Niagara Escarpment

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Niagara Escarpment (in red) Niagara Escarpment map.png
Niagara Escarpment (in red)
Rattlesnake Point near Milton, Ontario Niagara-Escarpment-Rattlesnake.jpg
Rattlesnake Point near Milton, Ontario
The Niagara River has carved the Niagara Gorge through the Niagara Escarpment over thousands of years. DSC 8739 (10596155586).jpg
The Niagara River has carved the Niagara Gorge through the Niagara Escarpment over thousands of years.

The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that starts from the south shore of Lake Ontario westward, circumscribes the top of the Great Lakes Basin running from New York through Ontario, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The escarpment is the cliff over which the Niagara River plunges at Niagara Falls, for which it is named.

Contents

The escarpment is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. The reserve has the oldest forest ecosystem and trees in eastern North America. [1]

The escarpment is not a fault line but the result of unequal erosion. It is composed of an outcrop belt of the Lockport Formation of Silurian age, and is similar to the Onondaga Formation, which runs in a parallel outcrop belt just to the south, through western New York and southern Ontario. The escarpment is the most prominent of several escarpments formed in the bedrock of the Great Lakes Basin. From its easternmost point just south of Lake Ontario, the escarpment shapes in part the individual basins and landforms of Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan.

In Rochester, New York, the Genesee River flows through the city in three waterfalls over the scarp face. The escarpment thence runs westward to the Niagara River, forming a deep gorge north of Niagara Falls, which itself cascades over the scarp face. In southern Ontario, it spans the Niagara Peninsula, closely following the Lake Ontario shore through the cities of St. Catharines and Hamilton, where it takes a sharp turn north in the town of Milton toward Georgian Bay. It then follows the Georgian Bay shore northwestwards to form the spine of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island, as well as several smaller islands in northern Lake Huron, where it turns westwards into the Upper Peninsula of northern Michigan, south of Sault Ste. Marie. It extends down the Garden Peninsula and Potawatomi Islands into Wisconsin following the Door Peninsula and then continues more inland from the western coast of Lake Michigan until ending in the southeastern corner of Dodge County. [2]

Formation

Niagara Escarpment in Grimsby, Ontario from about 1060 metres (3,500 feet) above sea level Niagara-Escarpment-Winter-IMG 0626.JPG
Niagara Escarpment in Grimsby, Ontario from about 1060 metres (3,500 feet) above sea level
A section of escarpment cliff, seen from the Bruce Trail in Ontario Bruce-Trail-bmountain.jpg
A section of escarpment cliff, seen from the Bruce Trail in Ontario
Outcropping of the escarpment in Door County, Wisconsin approximately 10 feet (3 m) from Lake Michigan NiagaraEscarpmentOutcroppings LakeMichiganShore.jpg
Outcropping of the escarpment in Door County, Wisconsin approximately 10 feet (3 m) from Lake Michigan
Niagara Escarpment from above Rattlesnake Point, Milton, Ontario Niagara Escarpment from above Rattlesnake Point, Milton, Ontario.jpg
Niagara Escarpment from above Rattlesnake Point, Milton, Ontario
Exposure of the escarpment at Dodge County Ledge Park, Dodge County, Wisconsin. Niagara-Escarpment-Dodge-Co.jpg
Exposure of the escarpment at Dodge County Ledge Park, Dodge County, Wisconsin.

Study of rock exposures and drillholes demonstrates that no displacement of the rock layers occurs at the escarpment, which is not a fault line but the result of unequal erosion. The escarpment's caprock is dolomitic limestone, also known as dolostone, which is more resistant and overlies weaker, more easily eroded shale as a weathering-resistant "cap". The escarpment formed over millions of years through a process of differential erosion of these rocks of different hardnesses. Through time the soft rocks weather away or erode by the action of streams. The gradual removal of the soft rocks undercuts the resistant caprock, leaving a cliff or escarpment. The erosional process is most readily seen at Niagara Falls, where the river has quickened the process. It can also be seen at the three waterfalls of the Genesee River at Rochester (additional resistant rock layers make more than one escarpment in some places). Also, in some places thick glacial deposits, such as the Oak Ridges Moraine, conceal the Niagara Escarpment, such as north of Georgetown, Ontario, where it actually continues under glacial till and reappears farther north.[ citation needed ]

The dolomite cap was laid down as sediment on the floor of a marine environment. In Michigan, behind (south of) the escarpment, the cuesta capstone slopes gently to form a wide basin, the floor of an Ordovician-Silurian-age tropical sea. (The escarpment is essentially the remnant shoreline of that sea.) There the constant deposition of minute shells and fragments of biologically-generated calcium carbonate, mixed with sediment washed in by erosion of the virtually lifeless landmasses, eventually formed a limestone layer. During the Silurian period, some magnesium substituted for some of the calcium in the carbonates, slowly forming harder dolomite layers in the same fashion. This dolomite basin contains Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie. Worldwide sea levels were at their all-time maximum in the Ordovician; as the sea retreated, erosion inevitably began. [3]

Human geography

The escarpment was a major obstacle in the construction of the Erie Canal in New York and was traversed by a series of locks; the community which grew up at the site thus became known as Lockport, New York. [4]

The Welland Canal allows ships to traverse the escarpment between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario on the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario. [5] The canal also allowed Sea Lamprey, an invasive species native to Northern Atlantic Ocean, to enter Lake Erie and became a concern for the lake's ecosystem. [6]

In southern Ontario, the Bruce Trail runs the length of the escarpment from Queenston on the Niagara River to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. Highway 401, Canada's busiest, also crosses the Niagara Escarpment, beginning its long descent through rolling hills, farmland, and towns west of Milton. Rock exposed on the face of the escarpment can be seen along Highway 26 from Owen Sound eastwards towards Meaford, Ontario.

Hamilton, Ontario is on the escarpment in such a way that the north end of the city is below and the south part above. Commonly referred to as "The Mountain" by its residents, many roads or "mountain accesses" join the urban core below with the suburban expansion above. From 1892 to 1936, the Hamilton Incline Railway transported people up and down "The Mountain."

High Cliff State Park in Wisconsin shows how modern and prehistoric humans used the escarpment for not only cultural reasons, but economic gains, as well. A number of different animal and geometric effigy mounds and the remains of an early 20th-century limestone quarry and kiln are within the park.

The relief and exposed edge are used by several wind farms stretching from Pipe to Brownsville in Wisconsin. Wind speeds average 18 mph (about 29 km/h) along this stretch.

The Niagara Escarpment is a prominent Wisconsin feature in Dodge County, southwest of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; it is known there as "The Ledge" and is in Ledge County Park between Horicon and Mayville, Wisconsin. [7] Some local organizations take their name from it, including The Ledgers, the sports teams at St. Mary's Springs Academy, which is perched on the side of the escarpment.

Many resorts and ski areas in Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New York are along the escarpment.

Vineyard land

Niagara County, New York, near the eastern end of the escarpment, is the site of the 18,000 acres (7,284 ha) Niagara Escarpment AVA (American Viticultural Area). [8] Wines produced in this region include traditional grape varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Riesling, and fruit wines.

Ontario's Niagara Peninsula is the site of the largest wine-producing appellation (region) in Canada. Cool-climate varieties such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc are among the more than 30 varietals produced across 13,600 hectares (33,606 acres). Three subappellations lie along the benchlands of the Niagara Escarpment: Short Hills Bench, Twenty Mile Bench, and Beamsville Bench. [9]

Northeastern Wisconsin, at the western end of the escarpment, is the site of the 3,800 sq mi (9,800 km2) Wisconsin Ledge AVA. [10] Most of the region's vineyards lie upon the escarpment's eastern-facing slope that rises gently upward from the shores of Lake Michigan to the top of the Ledge, before dropping sharply off into Green Bay, and benefit greatly from constant air movement from Lake Michigan, which stores warmth during the summer. The presence of the lake produces a vacuum of sorts during the growing season: warm air over the lake rises, sucking colder air off the land and creating offshore breezes. Cold air cannot settle over the vineyards and a constant flow of warmer air makes the growing season here longer than in other parts of the state. The escarpment's glacial soils are made up of gravel, sand, and clay over limestone bedrock. An aquifer provides mineral-rich ground water to the vines, encouraging deep root growth. [11] [12]

World Biosphere Reserve

In February 1990, the Niagara Escarpment was a designated World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, making it one of 12 in Canada. Development and land use on and adjacent to the escarpment is regulated by the Niagara Escarpment Commission, an agency of the Ontario government. [13]

Cliffs along the scarp face have the oldest forest ecosystem in eastern North America. [14] The oldest tree in Ontario is an eastern white cedar from 688 A.D. [15] The oldest known tree in Wisconsin, a 1,300 year-old eastern white cedar, was found in Brown County. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Peninsula National Park</span> National park in Ontario, Canada

Bruce Peninsula National Park is a national park on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. Located on a part of the Niagara Escarpment, the park comprises 156 square kilometres and is one of the largest protected areas in southern Ontario, forming the core of UNESCO's Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve. It was established in 1987 to protect the rock formations and shoreline of the Niagara Escarpment. The park offers opportunities for many outdoor activities, including hiking, camping, boating, and bird watching. The park has trails ranging in difficulty from easy to expert, and connects to the Bruce Trail. Bruce Peninsula National Park is known for its crystal clear blue waters, cobblestone beaches, rocky cliffs and karst formations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niagara Peninsula</span> Peninsula in Ontario, Canada

The Niagara Peninsula is an area of land lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario, in the west. The peninsula is located in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, and has a population of roughly 1,000,000 residents. The region directly across the Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York State is known as the Niagara Frontier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Lakes region</span> Region of the United States and Canada

The Great Lakes region of Northern America is a binational Canadian–American region centered around the Great Lakes that includes the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and the Canadian province of Ontario. Canada's Quebec province is at times included as part of the region because the St. Lawrence River watershed is part of the continuous hydrologic system. The region forms a distinctive historical, economic, and cultural identity. A portion of the region also encompasses the Great Lakes megalopolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Peninsula</span> Peninsula in Southern Ontario, Canada

The Bruce Peninsula is a peninsula in Ontario, Canada, that divides Georgian Bay of Lake Huron from the lake's main basin. The peninsula extends roughly northwestwards from the rest of Southwestern Ontario, pointing towards Manitoulin Island, with which it forms the widest strait joining Georgian Bay to the rest of Lake Huron. The Bruce Peninsula contains part of the geological formation known as the Niagara Escarpment. The entire peninsula and nearby communities to the south along Lake Huron are located within Bruce County, Ontario.

Niagara may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Onondaga Limestone</span> Hard limestones rock formation in North America

The Onondaga Limestone is a group of hard limestones and dolomites of Devonian age that forms geographic features in some areas in which it outcrops; in others, especially its Southern Ontario portion, the formation can be less prominent as a local surface feature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niagara Gorge</span> Canyon on the border between New York, USA and Ontario, Canada

Niagara Gorge is an 11 km (6.8 mi) long canyon carved by the Niagara River along the Canada–United States border, between the U.S. state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario. It begins at the base of Niagara Falls and ends downriver at the edge of the geological formation known as the Niagara Escarpment near Queenston, Ontario, where the falls originated about 12,500 years ago. The position of the falls has receded upstream toward Lake Erie because of the falling waters' slow erosion of the riverbed's hard Lockport dolomite, combined with rapid erosion of the relatively soft layers beneath it. This erosion has created the gorge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michigan Basin</span> Geologic basin centered on the Lower Peninsula of Michigan

The Michigan Basin is a geologic basin centered on the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The feature is represented by a nearly circular pattern of geologic sedimentary strata in the area with a nearly uniform structural dip toward the center of the peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Hamilton, Ontario</span>

Hamilton is located on the western end of the Niagara Peninsula and wraps around the westernmost part of the Lake Ontario. Most of the city including the downtown section lies along the south shore. Situated in the geographic centre of the Golden Horseshoe, it lies roughly midway between Toronto and Buffalo. The two major physical features are Hamilton Harbour marking the northern limit of the city and the Niagara Escarpment running through the middle of the city across its entire breadth, bisecting the city into 'upper' and 'lower' parts.

The Short Hills Bench is a sub-appellation of the Niagara Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eramosa Member</span> Stratigraphic unit of the Lockport Formation

The Eramosa Member is a Silurian stratigraphic unit of the Lockport Formation exposed along the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario and western New York State. In the late nineteenth century it was an important source of building stone in Hamilton, Ancaster and Waterdown, and in the late twentieth century quarries in a similar unit, also called the Eramosa, near Wiarton in the Bruce Peninsula, became an important source of dimension stone at a time when most of the other resources of similar stone were depleted. Work in these quarries led to the discovery of exceptionally well preserved fossils. On the east Mountain at Hamilton, a well-developed cave system was discovered in the Eramosa and has now been designated as the Eramosa Karst Conservation Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheltenham Badlands</span> Badlands in Caledon, Ontario, Canada

The Cheltenham Badlands are in Caledon, Ontario, on the southeast side of Olde Base Line Road, between Creditview and Chinguacousy Roads. The site occupies an area of approximately 0.4 square kilometers and features exposed and highly eroded Queenston shale. The Cheltenham Badlands are a significant educational site due to the readily visible geologic processes and the red colour and the unique topography of the exposed shale make this a popular tourist site. The site is a Provincial Earth Sciences Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI) since it is considered one of the best examples of "badlands topography" in Ontario.

The Lockport Group is a geologic group in the Appalachian Basin and Michigan Basin in the northeastern United States and Canada. This unit makes up the Niagara Escarpment. Its most famous feature is Niagara Falls. The unit outcrops in New York, Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

The Vernon Formation is a geologic formation in the Appalachian Basin. It is the lowest unit of the Salina Group. It is made up of red and green shales, siltstone, dolomite, anhydrite and halite. It is made up of three distinct units starting at the bottom (oldest) A, B and C units. These units correspond to units of the same name in its parent group the Salina.

The Gasport Formation is a geologic formation in the Appalachian Basin and Michigan Basin. This is one of the reef formations separating the Appalachian Basin from the Michigan Basin and the Ohio Basin. It is a part of the Lockport Group of carbonates. It is the lowest and oldest formation within the Lockport. The Gasport is found in Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Outcrops are limited to the area around the Great Lakes. It is part of a large reef structure dating back to the Silurian period. Being part of the Lockport Group it is a feature of the Niagara Escarpment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erie Plain</span>

The Erie Plain is a lacustrine plain that borders Lake Erie in North America. From Buffalo, New York, to Cleveland, Ohio, it is quite narrow, but broadens considerably from Cleveland around Lake Erie to Southern Ontario, where it forms most of the Ontario peninsula. The Erie Plain was used in the United States as a natural gateway to the North American interior, and in both the United States and Canada the plain is heavily populated and provides very fertile agricultural land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve</span> UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Ontario, Canada

The Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve located in Ontario, Canada. The reserve stretches 725 kilometres (450 mi) along the Niagara Escarpment from Lake Ontario to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. The Escarpment corridor crosses two major biomes: needle leaf forests in the north and temperate broadleaf forest in the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Ontario</span>

The geology of Ontario is the study of rock formations in the most populated province in Canada- it is home to some of the oldest rock on Earth. The geology in Ontario consists of ancient Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock which sits under younger, sedimentary rocks and soils.

The geology of Ohio formed beginning more than one billion years ago in the Proterozoic eon of the Precambrian. The igneous and metamorphic crystalline basement rock is poorly understood except through deep boreholes and does not outcrop at the surface. The basement rock is divided between the Grenville Province and Superior Province. When the Grenville Province crust collided with Proto-North America, it launched the Grenville orogeny, a major mountain building event. The Grenville mountains eroded, filling in rift basins and Ohio was flooded and periodically exposed as dry land throughout the Paleozoic. In addition to marine carbonates such as limestone and dolomite, large deposits of shale and sandstone formed as subsequent mountain building events such as the Taconic orogeny and Acadian orogeny led to additional sediment deposition. Ohio transitioned to dryland conditions in the Pennsylvanian, forming large coal swamps and the region has been dryland ever since. Until the Pleistocene glaciations erased these features, the landscape was cut with deep stream valleys, which scoured away hundreds of meters of rock leaving little trace of geologic history in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.

The geology of Wisconsin includes Precambrian crystalline basement rock over three billion years old. A widespread marine environment during the Paleozoic flooded the region, depositing sedimentary rocks which cover most of the center and south of the state.

References

  1. ↑ Kelly, Peter (2007-05-31). The Last Stand: A Journey Through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara Escarpment (1st ed.). Natural Heritage. ISBN   978-1-897045-19-0 . Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  2. ↑ John Luczaj, "Geology of the Niagara Escarpment in Wisconsin"
  3. ↑ "The Niagara Escarpment". uwgb.edu. Archived from the original on 2010-06-04. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
  4. ↑ L., Riley, Kathleen (2005-01-01). Lockport : Historic jewel of the Erie Canal. Arcadia. p. 34. ISBN   978-0-7385-2477-1. OCLC   65537681.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Jackson, John N. (1997-01-01). The Welland Canals and their communities : engineering, industrial, and urban transformation. University of Toronto Press. ISBN   978-0-8020-0933-3. OCLC   803101574.
  6. ↑ "Sea Lampreys Escalate in Lake Erie".
  7. ↑ Joanne Kluessendorf, "A look at The Ledge", Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine, October 2010.
  8. ↑ Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Rules and Regulations, page 53300 – Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau 27 CFR Part 9 [T.D. TTB–33; Re: Notice No. 33 RIN 1513–AA97. Establishment of the Niagara Escarpment Viticultural Area (2004R–589P)
  9. ↑ "VQA Ontario · The Appellations · Niagara Peninsula". Vqaontario.com. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  10. ↑ "eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations". Ecfr.gov. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  11. ↑ "Wisconsin Ledge wine region". Wine-searcher.com. 2014-06-16. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  12. ↑ "Wisconsin Ledge AVA Set for TTB Approval". midwestwinepress.com. 18 October 2011.
  13. ↑ "Biosphere Reserve Information – Canada – Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve". MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory. UNESCO . Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  14. ↑ Kelly, Peter (2007-05-31). The Last Stand: A Journey Through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara Escarpment (1st ed.). Natural Heritage. ISBN   978-1-897045-19-0 . Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  15. ↑ Ancient Forest Exploration and Research. "Ontario's oldest tree" . Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  16. ↑ The oldest known tree in Wisconsin is a 1,300-year-old cedar growing from a cliff

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