#Animal on waterfall background series
#Animal on waterfall background crack

The waterfall is safe enough for children to play in the water.Ī cataract is a powerful, even dangerous, waterfall. Monkey Falls, in the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in Tamil Nadu, India, is a gently sloping cascade.

#Animal on waterfall background series

Niagara Falls, in the United States and Canada, is a block waterfall on the Niagara River.Ī cascade is a waterfall that descends over a series of rock steps. Most waterfalls fit more than one category.Ī block waterfall descends from a wide stream.

A waterfall's type is simply the way the descends. One of the most popular, if least scientific, ways to classify waterfalls is by type. The water is turned to mist before it reaches the small tributary below. The fall is so long, and so steep, that air pressure is stronger often than the water pressure of the falls. The water, from the Gauja River, often does not reach the bottom. Angel Falls, the world’s tallest waterfall, plummets 979 meters (3,212 feet) into a remote canyon in a rain forest in Venezuela. Waterfalls are also classified by height. The width of the Khone Phapheng Falls is about 10,783 meters (35,376 feet). At the Khone Phapheng Falls, the Mekong River flows through a succession of relatively shallow rapids. One of the widest waterfalls is Khone Phapheng Falls, Laos. The estimated volume of water discharged from Inga Falls is 25,768 cubic meters per second (910,000 cubic feet per second).Īnother popular way of classifying waterfalls is by width. A Class 10 waterfall using this scale is Inga Falls, Democratic Republic of Congo, where the Congo River twists in a series of rapids. Some scientists classify waterfalls based on the average volume of water in the waterfall. There is not a standard way to classify waterfalls. An earthquake, landslide, glacier, or volcano may also disrupt stream beds and help create waterfalls.

#Animal on waterfall background crack

A waterfall may form across a fault, or crack in the Earth’s surface. The waterfall erosion process starts again, breaking down the boulders of the former outcropping.Įrosion is just one process that can form waterfalls. This causes the waterfall to 'recede' many meters upstream. The resulting erosion at the base of a waterfall can be very dramatic, and cause the waterfall to ' recede.' The area behind the waterfall is worn away, creating a hollow, cave-like structure called a 'rock shelter.' Eventually, the rocky ledge (called the outcropping) may tumble down, sending boulders into the stream bed and plunge pool below. The crashing flow of the water may also create powerful whirlpools that erode the rock of the plunge pool beneath them. Rushing water and sediment topple over the waterfall, eroding the plunge pool at the base. The movement of water at the top of a waterfall can erode rocks to be very flat and smooth. Waterfalls develop as these granite formations form cliffs and ledges.Ī stream's velocity increases as it nears a waterfall, increasing the amount of erosion taking place. Eventually, the stream's channel cuts so deep into the stream bed that only a harder rock, such as granite, remains. Sediment can erode stream beds made of soft rock, such as sandstone or limestone. The sediment can be microscopic silt, pebbles, or even boulders. Many waterfalls in an area help geologists and hydrologists determine a region's fall line and underlying rock structure.Īs a stream flows, it carries sediment. In both cases, the soft rock erodes, leaving a hard ledge over which the stream falls.Ī fall line is the imaginary line along which parallel rivers plunge as they flow from uplands to lowlands. This happens both laterally (as a stream flows across the earth) and vertically (as the stream drops in a waterfall). Often, waterfalls form as streams flow from soft rock to hard rock. Waterfalls themselves also contribute to erosion.

The process of erosion, the wearing away of earth, plays an important part in the formation of waterfalls. A waterfall is a river or other body of water's steep fall over a rocky ledge into a plunge pool below.