Photos

The Waterfalls are formed by the falls of the river Iguaçu, larger river of the state of Paraná, that is born in the Mountain of the Sea, close to Curitiba, capital of the state and, after traveling about 1.200 km in direction west, deságua in the river Paraná being, therefore, a basin hidrográfica interiorana.
His/her first name, Saltos Santa Maria, it was given by Álvar Núñez, Spanish conqueror that entered for the history with the nickname of “Cabeza of Cow”, in 1542, that there it arrived, leaving of the coast of Santa Catarina, through an extension of the “I Walk of Peabirú”, trails open natives in the forest that you/they tied the Atlantic coast with Andes, going Cusco even, in Peru.
He/she stayed like this being called up to 1939 when the area where this located it was nationalized by the then president Getúlio Vargas, creating the National Park of Iguaçu.
The word “Iguaçu”, of indigenous origin, it comes of “Igua” that means water and “Açu” that means big, in other words, "big water", in the etymology Tupi-Guarani, language of the Indians Caigangues, first inhabitants of the area.
His/her geological formation dates of approximately 150 million years.
The whole volume of water of the river, that above the waterfalls he/she disperses for 1.200 m of width, after falling for about 150 to 300 jumps (THE number of jumps depends on the largest or smaller volume of water drained by the river) with heights that vary from 40 m to 82 m, it is compressed in a channel of 65 m of width.
The flow of the river varies in agreement with the drought period or of flood, going from a minimum of 500 m³/s to a maximum of 6.500 m³/s, being of approximately 1.500 m³/s the medium flow.
The flow ends registered to today were of a minimum of 89,92 m³/s, registered healthy drought of 1978 to the maximum of 36.500 m³/s, registered in the full of July of 1983.
Due to those numbers the largest fall of water of the world is considered, in volume.