It all begins with asiniiwan
[rocks]
By helping residents and visitors discover and understand how Georgian Bay’s unique geology has shaped the entire watershed’s environment, flora, fauna and cultures over the past 2.7 billion years, the Georgian Bay Geopark can inform and inspire a more sustainable future for everyone.
Explore the Geological Past. Create a Sustainable Future.
Discover the deep time story of Georgian Bay and the North Channel — and join us in imagining its future. This initiative will evolve through the voices and perspectives of municipalities, Indigenous Nations and Knowledge Keepers, conservation partners, local communities, and the tourism sector. Explore what we’ve begun, and learn how to get involved.
Essential to the Geopark’s vision is Etuaptmumk – Two-Eyed Seeing – which correlates the study of Geology with the wisdom of Indigenous Peoples, whose traditional knowledge, stories, and deep relationships with the land and waters provide vital insights that enrich scientific understanding and help guide a more respectful and sustainable path forward.
Geological events naturally divide the region into eight DEEP TIME Zones. Visitors and residents can gain a better understanding and appreciation of history and the future by discovering and exploring these zone, in person and virtually. Geology helps tell us how all of those who inhabit the lands have made their mark and how we can all work to shape the coming years.
In Anishinabek tradition, Grandfather Rocks—Kinoomaag Waapkong—are living Elders carrying memory, spirit, and sacred teachings. Formed at Creation, they anchor the land and guide us through humility, resilience, and respect. These stones reveal themselves when teachings are needed, embodying the Seven Grandfather Teachings and reminding us of our kinship with all Creation, our responsibilities to the land, and the strength found in quiet endurance.
After three years of foundational research, partnership building, and listening, we are entering a new phase — sharing what we’ve learned and inviting communities, municipalities, and First Nations across the region into an open and transparent dialogue. Together, let us imagine what can be created for the lands, the waters, the cultures and the generations yet to come of this extraordinary part of Canada.
Discover the DEEP TIME geology of the Georgian Bay Geopark
DEEP TIME’ is the themed expression of how exploring and understanding the past helps create a better future. The unique DEEP TIME story and its eight geological chapters encourages both visitors and residents to know the past, celebrate the present and help create a more resilient future for the Bay and its many communities.
DEEP TIME Zone 1
The Huronian
Ocean
2.7 billion years
Sault Ste Marie to Serpent River
The ancient mineral-rich rocks of the North Channel record the breakup of the planet’s oldest supercontinent – and the birth of the Huronian Ocean.
DEEP TIME Zone 2
Continents
Collide
1.8 billion years
Serpent River to Killarney
The Group of Seven’s white rolling quartzite hills are the stumps of mountains formed when landmasses collided to form supercontinent Nuna
DEEP TIME Zone 3
The Ancient
Himalayas
1.3 billion years
Killarney to Honey Harbour
The waterscape of the 30,000 Islands exposes the deep crustal roots of the immense Grenville Mountains formed when North and South America collided.
DEEP TIME Zone 4
Tropical
Seas
500 million years
Manitoulin Island
Much of North America was covered by warm shallow seas, teeming with early marine life that left fossil-rich limestones on Manitoulin Island.
DEEP TIME Zone 5
The Limestone
Coast
350 million years
Tobermory to Wiarton
Within the last 2 million years, the Bruce/Saugeen peninsula was scoured by Ice Age ice sheets that cut deep valleys into the face of the Niagara Escarpment such as at Owen Sound.
DEEP TIME Zone 6
Ice Ages &
Early
Cultures
13,000 years
Collingwood to Wiarton
The raised beaches of glacial Lake Algonquin surround the coast of southern Georgian Bay like staircases and hosted the camps of caribou-hunting Paleo-Indians 11,000 years ago.
DEEP TIME Zone 7
The Meeting
Place
Last 10,000 years
Collingwood to Honey Harbour
The ancient hard rocks of the Canadian Shield meet the softer limestones of the ancient seas creating a stark contrast in landscapes, ecosystems, and a diverse cultural history unique in North America.
DEEP TIME Zone 8
Mindo Gami Great
Spirit Lake
4,000 years to today
Waters of Georgian Bay
In 1615 Samuel de Champlain called Georgian Bay ‘La Mer Douce’ (the sweet water sea). An early map also portrays it as Karegnondi, derived from ‘lake’ in the language of the Petun First Nation.