Canaima National Park in Venezuela Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features the geologically unique region of Canaima National Park. The park is located along the borders of Brazil and Guyana in the southeastern region of Venezuela.

Spanning more than 12,000 square miles, Canaima is known for its flat-topped mountains, steep cliffs, and dramatic waterfalls.

The table-top mountains are known as tepuis. In the language of the native Pemón, tepui means “house of the gods.” 

Canaima has more than 100 tepuis, which can range from 3,000 to 10,000 feet in height. According to NASA, tepuis are some of the oldest geologic formations in South America. South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern subcontinent of the Americas. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in recent decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics.

The flat-topped mountains tower over the forest, and provide habitats for plants and animals that cannot be found anywhere else on Earth.

The image was captured on February 25, 2019 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer