Nor'Wester Mountains

Nor'Wester Mountains
Range
Mount McKay
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Highest point	Mount McKay
- elevation	483 m (1,585 ft)
- coordinates	48°20′43″N 89°17′8″W / 48.34528°N 89.28556°W / 48.34528; -89.28556

The Nor'Wester Mountains are a group of mountains immediately south of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, located on the southern limits of the City of Thunder Bay and south of the Kaministiquia River.^[1]:32,33

Mount McKay is the highest, most northern and best known of these mountains; it is 270 m (890 ft) above Lake Superior and 442 m (1,450 ft) above sea level.^[1]:31,32 It is a flat-topped hill flanked by steep cliffs on three sides.^[1] Mount McKay is composed of shale and greywackes – the Rove Formation – which is covered by the hard, protective 60 m (200 ft) thick diabase cap.^[1]:iii,2 The Rove Formation is part of the Animikie Group.^[1]:32 The Rove sedimentary layers in the Nor'Wester Mountains are overlain by a 60 m (200 ft) cap of diabase;^[1]:32 this Logan diabase is 1115 ± 1 million years old.^[2] This diabase cap is the erosional remnant of a sill that once extended over the entire area.^[1]:32 Most of it is covered by a thick layer of mineral soil.^[1]:32

The north face of Mount McKay shows evidence that below this cap is another 7.2 m (24 ft) thick sill of very hard diabase.^[1]:32 This sill is also an erosional remnant and is 96 m (315 ft) below the first cap and 190 m (620 ft) below the top of the hill – or 242 m (794 ft) above sea level.^[1]:32

Loch Lomond, 287 m (942 ft) above sea level, collects most of the runoff within the Nor’Wester Mountains; Loch Lomond is drained by the Lomond River.^[1]:5 A few square kilometers of mountain slope south of Mount McKay are drained by Whiskeyjack Creek.^[1]:5

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Watershed Characterization Report Lakehead Source Protection Area (Report). Source Water Protection–Lakehead Region. March 2008. http://ozone.scholarsportal.info/bitstream/1873/14560/3/292820.pdf. Retrieved June 14, 2010. 
2. ^ Ontario Exploration and Geoscience Symposium, "Cooperatively Enhancing Ontario’s Geoscience Database" (Report). Ontario Prospectors Association. December 13–14, 2005. http://ontarioprospectors.com/events/05OEGSAbstracts.pdf. Retrieved June 12, 2010.