Cheltenham Badlands

It was such a beautiful weekend that our family decided to take a drive to see the Cheltanham Badlands by Toronto.

Here is a little more information about them copied from this site:

Millions of years ago, what we know today as The Great Lakes, a shallow sea known as the Michigan Basin, centered in Michigan stretched outward to surrounding areas of today’s Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Ontario Canada. Mountain streams carrying red iron oxide deposited sediments into the sea forming a large delta which over the years became the Queenston Shale.

This magnificent landscape is believed to form with overgrazing the soft layer of the shale by farming that exposed this red iron rich material. The farming has stopped in 1931, however the erosion continues increasing this remarkable site in size.

The hills and gullies are composed of clay containing mostly red iron oxide and green iron oxide visible as greenish-gray bands throughout the land.

Throughout the world, this type of landscape is known as the badlands where clay rich soils have been severely eroded by wind and water. Badlands can be found in various places around the world however they are truly unique in this part of the world as they are surrounded by forests, farmland of mostly flat terrain, and are nothing like 99% of Ontario.

Now on to a few of my pictures: