Niagara Falls

1
Niagara Falls
2
Niagara Falls is the jewel of geological
history in the Niagara District. Did you ever
wonder How old is Niagara Falls? How did the
Falls begin? What is the Niagara Escarpment?
What is the Whirlpool? You are invited to
journey back into time........460 Million Years
Ago..........as the WIND, WATER and ICE
sculptured the land of Niagara into masterpiece
of majesty and might giving birth to the Falls
of Niagara.
3
Geography of Niagara
The Niagara Region is located on a portion
of a great plain which runs east to west from
the northern Laurentian Highlands (Canadian
Shield) approximately 161 kilometers north of
Toronto, Ontario to the southern Allegheny
Plateau which form the foothills of the
Adirondack Mountains and the Appalachian
Mountains.
4
The Niagara table land mass extends 100
kilometers (62 miles), both east and west from
the Niagara River. This plain is a small part of
the Great Lakes low lands in which Lake
Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie
and Lake Ontario lie. The areas north and south
of the Great Lakes low lands are the high
lands. Climate in Niagara has been similar to
the current weather patterns for the past 5,000
years.Today the Great Lakes hold twenty percent
of the worlds fresh water supply. Ninety-nine
(99) percent of this water is of glacial
origin.The Niagara Peninsula is actually an
isthmus.
5
Niagara Escarpment
The Niagara Escarpment begins in Watertown
New York, USA and ends on the Manitoulin Island
in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It is 1,609
kilometers in length and is the weathered edge
of a very ancient sea bottom. Throughout its
length from Hamilton, Ontario to Watertown, New
York the escarpment ranges from 183 meters (600
feet) above sea level to 189 meters (620 feet)
above sea level.The Niagara Escarpment is the
ultimate reason the Falls of Niagara was born.
Without the escarpment, Niagara Falls may never
have materialized. After millions of years, the
Niagara Escarpment continues to erode in a
southward direction.The Niagara Escarpment was
formed and existed before glaciations. The land
that is now Southern Ontario emerged from the
sea of the Paleozoic Era at least 245 million
years ago or more.
6
The Ordovician and the Silurian rocks of the
Niagara Escarpment are of the oldest found in
Niagara dating back to 430 - 415 million years
ago.The escarpment is not a fault line or a rift
line but was created through erosion. It is a
"cuesta".
7
The Ancient Seas of Niagara
It is said that the Earth was created 4,600
million years ago. Ever since that time, the
forces of nature have been masterfully creating
an artwork of ever changing landscape and
seascape known as Niagara. Eons ago, the Niagara
area the bottom of an ancient tropical salt
water sea. Ancient specimens are being found
today deep under the soils of Niagara that are
still today found at the bottom of our great
oceans. Approximately 65 million years ago
at the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of
the Tertiary periods, scientists claim that a
giant asteroid collided with the Earth in the
area of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. This
collision resulted in a massive amount of debris
being propelled into the atmosphere on a world
wide scale which caused a catastrophic change
in the climate and led to the extinction of the
dinosaur and many other life forms.
8
The Wisconsin Glacier in Niagara
The Niagara Escarpment was covered with a
sheet of ice 2 - 3 kilometers thick (Wisconsin
Glacier) 23,000 - 12,000 years ago. The last
glacial ice age occurred during three distinct
periods of time during the past 65,000 years.
The glacier originated east of Hudson Bay in
northern Quebec and Labrador. This great glacier
was known as "the Wisconsin Glacier". The early
Wisconsin Glacier covered the Niagara District
and most of the northern North America 65,000
years ago. This glacier remained for a period of
approximately 15,000 years before retreating
50,000 years ago.
9
The middle Wisconsin Glacier advanced again
over the Niagara District 40,000 years ago. It
remained for approximately 8,000 years before
retreating 32,000 years ago. The late
Wisconsin Glacier advanced again 20,000 years
ago. It remained for approximately 8,000 years
before beginning it's final retreat 12,000 years
ago.
10
As the Glacier retreated, the water levels
slowly lowered forming four lakes ?Glacial
Lake Algonquin - ( area including Lake
Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron) ? Glacial
Lake Warren- small (Lake Erie) ? Glacial Lake
Iroquois - small (Lake Ontario) ? Glacial Lake
Tonawanda - area western New York
11
The Whirlpool - St. David's Buried Gorge
The Whirlpool - St. David's Buried Gorge was a
channel for an ancient river which existed
before the advance of the third Wisconsin
Glacier. It is believed that this gorge was
buried in glacial silt during the retreat of
this glacier 12,000 years ago and never
reopened. When the Falls of Niagara eroded the
gorge back to the present day Thompson Point
(where the Spanish Aero Car and the Whirlpool
is located), the river found erosion of the rock
much easier. The Niagara River broke through a
rock barrier which held back glacial debris
which had been previously filled into what was
the ancient gorge of the St. David's River. The
waters of the Niagara River quickly flushed this
area of all the glacial debris (what is today
the Whirlpool) and changed direction to follow
the ancient gorge a short distance in a
southward direction.
12
It is believed that the Whirlpool Rapids Gorge
which extended southward to the present Michigan
Central Railroad Bridge, had also been carved
from the rock from the ancient St. David's River
which was also responsible for the carving out
of the now filled in St. David's buried
gorge. The ancient Whirlpool Rapids gorge was
38 meters (125 feet) wide. During the advance of
the late Wisconsin Glacier the ancient Whirlpool
gorge and the St. David's gorge were filled with
glacial debris. At one moment in time, the
ancient river did not make a dog leg turn at the
Whirlpool but rather followed a relative
straight line via the St. David's Gorge through
the present Village of St. David's to the shore
of Lake Iroquois (Lake Ontario).
13
Fossils of Niagara
Approximately 425 million years ago, Niagara
was the bottom of an ancient tropical sea. Today
fossils from that era can be found deep in the
layers of rock of Niagara. Because of the depth
of the Niagara Gorge, many of these fossils
have been exposed along the walls of the gorge.
14
Fossils found are Trilobites (Trilobata) - sea
floor crustaceans (425-240 million years ago)
found in Rochester, Grimsby and Clinton layers
of rock. Snails (Gastropoda) - spiral shells of
snails found in Silurian rocks. Sea Lilies
(Crinoidea) - sea floor starfish (425
million years ago) found in Rochester shale rock
layer - still in existence at bottom of Atlantic
Ocean. Horn Coral (Enterolasma Caliculum) grew
on sea bottom (425-400 million years ago) found
in Lockport and Clinton layers of rock. Lamp
Shells (Phyla Brachiopoda) - clam like shells,
eighty different species found in the Clinton
Rochester rock layers. Nautilus (Cephalopod) -
ancestors of nautilus, squid cuttlefish (425
million years ago) found in Medina and Queenston
rock layers.
15
The Future of Niagara Falls
16
The future of Niagara Falls is not easily
predicted. The Falls of Niagara as we know it
today will remain as it is for thousands of
years to come. Erosion is the largest factor
which will alter its appearance in the future.
Some have estimated that the Falls would
continue eroding southward for the next 8,000
years at which time it would reach the limits of
Lake Erie.
The eastern seaboard of North American is today
still rising from the glacial rebound effect. It
has been suggested that as the land rises on
the eastern seaboard that water flow to the
ocean will slow and reverse so that in the
future the Falls would be much diminished or
cease to exist entirely.
17
The End!