Ottawa Gatineau Geoheritage

The Ottawa-Gatineau Geoheritage Project promotes greater public knowledge and appreciation of the geology and related landscapes in and around Canada's National Capital Region

Ottawa-Gatineau Canada

  1. W. Erskine Johnston Elementary School - Glacially sculpted Precambrian gneiss that displays  foliation, folds and  cross-cutting dykes

  2. Centrum parking lot - Nepean and March Formations sandstone and dolostone

  3. Stony Swamp Conservation Area - Sedimentary structures in Paleozoic strata

  4. Champlain Bridge - Stromatolite fossils in plan view

  5. Westboro Beach - Stromatolites, orthocones and trace fossils

  6. OC Transitway at Roosevelt Ave - Stromatolite fossils in cross-section

  7. Tunney's Pasture - Gloucester Fault in cross-section

  8. Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth St. - Fossiliferous limestone

  9. Hog's Back Falls - Ordovician sedimentary rocks and the Gloucester Fault

  10. Mer Bleue Bog - Boreal peatland

  11. Lemieux Landslide - Leda Clay landslide, 1993

  12. Parc Brébeuf, Gatineau - Fossiliferous limestone bedrock and glacial erratics

  13. Victoria Island - Dune bedforms and fossiliferous limestone

  14. Champlain Lookout, Gatineau Park - Precambrian bedrock and Eardley Fault escarpment

  15. Cantley quarry, Québec - Outcrops of Precambrian marble shaped in part by sub-glacial hydraulic scouring

  16. Lac des Fées Trail, Gatineau Park - Limestones from a depositional environment of shallowing water depths

  17. Lady Grey Dr. behind Royal Canadian Mint, - Limestones from a depositional environment of episodic storms

  18. Parc du Lac Beauchamp, Québec - Precambrian-Cambrian contact exposed

  19. Pinhey's Point - Sandstone, limestone and glacial erratics at an historic homestead

  20. Petrie Island - Modern shoreline processes and the geology of imported blocks

  21. Metcalfe Geoheritage Park, Almonte - An assemblage of rocks that are representative of regional geology

  22. Burnt Lands Alvar, Almonte - Barren limestone plain that hosts rare vegetation

  23. Outcrop along HWY 307, near Cantley - Gneiss exhibiting folding, faulting, partial melting and intrusion by dykes

  24. Building Stones and Monuments of Downtown Ottawa

  25. Pinhey Sand Dunes

  26. Cardinal Creek Karst

 

 

 

 

Geoheritage Sites

Few Canadian cities have as wide a variety of geology and as extensive a geological history as does Ottawa. The unique geologic and geomorphic features of the Ottawa area span the last 1 billion years of Canada's four billion year history, from ancient Precambrian crystalline rocks of the Canadian Shield, through 500-450 million-year-old, fossil-bearing, Paleozoic sedimentary strata, to unconsolidated sedimentary cover deposited during and after the last Ice Age.

Explore the diverse geology and resulting landforms of the greater Ottawa area. Visit these sites and learn to understand the ground beneath your feet.

 

A Plea for Conservation

Help protect significant features in outcrops for others to appreciate by observing and photographing only. In some areas such as federal and provincial parks, severe penalties for collecting without a scientific permit may apply. Regulations for rock, mineral and fossil collecting varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Even where collecting is permitted, please restrict collecting to loose slabs, leaving in-place fossils and rock/mineral specimens and structures for others to enjoy.