Nazaré submarine Canyon

The “Canyon of Nazaré” is a rare geomorphologic accident, the biggest in Europe and one of the largest in the world.

This underwater ravine consists on a failure on the continental shelf, developing in the E-W direction, with 170 kilometres long and going down to 5.000 meters deep in the abyssal plain where it ends.

The canyon headboard is less than 1 km from the coast to SW.

This contiguity of the headboard to the shoreline harnesses singular oceanographically conditions that originate hydrodynamic and sedimentary transport processes, directly related to the presence of the canyon and its morphology.

The Canyon of Nazaré generates the affluence to the surface of waters rich in nutrients and plankton, allowing the presence of a very rich fauna, with species of high commercial interest. This underground valley channels the swell from the Atlantic Ocean to Praia do Norte creating waves with an abnormally large size compared to the rest of the Portuguese coast, known as the biggest waves in the world.