The Sibley Peninsula is a long and wide

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, on

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

. It projects into the lake from Superior's north shore, and separates

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

to the west from Black Bay to the east.''Sleeping Giant Background Information'', 3.2 Earth Science, Topography, pp. 11.

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, established in 1944 as Sibley Provincial Park and renamed in 1988, is a park located on the Sibley Peninsula in Northwestern Ontario, east of Thunder Bay. The nearest communities are Pass Lake, in the township o ...

occupies most of the peninsula, while the actual Sleeping Giant rock formation, which resembles a human figure lying on its back, forms the southernmost extension of the peninsula. Twenty native fish species are known from lakes within the park. Also on the peninsula are the Thunder Cape Bird Observatory, at its southern tip, and the small town of

Silver Islet Silver Islet refers to both a small rocky island and a small community located at the tip of the Sibley Peninsula in northwestern Ontario, Canada. A rich vein of pure silver was discovered on this small island in 1868 by the Montreal Mining ...

. Highway 587 runs along the peninsula from Highway 17 to Silver Islet. The peninsula was named after Alexander H. Sibley, president of the Silver Islet Mining Company that developed a mine there.

Geology

The peninsula can be separated into two physiographic areas—

highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

and

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of ...

s. The highlands dominate the western half of the peninsula, and rise to above the surface of Lake Superior. The lowlands of the eastern portion of the peninsula rise to only , over an area wide. With the exception of

diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-graine ...

dikes Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice * Dikes ...

and the large diabase sill that forms the upper portion of the Sleeping Giant, the peninsula is underlain by

sedimentary rocks Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles t ...

, which strike northeast and slope towards the southwest, forming a

cuesta A cuesta (from Spanish ''cuesta'' "slope") is a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other. In geology the term is more specifically applied to a ridge where a harder sedimentary rock overlies a softer layer ...

History

Sibley Peninsula (pronounced Syb-Lee) has archaeological sites from Paleoindian, arachaic, and

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

settlements. In 1868 silver was discovered, and from 1870 to 1884 the mine at

was the richest silver mine in the world.

References

External links

''Lake Superior'' magazine article that includes some history of the area
*Ontario Parks '' ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071107021908/http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/planning_pdf/sleeping_giant_bg_info.pdf Sleeping Giant Background Information' (2003) Queen's Printer for Ontario. . Retrieved on 26 September 2007. {{coord, 48, 20, 14, N, 88, 54, 16, W, display=title Peninsulas of Ontario Landforms of Thunder Bay District

Geology

History

See also

References

External links