if the Grand Canyon was created by water erosion from the Colorado river, then how come there isn’t grand Grand Canyons around all or most major rivers?
In: Earth Science
Nobody has yet given you the most important reason: **uplift**.
Yes, softish sedimentary rock is important, but if the whole region is not being uplifted by tectonic forces (even far away from plate boundaries, bits of continents can get squished, bent, stretched, fractured, uplifted or depressed), then any rivers flowing through the area will not be cutting down too far before they reach gravitational equilibrium, ie. before they run out of energy to incise into the rock beneath them.
If an area is continually uplifted for a few million years (as much of the American west was), then any rivers are constantly being moved higher than the sea level, so will continue to cut into the rock until they get back to sea level. This has resulted in the deep open canyons to be found all over states like Arizona, Colorado and Utah, especially our friend the most Grandest of Canyons. Canyons can exist without consistent uplift or a permanent river, but soft rock and water in the form of flash flooding is still required and you end up with slot canyons, like [this](https://i.imgur.com/kLhVhRs.jpg) or [this.](https://i.imgur.com/qrkuZS4.jpg)
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