The Niagara Escarpment

Photo by Alan L Brown - February, 2006

Photo by contributor Michael Anttila

Plaque Location

In the Town of Niagara-On-The-Lake in the Region of Niagara
at coordinates N 43 09.690 W 79 02.990
at a parking area lookout.

Click here for an interactive larger map
© 2010 Microsoft

Plaque Text

Queenston Heights is part of the Niagara Escarpment, a height of land which extends 725 kilometres across Ontario from Niagara Falls to Manitoulin Island. Over 430 million years ago, a shallow tropical sea covered most of central North America. Sediments and coral reef on the seabed were compressed into dolomite, a hard type of limestone which was more resistant to erosion then the bedrock of the adjacent lands after the water retreated. The cliffs of the escarpment are the exposed floor of the ancient sea. The escarpment's rugged terrain, home to a wide variety of plants and wildlife, forms a natural corridor through both urban and rural areas. In 1990, the United Nations designated the Niagara Escarpment a World Biosphere Reserve.

Related Ontario plaque page
The Niagara Escarpment

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More
Landforms

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