Niagara Gorge

Niagara Gorge

Niagara River flowing through Niagara Gorge (from eastern brink north of Niagara Whirlpool)
Location New York and Ontario
Geography
Coordinates 43°07′15″N 79°04′14″W / 43.1208°N 79.0705°WCoordinates: 43°07′15″N 79°04′14″W / 43.1208°N 79.0705°W

Niagara Gorge is a 11 km (6.8 mi) gorge carved by the Niagara River along the US-Canadian border in New York and Ontario.[1] It begins at the base of Niagara Falls and ends at the Niagara escarpment near Queenston, Ontario, where the falls originated about 12,500 years ago.[1][2]

The river has formed the gorge, and the Falls has receded upstream and south toward Lake Erie, by slow erosion of hard Lockport dolomite (a dolomitic limestone or dolostone) which is the surface rock of the escarpment combined with rapid erosion of relatively soft layers beneath it.[3]

The force of the river current in the gorge is one of the most powerful in the world. Because of the dangers this presents, kayaking the gorge has generally been prohibited. However, on isolated occasions, world class experts have been permitted to navigate the stretch.

The Niagara River whirlpool basin in Niagara Gorge

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Niagara Falls Geology Facts & Figures". Ontario's Niagara Parks (niagaraparks.com). Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "Erosion at Niagara Falls". Samizdat (samizdat.qc.ca). Retrieved 21 August 2011. Excerpt from Ian T. Taylor, In the Minds of men: Darwin and the new World Order, 1987; TFE Publishing, 1999 (ISBN 9780969178897), pp. 81–84.
  3. ↑ Corrigan, Patricia (2007). Waterfalls. Infobase Publishing. pp. 62–63. ISBN 978-0-8160-6436-6.