northern Greece. It lies on the southern slopes of Mount Tymfi, with a length of about 20 km, depth ranging from 120 to 490 m, and a width ranging from 400 m to only a few meters at its narrowest part.
  Vikos is listed as the world's "deepest relative to its width" gorge by the Guinness Book of Records among others.
context_section_description: The Vikos Gorge, with a length of 20 km (12 mi), walls that range from 120–490 m (390–1,600 ft) deep, and a width ranging from 400 m (1,312 ft) to just a few meters at its narrowest part, is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the deepest canyon in the world in proportion to its width, though some gorge lobbyists contest that claim. The main part of the gorge stretches from the village of Vikos to Monodendri, and attains a depth of about 1,000 m (3,281 ft).
  The landscape of the 20 km long gorge, 12 km οf which belongs to the park's core zone, presents a diverse relief and is characterized by abrupt altitudinal changes. Steep slopes and precipitous rocky cliffs dominate in the middle and higher zones respectively. Numerous gullies dissect both sides of the gorge and the movement of water detaching various rocky materials creates extended screes. The gorge, with a northwest-southeast direction, has been carved over millions of years by the Voidomatis River, a tributary of the Aoos. The Voidomatis is mostly seasonal, with year-round flow occurring only in the lower part of the gorge. 
  As the Vikos Gorge is a deep cross section of the mountain, its slopes expose a series of rock formations of various ages. The upper layers, at a depth of 0–200 m (660 ft), consist of relatively young Eocene limestone, at a depth of 200 m (660 ft)–700 m (2,300 ft) they consist of a stratum from the Campanian era, while below 700 m (2,300 ft) they consist of Jurassic and Cretaceous limestone. In the deepest layers, grey Jurassic dolomite is dominant. Sedimentary and lithological investigation in the Voidomatis basin revealed that the innermost alluvial deposits consist of limestone-derived material, carried by the Voidomatis river from higher elevations by glacial action about 30,000 years ago. The subsequent (middle) deposits are the product of de-glaciation and the extended run-off from the uplands about 20,000 years ago, while the outer unit is attributed to human activities associated with pastoralism, which caused extended deforestation and soil erosion. The Voidomatis basin contains evidence for three major phases of glaciation, with the two largest and earliest taking place during the Middle Pleistocene. The final phase of glacial activity probably occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum, between 22,000 and 20,000 ago.
  During the large Middle Pleistocene glaciations, surface runoff from glacial meltwaters would have fed directly into the river channel network because much of the upland limestone terrain was covered by ice, and many conduits in the karst would have been choked with sediment or permanently frozen. As a result, the glacier snouts came close to the modern valley bottoms. In contrast, during interglacial and interstadial periods, more effective coupling occurred between the surface drainage network and the internal karst drainage system. Since limestone dissolves as the water percolates through its pores, an extended underground drainage system has developed, with caves and channels that enlarge with time when their roofs collapse, producing rocky exposures and perpendicular slopes, which is also the reason why the water is scarce. Only when an impenetrable stratum is met, does water appear on the surface.
caption: Panoramic view of Vikos Gorge.
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