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American Niagara |
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American Niagara |
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Niagara Rainbow |
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The Story of the Falls began 600 million years ago.
The future site of the Great Lakes stood at the centre
of a broad, shallow sea that covered much of North America.
Beneath these waters were the already ancient Pre-Cambrian
rocks of the Canadian Shield-the bowl- shaped basement of
our continent. |
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Niagara |
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Suddenly, the Earth shook, pushing forth the Appalachian mountains.
Rivers flowed in new patterns, carrying mud westward.
Where the rivers intermingled, huge muddy deltas formed, sprawling
over 600 kilometres, from east of what is now Lake Ontario to beyond
the present shore of Lake Huron. That mud, cemented by the eons,
forms the distinctive purple-red shale called the Queenston Formation
and the sandy ledge-forming rocks of Niagara Gorge. |
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Rainbow Over Niagara |
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The first humans arrived in Niagara Region almost 12,000 years ago,
just in time to witness the birth of the Falls.
The land was different then, consisting of tundra and spruce forest. |
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