Hamilton Mountain is part of the Niagara Escarpment, a height of land extending 725km across Ontario from Niagara Falls to Manitoulin Island. Over 430 million years ago, a tropical sea covered most of central North America. Sediments and coral reef on the seabed were compressed into dolomite, a hard type of limestone more resistant to erosion than the bedrock of adjacent lands. The cliffs of the escarpment are the exposed floor of the ancient sea. The escarpment's rugged terrain, home to a wide variety of plants and wildlife, forms a natural corridor through both urban and rural areas. In 1990 the United Nations designated the Niagara Escarpment a World Biosphere Reserve.

Location

In the Sam Lawrence parking lot, Concession Street and Highcliffe Avenue, Hamilton

Themes

• Environment