The Daily Croissant

by Chris Schmid

Iguazu Falls, Iguazu_Falls, Iguassu Falls, or Iguaçu Falls (Portuguese: Cataratas do Iguaçu [kataˈɾatɐz du iɡwaˈsu]; Spanish: Cataratas del Iguazú [kataˈɾatas ðel iɣwaˈsu]; Guarani: Chororo Yguasu [ɕoɾoɾo ɨɣʷasu]) are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian State of Paraná and the Argentine Province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River originates near the city of Curitiba. It flows through Brazil for most of its course. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the boundary between Brazil and Argentina.

Waterfall, Moonbow, and Aurora from Iceland
Image Credit & Copyright: Stephane Vetter

"The longer you look at this image, the more you see. Perhaps your eye is first drawn to the picturesque waterfall called Skogarfoss visible on the image right. Just as prevalent, however, in this Icelandic visual extravaganza, is the colorful arc of light on the left. This chromatic bow is not a rainbow, since the water drops did not originate in rainfall nor are they reflecting light from the Sun. Rather, the drops have drifted off from the waterfall and are now illuminated by the nearly full Moon. High above are the faint green streaks of aurora. The scene, captured one night last month, also shows a beautiful starscape far in the background, including the Big Dipper, part of the constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa Major)."

by Carl Crumley

"It seems that there's only one waterfall in the world with a flame burning beneath it. This is the Eternal Flame Waterfall, on Shale Creek, in Chestnut Ridge Park, near Buffalo, New York. A pocket of natural methane gas in an alcove below the waterfall seeps out through a fracture in the rocks."

Photo: Forest Wander Photography  

"Located in Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia, the Elakala Falls are a series of four waterfalls that have been havens for nature lovers and photographers alike. The first image and third is of the top waterfall, 35 feet high and easily accessible, while the others are less so given the lack of trails to the lower falls. The second falls shown here is only 15 feet high but that doesn't take away from its beauty."     Written by Michele Collet  

by Ray Boren

The multiple cascades of Iguazu Falls, one of the most spectacular and intricate waterfalls in the world, slip off a basalt escarpment on the Iguazu River, along a border shared by Argentina and Brazil. In part because of the international boundary, the natural wonder is spelled and pronounced in varied ways: To the area’s native Guarani Indians this is Yguasu, which has been translated to mean, appropriately enough, “big water.” In the Spanish of Argentina (and nearby Paraguay, to which this territory once belonged), these are the Cataratas del Iguazú. In Brazilian Portugese, they are the Cataratas do Iguaçu. It's also spelled "Iguassu."

Iguazu’s cascades stretch along a subtropical ridge for about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers), most thunderously at a cleft called the Devil’s Throat. The falls in places are 260 feet (80 m) high and are broken into an estimated 275 streams. This splintering gives them a fantasy-film appearance that contrasts with the long curtains of water surging off Africa’s Victoria Falls and North America’s Niagara Falls, to which Iguazu is often compared.