Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

WATERFALL

Online Encyclopedia

Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 368 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.

Encyclopedia Home :: VIR-WAT

Spread the word:

del.icio.us it!

WATERFALL , a point in the course of a stream or See also:

RIVER

river where the See also:

WATER

water descends perpendicularly or nearly so. Even a very small stream of water falling from any considerable height is a striking See also:

OBJECT

object in scenery. Such falls, of small See also:

VOLUME

volume though often of immense See also:

DEPTH

depth, are See also:

COMMON

common, for a small stream has not the See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power to See also:

ERODE

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 See also:

main valley. See also:

MECHANICAL

Mechanical considerations apart, the usual cause of the occurrence of a waterfall is a sudden See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change in See also:

GEOLOGICAL

geological structure. For example, if there be three horizontarl strata, so laid down that a hard stratum occurs between twosoft ones, a river will be able to grade its course through the upper or See also:

LOWER

lower soft strata, but not at the same See also:

RATE

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 See also:

BASALT

basalt, or by glacial or other deposits. Where a river falls over an escarpment of hard See also:

rock overlying softer strata, it powerfully erodes the soft rock at the See also:

BASE

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 See also:

GORGE

gorge is See also:

LEFT

left below the fall. The classic example of this See also:

PROCESS

process is provided by the most famous falls in the See also:

WORLD

world—See also:

Niagara. WATER-See also:

FLEA (O. Eng. fleah, or flea, cognate with flee, to run away from, to take flight)

FLEA, a name given by the earlier microscopists (See also:

SWAMMERDAM, JAN (1637-168o)

Swammerdam, 1669) to certain See also:

minute aquatic See also:

CRUSTACEA

Crustacea of the See also:

order Cladocera, but often applied also to other members of the See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division See also:

ENTOMOSTRACA

Entomostraca (q.v.). The Cladocera are abundant everywhere in fresh water.

One of the commonest See also:

SPECIES

species, Daphnia pulex, found in ponds and ditches, is less than one-tenth of an See also:

INCH (O. Eng. ynce from Lat. uncia, a twelfthpart; cf. " ounce," and see As)

inch in length and has the See also:

BODY

body enclosed in a trans-See also:

PARENT, SIMON NAPOLEON (1855– )

parent bivalved See also:

shell. The See also:

head, projecting in front of the shell, bears a pair of branched feathery antennae which are the See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief See also:

SWIMMING (from " swim," A.S. swimman, the root being common in Teutonic languages)

swimming See also:

ORGANS

organs and propel the See also:

animal, in a See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession of rapid See also:

BOUNDS, BEATING THE

bounds, through the water. There is a single large See also:

black See also:

eye. In the living animal five pairs of See also:

LEAF (O. Eng. leaf, cf. Dutch loof, Ger. Laub, Swed. lof, &c.; possibly to be referred to the root seen in Gr. Ma-eta, to peel, strip)

leaf-like limbs acting as gills can be observed in See also:

CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

constant See also:

motion between the valves of the shell, and the pulsating See also:

heart may be seen near the dorsal See also:

SURFACE

surface, a little way behind the head. The body ends behind in a See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of tail with a See also:

double curved claw which can be protruded from the dell. The See also:

FEMALE

female carries the eggs in a brood-chamber between the back of the body and the shell until hatching takes See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place. Through-out the greater See also:

PART

part of the See also:

YEAR

year only See also:

FEMALES

females occur and the eggs develop " parthenogenetically," without fertilization. When the small See also:

MALES

males appear, generally in the autumn, fertilized " See also:

winter " or " resting eggs " are produced which are See also:

CAST (from the verb meaning " to throw "; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. kaste, and Swed. kasta; " cast " in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. weor pan, cf. Ger. werf en)

cast adrift in a See also:

case of " ephippium " formed by a specially modified part of the shell. These resting eggs enable the See also:

RACE

race to survive the See also:

COLD (in O. Eng. cald and ceald, a word coming ultimately from a root cognate with the Lat. gelu, gelidus, and common in the Teutonic languages, which usually have two distinct forms for the substantive and the adjective, cf. Ger. Kolte, kalt, Dutch koude

cold of winter or the drying up of the water. For a See also:

fuller See also:

account of the Cladocera and of other organisms which sometimes See also:

SHARE (O. Eng. scearu, chiefly in compounds, e.g. land-scearu, a share of land, from sceran to cut; cf. " shear" )

share with them the name of " water-fleas," see the See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article ENTOMOSTRACA. (W. T.

End of Article: WATERFALL

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
WATERBURY

[next]
WATERFORD