Carolina Environmental Diversity Explorations
Jocassee Gorges · By Stephanie Walters and Dirk Frankenberg
The spray zone
Figure 10. Water sprays a great distance from Rainbow Falls. (Photograph by Dirk Frankenberg. More about the photograph)
One of the unique features of the Jocassee Gorges region is the plant community that flourishes in the spray zone around the base of the waterfalls. Figure 10 shows visible evidence of the spray that sustains these unusual communities. If you look closely at the image you will see many light-colored blobs. These are easiest to see against a dark background such as the trees at the top of the falls or the rocks at the base. All of these blobs are droplets of spray that collected on the camera lens in the short period when it was uncovered to take the photograph!
The river was relatively high when the photograph was taken, but it was nowhere near flood stage. Nonetheless, spray particles from the falls were driven 50 to 100 feet down the gorge, leaving water-saturated habitats all along the riverbank.
