Aspiring Geoparks
Big Impact Sudbury Aspiring Geopark
Charlevoix Aspiring Geopark
Photo: Jocelyn Audard
northeast of Quebec City.
three major geological provinces of Quebec. First, the majority of the territory is made up of the
Canadian Shield; old igneous and metamorphic rocks whose ages approach a billion years, and
which once formed the roots of an immense mountain range: the Laurentians. Over the
Canadian shield, in some places, we find ancient marine deposits about 450 million years old:
the sedimentary rocks of the St. Lawrence Lowlands. The last geological province is
represented by Isle-aux-Coudres, which belongs to the Appalachians. It too is made up of
ancient sea beds. However, these formed thousands of kilometres away about 500 million years
ago. Tectonic movements of the Earth's crust along the Logan Fault have pushed these rocks
towards the Canadian Shield for hundreds of millions of years.
400 million years ago. The characteristic relief of the central part of the region is therefore that
of an ancient meteorite impact crater about 54 kilometres in diameter! We can still see, even
today, traces of the transformations that this event brought to the local geology.
Charlevoix Aspiring Geopark
Quebec
Jean-Michel Gastonguay
info@astroblemecharlevoix.org https://www.astroblemecharlevoix.org/projetdegeoparc Georgian Bay Aspiring Geopark
Photo : Bill K.
most diverse geology found anywhere in North America, recording in total more than 2 billion
years of Earth history.
rocks are as old as 2.4 billion years, and much younger Paleozoic fossiliferous sedimentary
rocks to the south that are some 400 million years in age. Its opposing shores afford great
contrasts in landscape from the Thirty Thousand Island area in the east where white pines grow
out of the ancient Precambrian rocks so beloved of the Group of Seven, to the bold promontory
and limestone plains of the Bruce Peninsula to the west where the Niagara Escarpment falls
dramatically into deep water.
basin and the surrounding Canadian Shield, to leave thick sediments and glacial landforms
along its southern shores. Postglacial reworking of these sediments has produced the world’s
longest freshwater beach. The region’s Geology has shaped a significant and representative
human story. There is a rich legacy of indigenous culture who recognized the spiritual
importance of its varied landscapes and the many moods of the Bay. The first inhabitants were
hardy Paleo Indians who camped some 11,000 years ago along the shoreline of Glacial Lake
Algonquin while tracking caribou herds roaming along the edge of the last ice sheet. Later, the
rich soils along the southern part of the Bay supported indigenous communities and villages
based on the growing of corn including the historically significant pre-colonial Wendat civilization
and later the very people who built the country; Indigenous, French, Metis and English.
The aspiring Georgian Bay Geopark is invaluable to our understanding of the planet. It is a
sacred landscape to the Indigenous peoples who have lived here for 12,000 years. The largest
freshwater island in the world, Manitoulin, is home to the Great Spirit Creator, Manitou.
processes that formed and continue to impact the evolution of planet earth. The incomparable
beauty and natural wealth of Georgian Bay attract people from around the world to explore its
30,000 island archipelago and experience the purity of its waters.
Georgian Bay Aspiring Geopark
OntarioCam Brohman
Niagara Peninsula Aspiring Geopark
Broch Monument, Queenston and Niagara River by Mark Zelinski Photographic Design
Niagara Falls as its beacon, the Niagara Peninsula Aspiring Geopark takes its cues from what
Indigenous peoples have been doing here for thousands of years; meeting, trading, sharing
stories, harvesting food and establishing a strong family and cultural ties.
institutions and business operators by fostering regional, provincial, national and international
tourism, developed in such a manner and at such a scale, that it remains viable indefinitely
while safeguarding the Earth's life support systems on which the welfare of current and future
generations depend
Niagara Peninsula Aspiring Geopark
Ontario
Darren Platakis
www.niagarageopark.comTemiskaming Rift Valley Aspiring Geopark
Temiskaming Rift Valley Aspiring Geopark
Quebec/Ontario
Graham Gambles
Sea to Sky Fire & Ice Aspiring Geopark
Photo: Tourism Whistler/Mike Crane
and volcanoes erupting through them. Over the past 200 million years, these processes created
the globally unique landscape of British Columbia’s Fire & Ice Aspiring Geopark. But it’s far from
over: the area remains the most geologically active in all of Canada.
moraines to the steaming vents of a dormant volcano, some 70 geosites tell an end-to-end story
of ongoing mountain building, glaciation, volcanism and collapse—landforms that spawned their
own stories for the Squamish and the Lil’Wat First Nations who have shared this territory since
time immemorial.
Sea to Sky Fire & Ice Aspiring Geopark
British Columbia
John Rae
www.seatoskyfireandicegeopark.ca
Cabox Aspiring Geopark
Blow Me Down Mountains, Bay of Islands.
be traced back to the Tropics, where 500 million years ago it lay at the eastern edge of the
landmass that would become North America. Its unique geological record spans the closing of
the proto-Atlantic Iapetus Ocean and formation of the Appalachian Caledonian Mountains.
From the Little Port Island Arc and Bay of Islands Ophiolite Complex to the Transported
Continental Margin and Ancient Continental Slope of Laurentia, the region at the core of theHumber Arm Allochthon exhibits both the geologic and academic story of plate tectonics and
associated mountain building processes. Significant geological features include ophiolite
massifs composed primarily of ultramafic peridotite from the earth’s mantle and mafic gabbro
from the ocean floor, as well as sedimentary folds, faults, thrusts and synclines composed of
bedded limestone, sandstone and breccia from the continental slope and shelf.
cartographer and explorer James Cook sailed the coasts of Newfoundland and drew the outline
of the region, then was followed by a series of prominent geologists – including Alexander
Murray, James Howley and Harold Williams – who over two centuries, succeeded in “coloring” it
in. In 1978, Williams published his Tectonic Lithofacies Map of the Appalachian Orogen, which
described and delineated the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia to Newfoundland, including
the core “Humber Zone” composed of the ancient continental margin of eastern North America.
In the preceding decade Williams published his influential paper The Appalachians in
Northeastern Newfoundland – A Two-Sided Symmetrical System, which contributed to the
development of the modern theory of plate tectonics.
Cabox Aspiring Geopark
Newfoundland & Labrador
Paul Wylezol
