1. What is the name of the tallest waterfall in the world (on land)?
Answer: Angel Falls. Located in Venezuela, it stands 3,212 feet tall!
2. The world’s truly tallest waterfall is found underwater! What is it called?
Answer: the Denmark Strait cataract. It has a height of 11,500 feet!
3. What is the name of the largest waterfall in the world?
Answer: Victoria Falls. It is found in Zimbabwe. It is the world’s largest curtail of falling water with 500 million litres of water descending per minute!
4. What is the name of the famous red-coloured waterfall found in Antarctica?
Answer: Blood Falls. Researchers at John Hopkins University suggest that the oxidation of iron-rich nanospheres in the water turn it red.
5. How old is Niagara Falls estimated to be?
Answer: over 12,000 years old. It is believed that the falls began formation around the end of the Wisconsin Glacial Stage.
6. Which Canadian city is nicknamed the “Waterfall Capital of the World?“
Answer: Hamilton. It is also known as the “City of Waterfalls” and has more than 100 waterfalls.
7. Kaieteur Falls is one of the world’s most powerful waterfalls, and located in which country?
Answer: Guyana. It is 741 feet tall, and is arguably the world’s largest single-drop waterfall based on volume of water.
8. What is the name of the waterfall that has been considered Iceland’s tallest waterfall since 2011?
Answer: Morsárfoss. Prior to 2011, Glymur was considered Iceland’s tallest waterfall.
9. How many different waterfalls make up Iguazú Falls, one of the world’s largest waterfalls?
Answer: 275 falls. They fall between the borders of Argentina and Brazil.
10. What is the name of the Icelandic waterfall that translates in English to mean “Golden Falls?”
Answer: Gullfloss. It is a two-tiered waterfall and one of Iceland’s most popular attractions.
11. Yosemite Falls is one of the world’s tallest waterfalls and located in which country?
Answer: the United States. It is 2,245 feet tall and consists of three separate falls.
12. What is the name of the tallest waterfall in Africa, located in South Africa?
Answer: Tugela Falls. The name originates from the isiZulu word thukela meaning “something that startles.”
13. Which geological process is important in the formation of waterfalls?
Answer: erosion. Waterfalls are formed when streams flow from soft to hard rock. As soft rock is eroded, a hard ledge is left behind for the stream to fall. The waterfall is formed!
14. What is the name of the first person to have plunged over Niagara Falls in a barrel?
Answer: Annie Edson Taylor. She was a 63-year-old schoolteacher at the time of her stunt on October 24, 1901!
15. What is the name of the tallest man-made waterfall in the world?
Answer: the Cascata Delle Marmore. It is found in Italy and was created centuries ago by the Romans!
16. What is the name of the tallest and deepest waterfall open to the American public?
Answer: Ruby Falls. It is an underground cave waterfall located on Lookout Mountain in the state of Tennessee.
17. Which country is home to Horizontal Falls, a group of waterfalls that flow laterally?
Answer: Australia. The effect is caused by rapid moving tidal currents that flow through two narrow gorges in the McLarty Range.
18. Asik-Asik Falls is a waterfall found in the Philippines that translates in English to mean…?
Answer: “sprinkle-sprinkle.” It was recently discovered by a farmer in 2012. The water flows similarly to the sprinkling of a shower!
19. Which waterfall located in Yosemite Valley in the United States is a popular tourist destination for its “Firefall” effect?
Answer: Horsetail Fall. The rare phenomenon is caused when the falls glow orange from being backlit by a sunset.
20. Which United States waterfall is considered the most visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest?
Answer: Multnomah Falls. The waterfall is 620 feet high and annually attracts two million visitors.
21. Switzerland is home to the Trümmelbach Waterfalls, located in which UNESCO World Heritage site?
Answer: the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch UNESCO World Heritage site. The ten waterfalls are found inside a mountain and are accessible via a tunnel lift (elevator)!
22. Athabasca Falls is a waterfall located in which Canadian National Park?
Answer: Jasper National Park.
23. Which waterfall found in the United States is nicknamed “the Niagara of the West?”
Answer: Shoshone Falls. It is located in the city of Twin Falls in Idaho.
24. Tis Abay (or “Great Smoke”) Falls is located in which African country?
Answer: Ethiopia. It also goes by the name Blue Nile Falls.
25. What is the name of the largest waterfall in Europe?
Answer: Rhine Falls. Around 700,000 liters of water fall every second!
About the Author
Yasmin is a McMaster University graduate and Program Coordinator at SCIFAA. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Sustainable Chemistry and a Minor in Environmental Sciences.
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