Trollhättan Falls is a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

in the Göta river (

Göta älv The Göta älv (; "River of (the) Geats") is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat, at the city of Gothenburg, on the western coast of Sweden. It was formed at the end of the last glaciation, as an outflow channel from the Baltic Ic ...

) in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The falls starts at Malgö Bridge in central

Trollhättan Trollhättan () is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is locate ...

, and has a total height of 32 metres, making up a large part of the 44 metre total fall of the river from

Vänern Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in ...

Kattegat The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden ...

. Before the hydroelectric powerplants was built the discharge of the falls was 900 m³/s, and the falls stretched down to Olidehålan, where the lower part of the fall was called ''Helvetesfallet'' ("Hell Falls"). Today the river is allowed through its original course only at special occasions, to regulate the waterlevels of

or as a tourist attraction, such as during the ''Fallens dagar'' ("Days of the Waterfalls"), arranged on the third Friday of July every year. The discharge is then 300 m³/s. Most of the time the falls are used in the hydroelectric powerplants Håjum and

Olidan Olidan Power Station ( sv, Olidans kraftverk) is a hydroelectric power station located in Trollhättan, Sweden. First opened in 1910, it was the first large scale attempt at generating electricity from water in Sweden. The construction of Olidan ...

on the eastern banks of the river.

References

Vastsverige.com

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trollhattan Falls Landforms of Västra Götaland County Waterfalls of Sweden