Iroquois beach in Ontario
Introduction The signs of wave action in the cutting of cliffs, the piling up of beach sands and gravels, and the formation of bars or spits across the mouth of bays are so well marked on the old Iroquois beach that it was early recognized as a shore formation by farmers and land surveyors, as well as geologists. The first written mention of the beach in Ontario is contained in Thomas Roy’s paper on the “Ancient State of the North American Continent,” read by Sir Charles Lyell before the Geological Society of London in 1837; * and Lyell was so much interested in the account of the series of terraces which Roy described that on his visit to America he crossed from Niagara to Toronto in 1842 to examine them. Roy noted a number of sand and gravel beaches at various levels above lake Ontario up to 762 feet, and . . .