Plunge pool
Topic: Landforms and their Evolution: Rivers, Groundwater, Glaciers, Waves and Wind · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Landforms and their Evolution"
Meaning
A plunge pool is a large, deep pothole at the foot of a waterfall. The water falls with great force, and the pebbles and boulders it swirls around drill into the rock below. Over time, the pool cuts under the rock face of the waterfall. Then the rock above breaks off, and the waterfall slowly moves back upstream.
Example
The Dhuandhar Falls on the Narmada at Bhedaghat, near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, drop into a plunge pool at their foot.
Don't confuse with
- Pothole: a pothole is a smaller round hollow anywhere in a rocky stream bed. A plunge pool is a much larger hollow found only at the base of a waterfall.