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Great water in South America
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AMONG the most spectacular sights in South America are the Iguazu Falls (依瓜苏瀑布). They are located on a stretch of the Iguazu River (依瓜苏河) that forms the boundary between Brazil and Argentina. In Brazil the name is Iguacu, or Iguassu.
These horseshoe-shaped falls are 82 m high and almost four km wide--four times the width of Niagara Falls (尼加拉瓜瀑布) in North America and somewhat greater than the width of Victoria (维多利亚瀑布，又称莫西奥图尼亚瀑布) in Africa.
Numerous rocky and wooded islands on the edge of the escarpment (悬崖) over which the Iguazu River plunges divide the falls into some 275 sepatate waterfalls or cataracts (小瀑布), varying between 60 m and 82 m in height. The name of the falls, like that of the river, is derived from a Guarani (Paraguayan) word meaning "great water".
The rate of flow of the falls may rise to a maximum of 12,750 cubic metres per second during the rainy season from Novermber to March. Minimum flow occurs during the dry season from August to October. It has been estimated that the mean annual rate of flow is about 1,756 cubic metres per second.
The falls occur where the Iguazu River, flowing westward, tumbles over the edge of the Parana Plateau into a narrow chasm (峡谷) or canyon. Among the many islands associated with the falls, the most notable are San Martin Island and Grande Island, which are both situated just above the falls. Grande Island divides the river into two branches, which then rejoin before cascading downward over basalt rock (玄武岩) and lava formations into the chasm, which is called Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat); the effect has been described as that of "an ocean plunging into an abyss". (The Iguazu River then continues its course through the canyon to its junction with the Parana River.)(Part I)(SD-Agencies)
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