Palisades of the Pijitawabik
Text from the plaque
Here at Pijitawabik Bay and other Lake Nipigon localities ancient rocks of the Precambrian Shield were overlain by a diabase sheet formed approximately 1,200 million years ago. Erosion by water and ice removed the covering rocks and sculptured the sheet into rounded, flat-topped hills bounded by escarpments which rise in some places 152 metres above Lake Nipigon. The hills are separated by deep, narrow valleys. The towering pillars of the cliffs are the result of columnar jointing, a cooling phenomenon developed during the solidification of the magma. Frost action along the cracks in and around the columns causes splintering of the rock and occasionally the collapse of entire pillars, leaving the imposing palisades seen here.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The District of Thunder Bay
The Municipality of Greenstone
At the scenic lookout on the east side of Highway 11
12 km south of Orient Bay
41 km north of Nipigon
Also recorded for this place: The Municipality of Greenstone
N 49 20.039 W 88 07.447
Recorded November 2005. Check current access before visiting.
Visitors' notes
August 9, 2009
What does the word Pijitawabik mean? I imagine it's a Native word indicating the type of rock formation?