CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Ferencevic, M.; and Tinkler, K.J.
Date : 2005.
Title : The post-glacial development of the Lower Niagara River.
Publication : Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographer. Tuesday, May 31 to Saturday, to June 4, 2005. University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
The lower Niagara River flows below the Niagara Escarpment into Lake Ontario. The lower river came into existence approximately 12 ka BP as Lake Iroquois levels began to drop. This study traces the river's development through its braided stage on the bare Iroquois Plain and the incision through glacial sediment and into Queenston Shale bedrock. Also studied are the reduced discharges of the Erie Phase, when Upper Great Lakes flowed north through the Mattawa River. The river that existed during this period was narrow, incised and undulating, possibly resembling a series of interconnected pools. This research began at Brown's Point, a park alongside the lower Niagara River. Here the road strays from the near-vertical banks of the lower gorge to expose a terraced slope down to the river. The same change in bank morphology exists on the opposite American bank. Airphotos reveal the presence of longitudinal bars on the Canadian side at Brown's Point. Field observation and measurement have confirmed that these are composed of gravel. Pebble counts, surveying of gravel bar dimensions and the Slope-Area method for determining discharge were all used to piece together the fluvial history that led to the present-day morphology of the lower Niagara River.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology