Iguazu Falls - Iguazu Falls (English name) Salto do Iguaçu

Japanese: イグアス滝 - イグアスたき（英語表記）Salto do Iguaçu

In Spanish, it is called Cataratas del Iguazú. These falls are located at the lowermost part of the Iguazu River, a tributary of the left bank of the Paraná River, which forms the border between Brazil and Argentina. They were formed about 20 km upstream from the confluence with the Paraná River, where the Iguazu River flows down from the Paraná Plateau, which is made of basaltic lava, into a canyon called the "Devil's Throat". They fall over a horseshoe-shaped cliff about 4 km wide and have a drop of 60 to 82 m. The river water is divided into more than 270 waterfalls by small islands on the edge of the plateau and rock shelves protruding from the cliffs, and the waterfalls rise from the falls to a height of more than 150 m, creating a beautiful rainbow. Various types of plants, such as orchids, pines, bamboos, palms, ivy, and begonias, grow in the river and the surrounding area, and on the rock shelves you can see plants of the family Podocarpusaceae, which only grow in waterfalls and rapids. It is a large waterfall, larger in width and height than Niagara Falls in North America. It has a huge water potential, with an average annual flow rate of about 1,756 m3 per ^second and a maximum of 12,750 ^m3 during the rainy season from November to March. However, it has mainly been used as a tourist resource, and both countries have designated the area around the waterfall as Iguazu National Park. Many tourists visit the falls by water transport on the Paraná River or by air. In 1541, a Spaniard who visited the falls named them Santa Maria Falls, but later they were called Iguazu, which means "big water" in the language of the indigenous Guarani Indians. In the 18th century, Jesuit missionaries began surveying the falls, but they were soon halted, and it was not until 1892 that a topographical map of the falls was completed.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

スペイン語では Cataratas del Iguazú。パラナ川左岸支流，ブラジルとアルゼンチンとの国境をなすイグアス川最下流部にかかる滝。パラナ川との合流点より約 20km上流，イグアス川が玄武岩質溶岩から成るパラナ高原から「悪魔ののど」と呼ばれる峡谷に流下するところに形成されたもので，馬蹄形をなす断崖に幅約 4kmにわたってかかり，落差は 60～82m。高原縁辺の小島や断崖から突出した岩棚によって河水は 270以上の滝に分れて落下，落下地点から立ちのぼる水煙は高さ 150m以上に達し，虹がかかって美しい光景を出現させている。河中を含め周辺一帯にはラン，マツ，タケ，ヤシ，ツタ，ベゴニアなど多種の植物が茂り，岩棚には滝や急流の中にしか生育しないカワゴケソウ科の植物もみられる。幅，落差とも北アメリカのナイアガラ瀑布をしのぐ大規模な滝で，毎秒の流量は年平均約 1756m³，11月～3月の雨季には最大1万 2750m³と膨大な包蔵水力をもつが，現在までのところおもに観光資源として利用されており，両国とも滝を中心とした一帯をイグアス国立公園に指定している。パラナ川の水運あるいは空路で訪れる観光客が多い。 1541年この滝を訪れたスペイン人がサンタマリア滝と名づけたが，その後再び先住民であるインディオのグアラニ族の言葉で「大きな水」を意味するイグアスの名で呼ばれるようになった。 18世紀にはイエズス会の宣教師によって調査が始められたが，まもなく中断，滝の地形図が完成したのは 1892年になってからである。

出典　ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典について　情報

<<: Iguana - Iguana (English spelling)

>>: Live - Ikiru