Though the Virgin River is relatively small, it is incredibly steep. This steepness, caused by the uplift of the Colorado Plateau, has given the Virgin River the ability to cut through sandstone and carve canyons. Though most of the year the Virgin River runs an average of 100 cubic feet per second, it transports about one million tons of sediment every year. Most of this sediment transport occurs during floods, when the river can swell to thousands of cubic feet per second. These flood events can carry large boulders and rip cottonwood trees out of the ground. It is this powerful force of water that continues to carve the canyon.