Horizontal Falls
Wednesday, 27th July 2005 by Alex Turnbull
This is the famous Horizontal Falls in the Kimberley region of western Australia. Although called waterfalls, this natural phenomenon actually consists of immense tidal currents hurtling through narrow coastal gorges. When the tide turns, the water ‘falls’ back in the other direction. You can see here what they look like from one of the planes which conduct tours of the area. Incredible.
The Kimberley coast is one of the largest coastal wilderness areas in the world, and unusually (for such an empty area) seems to be very well covered by high-resolution imagery.
Thanks to woowoowoo for at least the 4 billionth time 😉
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
err, thanks, but I think you want the ‘horizontal falls’ link to point to the map location – not my website 😉
Gah! Eek! twitch
Thanks woo 🙂
I think the fact you posted that airplane tours site on here has caused their site to crash and burn. 🙂
A similar phenomenon occurs in St. John, New Brunswick where the tides in the Bay of Fundy will cause the flow of the Saint John river to reverse over a series of rapids – hence their name of “Reversing Falls” (Wiki info) There’s a neat tourist boat ride one can take on the rapids, but really it’s only fun if you like getting wet.
Google Map (low-rez only)
From what I’ve read, the same thing happened on a much grander scale several thousand years ago at the straight of Gibraltar – when ocean levels were lower than they are now. Imagine this same thing, only 9 miles or so wide!
There is a lot of mining in the north of Western Australia which is why there is so much hi-res imagery of the Kimberleys.