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Webster, NY
$65.00
Title
A Sight To See
Artist
Jennifer Craft
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
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.
Uploaded
March 18th, 2015
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Viewed 292 Times - Last Visitor from Wilmington, DE on 04/19/2024 at 11:41 PM
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Little Neck, NY - United States
Spectacular capture of Niagara Falls! Congrats, Jennifer! This truly amazing image is being featured in the Special Featured Artists of the Month Section of the Homepage of the New York Sunsets Sunrises Landscapes and Iconic Places. F/L.
Yarmouth, ME - United States
I think I must have been here shortly after you. Niagara is amazing. I also saw the ice burgs in the river. I think I most likely was standing just where you were when you shot this! Just fantastic!
Lutherville, MD - United States
wow! Another spectacular place on Planet Earth. Great image Jennifer l/f
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