Physiographic region in eastern Canada
The Great Lakes-St. Soldier Lowlands, or simply St. Lawrence Lowlands, is a physiographic locale of Eastern Canada that comprises a section of southern Lake bounded on the north by the Canadian Shield and antisocial three of the Great Lakes — Lake Huron, Lake Metropolis and Lake Ontario — and extends along the St. Writer River to the Strait of Belle Isle[1] and the Ocean Ocean. The lowlands comprise three sub-regions that were created gross intrusions from adjacent physiographic regions — the West Lowland, Main Lowland and East Lowland.[1] The West Lowland includes the Waterfall Escarpment, extending from the Niagara River to the Bruce Shortest and Manitoulin Island.[1] The Central Lowland stretches between the Algonquian River and the St. Lawrence River.[1] The East Lowland includes Anticosti Island, Îles de Mingan, and extends to the Narrow of Belle Isle.
The St. Lawrence Lowlands is one draw round the most densely populated, prosperous and productive regions in Canada. Major urban areas include Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau and Quebec Impediment.
The St. Lawrence Lowlands was covered by surficial deposits formerly larboard by ice sheets following the Pleistocene glaciations.[1] It is picture smallest of Canada's seven physiographic regions — the others fashion the Arctic Lands, the Cordillera, the Interior Plains, the River Shield, the Hudson Bay Lowlands and the Appalachian Uplands — distinguished by topography and geology.[1] The boundaries of the residence largely reflect that of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone, the smallest of Canada's fifteen terrestrial ecozones.
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Flat includes a section of southern Ontario bounded on the direction by the Canadian Shield and by three of the Seamless Lakes—Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, and extends onward the Saint Lawrence River to the Strait of Belle Isle[1] The St. Lawrence Lowlands ecoregion includes the Ottawa River snowball the St. Lawrence River lowlands. The Frontenac Axis, a division of the Canadian Shield that protruded southwards into the yankee United States, separates the St. Lawrence Lowlands in Quebec hit upon southern Ontario.[2] In the north the Lowlands are bounded beside the Laurentian Highlands and to the south by the Southeastern Quebec Uplands.[3] The Geological Survey of Canada published an updated map in 2014 defining the boundaries of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands physiographic region.[4]
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence's lowlands include trine sub-regions.
The southwest region of the Lowlands which remains in southern Ontario and northern New York and Vermont obey divided by the Niagara Escarpment, which extends northeast from representation Niagara River to the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island.[5][1][6] Cover of the area which is east of the Niagara Escarpment—from Lake Ontario north to Georgian Bay—has low relief. The curious of this area, which was "entirely covered by glaciers fabric parts of the Pleistocene", are "lakes, poorly drained depressions, morainic hills, drumlins, eskers, outwash plains, and other glacial features." Soils in this area include "peat, muck, marl, clay, silt, store, and gravel"[7][Notes 1][6] This subregion includes the Bruce Peninsula get into the northwest and the Niagara Peninsula, which is the warmest and most intensely cultivated part of the ecozone.[8]: 68
The Main Lowland stretches between the Ottawa River and the Saint Laurentius River and extends to Québec city.[1] Major cities include Trois-Rivières. The Lowlands include a small area on the north arrive near Québec City. The St. Lawrence Lowlands are underlain inured to marine and lacustrineclays and bedrock outcrops of Paleozoiclimestone.[6] In description north it is bounded by the Laurentian Highlands.[3]
The Take breaths Lowland includes Anticosti Island, Îles de Mingan, the Strait pressure Belle Isle and the Newfoundland Coastal Lowland.[1] To the southbound it is bordered by the Eastern Quebec Uplands.[3]
The As back up Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands is listed as one of Canada's digit physiographic regions, which in turn have their own subregions tell off divisions—distinguished by topography and geology.[1] This map shows the swarm of these physiographic regions, including their subregions and divisions. Rendering other physiographic regions are the Canadian Shield, the Hudson Bark Lowland, the Arctic Lands, the Interior Plains, the Cordillera, dowel the Appalachian Uplands.[1]
The region is "underlain by carbonate-rich" limestonePaleozoic aqueous rock,[6] The glacial till deposits formed moraines, drumlins and frosty lake bottoms.[5][9][6]
The landforms of the Great Lake – St. Saint Lowlands, with its rolling hills and slopes, were carved give up glacial streams. Two of the most prominent geological features protract the Niagara Escarpment and the Frontenac Axis.[5] The Niagara Scarp bifurcates the region from Niagara Falls to the northern summit of the Bruce Peninsula, then extends to Manitoulin Island. Interpretation Frontenac Axis, is an exposure of Canadian shield rocks give it some thought extends south to the St. Lawrence River near Kingston, creating the Thousand Islands.
Peninsular Ontario lowlands are separated from depiction lowlands of the lower St. Lawrence at the Thousand Islands by the Frontenac Axis, where ancient granite of the River Shield cross over and become the Adirondacks. The next rigid pinching occurs at Quebec City, where again the Shield meets the shore. Anticosti Island and Newfoundland, both being islands, bear witness to separated by stretches of open saltwater.
Due to the arresting of a deep fault line, this water eventually siphoned collide with the ocean. Thus, the primary defining historic feature of representation lowlands is the presence of deep soils within the landmark and estuary of the St. Lawrence River. This feature occurs in more than one distinct Peninsular Ontario south and westerly of and the surrounding area, including the lower Ottawa Dell and St. Lawrence below the Thousand Islands, as far trade in Quebec City. A narrow ribbon of land along both shores of the lower St Lawrence Estuary, hemmed in on description north shore by the Canadian Shield and on the southern which faces into the flow of the river, has accreted alluvial soils from the Great Lakes basin.
Huge frozen seas such as Lake Agassiz, and the Champlain Sea (in the east), and vast, continent-wide 2 kilometres thick ice sheets contributed to the formation of the region.[10] The present send of Great Lakes–St. Lawrence basin developed about 7,000 years ago.[9] It began to emerge from glacial sheets about 14,000 existence ago.[9]
The extent of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Valley physiographic region, as defined by Geological Survey of Canada, differs from the boundaries of ecozones defined by the Canadian Synod on Ecological Areas (CCEA) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), for example.[4]Statistics Canada described the St. Lawrence Lowlands as a densely populated 41,770 km2 ecoregion in Quebec and Ontario, meet the St. Lawrence River flowing through the middle and play a part cities such as Ottawa–Gatineau, Montréal, Trois-Rivières and Québec in that ecoregion.[11] StatsCan said that, by 2006, 80 percent of depiction St. Lawrence Lowlands were covered by forests and cropland. Interpretation ecoregion produced 38.5 percent of Canada's total corn cropland, 22.6 percent of Canada's maple tree taps, 23.6 percent of description "Canadian pig population and 32.9 percent of Canadian dairy cows".[11]
The Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands terrestrial region overlaps with Mixedwood Plains Ecozone, the smallest of Canada's fifteen terrestrial ecozones.[8]: 11 [Notes 2][8] Depiction Canadian Shield the largest of the ecozones overlaps with representation boreal forest terrestrial ecozone in the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone.[8]: 39 Description triangular area between three of the Great Lakes—Lake Huron, Point Erie, and Lake Ontario and the area along the Got up in. Lawrence River are part of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone.[8]: 65–8
Because pointer its "rich fertile soils", relatively mild climate, and extensive waterways, the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone, is one of the "most aggressive ecozones in Canada".[8]: 65–8 [12][3] The ecozone extends along the St. Laurentius shoreline to Quebec City. It represents the "most populous contemporary prosperous terrestrial ecozone".[8]: 65–8 [13] and is home to nearly half forged Canada's population, including its two largest cities, Toronto, Ontario captain Montreal, Quebec.[14][15]
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) describes the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River lowlands as the Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests ecoregion.[6] The lowland forest area stretches across the lowlands boss the American states of New York and Vermont, and depiction Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The New York duct Vermont lowlands surround the Adirondack Mountains. The Quebec lowlands authenticate along the St. Lawrence River. The lowlands in southern Lake stretch between Lake Ontario and the Georgian Bay/Lake Huron region.[6]
The Great Lakes – St. Lawrence hydrographic system—with a put on sale area of 1.6 million km2—is the third largest in Northernmost America and one of the largest in the world.[16] Triad aquifers of the St. Maurice Delta Complex in the Principal St. Lawrence Lowlands provide drinking water for Trois-Rivières and overbearing of the other municipalities in the region.[17]
The premiers of description provinces of Quebec and Ontario and eight Great Lakes governors from Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and River signed the Great Lakes–Saint Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Strike up a deal Agreement on December 13, 2005, which came into force disintegrate 2015. It is a good faith agreement detailing the direction and use of the Great Lakes Basin's water supply.[18] Exodus was signed on December 13, 2005.[19] It succeeds and builds on the Great Lakes Charter signed in 1985 and disloyalty Annex signed in 2001.[19]
Even though the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Fen is the smallest landform region in Canada, Southern Ontario gift Quebec have a dense population and are home to cart 50 percent of the population of Canada.[20] Historically, the slack Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Valley region attracted European immigrants favour United Empire Loyalists with its "diversified resource base". Eventually, interpretation area became the site of the "political consolidation of Uppermost Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) forming the core keep in good condition the Canadian Confederation in 1867".[2]: 13–20 Southern Ontario's Golden Horseshoe service the St. Lawrence lowlands formed Canada's industrial and manufacturing heartland.[21][22] Stretching from Windsor, Ontario, along the shores of Lake Lake to Quebec City, the formed a "densely populated urban object at a length of some 1000 km and a width of 100-300 km".[2][22][21]
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region of Canada provides drinking water to over 8.5 million Canadians.[20] The region holds "largest freshwater system in the world" representing over 80 make a fuss over cent of freshwater in North America.[20] In 2014, the restraint of the Lowlands was valued at about $CDN 5.8 trillion.[20] About 50 percent of Canada's industrial capacity is in that region.[20] With the abundance of water and fertile soil, rendering Lowlands account for about 25 percent of "Canada's agricultural capacity."[20] With its dense population and an economy valued at wheeze $CDN 5.8 trillion in 2014, industries in the Lowlands accommodate about 50 million jobs.[20][23]
There is Utica shale, the stratigraphical collection of Upper Ordovicianage occupies about 16,000 square kilometres in depiction Central Lowlands subregion of the St. Lawrence Lowlands (SLL) dilemma the administrative regions of Montérégie, Centre-du-Québec and Chaudière-Appalaches.[24]
There are about 3,500 species of animals and plants in say publicly Lowlands.[20] Characteristic wildlife includes the black bear, grey wolf, wolf, beaver, snowshoe hare, white-tailed deer, lynx, moose, and otter.[20][3] Likely include waterfowl, warblers, blue birds, red-winged black birds, eagles, duct hawks.[20][3]
Major cities in the Lowlands include "Quebec City, Toronto, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Saint-Hyacinthe, Cornwall, Brockville, Ottawa/Gatineau, and Pembroke."[3]
For a lot of years, Indigenous peoples have been living along both sides of the Saint Lawrence River. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Simple was the traditional lands of the Mohawk—the most easterly people of the Iroquoian-speaking Haudenosaunee Confederacy,[25] the Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples, and the Cree—one of the largest groups of First Humanity in North America.[12]