Today, we can see that the melting glaciers of Greenland, caused by global warming, are sliding into the sea. This ideally explains what happened at Niagara Falls at the end of the last ice age. The reason that the high ground on the Canadian side near the falls, the Niagara Falls Moraine, seems to be indented is that a large section of glacier broke loose in what is now Niagara Falls, NY, slid across the rock strata, which is decidedly tilted toward the southwest, and struck the moraine. This put a wide indentation in the moraine that we see today as the broad area of Queen Victoria Park. The bluff on which the Skylon is built is the moraine.
The focal point of the collision is, as described above, about where Table Rock House and the intersection of Fraser Hill with the Niagara Parkway are now. This mountainous slab of ice then fractured laterally and sent the massive slab hurtling to the ground that created the Niagara Impact Crater. We can best see the impact which resulted as the drop in elevation of Lundy's Lane, at Sylvia Place east of Portage Road/Main St.
In the section of Main St. from the Rainbow Bridge to Pine Ave. and beyond in Niagara Falls, NY, we can easily see how the ground is dramatically slanted toward where Prospect Park is now located. This formed a collection point for more ice sliding across the ground as the glaciers were melting. The breaking off of the slab of ice caused tremors that resulted in another massive slab breaking off and creating the Valley Way Impact Crater when it hit the ground.
The path that the main section of the glacier followed westward towards that impact can be seen in the valley that it forms on both sides of the casino in Niagara Falls, NY. Looking south on 4th St. towards Buffalo Ave is the south side of the valley. Looking northward along the numbered streets from 4th to 10th from Niagara St. shows the rise in elevation representing the northern side of the valley. This terrain displays the classic U-shape to the ground that a moving glacier leaves behind.
It can easily be seen how the downward slope of Niagara St. westward from Portage Rd. to the falls gave the sliding glacier it's speed which left such a great indentation when it impacted the Niagara Falls Moraine and caused the glacier to fracture laterally so that the slab broke off.
As proof of my hypothesis of the sliding glacier and the glacial impact crater, I would like to point out that the axes of the sliding glacier moving westward along what is now Niagara and Falls Sts. toward Prospect Park and the river forms a straight line with the focal point of the impact of the slab of ice that broke off the top of the glacier and formed the large glacial impact crater in Niagara Falls, Canada. The impact can be seen as the drop in elevation on Lundy's Lane, and it can be seen on a map how the site of the impact is in a straight line from the route of the sliding glacial ice on the U.S. side. The sliding berg of ice collided with, and indented, the Niagara Falls Moraine to create the broad terrace of Queen Victoria Park, and then the glacier later fractured laterally to form the Lundy's Lane Impact Crater.
The focal point of the impact is, as pointed out in this blog's posting on this subject, the sudden drop in the roads on Ferry St./Lundy's Lane at Sylvia Pl. in Niagara Falls, Canada. This drop is also seen on nearby Grey and Allendale Aves.
The principle is the same as striking soft ground with a golf club or sledge hammer at a low angle. The resulting crater will have a steep side opposite the direction of impact. The area of these sudden drops is in a direct straight line with the path of the sliding glacier across Niagara Falls, NY.
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