Churches Falls Earthcache
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**Due to a washout, the trail from the east has been blocked off and closed at the bottom of the staircase and you are unable to view the falls from there. You need to approach the falls from the SW along the Dominion Trail. See the park's map to plan your approach accordingly.
Churches Falls is located immediately east of the small village of Cataract in the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park.
The park provides a mix of forest, wide open fields and a smattering of ponds. The trail to the waterfall is relatively well signed and winds through varied landscape. You are treated to an excellent view of the falls from a large steel viewing platform perched on the side of the steep valley. Please remain on the viewing platform and the trail. Do no descend into the riverbed as it is very dangerous.
The waterfall itself has a caprock (layer of erosion-resistant bedrock) projecting well over top of the weaker rock layers below, which are formed where resistant sandstones and limestones of the Cataract formation have been undercut by the underlying Queenston shale.
The rock face that can be seen on the opposite side of the river beside the falls displays an excellent contact between grey sandstone of the Whirlpool Formation and red shales of the underlying and older Queenston Formation. These layered sedimentary rocks were deposited in the ancient seas in the Paleozoic Era, over 400 million years ago, and form part of the Niagara Escarpment. The significance of the shale-sandstone contact is that it represents the boundary in Ontario of two geologic time periods, the older Ordovician and younger Silurian.
Waterfalls are important agents in geology and ecology. Large amounts of stream energy are expended at waterfalls, resulting in significant erosion of large boulders sitting in stream beds. However, it remains to be determined how effectively the bedrock itself is actually eroded. Streams that flow through overburden (sand, silt, clay) are fairly active in moving and redistributing its "unconsolidated sediments". Streams that cross bedrock however, may actually have very little power to directly erode the bedrock, and processes like freeze-thaw and gravity may be more important. Waterfalls may be important to stream ecology by aerating streams that are lacking dissolved oxygen. On the other hand, they can represent significant barriers to the upstream movement of fish. Long, gentle waterfalls like Sauble Falls or Burleigh Falls may still allow fish to move upstream. Conversely, the many high plunge waterfalls found along the Niagara Escarpment are impassable to fish.
Waterfalls in Ontario have a wide variety of shapes and appearances and can be classified based in part on the physical process by which the waterfall is formed. The following are classification of various waterfalls that can be found within Ontario.
Cascade
This is the most widely encountered waterfall form. The term is somewhat of a "catch-all", because it encompasses a large number of falls in different locations. It is most prevalent in the Canadian Shield, where the geology is more complex than that along the Niagara Escarpment. The bedrock under a cascade waterfall tends to be more "irregular" than at the other waterfall forms (although a geologist would be able to sort it out).
Chute
Chutes are similar to cascades, except that for much of the time, bedrock does not protrude through the water surface. In addition, they are typically less steep than cascades, although there is no "critical angle." Chutes are typically very swift moving waters that may (at least at some time) be navigated by a kayak or canoe.
Plunge
Plunge falls occur where a strong layer of horizontal bedrock is underlain by a weaker layer. Since the weaker layer is eroded faster than the hard layer, the hard layer begins to overhang the weak layer. Eventually the overhanging layer is no longer able to support its own weight, and it breaks off and crashes to the ground. Once this occurs, the weaker layer is subjected to increased erosion, a new overhang develops, and the cycle continues. Before water was removed from the Niagara River for power generation, this process caused the Niagara Falls to move upstream about 1 m per year.
Ramp
In Ontario, this form is found almost exclusively on parts of the Niagara Escarpment. Unlike plunge waterfalls, ramp falls do not have a prominent rock layer at the top that is harder than the underlying rocks. The bedrock exists in layers, but since each layer is of similar resistance to erosion, they all erode at a similar rate. This results in a ramp-like appearance, where the river never really looses contact with the rock surface.
Rapids
Rapids form in swift moving sections of streams. The term is often used to describe stream beds that are choked with boulders and broken rock blocks. It can also be used to describe where streams flow swiftly over bedrock, but without a definable "waterfall".
Slide
At first, this form can be confused with the Ramp form. The difference however, is that the water "slides" over one solid piece of tilted bedrock. In Ontario, slide falls are rare, and are always found in the Canadian Shield area, since the province's younger sedimentary rocks are almost always horizontal.
Trickle
Trickle Falls form where small creeks creep over the side of a rock face. The creek is either too new or too small to have had any effect on the bedrock other than to remove vegetation cover. Most trickles are very insignificant, but can provide very interesting subjects for intimate photography.
Please email me with the answers to the following questions and then go ahead and log this earthcache.
1) What class of waterfall is Churches Falls? (Use the information given above to help determine the type of waterfall)
2) What river is Churches Falls part of?
3) Estimate the height of the waterfall and also the width at the top where it flows over the escarpment.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)