waterfall

Information about waterfall

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Jog Falls in India, a roaring giant
A waterfall is usually a geological formation resulting from water, often in the form of a stream, flowing over an erosion-resistant rock formation that forms a sudden break in elevation or nickpoint.

Some waterfalls form in mountain environments where the erosive water force is high and stream courses may be subject to sudden and catastrophic change. In such cases, the waterfall may not be the end product of many years of water action over a region, but rather the result of relatively sudden geological processes such as landslides, faults or volcanic action.

Waterfalls may also be artificial, and they are sometimes created as garden and landscape ornaments.

Formation

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Formation of a waterfall
Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks which may have been formed by a fault line. Over a period of years, the edges of this shelf will gradually break away and the waterfall will steadily retreat upstream, creating a gorge of recession. Often, the rock stratum just below the more resistant shelf will be of a softer type, meaning 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.

Streams become wider and more shallow 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 can occur along the edge of 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.

Types of waterfalls

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Havasu Falls, near Supai, Arizona, is an example of a plunge waterfall
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Dark Hollow Falls, near Skyline Drive, Virginia, is an example of cascade waterfall
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Powerscourt Waterfall, near Enniskerry, Wicklow County, is an example of a horsetail waterfall
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Kakadu National Park
  • Block: Water descends from a relatively wide stream or river.
  • Cascade: Water descends a series of rock steps.
  • Cataract: A large waterfall.
  • Fan: Water spreads horizontally as it descends while remaining in contact with bedrock.
  • Horsetail: Descending water maintains some contact with bedrock.
  • Plunge: Water descends vertically, losing contact with the bedrock surface.
  • Punchbowl: Water descends in a constricted form, then spreads out in a wider pool.
  • Segmented: Distinctly separate flows of water form as it descends.
  • Tiered: Water drops in a series of distinct steps or falls.
  • Multi-step: A series of waterfalls one after another of roughly the same size each with its own sunken plunge pool.

Examples of large waterfalls

:
Main article: List of waterfalls
Significant waterfalls include these alphabetically: Oluminrin Water Falls at Erin Ijesa, Oriade Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria: This is a seven steps waterfalls from the top of the mountain to the bottom. Although, the height of the fall is yet to be determined. It is a tourist attraction in Nigeria.

See also

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Oceanic crust      0-20 Ma
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A geologic formation is a formally named rock stratum or geological unit. Formations are Lithostratigraphic units which are defined by primary lithology.

The concept of formally defined layers or strata is central to the geologic discipline of stratigraphy.
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worldwide view.

This article or section deals primarily with the United Kingdom and does not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.

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Erosion is displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) usually by the agents of currents such as, wind, water, or ice by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of bioerosion).
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Nickpoint, in surface hydrology, is the location along the profile of a stream at which a sudden gradient change occurs. The most easily recognized example is the crest of a waterfall.
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mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill, but there is no universally accepted standard definition for the height of a mountain or a hill although a mountain usually has an identifiable
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Erosion is displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) usually by the agents of currents such as, wind, water, or ice by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of bioerosion).
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landslide is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows. Although gravity's action on an over-steepened slope is the primary reason for a landslide, there are other contributing factors
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fault or fault line is a planar rock fracture, which shows evidence of relative movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust are the result of shear motion and active fault zones are the causal locations of most earthquakes.
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Volcano:
1. Large magma chamber
2. Bedrock
3. Conduit (pipe)
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Branch pipe
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14.
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A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form is known as a residential garden.
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landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including physical elements such as landforms, living elements of flora and fauna, abstract elements such as lighting and weather conditions, and human elements, for instance human activity or the built environment.
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canyon (rarely cañon) or gorge is a deep valley between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau level.
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stratum (plural: strata) is a layer of rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguishes it from contiguous layers. Each layer is generally one of a number of parallel layers that lie one upon another, laid down by natural forces.
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A rock shelter is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. Another term is rockhouse.

Rock shelters form because a rock stratum such as sandstone that is resistant to erosion and weathering has formed a cliff or bluff, but a softer stratum, more subject
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Outcrop is a geological term referring to the appearance of bedrock or superficial deposits exposed at the surface of the Earth. In most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be seen or examined closely.
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Attrition may refer to:
  • physical wear
  • Attrition (medicine, epidemiology), the loss of participants during an experiment
  • Attrition (dental), the loss of tooth structure by mechanical forces from opposing teeth

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abrasion, is superficial damage to the skin, generally not deeper than the epidermis. It is more superficial than an excoriation, although it can give mild bleeding. Mild abrasions, also known as 'grazes' do not scar, but deep abrasions may lead to the development of scarring
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A plunge pool is a pool, lake, or pond that is small in diameter, but deep. The term can also refer to a small deep swimming pool used to cool off.

Another type of plunge pool is formed under a vertical displacement of water, for example a waterfall or rapids.
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kinetic energy of an object is the extra energy which it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its current velocity.
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glacier is a large, slow moving river of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity. Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, and second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water.
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glacier is a large, slow moving river of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity. Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, and second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water.
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For the census-designated place, see .
Yosemite Valley (pronounced "Yo-SEM-it-ee", IPA [joʊˈsɛməti]) is a world-famous scenic location in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
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geology, a valley is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.

The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys.
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For other uses of "Bedrock", see Bedrock (disambiguation).


Bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the Earth's surface.
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list of worldwide waterfalls.

Africa

Burkina Faso

  • Tagbaladougou Falls

Democratic Republic of the Congo

  • Boyoma Falls (Stanley Falls)
  • Lofoi Falls

Central African Republic

  • Matakil Falls

Chad


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    Angel Falls

    Angel Falls from Isla Raton
    Location Auyantepui, Canaima National Park, Venezuela
    Type Plunge
    Total height 979 m / 3,212 ft
    Height of longest drop 807 m / 2,648 ft
    Number of drops 2
    World height ranking 1[1]

    Angel Falls
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    1 metre =
    SI units
    1000 mm 0 cm
    US customary / Imperial units
    0 ft 0 in
    The metre or meter[1](symbol: m) is the fundamental unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
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    1 foot =
    SI units
    0 m 0 mm
    US customary / Imperial units
    0 yd 0 in
    A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′
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    Motto
    [2]
    Anthem
    Gloria al Bravo Pueblo   (Spanish)
    "Glory to the Brave People"
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