A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.
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Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks material from the riverbed. This causes the waterfall to carve deeper into the bed and to recede upstream. Often over time, the waterfall will recede back to form a canyon or gorge downstream as it recedes upstream, and it will carve deeper into the ridge above it.
Often, the rock stratum just below the more resistant shelf will be of a softer type, meaning that undercutting due to splashback will occur here to form a shallow cave-like formation known as a rock shelter or plunge pool under and behind the waterfall. Eventually, the outcropping, more resistant cap rock will collapse under pressure to add blocks of rock to the base of the waterfall. These blocks of rock are then broken down into smaller boulders by attrition as they collide with each other, and they also erode the base of the waterfall by abrasion, creating a deep plunge pool or gorge.
Streams become wider and shallower just above waterfalls due to flowing over the rock shelf, and there is usually a deep pool just below the waterfall because of the kinetic energy of the water hitting the bottom. Waterfalls normally form in a rocky area due to erosion. After a long period of being fully formed, the water falling off the ledge will retreat, causing a horizontal pit parallel to the waterfall wall. Eventually, as the pit grows deeper, the waterfall collapses.
Waterfalls can occur along the edge of a glacial trough, whereby a stream or river flowing into a glacier continues to flow into a valley after the glacier has receded or melted. The large waterfalls in Yosemite Valley are examples of this phenomenon. The rivers are flowing from hanging valleys.
Waterfalls are grouped into ten broad classes based on the average volume of water present on the fall using a logarithmic scale. Class 10 waterfalls include Niagara Falls, Paulo Afonso Falls and Khone Falls.
Classes of other well-known waterfalls include Victoria Falls and Kaieteur Falls (Class 9); Rhine Falls, Gullfoss and Sutherland Falls (Class 8); Angel Falls and Dettifoss (Class 7); Yosemite Falls, Lower Yellowstone Falls and Umphang Thee Lor Sue Waterfall (Class 6).[1]
Significant waterfalls are listed alphabetically:
This article is a travel topic.
Waterfalls are some of the most spectacular sights that nature has to offer, and are the frequent goal of many travellers.
A liter of water weighs a kilogram; a gallon weighs ten pounds. When large amounts of water fall long distances, the forces involved are enormous, easily enough to kill a person or sink a boat.
Some of the most noteworthy waterfalls are:
China's largest waterfall, the Huangguoshu Waterfall is one of few waterfalls that can be viewed from above, below, front, back, left and right in the world. It is near Anshun in Guizhou.
WATERFALL, a point in the course of a stream or river where the water descends perpendicularly or nearly so. Even a very small stream of water falling from any considerable height is a striking object in scenery. Such falls, of small volume though often of immense depth, are common, for a small stream has not the power to erode a steady slope, and thus at any considerable irregularity of level in its course it forms a fall. In many mountainous districts a stream may descend into the valley of the larger river to which it is tributary by way of a fall, its own valley having been eroded more slowly and less deeply than the main valley. Mechanical considerations apart, the usual cause of the occurrence of a waterfall is a sudden change in geological structure. For example, if there be three horizontal strata, so laid down that a hard stratum occurs between two soft ones, a river will be able to grade its course through the upper or lower soft strata, but not at the same rate through the intermediate hard stratum, over a ledge of which it will consequently fall. The same will occur if the course of the river has been interrupted by a hard barrier, such as an intrusive dyke of basalt, or by glacial or other deposits. Where a river falls over an escarpment of hard rock overlying softer strata, it powerfully erodes the soft rock at the base of the fall and may undermine the hard rock above so that this is broken away. In this way the river gradually cuts back the point of fall, and a gorge is left below the fall. The classic example of this process is provided by the most famous falls in the world - Niagara.
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A waterfall is where there is a sharp fall of water found on a river or stream. The water flows from higher land, then it falls down a big step of rock to lower land where it will continue on its journey. Waterfalls are usually made when a river is young.[1]
Many people choose them as sacred spots. The roar from the falling water is very loud and the sound makes beautiful music. Many people think they are one of the most beautiful things in nature.[1]
The highest waterfall in the world is Angel Falls in Venezuela where the water falls 979 m (3,212 ft).[2]
   | World Waterfall Database - World Waterfall Database: World's Tallest Waterfalls |
 | WorldWaterfalls.com - Waterfall images and info, detailed waterfall types page - WorldWaterfalls.com ~ Your waterfall source ~ Photographs & data on 5,000+ waterfalls worldwide |
| | Niagara Falls - Fullscreen QTVR Panorama - Niagara Falls NY-Niagara Falls Panorama - Full Screen QTVR panoramic picture from panoramas.dk |
| | GPS locations to waterfalls (mainly in Southeastern United States) - Mapicurious.com - Waterfalls Slice - by Mapicurious |
| | Waterfalls of Victoria (Australia) - Waterfalls blog, Waterfalls in Victoria, Waterfalls in Australia |
| | Cachoeiras of Taquaruçu (TO, Brazil) - Taquarussu.com - Taquaruçu (Palmas, Tocantins, Brasil) - Home page |
| | Waterfalls WebRing - Waterfalls WebRing waterfall, waterfalls, hiking, photography, scenery, nature, cascade, cascades, falls, |
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