Champlain Sea
The Champlain Sea was an infeed of the Atlantic Ocean that was formed by receding glaciers at the end of the last cold period ( called Wisconsin glaciation in North America ) . It covered parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Québec, as well as parts of the US states of New York and Vermont .
The ice sheets of the continental ice sheet had depressed the rock below for millennia. When the glaciers melted, the valleys of the Saint Lawrence River , Ottawa and Rivière Richelieu were still below sea level. They were inundated by the Atlantic when the ice was no longer an obstacle. The Champlain Sea existed around 13,000 to 10,000 years ago. During this time, it continued to shrink, as the postglacial uplift that began gradually lifted the bedrock again. At the time of its greatest expansion, the Champlain Sea extended to Lake Champlain and to the area west of Ottawa . It was bounded by the Laurentine Mountains in the north, the Appalachians in the southeast, the Adirondack Mountains in the south and the Opeongo Hills in the southwest.
Can be proven the existence of the Champlain Sea in the form of whale fossils ( beluga whales , fin whales , bowhead whales ) and shell mollusks that near the cities Ottawa and Montreal were found.
Web links
- History of the Champlain Sea (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Champlain Sea: here yesterday, gone tomorrow. whatonearth.org, 2006, accessed July 20, 2016 .
- ^ History of the Champlain Sea, geographic location. In: Dr. Ken Hooper Virtual Natural History Museum Ottawa. Carleton Geoscience Center, accessed September 3, 2011 .
- ↑ Daveluyville. Paleobiology Database, accessed September 3, 2011 .
- ↑ Champlain Sea fossils. University of Calgary, archived from the original on March 13, 2013 ; accessed on September 3, 2011 (English).