Rocks differ markedly with regard to their resistance to erosion by running water. Although no quantitative scales to express this difference have been developed, widespread agreement exists on certain generalities. Metamorphic rocks (those that are formed from preexisting rocks under the action of high temperatures and pressures), for example, are commonly more durable than are sedimentary rocks, and great differences can exist even among the latter because of a significant amount of variation in the degree of cementation and kinds of rock structure present in them. Thus, a quartz-rich sandstone whose constituent grains are cemented by silica tends to be much more resistant than a fissile shale, the clay-rich layers of which tend to split and separate. And the blocky character of some carbonate rocks (limestones and dolomites) and extrusive igneous rocks (formed by the cooling of lava flows) tends to enhance their resistance to fluvial erosion, notwithstanding their relatively low resistance to solution.

Regardless of the intrinsic toughness of any rock type, however, lengthy periods of weathering or the presence of intricate fracture patterns will render it easily erodible. There are, in fact, a veritable legion of factors that influence rock resistance to erosion, and it is for this reason that generalities must be invoked. Suffice it to say that some rocks are weak whereas others are strong and that waterfalls are promoted where these occur in certain geologic arrangements.

There are three such arrangements that are common in nature: (1) horizontal or nearly horizontal strata in which rocks of greater resistance overlie weaker rocks, forming a protective cap rock; (2) inclined strata involving beds or layers of alternating resistance; and (3) various kinds of non-sedimentary rock arrangements in which dikes or veins of hard crystalline rocks are juxtaposed with weaker rocks. In each of these cases the weaker rocks are eroded more readily and more rapidly by running water, and the harder, resistant rocks, as a consequence, stand higher and are “falls makers.” In the special case of the cap-rock arrangement, waterfalls migrate upriver because the protective upper layers break off as the weaker supporting strata are eroded from beneath. Niagara Falls is the most notable example involving sedimentary rocks (a blocky dolomite cap overlies a series of less-resistant shales and sandstones); more commonly, a lava flow caps erodible strata.

Falls attributable to constructional processes

There are four principal constructional processes that can lead to the creation of dams or barriers and, hence, to the formation of waterfalls. These processes are (1) precipitation of calcium carbonate from solution; (2) disruption of drainage by lava flows or the deposition of volcanic ash and other pyroclastic sediments; (3) ice damming and the construction of moraines, or ridgelike sedimentary deposits left at the sites of former glaciers; and (4) the deposition of landslide and avalanche debris.

The first of these, carbonate precipitation, can accumulate to considerable dimensions as spring deposits of travertine or calcareous tufa, often in a series of terraces. Where these ultimately block avenues of normal runoff, waterfalls result. The water in limestone caves also is rich in calcium carbonate, and where ponds occur in the path of small subterranean streams there is preferential precipitation at the spillage rims. The barriers that are raised are self-perpetuating, can attain heights of about 15 metres under certain circumstances, and have been called rimstone dams and falls.

Volcanic activity, principally in the form of basaltic lava flows, is related to waterfall development in many parts of the world. The flows compose the bulk of such great plateau areas as the Columbia River region of the United States and the Deccan plateau in India and often serve as cap rock. The association of falls with plateaus in general and with cap-rock arrangements was noted previously, but, in addition, some falls result from drainage diversion and the ponding of streams and rivers by lava dams. This has occurred in some parts of New Zealand, Iceland, and Hawaii and, in general, in regions where volcanic activity is a prominent aspect of the landscape.

Ice dams can produce similar effects. One of the most interesting examples is Dry Falls, a “fossil waterfall” in the Columbia River Plateau, Washington, which formed in late Pleistocene time. A large ice sheet blocked and diverted the then-westward-flowing Columbia River and formed a vast glacial lake. The lake drained to the south when permitted to do so by periodically occurring ice dams, and torrents of water were released during these breakouts. The water flowed through the Grand Coulee channel and eroded a canyon nearly 300 metres deep. Dry Falls occurs along this flow path; it is about 120 metres high and five kilometres wide. The Columbia River has reestablished its path to the sea since the disappearance of the ice sheet, and so the falls are dry today.

The magnitudes of flow that must have occurred during the Pleistocene, however, can be appreciated from data on some of the great glacier outburst floods (jøkulhlaups) of modern history. The breaching of an ice dam at Grímsvötn, Iceland, in 1922, for example, released about 7.1 cubic kilometres of water, and the discharge attained a value of 57,000 cubic metres per second.

There are other depositional features that may pond and dam streams, notably glacial moraines—which attain heights as great as 250 metres in the formerly glaciated valleys of the Alps—and landslides, avalanches, and other downslope movements of earth materials into valleys. The associated falls tend to be rather ephemeral, however, because all such unconsolidated material is cut through relatively swiftly, and smooth stream gradients are reestablished. The damming action of lava flows and glacier ice is far more important in nature; the lava flows consist of more durable material, and ice damming leads to outburst floods and great attendant erosion.