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Niagara Falls Jun 23, 2008

Formation of the Niagara Falls

Although the Falls at Niagara are about 12,000 years old, the story of their formation can be traced back hundreds of millions of years into the past. Five hundred million years ago, the Earth was very different from the way it is today. Its climate was mostly tropical, and the land masses that would one day become North America and Eurasia were still in the process of separating from one another.

Most of the western and central portions of what was to become North America (including the Niagara region) lay underneath shallow tropical seas and brackish ponds. The eastern part of this future continent was dominated by the Taconic Mountains, a range that was taller than the still unformed Rockies would ever be.

The Taconics no longer exist in our world. Five hundred million years of erosion have reduced them to the Appalachian, Allegheny, and Catskill Mountains that we know today. The silt and minerals that were worn away from the Taconics, however, provided the materials that formed the Niagara region and (much later) the Niagara Falls.

Water runoff from the Taconics carried sediment down to the west, where it settled to the bottom of tropical seas and ponds. Later deposits built up on top of earlier ones, compressing them into layers of rock. Over time, different mineral solutions washed down to the sea bottoms, resulting in the formation of different types of rock layers. The lowest layers deposited in the Niagara region were the “red beds”– the soft, iron-bearing Queenston shales. These were laid down under very shallow, brackish water.

The next several layers to be formed in Niagara were sandstones and shales (mostly soft), interspersed with harder layers of limestone. The last layers of rock to be deposited were composed of a hard magnesium-bearing limestone known as Lockport dolomite (also called dolostone). The dolomite layers were formed under a true tropical sea (sea level was higher than when the red beds were formed), and now contain many marine fossils. The outer edge of the dolomite deposits formed a huge semicircle that has now become the edge of the Niagara Escarpment - a 600 mile ridge that sweeps west and north from Rochester, NY into Canada.

By about two hundred million years ago, the rock strata of the Niagara region were more or less in the form they hold today. No great changes occurred in the ocean beds of Niagara from then until fairly “recent” times.

Then about twenty million years ago, the Earth’s climate began to change. The planet grew gradually cooler and the polar ice caps began slowly to expand. As more and more water was frozen into the ice caps, the sea levels began to drop.

Two million years ago, the Niagara region began to see the effects of the climate change. The ocean beds were uncovered by the retreating sea, and the growing northern glaciers crept southward into what was to become the Great Lake region. Four major glaciations occurred during the next two million years. The greatest advance of the glaciers took place during the last half-million years. It was during this glaciation that the ice masses gouged out the Great Lakes basins.

The last glaciers melted away from the Niagara area about 12,000 years ago. Huge torrents of water, released into the upper Great lakes by the melting ice, channeled along what became the Niagara River and poured over the edge of the Niagara Escarpment (the dolomite cliff) at what is now Lewiston, New York. This was the beginning of the Niagara Falls.

The water of the newly-formed falls began very slowly to cut into the cliff over which it poured. The highest underground layer of rock, the layer at the top of the cliff, was (and is ) the Lockport dolomite – a very hard, erosion-resistant material. The underlying layers of rock (those that support the dolomite), however, were mostly soft. Water from the river above the falls seeped down through cracks in the dolomite layer and into the layers of softer rock below. The pressure of the water caused the soft under-layers to be pushed out from the face of the cliff behind the falls. These soft layers sheared off, thus removing the dolomite’s supports.

With nothing left underneath to hold up the top edge of the cliff, the dolomite layer collapsed under its own weight and fell to the base of the cliff at the bottom of the falls. The water pouring over the falls pounded down on to the rubble and wore it slowly away. The soft under-layers of the cliff continued to shear away behind the falls. The dolomite at the brink of the falls continued to collapse as its support was removed, and the falls began to move slowly upstream.

Today, 12,000 years later, the falls have moved more than seven miles upstream from their original location. In the process of moving they carved out the Niagara Gorge – a seven-mile canyon.

About 6,000 years ago, when the falls were roughly halfway to their present location, they reached a sharp bend in the river. At the outer edge of the bend was the end of an older river gorge, a gorge that had been filled in with rubble from the last glacier. The falls wore their way around the bend, scoured out the end of the filled in gorge, and produced the Whirlpool Basin (the site of the present-day Niagara Whirlpool).

The Falls then continued to move slowly upstream – a process that goes on today.

The present rate of erosion of the Falls has been slowed by the diversion of water upstream for the generation of electricity. The shape of today’s Niagara Falls is now maintained by the regulation of water flow over specific portions of the cliff, but these human-caused effects will not be permanent. The Falls of Niagara are constantly changing, providing a living example of the geologic processes that formed them.

NIAGARA FALLS FACTS

American Falls

Height 180 ft

Width 1060 ft

Volume of flow 10% of total

Horseshoe Falls

Height 170 ft,

Width 2200 ft

Volume of flow 90% of total

Total Flow Over Niagara Falls

April 1 - Sept 15: 100,000 cu ft/sec) (8am-10pm)

Sept. 16 - Oct. 31: 100,000 cu ft/sec) (8am-8pm)

All other times: 50,000 cu ft/sec

Total Average Flow of Niagara River

Before diversion for electricity: 202,000 cu ft/sec

Observation Tower

This 230-foot overlook provided a perfect photography platform, looking back toward both the Falls and downstream to Rainbow Bridge. High speed elevators provided access to the Gorge and a boarding area for the Maid of the Mist.

Maid of the Mist

This was a voyage that truly transcends everyday reality and challenges you to indulge your sense of excitement and adventure. As the boats cruised to the base of the American Falls, then to the basin of the commanding Horseshoe Falls, our hearts were racing as we experienced the absolute exhilaration of confronting millions of gallons of water crashing like thunder into the rocks nearby.

Since 1846, when the first boat was a wooden-hulled, coal-fired steamboat, the fleet has ferried adventurous presidents, kings, film stars and millions of tourists through the swirling currents. This raging journey gave us the ride of our lives!

Cave of the Winds

This was a spectacular Niagara Falls tour where we experienced being closer to the waters of Niagara Falls than we ever thought possible. We explored beneath the American Falls, navigating our way across catwalks to the famous Hurricane Deck. We were surrounded by the thundering power of water cascading down from hundreds of feet above.

This was absolutely the most exhilarating, breathtaking experience of our lives!

Our journey began with an elevator ride 175 feet into the Niagara Gorge. Then, clad in a souvenir rain poncho and sandals, we followed a tour guide up four levels of wooden walkways (catwalks) to the Hurricane Deck, less than 20 feet from the torrents of Bridal Veil Falls. On the deck, we experienced tropical storm-like conditions, getting completely soaked with the spray from the rushing waters. A totally unbelievably, awesome experience!

While there is no actual cave anymore, the original cave was a natural cave behind Bridal Veil Falls 130 feet high, 100 feet wide and 30 feet in depth. It was discovered in 1834, and originally dubbed Aeolus' Cave, after the Greek god of winds. Guided tours began officially in 1841 and continued until a rock fall in 1920 made it clear, the passage was no longer safe. The cave was obliterated in a massive 1954 rock fall and subsequent dynamiting of a dangerous overhang.

The tour officially reopened in 1924, now bringing visitors to the front of the Bridal Veil instead of behind it, on a series of decks and walkways. Tropical storm-like conditions can be experienced, as winds can reach up to 68 mph underneath the falls.

Rainbow Bridge

Construction of the Rainbow Bridge started in May of 1940 and opened November 1st 1941. The deck of this bridge is 202 feet above the water and 950 feet in length. The water current under this bridge averages 26-30 miles per hour. The water depth is in excess of 175 feet. In one minute, it is estimated that six billion (6,000,000,000) pounds of water cross under the Rainbow Bridge. The bridges abutments are 50 feet above the water to avoid damage from ice in the river which incidentally destroyed the previous Honeymoon Bridge in January of 1938.

Whirlpool State Park

Located about 2.5 miles north of the Falls, the park had a spectacular view of the Giant Whirlpool and the vicious rapids at the 90-degree bend in the Niagara River which we viewed from the top of the Gorge.

Daredevil Museum – Daredevils of Niagara Falls

October 24th 1901

Annie Taylor was the first person to conquer the falls in a barrel. After climbing inside her airtight wooden barrel, the air pressure was compressed to 30 p.s.i. with a bicycle pump. Though bruised and battered Annie made it. She expected fame and fortune. Annie died in poverty.

July 25th 1911

The infamous Bobby Leach plunged over the Falls in a steel barrel. Bobby broke both kneecaps and his jaw during his daring event. Years later while touring in New Zealand, Bobby slipped on an orange peel and died from complications due to gangrene!

July 11th 1920

Englishman Charles G. Stephens equipped his wooden barrel with an anvil for ballast. Charles tied himself to the anvil for security. After the plunge, Chucks right arm was the only item left in the barrel.

July 4th 1928

"Smiling Jean" Lussier survived the trip over the brink in a large rubber ball.

July 5th 1930

A Greek waiter named George L. Statakis suffocated to death after his barrel was trapped behind the falls for more than 14 hours.

June 30th 1961

Nathan Boya drops off the brink in a ball-like contraption.

July 3rd 1984

The first Canadian to conquer the Falls was Karel Soucek. Karel survived the plunge, but later that year Karel was killed while recreating the drop from a platform inside the Houston Astrodome. (Karel's barrel hit the edge of the water tank)

August 18th 1985

A Rhode Island bartender named Steven Trotter made the trip in a barrel wrapped in inner tubes. Steven was fined a total of $5,503.00

October 5th 1985

A Canadian mechanic John "Super Dave" Munday made a successful trip in his barrel. Dave could not get enough! He made a second successful trip on September 26th 1993.

September 28th 1989

Niagara Falls Ontario residents Peter De Bernardi and Jeffery James Petkovich accomplished the first duo descent of the Falls.

October 1st 1995

Robert Overcracker rides a jet-ski over the brink of the Horseshoe Falls to help promote awareness for the homeless. His parachute did not open and Robert ended up promoting better parachutes. He plunged to his death and his body was never recovered. An Egyptian tourist captured this amazing image.

June 18th 1995

Steve Trotter returns to the Falls again to make his second attempt. This time with a partner, Lori Martin a caterer from Georgia. They were the first male and female to make the big drop together!

October 22nd 2003

Kirk Jones from Canton Michigan becomes the first stunter in the history of Niagara Falls to survive the plunge wearing only the clothes on his back. Kirk's idea had been in the works for a number of years. While here on a visit with a friend, Kirk made the decision. They purchased a used video camera to record this historical event and went to the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the river. Kirk entered the water about one hundred yards upstream and began swimming out into the swift current. Eight seconds later Kirk made the 175 foot drop and swam to shore while passing up a free ride with the "Maid of the Mist" tour boat. Kirk was treated for minor bumps and bruises at a local hospital and released only after promising to return for court. For his stunt Kirk was fined a total of $2,300.00 dollars and banned from entering Canada for life. Kirk is now wrapping up a stint with a US circus and plans on writing a book about his ordeal. Unfortunately, Kirk and his friend had been imbibing in alcohol before the stunt and Kirks friend couldn't figure out how to work the camcorder and the entire stunt went unrecorded!