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Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is one of the most popular vacation destinations in Ontario and New York. Thousands of people visit the area each year to see one of natures most spectacular wonders. There are many things to do in the city with many new attractions, hotels, restaurants,museums built each year. The surrounding Niagara Region also offers many different "things to do" for visitors, including wine tours, golfing, nature hikes, bike tours, historical areas, Niagara on the Lake, Fort George, Fort Erie, and much more.

Ice Age History of the Niagara River and Whirlpool Rapids

The Niagara River, as is the entire Great Lakes Basin of which the river is an integral part, is a legacy of the last Ice Age. 18,000 years ago southern Ontario was covered by ice sheets 2-3 kilometers thick. As they advanced southward the ice sheets gouged out the basins of the Great Lakes. Then as they melted northward for the last time they released vast quantities of meltwater into these basins. Our water is "fossil water"; less than one percent of it is renewable on an annual basis, the rest leftover from the ice sheets.
The Niagara Peninsula became free of the ice about 12,500 years ago. As the ice retreated northward, its meltwaters began to flow down through what became Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, down to the St. Lawrence River, and, finally, down to the sea. There were originally 5 spillways from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Eventually these were reduced to one, the original Niagara Falls, at Queenston-Lewiston. From here the Falls began its steady erosion through the bedrock.
However, about 10,500 years ago, through an interplay of geological effects including alternating retreats and re-advances of the ice, and rebounding of the land when released from the intense pressure of the ice (isostatic rebound), this process was interrupted. The glacial meltwaters were rerouted through northern Ontario, bypassing the southern route. For the next 5,000 years Lake Erie remained only half the size of today, the Niagara River was reduced to about 10% of its current flow, and a much-reduced Falls stalled in the area of the Niagara Glen.
About 5,500 years ago the meltwaters were once again routed through southern Ontario, restoring the river and Falls to their full power. Then the Falls reached the Whirlpool.
It was a brief and violent encounter, a geological moment lasting only weeks, maybe even only days. In this moment the Falls of the youthful Niagara River intersected an old riverbed, one that had been buried and sealed during the last Ice Age. The Falls turned into this buried gorge, tore out the glacial debris that filled it, and scoured the old river bottom clean. It was probably not a falls at all now but a huge, churning rapids. When it was all over it left behind a 90-degree turn in the river we know today as the Whirlpool, and North America's largest series of standing waves we know today as the Whirlpool Rapids.
The Falls then re-established at about the area of the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge upriver to our right, and resumed carving its way through solid rock to its present location.

American Falls & Bridal Veil Falls

length of brink: 1060 feet
height: 176 feet (due to rocks at the base actual fall is 70 feet)
volume of water: 150,000 U.S. Gallons per second
Actual amount varies, there are two hydroelectric plants which draw water into their
reservoirs prior to the Falls. Their intake greatly affects the volume of water flowing over
the falls. The amount of water being siphoned away depends on two variables. The time
of year, and the time of the day. Flow is greatest in the daytime during peak tourist
season (June, July, and August). In the event of an emergency the flow can be
somewhat reduced by the hydroelectric companies increasing their intake.
The Bridal Veil Falls is named for its appearance. It is located next to the American falls,
separated by a small piece of land called Luna Island.