The Big Humber Bang

Scientists measure the age of the universe at almost 14 billion years old.  Our own galaxy  began to form from the debris of earlier galaxies about 5 billion years ago.

Our solar system formed  about 4.6 billion years ago, with the earliest traces of life on Earth emerging by about 3.5 billion years ago.

The Canadian Shield is one of the few places on earth where one can see shale deposits from oceans that covered the area hundreds of millions of years ago.  This shale, covered in a thin layer of sand and gravel from glacial periods, usually covered in topsoil, but all three are removed in the river bed, where some of the worlds oldest fossils can be easily seen.  These fossils are far older than the dinosaur fossils of Alberta, and are from a time before came out of the oceans and onto the land.

If you climb the valley wall to visit the St John’s cemetery, which is a little east of the weir,  you will be looking at deposits left as the glaciers retreated.

Our Humber walk is hands-on.  At river’s edge, you can pick up and examine the fossils while you watch (or fish ) for salmon and lake trout.  Or just think about the implications of where you stand.

For more information, visit these sites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_the_universe

http://www.geologyontario.mndmf.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/MDC015/MDC015.pdf

http://www.humberriver.ca/greatlakes.html