In Appreciation Of The Canadian Shield

The Canadian Shield is the expansive area of dense rock that underlies approximately the eastern half of Canada. I think it is appropriate to point out how very important to us this mass of rock is. I encourage Canadian readers especially to read the article about the shield on http://www.wikipedia.org/ .

I can show you what the majority of Canada would look like if it were not for the Canadian Shield, and it is not an appealing sight. On http://www.maps.google.com/ , you can see a vast area of shallow sea all around northwestern Europe. This includes the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. There is also an area of shallow sea to the west of Ireland that is about as big as Ireland itself.

This area of shallow sea was once all dry land, but it has been carved away by the movement of glaciers during the ice ages. All that remains today of this former land is Britain, Ireland and, Scandinavia. These remained intact because they were shielded by mountains. We can only imagine what the world would be like today if this were still land.

The reason this happened is that Europe does not have a Canadian Shield like Canada does. This underlying layer of rock prevented the glaciers from carving the land away during the ice ages. There is a large area of northern Canada that is not covered by the shield. This was also once land, but has been carved away by glaciers into a shallow sea, in the same way as the former northwestern Europe. This area is known today as Hudson Bay. If not for the Canadian Shield, this is what would have happened to virtually all of eastern Canada.

It is so named because it's shape resembles a shield, but the Canadian Shield truly is a shield in every sense of the word. Canada's national anthem refers to "standing on guard" for the country, and there is nothing that this better refers to than the Canadian Shield.