# fact or fiction? niagra falls south of equator!!!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-or-fiction-niagra-falls-south-of-equator/53764>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 9, 2001, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-or-fiction-niagra-falls-south-of-equator/53764 "2001-02-09T07:19:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jjason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@jjason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjason)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-or-fiction-niagra-falls-south-of-equator/53764/1 "2001-02-09T07:19:12Z")

</div>

i was watching a program on discovery last night and it stated that niagra falls was below the equator somewhere in the past which i found odd can anyone confirm or explain

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ellis555](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e36b37/32.png) [@ellis555](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ellis555)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-or-fiction-niagra-falls-south-of-equator/53764/2 "2001-02-09T07:39:44Z")

</div>

The land mass was; Niagra falls wasn’t. It didn’t exist then.

-ellis

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ellis555](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e36b37/32.png) [@ellis555](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ellis555)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-or-fiction-niagra-falls-south-of-equator/53764/3 "2001-02-09T07:42:09Z")

</div>

Sorry. That came off a little snappy.

I think this was the supercontinent just before the cambrian explosion, ~500 million years ago. I’m blanking on what it’s called. “North America” might have been south of the equator more recently than that, but that’s the one the springs to mind immediately. Maybe someone with a better background in plate tectonics can step to bat.

-ellis

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-or-fiction-niagra-falls-south-of-equator/53764/4 "2001-02-09T10:03:35Z")

</div>

**ellis555** , by the time you read this you’ll have remembered that the supercontinent was Pangaea, while North America was part of Laurasia at varying times.

I’ve recently read that what was to become North America was once at a ninety-degree angle to the position it is today – in other words, tilted on it’s side. Maybe this was when Niagara Falls’ area was “south of the border”.