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90-574: The peninsula is a popular tourist destination for camping, hiking and fishing, with two national parks ( Bruce Peninsula National Park and Fathom Five National Marine Park ), more than half a dozen nature reserves, and the Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory. The Bruce Trail runs through the region to its northern terminus in the town of Tobermory . This region is named after James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin (Lord Elgin), Governor General of Canada . Parks Canada now refers to

180-600: A dense rock equivalent volume of as much as 1,140 cubic kilometres (270 cu mi). Remarkably, this appears to have had little impact on life. There was vigorous tectonic activity along northwest margin of Gondwana during the Floian, 478 Ma, recorded in the Central Iberian Zone of Spain. The activity reached as far as Turkey by the end of Ordovician. The opposite margin of Gondwana, in Australia, faced

270-603: A biogeographic affinity with Gondwana, and the Alborz margin of Gondwana was linked biogeographically to South China. Southeast Asia's fauna also maintained strong affinities to Gondwana's. North China was biogeographically connected to Laurentia and the Argentinian margin of Gondwana. A Celtic biogeographic province also existed, separate from the Laurentian and Baltican ones. However, tropical articulate brachiopods had

360-468: A burst of volcanic activity that deposited new silicate rocks, which draw CO 2 out of the air as they erode. Another possibility is that bryophytes and lichens, which colonized land in the middle to late Ordovician, may have increased weathering enough to draw down CO 2 levels. The drop in CO 2 selectively affected the shallow seas where most organisms lived. It has also been suggested that shielding of

450-611: A cold climate, with freezing cold winters and mild summers, caused by maritime cooling from Lake Huron . The peninsula has eastern mixed forests and boreal forest, especially to the north of the peninsula. Due to almost all of the Bruce Peninsula being in a Snowbelt , the peninsula experiences heavy Lake-effect snow from Lake Huron , often receiving multiple meters of snow per year, which can be extremely dangerous for unprepared individuals. The Bruce Peninsula's shoreline has several lighthouses, necessary to provide guidance to

540-590: A deep embayment between Siberia and the Central Mongolian terranes . Most of the terranes of central Asia were part of an equatorial archipelago whose geometry is poorly constrained by the available evidence. The period was one of extensive, widespread tectonism and volcanism. However, orogenesis (mountain-building) was not primarily due to continent-continent collisions. Instead, mountains arose along active continental margins during accretion of arc terranes or ribbon microcontinents. Accretion of new crust

630-639: A dispute between followers of Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison , who were placing the same rock beds in North Wales in the Cambrian and Silurian systems, respectively. Lapworth recognized that the fossil fauna in the disputed strata were different from those of either the Cambrian or the Silurian systems, and placed them in a system of their own. The Ordovician received international approval in 1960 (forty years after Lapworth's death), when it

720-607: A distinct band around the Earth, and that the breakup of the parent body may have formed a ring system for a period of about 40 million years, with frequent falling debris causing these craters. The Ordovician was a time of calcite sea geochemistry in which low-magnesium calcite was the primary inorganic marine precipitate of calcium carbonate . Carbonate hardgrounds were thus very common, along with calcitic ooids , calcitic cements, and invertebrate faunas with dominantly calcitic skeletons. Biogenic aragonite , like that composing

810-464: A given landmass were severely affected. Tropical lifeforms were hit particularly hard in the first wave of extinction, while cool-water species were hit worst in the second pulse. Those species able to adapt to the changing conditions survived to fill the ecological niches left by the extinctions. For example, there is evidence the oceans became more deeply oxygenated during the glaciation, allowing unusual benthic organisms (Hirnantian fauna) to colonize

900-693: A more cosmopolitan distribution , with less diversity on different continents. During the Middle Ordovician, beta diversity began a significant decline as marine taxa began to disperse widely across space. Faunas become less provincial later in the Ordovician, partly due to the narrowing of the Iapetus Ocean, though they were still distinguishable into the late Ordovician. Trilobites in particular were rich and diverse, and experienced rapid diversification in many regions. Trilobites in

990-728: A period known as the Ordovician meteor event . It has been theorized that this increase in impacts may originate from a ring system that formed around Earth at the time. In 2008, the ICS erected a formal international system of subdivisions for the Ordovician Period and System. Pre-existing Baltoscandic, British, Siberian, North American, Australian, Chinese, Mediterranean and North- Gondwanan regional stratigraphic schemes are also used locally. The Ordovician Period in Britain

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1080-541: A set of island arcs. The accretion of these arcs to the eastern margin of Gondwana was responsible for the Benambran Orogeny of eastern Australia. Subduction also took place along what is now Argentina (Famatinian Orogeny) at 450 Ma. This involved significant back arc rifting. The interior of Gondwana was tectonically quiet until the Triassic . Towards the end of the period, Gondwana began to drift across

1170-501: A suit for a land claim for part of their traditional territory; they claimed breach of trust by the Crown in failing to meet its treaty obligations to protect Aboriginal lands. The claim seeks the return of lands still held by the Crown and financial compensation for other lands. This claim is still active. European settlement began on the peninsula in the mid-19th century, despite its poor potential for agricultural development. Attracted by

1260-543: A treaty with Sir Francis Bond Head to cede lands south of the peninsula to the Canadian government in exchange for learning agriculture, proper housing, assistance in becoming "civilized," and for permanent protection of the peninsula. In 1854, the Saugeen Ojibway agreed to sign another treaty – this time for the peninsula itself. In 1994, after decades on increasing First Nations activism, the Saugeen Ojibway filed

1350-789: Is a geologic period and system , the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era , and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon . The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period 485.4 Ma (million years ago) to the start of the Silurian Period 443.8 Ma. The Ordovician, named after the Welsh tribe of the Ordovices , was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879 to resolve

1440-852: Is a national park on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario , Canada. Located on a part of the Niagara Escarpment , the park comprises 156 square kilometres and is one of the largest protected areas in southern Ontario, forming the core of UNESCO 's Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve . It was established in 1987 to protect the rock formations and shoreline of the Niagara Escarpment. The park offers opportunities for many outdoor activities, including hiking , camping , boating , and bird watching . The park has trails ranging in difficulty from easy to expert, and connects to

1530-408: Is an important habitat for massasauga rattlesnakes and one of the last places where they can be found. A variety of natural habitats are found in the park. These include mixed-wood forests, wetlands, alvars, talus slopes, and cliffs. The park is known for its wildflowers and has many species of algae, mosses, and lichen. There are over 32 species of ferns and 34 species of orchids that are found in

1620-612: Is famous. Since the last ice age , water levels in the region have undergone great changes. Softer limestone has been eroded away by water action, leaving magnificent overhanging cliffs at various points along the shore. These are the big attraction of the Cyprus Lake trails. Where erosion has cut more deeply, caves have been formed, such as the famed "Grotto" on the shore between the Marr Lake and Georgian Bay Trails. Great blocks of dolomite, undercut by wave action, have tumbled from

1710-699: Is home to 77 of these species. Ontario has 61 varieties of orchids, and of these, 44 can be found in the Bruce Peninsula. A selection of interesting orchids on the Bruce Peninsula: The Bruce Peninsula is composed of the Municipalities of Northern Bruce Peninsula and South Bruce Peninsula . The main villages in these regions are as follows: 44°56′43″N 81°16′37″W  /  44.94536°N 81.27686°W  / 44.94536; -81.27686 Bruce Peninsula National Park Bruce Peninsula National Park

1800-619: Is home to some of the oldest trees in eastern North America. An important flyway for migrating birds, the peninsula is habitat to a variety of animals, including black bear , massasauga rattlesnake , and barred owl . Until the mid-19th century, the area known as the Bruce Peninsula was territory controlled by the Saugeen Ojibway Nations. The nations included the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation and Saugeen First Nation . Historical and archaeological evidence from

1890-537: Is located on a major northern migration route, so many species of birds, such as the bald eagle, have their wintering grounds here. The highest concentration of nesting birds can be found in the Bruce in May and June each year. About 20 species of warblers breed on "the Bruce," including the black-throated green, yellow, yellow-rumped, and Blackburnian warblers and the ubiquitous American redstart. They make their summer homes in

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1980-489: Is marked by a sudden abundance of hard substrate trace fossils such as Trypanites , Palaeosabella , Petroxestes and Osprioneides . Bioerosion became an important process, particularly in the thick calcitic skeletons of corals, bryozoans and brachiopods, and on the extensive carbonate hardgrounds that appear in abundance at this time. Green algae were common in the Late Cambrian (perhaps earlier) and in

2070-597: Is more durable). Today, fossil remains illustrating the various life forms can be found in many of the rocks as they are slowly exposed by the action of wind, water and ice. Saugeen First Nation is an Ojibwa First Nation located along the Saugeen River and Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. The original territory included all of the Saugeen River watershed and all of the Bruce Peninsula. Organized in

2160-479: The Bruce Trail . Bruce Peninsula National Park is known for its crystal clear blue waters, cobblestone beaches, rocky cliffs and karst formations. The park is open year-round and offers visitors vistas to view either the sunrise or sunset, the rocks of the Niagara Escarpment, and the wildlife, which includes black bear , many species of birds, wild orchids , massasauga rattlesnake , and much more. The park

2250-813: The CAD $ 7.82 million centre, approached by a boardwalk, features an information centre, reception area, exhibit hall and theatre. A 20-metre (66 ft) viewing tower was also constructed to provide visitors with aerial views of the surrounding park and Georgian Bay . The centre was designed with environmental sustainability in mind, receiving $ 224,000 from the Federal House in Order initiative for implementation of innovative greenhouse gas reduction technology. Ordovician The Ordovician ( / ɔːr d ə ˈ v ɪ ʃ i . ə n , - d oʊ -, - ˈ v ɪ ʃ ən / or-də- VISH -ee-ən, -⁠doh-, -⁠ VISH -ən )

2340-518: The Cambrian , reef -forming corals appeared in the early Ordovician, including the earliest known octocorals , corresponding to an increase in the stability of carbonate and thus a new abundance of calcifying animals. Brachiopods surged in diversity, adapting to almost every type of marine environment. Even after GOBE, there is evidence suggesting that Ordovician brachiopods maintained elevated rates of speciation. Molluscs , which appeared during

2430-455: The Devonian . The first land plants are known from this period. The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event considerably increased the diversity of life. Fish , the world's first true vertebrates , continued to evolve, and those with jaws may have first appeared late in the period. About 100 times as many meteorites struck the Earth per year during the Ordovician compared with today in

2520-766: The Rheic Ocean between Gondwana and Avalonia. Avalonia collided with Baltica towards the end of Ordovician. Other geographic features of the Ordovician world included the Tornquist Sea , which separated Avalonia from Baltica; the Aegir Ocean, which separated Baltica from Siberia; and an oceanic area between Siberia, Baltica, and Gondwana which expanded to become the Paleoasian Ocean in Carboniferous time. The Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean formed

2610-613: The Upper Peninsula of northern Michigan, south of Sault Ste. Marie . The escarpment then extends southwards into Wisconsin following the Door Peninsula and then more inland from the western coast of Lake Michigan and Milwaukee ending northwest of Chicago near the Wisconsin-Illinois border. It forms the backbone of the Bruce Peninsula and shapes the northern boundary of most of the park and provides

2700-471: The endocerid cephalopods died out completely, except for possible rare Silurian forms. The Ordovician–Silurian extinction events may have been caused by an ice age that occurred at the end of the Ordovician Period, due to the expansion of the first terrestrial plants , as the end of the Late Ordovician was one of the coldest times in the last 600 million years of Earth's history. On the whole,

2790-472: The 1970s. In the late 20th century, the peninsula started to attract a new kind of resident: the cottager. Today, seasonal residents outnumber permanent residents, especially in the summer. In its southern Ontario portion, the Niagara Escarpment is a ridge of rock several hundred metres high in some locations, stretching 725 kilometres (450 mi) from Queenston on the Niagara River, to Tobermory at

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2880-568: The Bruce Peninsula. It is covered by the waters of Lake Huron, appearing as Manitoulin Island, then across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and down the west side of Lake Michigan into the State of Wisconsin . As occurs with present-day water bodies, such as Hudson Bay or the Gulf of Mexico, rivers flowing into this ancient sea carried sand, silt and clay to be deposited as thick layers of sediment. At

2970-460: The Cambrian or even the Ediacaran , became common and varied, especially bivalves , gastropods , and nautiloid cephalopods. Cephalopods diversified from shallow marine tropical environments to dominate almost all marine environments. Graptolites, which evolved in the preceding Cambrian period, thrived in the oceans. This includes the distinctive Nemagraptus gracilis graptolite fauna, which

3060-472: The Cambrian were succeeded by those that dominated the rest of the Paleozoic, such as articulate brachiopods, cephalopods , and crinoids . Articulate brachiopods, in particular, largely replaced trilobites in shelf communities. Their success epitomizes the greatly increased diversity of carbonate shell-secreting organisms in the Ordovician compared to the Cambrian. Ordovician geography had its effect on

3150-553: The Chippewa of Saugeen Ojibway Territory. Under the Saugeen Tract Agreement , the portion south of Owen Sound was ceded to the Crown , with reserves later established on the Bruce Peninsula. The claims for land and payment of rent on lands discussed in early treaties are significant. The Saugeen is now determined to establish its claim to the waters of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay and any Crown Land remaining on

3240-967: The Dapingian and the early Darriwilian. The Llanvirn corresponds to the late Darriwilian. The Caradoc covers the Sandbian and the first half of the Katian. The Ashgill represents the second half of the Katian, plus the Hirnantian . The Ashgill Epoch, the last epoch of the British Ordovician, is made of four ages: the Hirnantian Age, the Rawtheyan Age, the Cautleyan Age, and the Pusgillian Age. These ages make up

3330-848: The Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. Carbon dioxide levels were very high at the Ordovician period's beginning. By the late Early Ordovician, the Earth cooled, giving way to a more temperate climate in the Middle Ordovician, with the Earth likely entering the Early Palaeozoic Ice Age during the Sandbian, and possibly as early as the Darriwilian or even the Floian. The Dapingian and Sandbian saw major humidification events evidenced by trace metal concentrations in Baltoscandia from this time. Evidence suggests that global temperatures rose briefly in

3420-532: The Early Ordovician, leveling off somewhat during the middle of the period. Locally, some regressions occurred, but the sea level rise continued in the beginning of the Late Ordovician. Sea levels fell steadily due to the cooling temperatures for about 3 million years leading up to the Hirnantian glaciation. During this icy stage, sea level seems to have risen and dropped somewhat. Despite much study,

3510-559: The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event) was no less remarkable; marine faunal genera increased fourfold, resulting in 12% of all known Phanerozoic marine fauna. Several animals also went through a miniaturization process, becoming much smaller than their Cambrian counterparts. Another change in the fauna was the strong increase in filter-feeding organisms. The trilobite, inarticulate brachiopod, archaeocyathid , and eocrinoid faunas of

3600-507: The Hirnantian glaciation. As with North America and Europe , Gondwana was largely covered with shallow seas during the Ordovician. Shallow clear waters over continental shelves encouraged the growth of organisms that deposit calcium carbonates in their shells and hard parts. The Panthalassic Ocean covered much of the Northern Hemisphere , and other minor oceans included Proto-Tethys , Paleo-Tethys , Khanty Ocean , which

3690-532: The Niagara Escarpment. Hawks travel during the day, and can be seen in the vicinity of Cabot Head in the open areas west of Dyers Bay, and near Tobermory, in April. Some of the rarest flowers and ferns in Ontario can be found growing on the Bruce Peninsula. For example: lakeside daisy ( Tetraneuris herbacea var. glabra ), dwarf lake iris ( Iris lacustris ), and northern holly fern ( Polystichum lonchitis ) Globally, there are more than 30,000 orchid species. Canada

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3780-469: The Ordovician of Wisconsin have been found with an age of about 460 million years ago, a time when the land flora most likely only consisted of plants similar to non-vascular bryophytes . Though stromatolites had declined from their peak in the Proterozoic, they continued to exist in localised settings. The Ordovician came to a close in a series of extinction events that, taken together, comprise

3870-421: The Ordovician were very different from their predecessors in the Cambrian. Many trilobites developed bizarre spines and nodules to defend against predators such as primitive eurypterids and nautiloids while other trilobites such as Aeglina prisca evolved to become swimming forms. Some trilobites even developed shovel-like snouts for ploughing through muddy sea bottoms. Another unusual clade of trilobites known as

3960-582: The Ordovician, when at least two volcanic island arcs collided with Laurentia to form the Appalachian Mountains . Laurentia was otherwise tectonically stable. An island arc accreted to South China during the period, while subduction along north China (Sulinheer) resulted in the emplacement of ophiolites. The ash fall of the Millburg/Big Bentonite bed, at about 454 Ma, was the largest in the last 590 million years. This had

4050-428: The Ordovician. The ice age was possibly not long-lasting. Oxygen isotopes in fossil brachiopods show its duration may have been only 0.5 to 1.5 million years. Other researchers (Page et al.) estimate more temperate conditions did not return until the late Silurian. The late Ordovician glaciation event was preceded by a fall in atmospheric carbon dioxide (from 7000 ppm to 4400 ppm). The dip may have been caused by

4140-557: The Ordovician. Terrestrial plants probably evolved from green algae, first appearing as tiny non- vascular forms resembling liverworts , in the middle to late Ordovician. Fossil spores found in Ordovician sedimentary rock are typical of bryophytes. Among the first land fungi may have been arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi ( Glomerales ), playing a crucial role in facilitating the colonization of land by plants through mycorrhizal symbiosis , which makes mineral nutrients available to plant cells; such fossilized fungal hyphae and spores from

4230-585: The Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. In winter, Pacific air masses predominate, bringing in warm and humid air although cold, dry air from the Arctic highs can occur, bringing in colder and drier conditions. Warm air masses coming from the Gulf of Mexico are rare during winter but are responsible for bringing January and February thaws. Spring and fall are characterized by complex weather patterns with contrasting and rapidly changing influences from

4320-613: The South Pole. This contributed to the Hibernian glaciation and the associated extinction event. The Ordovician meteor event is a proposed shower of meteors that occurred during the Middle Ordovician Epoch, about 467.5 ± 0.28 million years ago, due to the break-up of the L chondrite parent body. It is not associated with any major extinction event. A 2024 study found that craters from this event cluster in

4410-564: The Wuliuan, exploded in diversity during the Tremadocian, quickly becoming globally widespread. Several groups of endobiotic symbionts appeared in the Ordovician. In the Early Ordovician, trilobites were joined by many new types of organisms, including tabulate corals, strophomenid , rhynchonellid , and many new orthid brachiopods, bryozoans, planktonic graptolites and conodonts, and many types of molluscs and echinoderms, including

4500-525: The area concludes that at the time of first contact with Europeans, the peninsula was inhabited by the Odawa people , from whom a large number of local native people are descended. Oral history from Saugeen and Nawash suggests their ancestors have been here as early as 7500 years ago. The area of Hope Bay is known to natives as Nochemoweniing, or Place of Healing. In 1836 the Saugeen Ojibway signed

4590-469: The area lay under a shallow warm sea. This sea lay in a depression of the Earth's crust, centered in what is now the lower peninsula of the State of Michigan . Known geologically as the Michigan Basin , the outer rim of this massive saucer-shaped feature governs the location of the Niagara Escarpment, which is shaped like a gigantic horseshoe. The Escarpment can be traced from near Rochester, New York , south of Lake Ontario to Hamilton, north to Tobermory on

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4680-403: The cliffs above and can be clearly seen below the surface of the deep, clean waters of Georgian Bay. The park has a typical climate for lakeside Northern Ontario , though the surrounding bodies of Lake Huron moderate the temperates. The park has a humid continental climate ( Dfb ), with warm to hot summers and cool winters. In the coastal northern parts of the peninsula, the climate is among

4770-456: The depths. These organisms were cosmopolitan in distribution and present at most latitudes. At the end of the second event, melting glaciers caused the sea level to rise and stabilise once more. The rebound of life's diversity with the permanent re-flooding of continental shelves at the onset of the Silurian saw increased biodiversity within the surviving Orders. Recovery was characterized by an unusual number of "Lazarus taxa", disappearing during

4860-415: The details remain unresolved. In particular, some researches interpret the fluctuations in sea level as pre-Hibernian glaciation, but sedimentary evidence of glaciation is lacking until the end of the period. There is evidence of glaciers during the Hirnantian on the land we now know as Africa and South America, which were near the South Pole at the time, facilitating the formation of the ice caps of

4950-603: The different regional air masses. The park receives 900 mm (35 in) of precipitation per year. This is evenly distributed throughout the year with fall (September–November) being the wettest. Precipitation is slightly lower than inland areas due to the limited influence that the narrow peninsula has when air masses travel over it compared to more interior locations. Animals that inhabit this national park are chipmunks , squirrels , red foxes , raccoons , coyotes , black bears , porcupines , snowshoe hares , skunks , white-tailed deer , snakes and frogs . The park

5040-422: The diversity of fauna; Ordovician invertebrates displayed a very high degree of provincialism. The widely separated continents of Laurentia and Baltica, then positioned close to the tropics and boasting many shallow seas rich in life, developed distinct trilobite faunas from the trilobite fauna of Gondwana, and Gondwana developed distinct fauna in its tropical and temperature zones. The Tien Shan terrane maintained

5130-495: The early Katian (Boda Event), depositing bioherms and radiating fauna across Europe. The early Katian also witnessed yet another humidification event. Further cooling during the Hirnantian, at the end of the Ordovician, led to the Late Ordovician glaciation . The Ordovician saw the highest sea levels of the Paleozoic, and the low relief of the continents led to many shelf deposits being formed under hundreds of metres of water. The sea level rose more or less continuously throughout

5220-401: The extensive wooded areas along the Peninsula. The annual Huron Fringe Birding Festival in May observes the spring migration. The endangered piping plover has made a comeback along the northern shores of Sauble Beach as well, and nest in restricted areas of the beach. These are well marked to prevent visitors overrunning the area and to reduce negative human effects. Migrating hawks also follow

5310-425: The extinction and reappearing well into the Silurian, which suggests that the taxa survived in small numbers in refugia . An alternate extinction hypothesis suggested that a ten-second gamma-ray burst could have destroyed the ozone layer and exposed terrestrial and marine surface-dwelling life to deadly ultraviolet radiation and initiated global cooling. Recent work considering the sequence stratigraphy of

5400-426: The fauna that emerged in the Ordovician were the template for the remainder of the Palaeozoic. The fauna was dominated by tiered communities of suspension feeders, mainly with short food chains. The ecological system reached a new grade of complexity far beyond that of the Cambrian fauna, which has persisted until the present day. Though less famous than the Cambrian explosion , the Ordovician radiation (also known as

5490-427: The first rugose corals appeared. The planktonic graptolites remained diverse, with the Diplograptina making their appearance. One of the earliest known armoured agnathan (" ostracoderm ") vertebrates, Arandaspis , dates from the Middle Ordovician. During the Middle Ordovician there was a large increase in the intensity and diversity of bioeroding organisms. This is known as the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution. It

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5580-502: The globe. At the start of the period, the continents of Laurentia (in present-day North America ), Siberia , and Baltica (present-day northern Europe) were separated from Gondwana by over 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) of ocean. These smaller continents were also sufficiently widely separated from each other to develop distinct communities of benthic organisms. The small continent of Avalonia had just rifted from Gondwana and began to move north towards Baltica and Laurentia, opening

5670-652: The many ships that would pass by her shores. The Cove Island Light , located near Tobermory is one of the six famous "Imperial" lighthouses built in the 1850s by John Brown which can be found on the mainland and on nearby islands of the northern Bruce Peninsula. Other lighthouses include: There are many varieties of wildlife on the Bruce Peninsula, such as the northern flying squirrel , black bear , chipmunk , fisher, long-eared bats, red squirrel, fox, massasauga rattlesnake , red-shouldered hawk , barred owl , hermit thrush , black-throated blue warbler, scarlet tanager and yellow-spotted salamander . The Bruce Peninsula

5760-416: The mid-1970s, during a period of increased political activism, Saugeen First Nation declared itself the primary 'political successor apparent' to the historic Chippewas of Saugeen Ojibway Territory , who had occupied this territory and made treaties with the Crown. However, along with the Saugeen First Nation, the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation also claims to be the 'political successor apparent' to

5850-453: The most temperate in Ontario. The climate of the park is influenced by both Georgian Bay and Lake Huron , which significantly moderate temperatures. As a result, they tend to prolong milder temperatures in the fall and cooler temperatures in spring. Summers are warm, with an average temperature of 16.8 °C (62.2 °F) while winters are cool, averaging −6.7 °C (19.9 °F). Summers are dominated by hot, humid air masses from

5940-548: The ophiuroids ("brittle stars") and the first sea stars . Nevertheless, the arthropods remained abundant; all the Late Cambrian orders continued, and were joined by the new group Phacopida . The first evidence of land plants also appeared (see evolutionary history of life ). In the Middle Ordovician, the trilobite-dominated Early Ordovician communities were replaced by generally more mixed ecosystems, in which brachiopods, bryozoans, molluscs, cornulitids , tentaculitids and echinoderms all flourished, tabulate corals diversified and

6030-432: The ownership and resolve disputes over the treaties began in 2019. There are 2 National Parks, 8 Ontario Parks, and 4 Federation of Ontario Naturalists Parks located within the Bruce Peninsula. Ontario Parks - include: Federation of Ontario Naturalists - Ontario Nature works to protect and restore the species, spaces and landscapes that represent the full diversity of nature in Ontario. The Bruce Peninsula has

6120-471: The park with some of its most spectacular scenery. The rock of the escarpment is very old. Approximately 400 million years ago, this area was covered by a shallow tropical sea teeming with life in the form of plant-like animals, crustaceans , living corals and mollusks . It would have looked much like the present-day Great Barrier Reef of Australia . When the sea began to dry up, the minerals dissolved in it became more and more concentrated. Magnesium in

6210-513: The park, including the eastern prairie fringed orchid , which is one of the rarest species native to North America. The park hosts half of the world's dwarf lake iris , which is considered a vulnerable species. Forest cover includes eastern white cedar, spruce, fir, birch, poplar, maple, and beech. Bruce Peninsula National Park is open year-around with limited services during the off-season. The park offers many activities such as hiking, swimming, bouldering, camping, canoeing, and kayaking. During

6300-443: The peninsula as "Saugeen Peninsula" in recognition of its being traditional territories of the Saugeen-Ojibway nation. However the national park retains the name "Bruce Peninsula National Park" for the time being. The Bruce Peninsula is a key area for both plant and animal wildlife. Part of the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve , the peninsula has the largest remaining area of forest and natural habitat in Southern Ontario and

6390-410: The peninsula in 1908, burning large swaths of land. By the mid-1920s, the formerly abundant forests of the peninsula were nearly barren. When the lamprey eel was accidentally introduced to the Great Lakes in 1932, the devastation on the fish supply made the peninsula a less attractive place to live; many left when fish stocks became depleted. The peninsula underwent a steady decline in population until

6480-411: The peninsula. "The two First Nations are claiming aboriginal title to the lands under the water covering an area of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay from south of Goderich, west to the international border and north to the mid-point between the tip of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island; then east to the mid-point of Georgian Bay and south to the southernmost point of Nottawasaga Bay." A trial to establish

6570-467: The rich fisheries and lush forest, settlers found the land known then as the "Indian or Saugeen Peninsula" to be irresistible. In 1881, settlers built the first sawmill on the peninsula in Tobermory . In less than 20 years, most of the valuable timber was gone, and timber industry jobs declined. Fuelled by the waste left behind by the rapid logging and land clearances, intense forest fires sprang up around

6660-466: The same time, lime-rich organic material from the abundant sea life was also accumulating. Over millions of years these materials became compressed into massive layers of sedimentary rocks and ancient reef structures now visible along the Escarpment. Some rock layers now consist of soft shales and sandstones while others are made up of dolomite (a rock similar to limestone which contains magnesium and

6750-400: The sea level dropped, and the vast shallow intra-continental Ordovician seas withdrew, which eliminated many ecological niches. When they returned, they carried diminished founder populations that lacked many whole families of organisms. They then withdrew again with the next pulse of glaciation, eliminating biological diversity with each change. Species limited to a single epicontinental sea on

6840-426: The sea, and about 49% of genera of fauna disappeared forever; brachiopods and bryozoans were greatly reduced, along with many trilobite , conodont and graptolite families. The most commonly accepted theory is that these events were triggered by the onset of cold conditions in the late Katian, followed by an ice age , in the Hirnantian faunal stage, that ended the long, stable greenhouse conditions typical of

6930-512: The second largest of the five major extinction events in Earth's history in terms of percentage of genera that became extinct. The only larger one was the Permian–Triassic extinction event . The extinctions occurred approximately 447–444 million years ago and mark the boundary between the Ordovician and the following Silurian Period. At that time all complex multicellular organisms lived in

7020-425: The shells of most molluscs , dissolved rapidly on the sea floor after death. Unlike Cambrian times, when calcite production was dominated by microbial and non-biological processes, animals (and macroalgae) became a dominant source of calcareous material in Ordovician deposits. The Early Ordovician climate was very hot, with intense greenhouse conditions and sea surface temperatures comparable to those during

7110-492: The sun's rays from the proposed Ordovician ring system, which also caused the Ordovician meteor event , may have also led to the glaciation. As the southern supercontinent Gondwana drifted over the South Pole, ice caps formed on it, which have been detected in Upper Ordovician rock strata of North Africa and then-adjacent northeastern South America, which were south-polar locations at the time. As glaciers grew,

7200-635: The time period from c. 450 Ma to c. 443 Ma. The Rawtheyan, the second last of the Ashgill ages, was from c. 449 Ma to c. 445 Ma. It is in the Katian Age of the ICS's Geologic Time Scale . During the Ordovician, the southern continents were assembled into Gondwana , which reached from north of the equator to the South Pole . The Panthalassic Ocean, centered in the northern hemisphere, covered over half

7290-455: The tip of the Bruce Peninsula. Today, in Ontario, the Escarpment contains more than 100 sites of geological significance, including some of the best exposures of rocks and fossils of the Silurian and Ordovician periods (405 to 500 million years old) to be found anywhere in the world. The Niagara Escarpment has origins dating to the Silurian age some 430 to 450 million years ago, a time when

7380-399: The trinucleids developed a broad pitted margin around their head shields. Some trilobites such as Asaphus kowalewski evolved long eyestalks to assist in detecting predators whereas other trilobite eyes in contrast disappeared completely. Molecular clock analyses suggest that early arachnids started living on land by the end of the Ordovician. Although solitary corals date back to at least

7470-400: The water was absorbed into the limestone , which then became a harder, slightly different sort of rock, called dolomite . The harder dolomite forms much of the rock of the escarpment cliffs along Bruce Peninsula National Park's Georgian Bay shoreline. At Niagara Falls, the dolomite "caprock" is more resistant to erosion than the rock below it, creating the sculptured cliffs for which the area

7560-557: The winter season, activities such as cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and winter camping are also available. Bruce Peninsula National Park was designated a Dark Sky Preserve in 2009 and is one of three places in southern Ontario where visitors can stargaze in naturally dark skies. In 2006, a new visitors' centre opened to serve Fathom Five National Marine Park and the Bruce Peninsula National Park. Designed by Andrew Frontini of Shore Tilbe Irwin + Partners ,

7650-693: Was adopted as an official period of the Paleozoic Era by the International Geological Congress . Life continued to flourish during the Ordovician as it had in the earlier Cambrian Period, although the end of the period was marked by the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events . Invertebrates, namely molluscs and arthropods , dominated the oceans, with members of the latter group probably starting their establishment on land during this time, becoming fully established by

7740-537: Was closed off by the Late Ordovician, Iapetus Ocean , and the new Rheic Ocean . For most of the Late Ordovician life continued to flourish, but at and near the end of the period there were mass-extinction events that seriously affected conodonts and planktonic forms like graptolites . The trilobites Agnostida and Ptychopariida completely died out, and the Asaphida were much reduced. Brachiopods , bryozoans and echinoderms were also heavily affected, and

7830-618: Was distributed widely during peak sea levels in the Sandbian. Some new cystoids and crinoids appeared. It was long thought that the first true vertebrates (fish — Ostracoderms ) appeared in the Ordovician, but recent discoveries in China reveal that they probably originated in the Early Cambrian . The first gnathostome (jawed fish) may have appeared in the Late Ordovician epoch. Chitinozoans, which first appeared late in

7920-495: Was limited to the Iapetus margin of Laurentia; elsewhere, the pattern was of rifting in back-arc basins followed by remerger. This reflected episodic switching from extension to compression. The initiation of new subduction reflected a global reorganization of tectonic plates centered on the amalgamation of Gondwana. The Taconic orogeny , a major mountain-building episode, was well under way in Cambrian times. This continued into

8010-539: Was the subject of a short film in 2011's National Parks Project , directed by Daniel Cockburn and scored by John K. Samson , Christine Fellows and Sandro Perri . The Bruce Peninsula National Park has a weather and tourist information station CBPS-FM which operates at 90.7 FM. The station was launched in the mid-1990s. The Niagara Escarpment runs from near Rochester , New York, to Tobermory , then on to Manitoulin , St. Joseph Island and other islands located in northern Lake Huron where it turns westwards into

8100-532: Was traditionally broken into Early (Tremadocian and Arenig ), Middle ( Llanvirn (subdivided into Abereiddian and Llandeilian) and Llandeilo ) and Late ( Caradoc and Ashgill) epochs. The corresponding rocks of the Ordovician System are referred to as coming from the Lower, Middle, or Upper part of the column. The Tremadoc corresponds to the ICS's Tremadocian. The Arenig corresponds to the Floian, all of

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