Origin of Watercourses Near French River, Ontario by T
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA VOL. 47, PP. 267-288. 4 PLS., 2 FIGS. FEBRUARY 29, 1936 ORIGIN OF WATERCOURSES NEAR FRENCH RIVER, ONTARIO BY T. T. QUIKKE CONTENTS Page French river drainage system.................... ...................................................................... 268 Relief features........................................................................................................................ 268 Major features............................................................................................................... 268 Minor features............................................................................................................... 269 Surficial deposits................................................................................................................... 272 Glacial deposits............................................................................................................. 272 Nipissing beaches and deltas...................................................................................... 272 Character of French River outlets.................................................................................... 274 Control of present drainage................................................................................................ 275 Bedding........................................................................................................................... 275 Diabase dikes................................................................................................................. 275 Contact zones................................................................................................................ 276 Faulting.......................................................................................................................... 276 Jointing........................................................................................................................... 277 Glacial damming........................................................................................................... 277 Glacial abrasion............................................................................................................ 277 Origin of pre-Wisconsin drainage....................................................................................... 278 Pre-Beekmantown surface.................................................................. .....................278 Pre-Wisconmn drainage lines...................................................................................... 278 Potholes.......................................................................................................................... 280 Glaciated lake basins................................................................................................... 280 Straight east-west channels........................................................................................ 280 General statement................................................................................................ 280 The Key................................................................................................................. 281 Henvey Inlet........................................................................................................ 282 Byng Inlet.............................................................................................................. 282 Theories of origin.................................................................................................. 282 Effects of repeated tiltings.................................................................................................. 284 Traces of pre-Beekmantown drainage............................................................................... 284 Effects of Nipissing-Great Lakes discharge..................................................................... 285 Effects of Pleistocene erosion.............................................................................................. 285 Remnants of Paleozoic limestone...................................................................................... 286 Remains of oil in pegmatite................................................................................................ 286 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 287 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Watercourses near French River................................................................................ 270 2. Detailed map of watercourses................................................................................... 271 (267) Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/47/2/267/3430619/BUL47_2-0267.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 268 T. T. QUIRKE— ORIGIN OF WATERCOURSES NEAR FRENCH RIVER Plate Facing page 1. Key and Henvey inlets.................................................................................... 276 2. French and Pickerel rivers......................................................................................... 277 3. Delamere Hills and French River.................................................................. 280 4. Potholes.......................................................................................................................... 281 FRENCH RIVERJDRAINAGE SYSTEM French River is the overflow from Lake Nipissing into Georgian Bay. It is about 40 miles long, and has a total fall of about 65 feet. It com bines the waters of three other rivers—Wanapitei, Murdock, and Pick erel—in one great east-west watercourse, known in different portions as Ox Bay, Wanapitei Bay, and French River. The combined waters turn abruptly south and southeastward to discharge through a complicated arrangement of distributary channels, obstructed by falls and rapids. RELIEF FEATURES MAJOR FEATURES The region through which these rivers flow has a nearly featureless surface, slightly tilted upward toward the north and the east. South ward the nearly flat surface may be followed along the eastern shore of the bay, and southwestward the rock surface continues to sink below the level of the lake at the rate of about 12 feet to the mile. This con tinues for about €0 miles, to the southwest of the docks at Key Harbour (in the northeastern comer of Georgian Bay) nearly to Cabot Head.1 At Cabot Head the bottom rises steeply to the southwest in an escarp ment about 450 feet high. The gradient of the lake bottom between Cabot Head and the docks at Key Harbour is nearly the same as the gradient of the land surface between the Pickerel River and Key Har bour in a north-south direction, and as that between Georgian Bay and Byng Inlet station in an east-west direction. It appears, therefore, that the outlet of French River occupies a slightly warped plain, gently shelv ing from the north and from the east to a sloping trough which continues under the waters of Georgian Bay and ends in the so-called Niagara Escarpment at Cabot Head. Northeastward from Georgian Bay, this physiographic trough continues past Lake Nipissing and notches the divide of the valley of the Ottawa River. 1 Department of Interior, Standard topog. map 8, S.E., French River Sheet, Ontario, Canada (1923). Other maps needed in reference to this paper are: Department of Interior, Standard topog. map 9, S.W., Parry Sound Sheet; Sheet 41 H/NE, Byng Inlet; Sheet 41 H/SE, Parry Sound; Department of Mines, Geol. Surv. Can., Map 220A, Panache Sheet, Map 221A, Collins Inlet Sheet, Map 238A, Delamere Sheet, and Map 239A, Key Harbour Sheet. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/47/2/267/3430619/BUL47_2-0267.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 BELIEF FEATURES 269 Low, rounded hummocks rise slightly above the level of this subdued trough, and form innumerable points and islands in Georgian Bay. A border of bare rock skirts the shores, on exposed points being as much as 200 feet wide, and all the smaller islands are bare. However, farther inland the smooth rock surfaces lie partly beneath a thin mat of vege tation, which thickens here and there in shallow depressions to a depth of a few feet. Deeper depressions are occupied by lakes and swamps. But even at a distance of several miles from Georgian Bay a large pro portion of the hillocks are bare. South of Byng Inlet the lake bottom rises gradually eastward to the level of Georgian Bay, and gives rise there, between Byng Inlet and Pointe au Baril, to a wide fringe of low islands and rocky shallows which makes this part of the coast line the most difficult and dangerous stretch for navigation between Little Current and Parry Sound. Throughout most of Delamere and Key Harbour quadrangles the maximum local difference of relief is generally less than 50 feet. Along certain stretches of the great river channels, however, there are cliffs nearly 100 feet high, and a group of large quartzite hills rises between 200 and 300 feet above the plain in Delamere township. Although they are locally prominent landmarks, they are hitherto un named; accordingly, the name “Delamere hills” is suggested (PL 3, fig. 1). From a fire ranger’s lookout on one of these hills no other hills of compa rable size can be seen in any direction except in the west, where, about 30 miles away, the beautiful snowwhite shoulders of Northeast Peak (1762 feet above sea level) may be seen rising above the dark, forest-covered lowlands.