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Geomorphology of the Great Lakes Lowlands of Eastern Canada

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Landscapes and Landforms of Eastern Canada

Part of the book series: World Geomorphological Landscapes ((WGLC))

Abstract

The Great Lakes Lowlands is Canada’s most populated region. While landform distributions are mainly related to a legacy of Quaternary glaciation and pre-Quaternary bedrock erosion , many modern processes of sediment erosion and deposition are significantly influenced by human modifications to the landscape , including deforestation , agriculture , aggregate extraction and urbanization. Ice lobes and/or streams of the Laurentide Ice Sheet Complex have resulted in a complex arrangement of ice-contact, ice-marginal and pro-glacial sediment sequences infilling pre-glacial bedrock channels. End moraines and interlobate kame moraines are thick and their spatial arrangement records multiple ice-flow directions around the eroded Great Lakes. The “peninsula” of southern Ontario undergoes significant coastal modifications as wave energy from three of the lakes erodes and redistributes glacilacustrine and glacifluvial sediments along shorelines. Post-glacial isostatic uplift has resulted in entrenchment of both subsequent and consequent river systems exposing mixed channel boundaries of glacial sediments and bedrock. Modern infrastructure has developed on these surfaces that are still undergoing post-glacial adjustment.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Joseph R. Desloges

  2. Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Roger T. J. Phillips

  3. Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Mary-Louise Byrne

  4. Department of Geography, Environment & Geomatics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Jaclyn M. H. Cockburn

Authors
  1. Joseph R. Desloges
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  2. Roger T. J. Phillips
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  3. Mary-Louise Byrne
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  4. Jaclyn M. H. Cockburn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph R. Desloges .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Olav Slaymaker

  2. Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St John's, NL, Canada

    Norm Catto

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Desloges, J.R., Phillips, R.T.J., Byrne, ML., Cockburn, J.M.H. (2020). Geomorphology of the Great Lakes Lowlands of Eastern Canada. In: Slaymaker, O., Catto, N. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Eastern Canada. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35137-3_11

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