The Niagara Falls are made up of three massive waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York. The falls are 17 miles northwest of Buffalo, New York and 75 miles southeast of Toronto.
The Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the last ice age, and water from the newly-formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than six million cubic feet of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow and almost 4 million cubic feet on average. It is the most powerful waterfall in North America.
The two major sections are separated by Goat Island: Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side of the border and American Falls on the U.S. side. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls also is located on the American side, separated from the main falls by Luna Island.