Everyone enjoys the sight of waterfalls. Any sudden change in the course of a river over the rocks with nowhere to go but down can create waterfalls. In the regions with lots of rains, the waterfalls are centers of attractions. The tallest waterfall in the world is Angel falls in Venezuela. There are many famous waterfalls like the Niagara Falls that separates Ontario, Canada and state of New York, Victoria Falls, Jog Falls, Iguazu Falls etc.
There could be many reasons for the existence of waterfalls. Earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides or glacier may result in waterfalls. All such natural phenomena results in the formation of cliff, cracks or depressions. Rivers or rain waters which were once flowing on the level ground now find their way through the cliffs and this is how waterfalls get formed.
There are many types of waterfalls – cascade, cataract, plunge, ledge horsetail, tiered and many more. Cascade is a type of waterfall with any kind of irregular surface underneath the water. It generally flows down in small steps or stages. A cataract is a large and powerful waterfall rushing with force. A ledge waterfall is like a cliff that is flat with some width at the top and is vertical.
Plunge waterfalls occur when river spills out water that descends vertically without coming into contact with any of the rock on the way down. A block or sheet is formed from a wide river and resembling a wide sheet. Horse tail waterfalls are always in contact with rocks. Tiered ones are those that descend into a pool from where the water again descends as plunge waterfall.
The increase in flow of water increases the amount of erosion taking place. The erosion makes the rocks flat and smooth. The complete erosion of rocks at the base and top slowly paves way for the disintegration of waterfall. Waterfalls may remain for a long time but are destined to disappear. Like how they take a very long time to form, they take a very long time to disintegrate too.
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