Great Lake Levels and Altered Stream Drainage Patterns

4.2.2.c

Sections 4.2.1 a b c d deal with the Niagara Escarpment formation and the effects of glaciation and erosion over time to create its appearance today. The clues on the landscape are many. The spurs are seen on the limestone walls around falls and you can follow the trail of leftover mini lakes and wetlands. The maps 04, 05, 21 and 22 shown in 4.2.1d provide snap shots of this process.

Ice plugs, plunge pools, stream capture U shaped valleys, outlier rocks are all part of tracking the history of the Great Lakes levels around Crawford Lake and over to Spenser’s Gorge with Roger Chittenden.

Chittenden has done the same intensive geological and cartographic investigation of the Wye Marsh area. His maps for the Wye Marsh region track the history of the water levels in that landscape. At the time of the early explorers, the water level was almost 3 metres higher in this area than it is today.

At this higher historic level, different water routes made it possible for the explorers and settlers to establish their fort – Sainte Marie Among the Hurons- giving the location we see today much more relevance to the water traffic at the time.