The Great Lakes were formed by melting glaciers 20,000 years ago — that’s how most people know the formation of these vast freshwater giants.
But researchers at the University of Houston found that the Cape Verde hotspot may have formed the Great Lakes.
Hotspots are plumes of hot material that rise from the Earth’s middle layer. When they come to the surface they form volcanoes. That’s when they’re beneath the oceans. They behave differently when they are found inland.
University researchers used seismic models to study the Great Lakes region.
Plate movement from hundreds of millions of years ago indicated to those researchers that hot spots existed where the modern Great Lakes are today.
This is back when North America was still part of the mega land mass Pangea. The recent discovery could offer new insights into what shaped the Great Lakes and possibly other land masses.
The goal for researchers is to expand that research further west to cover the rest of the Great Lakes region to see if this new theory holds true.
Great Lakes Environmental Festival
Check out the Great Lakes Environmental Festival this Saturday at Manistee Middle-High School. It includes four films about the efforts of Indigenous people to rebuild a sustainable environment. It’s an all-day event.
The event coincides with World Water Day.
