A waterfall is generally defined as a point in a river where water flows over a steep drop that is close to or directly … See more

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. … See more

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 spe… See more

The geographer Andrew Goudie wrote in 2020 that waterfalls have received "surprisingly limited research." Alexander von Humboldt wrote about them in the 1820s. There is no name for the specific field of rese… See more

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 listi… See more