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Postglacial Recession of Niagara Falls in Relation to the Great Lakes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Keith J. Tinkler ,
James W. Pengelly ,
William G. Parkins  and
Gary Asselin
Keith J. Tinkler
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
James W. Pengelly
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
William G. Parkins
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
Gary Asselin
Affiliation:
86 St. Augustine Drive, St. Catharines, Ontario L2P 3V1, Canada
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Abstract

The recessional history of Niagara Falls in the present Niagara Gorge during the postglacial period has been a focus of study throughout this century. Radiocarbon ages of clam shells suggest that Niagara Falls migrated very slowly around the narrowed gorge section at Niagara Glen from 10,500 to 5500 yr B.P., when upper Great Lakes water bypassed Lake Erie and flowed to the Ottawa River via the outlet at North Bay, Ontario. Prior to that interval, river discharge and recession rates were similar to those at present, and similar rates resumed after 5200 yr B.P. By about 4500 yr B.P., the present gorge had intersected a buried gorge of the pre-late Wisconsinan Niagara River (St. Davids Gorge). The sediment derived from the excavated buried valley fill may be present as a distinct marker horizon in the sediments in southwestern Lake Ontario.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , July 1994 , pp. 20 - 29
Copyright
University of Washington

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