Ravine

Small valley, often due to stream erosion

A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.^[1] Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys.^[1] Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ghout (Nevis), gill or ghyll, glen, gorge, kloof (South Africa), and chine (Isle of Wight)

A ravine is generally a fluvial slope landform of relatively steep (cross-sectional) sides, on the order of twenty to seventy percent in gradient. Ravines may or may not have active streams flowing along the downslope channel which originally formed them; moreover, often they are characterized by intermittent streams, since their geographic scale may not be sufficiently large to support a perennial stream.^[2]

Notable ravines

Babi Yar, Ukraine
Bam Bam Amphitheaters, Gabon
Barranco de Badajoz, Spain
Barranco del Infierno, Spain
Gravina Ravine, Italy
Moola Chotok, Pakistan
Ravenna Park, United States
Rauðfeldsgjá, Iceland
Stuðlagil, Iceland
Taishaku Valley, Japan
Toronto ravine system, Canada

References

^ ^a ^b Definition of "ravine" at Merriam-Webster
^ Christopher G. Morris; Academic Press (1992). Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology. Gulf Professional Publishing. pp. 1802–. ISBN 978-0-12-200400-1. Retrieved 1 October 2012.