Waterfall bisected by fault.
If it weren't for their relative proximity to Iguazu the Saltos de Mocona, located near El Soberbio in Argentina's Missiones province, would be more famous. As the Rio Uruguay flows over the same flood basalts one sees at Iguazu (for the geology see our past post at http://tinyurl.com/mury9vx), a fault runs down the length of the river, leaving a three km long waterfall that drops between15 and 25 metres across the fault. The river marks the border with Brazil and the area is covered in dense dark green woodland forming provincial parks and biosphere reserves on both sides of the invisible line.
The falls sideways into a gorge, and the water level needs to be just right for best effect. Too low and the water all falls into the gorge, too high and the fault is covered by the river, but just in between, this spectacular wonder of nature appears. The name is Guarani, an autochthonous language still spoken in the region, and means 'he who swallows everything'. They have been declared a national monument, and the park contains over 2,000 species of plant, a huge variety of brightly coloured butterflies (I counted over 40 kinds in a morning) and a variety of animals, including toucans and coatimundis.
Image credit: Ministerio de tourismo Argentina.
http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/waterfall/Mocona-Saltos-del-5477/
http://www.argentinatravelplanet.com/regions/northeast-the-littoral/misiones/saltos-del-mocona/ http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/south-america/argentina/the-litoral-and-the-gran-chaco/the-saltos-del-mocona/#ixzz2bg0gvE35_ _
