The Canadian Shield (French: Bouclier canadien [buklje kanadjɛ̃]), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the ancient geologic core of the North American continent. Glaciation has left the area with only a thin layer of soil, through which exposures of igneous bedrock resulting from its long volcanic history are frequently visible. As a deep, common, joined bedrock region in eastern and central Canada, the shield stretches north from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean, covering over half of Canada and most of Greenland; it also extends south into the northern reaches of the continental United States. Geographical extent The Canadian Shield is a physiographic division comprising…
That’s just what we want you think. We keep the actual shield buried in a bunker underneath a Canadian Tire in Sudbury. Keep it close though.
Shhh. Don’t tell them about the Diefenbunker.
It cost us a ginormous 5-cent coin to put it there.
Don’t tell them about the secret dinosaur elevator.
The article says it is a classical example of a deranged drainage system, which seems quite appropriate for a country that calls some of its money loonies.
The shield was a mountain range at one point, but has been worn down to what you see today. Some of the oldest rocks in the world are found in the shield (circa 4.3 bn years old)