In Ontario, the Niagara Escarpment is a continuous geological land form that extends to the middle of Michigan in the US. The Niagara Escarpment is part of the edge of a huge geological basin known as the Michigan Basin. The formation of the escarpment dates back some 450 million years (known as the Ordovician and Silurian Geological Time Periods) when this basin was filled by a huge warm sea. Corals and other sea creatures that lived in this sea eventually died and over time turned into sedimentary rock. Over millions of years, erosion from running water (e.g. streams and rivers) created many of the hundreds of geologic features found on the escarpment - Ball's Falls Lower Waterfalls gorge is one of these features.
Formation of the gorge below the Lower Waterfalls began some 2.5 million years ago. As many as 20 glacial advances and retreats during this time scoured the area shaping and reshaping the landscape resulting in waterfalls and gorges. However, the deepening and widening of the gorge has not halted. Twenty Mile Creek continues to erode at the multiple layers of sedimentary bedrock as does weathering, e.g., rain, frost, wind, heat, cold, etc. Neither Mother Nature, nor Old Man Winter ever take a rest!
Logging Requirements:
To log this Earthcache, perform the following tasks and determine the answers to the questions below. Email me your answers, DO NOT include them with your Found It log.
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- What does sedimentary rock originate from and how is it formed?
- Erosion continues to widen and deepen the gorge as evident by what three geological features?
- What is the name of the oldest rock layer at the falls, where is it located and how old is this layer?
- How did the gorge below the falls become buried?
- What force(s) of nature cleared the gorge?
- What are the two types of slope movement that weathering causes on the gorges sides?
