Located a few miles west of Lumpkin, Georgia, -- about 25 miles south of Columbus -- Providence Canyon cuts a growing gouge into Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments of Georgia's western Coastal Plain. Providence Canyon -- sometimes ridiculed as a "big gully" -- apparently began to form in the early 1800's when negligent farming practices encouraged erosion of soft Coastal Plain sediments. In the vicinity of Providence Canyon, the clay-rich and relatively erosion-resistant Clayton Formation lies at the surface. When runoff breached the Clayton Formation, underlying softer sand of the Providence Formation began rapidly to erode.
In its origin, Providence Canyon has some similarity to the Little Grand Canyon near Lowden, Washington, where a few days' overflow from a blocked irrigation ditch in the 1920's excavated a crevice now 120 feet deep in beds of glacial sediment. Whatever its rude beginnings, Providence Canyon today hosts a Georgia State Park, providing hikers, campers and amateur geologists a convenient window into the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary. For botanical interest, rare Plumleaf Azalea blooms in the canyon's depths.See photos.
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