Niagara Falls - The American Falls.

Actually, there was some discussion last year or the year before about closing the water on the falls for some kind of erosion study. They weren't really intending to remove the boulders, but instead study the limestone & other rock to find out how bad the erosion was...

...they were even considering, at one point, to take some preventative measures to slow down the erosion process by putting in some kind of protectant on the rock (such as maybe a cement mixture). The main reasons for doing that was to prevent another collapse, to keep the Falls the Falls, and not into a rapidly descending rapids. The last reason was, of course, for tourism sakes... they built the walk-ways and observation decks as close to the edge of the falls as possible (not to mention the under-the-falls experiences), so by preventing further erosion... the current setup would last for generations to come.

I think the idea was shot down by the conservatives... because then the falls wouldn't be so "au natural" (even though it isn't now since only about 40% of the water actually flows over the Falls to help erosion & they use the other so-much percent for the electricity).

Figured this was interesting given the subject matter. :)

So how old are you in that pic, Gonch? :)

I guess people were dumb back then. It's obvious there is water flowing, yet the picture claims the Falls are completely frozen.

Isn't the rate of erosion hideously slow, something like an inch a year? That being the case, it will be centuries before the current tunnels and platforms will be rendered obsolete- likely long after they are deemed no longer sound for people to use. As much as I'd like to see the current Falls preserved, isn't the idea of the Falls to change over time? That's the way it's supposed to be, and it's probably not a good idea to mess with that.

Besides, I'd be more worried about the Canadian/Horseshoe Falls moving further back, not the American Falls.

It's only an inch or so NOW because of man interrupting the natural erosion of the Falls... it used to be something like an average of a foot or so each year long long ago, but since they can control the water flow... they only have it at maybe 40% of its actual capacity, and they can either raise it or lower it depending on the time of year.

During summer days, it's at its highest point for tourists & such. They slow the flow at night, however... and they slow it down even more during the winter. If it was at 100%, erosion would occur a lot more quickly, and the mass amount of water going over would be even more intense.

So the current Falls are "dilluted"? I never knew that. Considering erosion has been slowed so much in recent years, is it even necessary to do anything to slow it further? I mean, in 100 years, the Falls are going to move back less than NINE FEET!