59-654: Kapachira Falls are waterfalls in Malawi . They lie on the lower Shire River near the town of Chikwawa and the Majete Wildlife Reserve . The Kapichira Hydroelectric Power Station was constructed above the falls to provide hydroelectricty. During his 1859 Zambezi Expedition, David Livingstone named them the Murchison Cataracts after the geologist Sir Roderick Murchison . His river steamer Ma Robert could not pass them to get further up
118-594: A high-visibility vest and depth gauge . The mannequin was swallowed and spat up far down current with a depth gauge reading of 262 m (860 ft) and evidence of being dragged along the bottom for a great distance. About three miles (4.8 kilometers) downstream from Niagara Falls is the Niagara Whirlpool . Located mostly in Canada and partially in the United States, the whirlpool is crossed by
177-549: A falls, so almost anything is possible given the right geological and hydrological setting. 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 to be replaced by a steeply sloping stretch of river bed. In addition to gradual processes such as erosion, earth movement caused by earthquakes or landslides or volcanoes can lead to
236-587: A gigantic circular vortex that reaches the bottom of the ocean, when in fact it is a set of currents and crosscurrents with a rate of 18 km/h (11 mph). Poe described this phenomenon in his short story " A Descent into the Maelström ", which in 1841 was the first to use the word maelstrom in the English language; in this story related to the Lofoten Maelstrom, two fishermen are swallowed by
295-498: A large disaster comes from the fourteenth-century Mali Empire ruler Mansa Musa , as reported by a contemporary, Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari : The ruler who preceded me did not believe that it was impossible to reach the extremity of the ocean that encircles the earth (meaning Atlantic), and wanted to reach that (end) and obstinately persisted in the design. So he equipped two hundred boats full of men, like many others full of gold, water and victuals sufficient for several years. He ordered
354-458: A little inward from the shore can hardly getaway. I have heard a certain high nobleman of the Gauls relating that a number of ships, shattered at first by a tempest, were afterward devoured by this same Charybdis . And when one only out of all the men who had been in these ships, still breathing, swam over the waves, while the rest were dying, he came, swept by the force of the receding waters, up to
413-480: A maelstrom, although only smaller craft are actually in danger. Smaller whirlpools appear at river rapids and can be observed downstream of artificial structures such as weirs and dams. Large cataracts , such as Niagara Falls , produce strong whirlpools. Saltstraumen is a narrow strait located close to the Arctic Circle , 33 km (20 mi) south-east of the city of Bodø , Norway . It has one of
472-465: A pioneering work on waterfalls. In 1942 Oscar von Engeln wrote of the lack of research on waterfalls: Waterfall sites more than any other geomorphic feature attract and hold the interest of the general public. Because they have such a popular approval waterfalls are not given serious attention by some students of systematic geomorphology. This attitude is not to be commended. Waterfalls are significant items for geomorphic investigation. As late as 1985
531-795: A role in many cultures, as religious sites and subjects of art and music. Many artists have painted waterfalls and they are referenced in many songs, such as those of the Kaluli people in Papua New Guinea . Michael Harner titled his study of the Jivaroan peoples of Ecuador The Jivaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls. Artists such as those of the Hudson River School and J. M. W. Turner and John Sell Cotman painted particularly notable pictures of waterfalls in
590-603: A scholar felt that "waterfalls remain a very much neglected aspect of river studies". Studies of waterfalls increased dramatically in the second half of the 20th century. Numerous waterfall guidebooks exist, and the World Waterfall Database is a website cataloging thousands of waterfalls. Many explorers have visited waterfalls. European explorers recorded waterfalls they came across. In 1493, Christopher Columbus noted Carbet Falls in Guadeloupe , which
649-788: A short story by Edgar Allan Poe named " A Descent into the Maelström " (1841). The second is Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), a novel by Jules Verne . At the end of this novel, Captain Nemo seems to commit suicide, sending his Nautilus submarine into the Maelstrom (although in Verne's sequel Nemo and the Nautilus were seen to have survived). The "Norway maelstrom" is also mentioned in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick . In
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#1732772065697708-492: A squall knocks the engine out of commission, they face the whirlpool. Torquil manages to repair the engine before the tide turns, and they return to the mainland. This part of the picture uses footage Powell filmed, while tied to a mast to leave both hands free for the camera, at Corryvreckan, incorporated into scenes shot in a huge tank at the studio. In the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ,
767-506: 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, which is referred to as a hanging valley . Another reason hanging valleys may form is where two rivers join and one is flowing faster than the other. When warm and cold water meets by a gorge in the ocean, large underwater waterfalls can form as
826-516: A whirlpool, which sucked entire ships into its fold in the narrow coast of Sicily , a disaster faced by navigators. During the 8th century, Paul the Deacon , who had lived among the Belgii, described tidal bores and the maelstrom for a Mediterranean audience unused to such violent tidal surges: Not very far from this shore... toward the western side, on which the ocean main lies open without end,
885-521: Is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( / ˈ m eɪ l s t r ɒ m , - r ə m / MAYL -strom, -strəm ). Vortex is the proper term for a whirlpool that has a downdraft . In narrow ocean straits with fast flowing water, whirlpools are often caused by tides . Many stories tell of ships being sucked into
944-408: Is a type of stream pool formed at the bottom of a waterfall. A waterfall may also be referred to as a "foss" or "force". Waterfalls are commonly formed in the upper course of a river where lakes flow into valleys in steep mountains. A river sometimes flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line . Waterfalls can occur along the edge of a glacial trough , where
1003-824: Is also no agreement how to measure the height of a waterfall, or even what constitutes one. Angel Falls in Venezuela is the tallest waterfall in the world , the Khone Phapheng Falls in Laos are the widest, and the Inga Falls on the Congo River are the biggest by flow rate , while the Dry Falls in Washington are the largest confirmed waterfalls ever. The highest known subterranean waterfall
1062-467: Is determined to get to the Isle of Kiloran and marry her fiancé. Dangerous weather delays her crossing, and her determination becomes desperate when she realizes that she is falling in love with Torquil MacNeil ( Roger Livesey ). Against the advice of experienced folk, she offers a young fisherman a huge sum of money to take her over. At the last moment, Royal Naval Officer Torquil steps into the boat, and after
1121-466: Is fractured or otherwise more erodible. Hydraulic jets and hydraulic jumps at the toe of a falls can generate large forces to erode the bed, especially when forces are amplified by water-borne sediment. Horseshoe-shaped falls focus the erosion to a central point, also enhancing riverbed change below a waterfall. A process known as "potholing" involves local erosion of a potentially deep hole in bedrock due to turbulent whirlpools spinning stones around on
1180-578: Is in Vrtoglavica Cave in Slovenia . The Denmark Strait cataract is an undersea overflow which could be considered a "waterfall" under a very broad usage of that term; if so included, it is the largest known waterfall. Artificial waterfalls are water features or fountains that imitate a natural waterfall. The Cascata delle Marmore is the tallest artificially built waterfall at 541 feet (165 m). Whirlpool A whirlpool
1239-513: Is of the 1500s, Olaus Magnus , a Swedish bishop, who had stated that a maelstrom more powerful than the one written about in the Odyssey sucked in ships, which sank to the bottom of the sea, and even whales were pulled in. Pytheas , the Greek historian, also mentioned that maelstroms swallowed ships and threw them up again. The monster Charybdis of Greek mythology was later rationalized as
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#17327720656971298-685: Is supposedly the whirlpool depicted in Olaus Magnus's map, labeled as "Horrenda Caribdis" ( Charybdis ). The Moskstraumen is formed by the combination of powerful semi-diurnal tides and the unusual shape of the seabed , with a shallow ridge between the Moskenesøya and Værøya islands which amplifies and whirls the tidal currents. The fictional depictions of the Moskstraumen by Edgar Allan Poe , Jules Verne , and Cixin Liu describe it as
1357-519: Is that very deep whirlpool of waters which we call by its familiar name "the navel of the sea". This is said to suck in the waves and spew them forth again twice every day. ... They say there is another whirlpool of this kind between the island of Britain and the province of Galicia , and with this fact the coasts of the Seine region and of Aquitaine agree, for they are filled twice a day with such sudden inundations that any one who may by chance be found only
1416-804: Is undoubtedly presented by the continent of Africa, the 'darkness' of which is almost entirely due to this cause." Waterfalls are often visited by people simply to see them. Hudson theorizes that they make good tourism sites because they are generally considered beautiful and are relatively uncommon. Activities at waterfalls can include bathing, swimming, photography, rafting , canyoning , abseiling , rock climbing , and ice climbing . Waterfalls can also be sites for generating hydroelectric power and can hold good fishing opportunities. Wealthy people were known to visit areas with features such as waterfalls at least as early as in Ancient Rome and China . However, many waterfalls were essentially inaccessible due to
1475-477: The Gocta Cataracts were first announced to the world in 2006. Waterfalls can pose major barriers to travel. Canals are sometimes built as a method to go around them, other times things must be physically carried around or a railway built . In 1885, the geographer George Chisholm wrote that, "The most signal example of the effect of waterfalls and rapids in retarding the development of civilisation
1534-474: The Life of St Columba , the author, Adomnan of Iona , attributes to the saint miraculous knowledge of a particular bishop who sailed into a whirlpool off the coast of Ireland. In Adomnan's narrative, he quotes Columba saying Cólman mac Beognai has set sail to come here and is now in great danger in the surging tides of the whirlpool of Corryvreckan. Sitting in the prow, he lifts up his hands to heaven and blesses
1593-637: The Whirlpool Aero Car . The basin of the whirlpool is 1,700 feet (518 meters) long and 1,200 feet (365 meters) wide. Its maximum water depth is 125 feet (38 meters). Old Sow whirlpool is located between Deer Island, New Brunswick , Canada, and Moose Island, Eastport, Maine , USA. It is given the epithet "pig-like" as it makes a screeching noise when the vortex is at its full fury and reaches speeds of as much as 27.6 km/h (17.1 mph). The smaller whirlpools around this Old Sow are known as "Piglets". The Naruto whirlpools are located in
1652-541: The black swift and white-throated dipper . These species preferentially nest in the space behind the falling water, which is thought to be a strategy to avoid predation. Some waterfalls are also distinct in that they do not flow continuously. Ephemeral waterfalls only flow after a rain or a significant snowmelt. Waterfalls can also be found underground and in oceans. The geographer Andrew Goudie wrote in 2020 that waterfalls have received "surprisingly limited research." Alexander von Humboldt wrote about them in
1711-400: The 1820s. There is no name for the specific field of researching waterfalls, and in the published literature been described as "scattered", though it is popular to describe studying waterfalls as "waterfallology". An early paper written on waterfalls was published in 1884 by William Morris Davis , a geologist known as the "father of American geography". In the 1930s Edward Rashleigh published
1770-444: The 18th century, they have received increased attention as tourist destinations, sources of hydropower , and—particularly since the mid-20th century—as subjects of research. A waterfall is generally defined as a point in a river where water flows over a steep drop that is close to or directly vertical. In 2000 Mabin specified that "The horizontal distance between the positions of the lip and plunge pool should be no more than c 25% of
1829-703: The 19th century. One of the versions of the Shinto purification ceremony of misogi involves standing underneath a waterfall in ritual clothing. In Japan the Nachi Falls are a site of pilgrimage, as are falls near Tirupati , India, and the Saut-d'Eau , Haiti. The Otavalos use Piguchi waterfall as part of the Churru ritual which serves as a coming of age ceremony. Many waterfalls in Africa were places of worship for
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1888-592: The Naruto Strait near Awaji Island in Japan, which have speeds of 26 km/h (16 mph). Skookumchuck Narrows is a tidal rapids that develops whirlpools, on the Sunshine Coast , British Columbia , Canada with speeds of the current exceeding 30 km/h (19 mph). French Pass ( Te Aumiti ) is a narrow and treacherous stretch of water that separates D'Urville Island from the north end of
1947-521: The Shire; several members of his team died from disease and are buried in the area. This waterfall -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf . Waterfalls can be formed in several ways, but
2006-554: The South Island of New Zealand. In 2000 a whirlpool there caught student divers, resulting in fatalities. A short-lived whirlpool sucked in a portion of the 1,300-acre (530 ha) Lake Peigneur in Louisiana, United States after a drilling mishap on November 20, 1980. This was not a naturally occurring whirlpool, but a disaster caused by underwater drillers breaking through the roof of a salt mine. The lake then drained into
2065-426: The base of the waterfall by abrasion , creating a deep plunge pool in the gorge downstream. Streams can become wider and shallower just above waterfalls due to flowing over the rock shelf, and there is usually a deep area just below the waterfall because of the kinetic energy of the water hitting the bottom. However, a study of waterfalls systematics reported that waterfalls can be wider or narrower above or below
2124-441: The bed, drilling it out. Sand and stones carried by the watercourse therefore increase erosion capacity. 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. The rate of retreat for a waterfall can be as high as one-and-a-half metres per year. Often,
2183-404: The chief (admiral) not to return until they had reached the extremity of the ocean, or if they had exhausted the provisions and the water. They set out. Their absence extended over a long period, and, at last, only one boat returned. On our questioning, the captain said: 'Prince, we have navigated for a long time, until we saw in the midst of the ocean as if a big river was flowing violently. My boat
2242-401: The cold water rushes to the bottom. The caprock model of waterfall formation states that the river courses over resistant bedrock , erosion happens slowly and is dominated by impacts of water-borne sediment on the rock, while downstream the erosion occurs more rapidly. As the watercourse increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it may pluck material from the riverbed, if the bed
2301-400: The edge of that most frightful abyss. And when now he beheld yawning before him the deep chaos whose end he could not see, and half dead from very fear, expected to be hurled into it, suddenly in a way that he could not have hoped he was cast upon a certain rock and sat him down. Three of the most notable literary references to the Lofoten Maelstrom date from the nineteenth century. The first is
2360-678: The environment of the waterfall itself. A 2012 study of the Agbokim Waterfalls , has suggested that they hold biodiversity to a much higher extent than previously thought. Waterfalls also affect terrestrial species. They create a small microclimate in their immediate vicinity characterized by cooler temperatures and higher humidity than the surrounding region, which may support diverse communities of mosses and liverworts . Species of these plants may have disjunct populations at waterfall zones far from their core range. Waterfalls provide nesting cover for several species of bird, such as
2419-523: The final battle between the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman takes place with both ships sailing inside a giant whirlpool which appears to be over a kilometer wide and several hundred meters deep. The fantasy novels Eldest and The Bellmaker (otherwise unconnected) both feature a scene where the protagonists' ship escapes pursuit by successfully navigating a massive whirlpool, while
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2478-415: The formation of waterfalls. Waterfalls are an important factor in determining the distribution of lotic organisms such as fish and aquatic invertebrates, as they may restrict dispersal along streams. The presence or absence of certain species can have cascading ecological effects, and thus cause differences in trophic regimes above and below waterfalls. Certain aquatic plants and insects also specialize in
2537-413: The lake. At the time of the whirlpool's formation, the lake was being drained after reaching its highest level ever. The Army Corps of Engineers , which operates the dam and lake, expected that the whirlpool would last until the lake reached normal seasonal levels by late July. Powerful whirlpools have killed unlucky seafarers, but their power tends to be exaggerated by laymen. One of the few reports of
2596-555: The maelstrom while one survives. The Corryvreckan is a narrow strait between the islands of Jura and Scarba , in Argyll and Bute , on the northern side of the Gulf of Corryvreckan , Scotland . It is the third-largest whirlpool in the world. Flood tides and inflow from the Firth of Lorne to the west can drive the waters of Corryvreckan to waves of more than 9 metres (30 ft), and
2655-411: The mine until the mine filled and the water levels equalized, but the formerly 10-foot (3.0 m) deep lake was now 1,300 feet (400 m) deep. This mishap caused a sinkhole, and in the end, resulted in the destruction of five houses, the loss of nineteen barges and eight tug boats, oil rigs, a mobile home, trees, acres of land, and most of a botanical garden. The adjacent settlement of Jefferson Island
2714-526: The most common method of formation is that a river courses over a top layer of resistant bedrock before falling onto softer rock, which erodes faster, leading to an increasingly high fall. Waterfalls have been studied for their impact on species living in and around them. Humans have had a distinct relationship with waterfalls since prehistory, travelling to see them, exploring and naming them. They can present formidable barriers to navigation along rivers. Waterfalls are religious sites in many cultures. Since
2773-661: The native peoples and got their names from gods in the local religion. "In Chinese tradition, the waterfall represents" the season of autumn , yin , and the Chinese dragon 's power over water that comes from the former two. There are thousands of waterfalls in the world, though no exact number has been calculated. The World Waterfall Database lists 7,827 as of 2013, but this is likely incomplete; as noted by Hudson, over 90% of their listings are in North America. Many guidebooks to local waterfalls have been published. There
2832-567: The pursuing vessel fails to do so and is dragged under. One of the earliest uses in English of the Scandinavian word malström or malstrøm was by Edgar Allan Poe in his short story " A Descent into the Maelström " (1841). The Nordic word itself is derived from the Dutch word maelstrom ( pronounced [ˈmaːlstroːm] ; modern spelling maalstroom ), from malen ('to mill' or 'to grind') and stroom ('stream'), to form
2891-728: The rise of Romanticism , and increased importance of hydropower with the Industrial Revolution . European explorers often preferred to give waterfalls names in their own language; for instance, David Livingstone named Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria , though it was known by local peoples as Mosi-oa-Tunya. Many waterfalls have descriptive names which can come from the river they are on, places they are near, their features, or events that happened near them. Some countries that were colonized by European nations have taken steps to return names to waterfalls previously renamed by European explorers. Exploration of waterfalls continues;
2950-569: The roar of the resulting maelstrom, which reaches speeds of 18 km/h (11 mph), can be heard 16 km (10 mi) away. Though it was classified initially as non-navigable by the Royal Navy it was later categorized as "extremely dangerous". A documentary team from Scottish independent producers Northlight Productions once threw a mannequin into the Corryvreckan ("the Hag") with
3009-504: 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 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
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#17327720656973068-566: The strongest tidal currents in the world. Whirlpools up to 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter and 5 metres (16 ft) in depth are formed when the current is at its strongest. Moskstraumen or Moske-stroom is an unusual system of whirlpools in the open seas in the Lofoten Islands off the Norwegian coast . It is the second strongest whirlpool in the world with flow currents reaching speeds as high as 32 km/h (20 mph). This
3127-546: The treacherous terrain surrounding them until improvements began to be made such as paths to the falls, becoming common across the United Kingdom and America in the 1800s and continuing through the 1900s and into the 21st century. Remote waterfalls are now often visited by air travel. Human development has also threatened many waterfalls. For instance, the Guaíra Falls , once one of the most powerful waterfalls in
3186-453: The turbulent, terrible seas. Yet the Lord terrifies him in this way, not so that the ship in which he sits should be overwhelmed and wrecked by the waves, but rather to rouse him to pray more fervently that he may sail through the peril and reach us here. The Corryvreckan whirlpool plays a key role in the 1945 Powell and Pressburger film I Know Where I'm Going! . Joan Webster ( Wendy Hiller )
3245-423: The waterfall height." There are various types and methods to classify waterfalls. Some scholars have included rapids as a subsection. What actually constitutes a waterfall continues to be debated. Waterfalls are sometimes interchangeably referred to as "cascades" and "cataracts", though some sources specify a cataract as being a larger and more powerful waterfall and a cascade as being smaller. A plunge pool
3304-677: The world, were submerged in 1982 by a human-made dam, as were the Ripon Falls in 1952. Conversely, other waterfalls have seen significantly lower water levels as a result of diversion for hydroelectricity , such as the Tyssestrengene in Norway. Development of the areas around falls as tourist attractions has also destroyed the natural scene around many of them. Waterfalls are included on thirty-eight World Heritage Sites and many others are protected by governments. Waterfalls play
3363-551: Was likely the first waterfall Europeans recorded seeing in the Americas. In the late 1600s, Louis Hennepin visited North America, providing early descriptions of Niagara Falls and the Saint Anthony Falls . The geographer Brian J. Hudson argues that it was uncommon to specifically name waterfalls until the 1700s. The trend of Europeans specifically naming falls was in tandem with increased scientific focus on nature,
3422-526: Was reduced in area by 10%. A crater 0.5 miles (0.8 km) across was left behind. Nine of the barges, which had sunk, later resurfaced after the whirlpool subsided. A more recent example of an artificial whirlpool that received significant media coverage occurred in early June 2015, when an intake vortex formed in Lake Texoma , on the Oklahoma–Texas border, near the floodgates of the dam that forms
3481-597: Was the last one; others were ahead of me. As soon as any of them reached this place, it drowned in the whirlpool and never came out. I sailed backward to escape this current.' Tales like those by Paul the Deacon , Edgar Allan Poe , and Jules Verne are entirely fictional. However, temporary whirlpools caused by major engineering disasters, such as the Lake Peigneur disaster, have been recorded as capable of submerging medium-sized watercraft such as barges and tugboats. Besides Poe and Verne, another literary source
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