Gooseberry Falls, Minnesota

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay

	Left and below: Gooseberry Falls is the most spectacular of the many waterfalls along Route 61 on the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. There are actually three falls, of which the Middle Falls (shown here) are most attractive.



	Left: the Upper Falls are visible from Highway 61 on the north side of the bridge.
	Left: looking from the bridge over the lip of Middle Falls.
	Left: resistant ledges that form the lips of falls and separate the falls are flow tops.
	Left: fine-grained flow top overlain by vesicular basalt.
	Left and below: An island in midstream divides the lower falls with a narrow ridge. The thinnest part of the ridge has a natural arch.

	Left and below: the western lower falls.

	Left: the eastern lower falls. Below: vesicular flow texture.

	Left: columnar jointing. Below: small potholes are common on the island between the upper and lower falls.



	Left and below: ripply textures on flow tops are ancient pahoehoe textures.

Created 20 August 2007, Last Update 06 June 2020