Niagara Falls (/naɪˈæɡrə/) is the collective name for
three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States;
more specifically, between the province of Ontario and the state of New York.
They form the southern end of the Niagara Gorge.
Located on the Niagara River,
which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario,
the combined falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world that
has a vertical drop of more than 165 feet (50 m). Horseshoe Falls is the
most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by vertical height and
flow rate. The falls are 17 miles
(27 km) north-northwest of Buffalo, New
York, and 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Toronto,
between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York.
Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the
end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age), and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. While
not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than six million
cubic feet (168,000 m3) of water falls over the crest line
every minute in high flow,[3] and almost four million cubic feet
(110,000 m3) on average.
No comments:
Post a Comment