The allure of waterfalls

The 18th/19th Century witnessed Great Britain's leisured classes undertaking tours specifically to view and experience landscape scenery from the perspective of Romanticism and then specifically to locations that were deemed to satisfy the aesthetic ideals of the Picturesque. It was a time that heralded the start of the British tourism industry, with guides, guidebooks, transport, accommodation and infrastructure, to satisfy the leisured classes. It is a happy coincidence that waterfalls are generally best experienced with high water flows and an ideal subject for itineraries in an oceanic climate, when weather negates the views from elevated locations.  Two centuries on and waterfalls, provide inspiration for landscape photographers, on days when weather negates elevated views.

From a purely aesthetic perspective there is something visually compelling in the juxtaposition and interplay of colours from white water, dark rock and verdant greenery. The camera may not capture the sound, but it can capture movement and long exposures create an ethereal effect on foaming white water.

Coincidentally in the 18th Century, waterfalls were also the focus of inquiry by early geologists, who investigated their relationship with the underlying geology to elucidate their nature. The geologists determined that waterfalls exploited weaknesses in the bedrock and their nature influenced by : joints, rock competencies, fractures, cleavage, bedding planes, faults, structures etc The character of a waterfall was determined by Geological control. There was also a dawning realisation that the waterfalls in the context of the wider landscape, represented a vast amount of time, to allow for fluvial erosion of bedrock. The vast time for waterfall formation were used by geologists championing Uniformitarianism and challenging the prevailing paradigm of Catastrophism.