In a valley, are the two sides the same height?

Question

It has always been in the back of my mind.

Answer 1

valleys have little to do with what Intadrag wrote. Valleys are cut by rivers or glaciers. The sides need not be the same height. But they generally are because if one river starts cutting down from its original position on a flattish surface, then both sides of the cut will be roughly the same.

Like if you dig a trench with a shovel , both sides of the trench will be roughly the same height. .

Answer 2

No, not necessarily, although they can be.

There are quite a few mechanisms that form and influence valleys, and they are often combined, but lets keep it simple.

The most common reason for a valley that people think of is a river or a waterfall, but that begs the question why is the river here and not over there? Often the water is eroding out a fault or other weakness in the bedrock. Now if the rock is the same on the either side of the valley and rainfall is similar across it, the erosion rates ought to be equal and the sides of the valley will be of similar height.

Nature is not always that neat however. What if the rocks across the valley are not the same? This often happens if the fault has had large amounts of movement across it. This movement can be lateral, vertical or a combination, bringing rocks of different properties into juxtaposition with one another. The relief across the valley may then be of different heights and may be still moving relative to each other. The rocks will probably erode at different rates. All this will lead to different heights across our imaginary valley.

There are many text books on geomorphology but the simplest thing to do is walk more in the countryside and really take an interest in the country you are passing through. You will soon be asking "Why is that hill there or that river over there?"

Enjoy!

Answer 3

There is no law that says for a Valley to by legally defined (as a Valley) both sideS must reach a certain or equal height and is unlikely to so due erosion is different on each side ...although not impossible

Answer 4

Not usually. Valleys are caused by the heaving of earth when one tectonic plate grinds up over another. The top crust is thrust up into mountain ranges by the pressure. The top folds are the mountains. The bottom folds are the valleys. It all depends how the crust settled and exactly where the weaknesses in the crust layer were that caused the buckling and folding.

Answer 5

no not always but they can be. if the valley was created by a river etc. then it is likely that the sides are pretty close in height.

Answer 6

No i doubt it, i would think it is pretty rare to find two sides of a valley the same size.

Answer 7

sometimes.

the north rim of the Grand Canyon (the mother of all valleys) is about 1000 Ft higher than the south rim.

Answer 8

no, that would mean that the surrounding hills are all the same height

Answer 9

Nope.

Answer 10

Not necessarily