The Denmark Strait cataract, located between Iceland and Greenland, is the world’s tallest waterfall at 11,500 feet, but it is underwater. Waterfalls can also occur beneath the waves when hot and cold water meet. There are 10 types of waterfalls, and Victoria Falls can reportedly be heard 25 miles away. In 1901, Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
You’ve probably heard that Venezuela boasts the tallest waterfall in the world, the 3,212m Angel Falls, but technically it’s not the tallest. If you want to visit the real highest waterfall… you can’t. This is because it is under water.
Deep beneath the Denmark Strait, in an area between Iceland and Greenland, is a series of cataracts that begin to descend about 2,000 feet (610m) below the surface. The overall drop of the so-called “Denmark Strait cataract” is approximately 11,500 feet (3,505 m), or more than three times the height of any land-based waterfall
As strange as it may seem, waterfalls exist beneath the waves. In some areas, they occur when hot water meets cold water and the colder water drops rapidly. In the case of the Denmark Strait cataract, there is an ocean shelf directly under that meeting point, so the falling water rushes over it just like a land-based waterfall.
It took scientific tools to locate this dramatic underwater waterfall, so who knows what even deeper and bigger waterfalls are still waiting to be discovered.
The wonders of waterfalls:
There are 10 types of waterfalls, based on the shape of their descent. These range from multi-stepped falls to fan-shaped falls, spreading out as they fall.
Victoria Falls, on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, falls with such force that it can reportedly be heard 25 miles (40km) away.
In 1901, 63-year-old schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive the trip up Niagara Falls in a barrel.
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