Manitou Islands (Lake Nipissing)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Manitou Islands are a series of small islands placed in a circle on Lake Nipissing, 20 km southwest of North Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Grand Manitou Island, the largest of these islands, once held a dance hall and hotel, but it burned to the ground.[1]
Fur traders found the island a handy resting spot, and often would camp overnight. Today the islands sand beaches continues to be a popular resting and recreation spot for many boaters.
Old timers tell a story of how the island is reportedly haunted, after starvation broke out after the Nipissing people were forced to flee to the island, after their battle with the Iroquois.
Contents |
[edit] Provincial park
Today the islands are protected as Manitou Islands Provincial Park.[2]
[edit] Geology
The Manitou Islands lie inside the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben and are part of an eroded volcanic pipe,[3] leaving the multiple islands. The volcanic pipe formed by the violent, supersonic eruption of a deep-origin volcano. These volcanoes originate at least three times as deep as most other volcanoes, and the resulting magma that is pushed toward the surface is high in magnesium and volatile compounds such as water and carbon dioxide. As the body of magma rises toward the surface, the volatile compounds transform to gaseous phase as pressure is reduced with decreasing depth. This sudden expansion propels the magma upward at rapid speeds, resulting in a shallow supersonic eruption.
The Manitou Islands contain fenite, syenites, pyroxenites, amphibole, apatite, biotite, calcite, magnetite, monazite, nepheline, pyrite, pyrochlore, pyroxene and quartz.[4]
The nearby Callander Bay is also a volcanic pipe.
