The High Falls Gorge Area is a Geological Treasure Trove of differet formations including Waterfalls, Potholes and a Gorge and has a very interesting and turbluent history.
Geological History
High Falls Gorge is part of the Adirondack area of Upper New York State which has an active geological history. This geologic history of the Adirondacks can be categorized in two distinct periods of time. (1) The creation of the Adirondak mountain range, and (2) the carving and molding of those mountains glacial activty during the Ice Age.
Main Falls
(1) Forming of Mountains. The Adirondack Mountains were shaped as a result of tectonic plate movement and, specifically, the continents moving together and apart as well as ancient ocean movement. Some historic geological facts about this time period are listed below…..
- The oldest rocks in New York State are believed to be from around 1.3 billion years ago when shallow seas moved them in
- Roughly 1 billion years ago, the continents were brought together in what is called the Grenville Orogeny. This was a long-lived Mesoproterozoic mountain-building event associated with the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia
- Around 600 million years ago the land was shaped further by major fault lines which run through this region
- About 550 million years ago the Taconian Orogeny happened which was a mountain building period that affected most of modern-day New England. A great mountain chain formed from eastern Canada down through what is now the Piedmont of the East coast of the United States
- About 300 million years ago another continental collision occurred between Africa and North America which is known as the Alleghanian Orogeny and it formed the Appalachian Mountains and Allegheny Mountains as well as the supercontinent known as Pangea
- At 220 million years ago the Pangea supercontinent began to separate and as Africa split from North America this created the Atlantic Ocean
- Roughly 20 million years ago a dome about 150 miles across began to rise which is now the Adirondack Mountains which are continuing to rise at an estimated rate of about one foot every hundred years
(2) The next phase of geologic history was during the Pleistocene Epoch (or Ice Age) when the cooling of the Earth resulted in glaciers forming and retreating in this area,
- Around 80,000 years ago the last glacier began to form and reached its furthest point south around 25,000 years ago. This was known as the Wisconsin Glaciation
- This glacial movement carved the landscape and moved rocks across it which created rivers and valleys and smoothed out the high landscape
- As the Earth warmed, the glaciers began to retreat to the north which also carved out the landscape and left significant water bodies from melted ice
Gorge and Potholes
Geological Features
There are several significant geological features along the one mile hike that have been formed by glacial movement and erosion.
- Waterfalls - Several waterfalls are in this part of the Ausable River - Main Falls, Mini Falls and Climax Falls
- Gorge - The Ausable River also carved out a gorge along the walking trail that can be seen on both sides of the river and path
- Potholes - There are several potholes along the trail including the Master Pothole which is one of the largest in the region
- Glacial Erratics - Along the gorge trail and nature trail there are several "erratics" or large boulders
- Natural Spring - A natural spring sits along the walking path
References
Activities: Note please stay on market trails and you can complete ALL activities without leaving the trail or damaging any of the sites
- Go to the Main Falls and visually estimate the height of the waterfall
- Find the High Falls Gorge sign (on the trail) and identify the three types of rocks that comprise the gorge
- From the sign (on the trail) or your visual estimates, identify how deep and wide the Master Pothole is
- Identify and count as many potholes as you can along the trail (hint - also on trail map)
- Look to see if there is any "foam" in the water and formulate a theory as to how it is created and sustained
- Send me the answers to your questions and (optional) post a picture anywhere along the gorge with one of the geological features