Page 1 2 3 4 5 Quiz

The Parks / Ontario / Bruce Peninsula National Park

During the Silurian Period and the Paleozoic Era, 400 million years ago, this area was covered by an inland sea where the skeletons of underwater corals and other sea creatures formed layers of calcium-based sediments on the sea floor. As the water began to recede, the dolomite bedrock of the peninsula was formed by the compression of these calcium layers to form limestone, which then combined with magnesium from the sea. After thousands of years of water erosion, the softer lower rock beneath the caprock was undermined and huge segments broke across straight fault lines to create the topography of the Niagara Escarpment, the backbone of the peninsula. Similarly, the much smaller flowerpot and pillar formations along the shoreline, and the coastline and karst caves are molded by wave action. The largest shoreline cave on the peninsula, the Grotto, is accessible underwater. Over 7 kilometres of karst caves have been mapped in the park. Ontario’s ‘Great Wall’ is now a World Biosphere Reserve - an international designation that promotes a harmonious relationship between people and their environment.