The Sudbury Basin

A ring of low hills, with Sudbury on the south rim, follows the outline of the Sudbury Nickel Irruptive, a unique and remarkably complex geological structure. Mines around the outer rim of this boat-shaped basin produce most of the world's nickel, platinum, palladium and related metals, as well as large amounts of copper, gold, tellurium, selenium and sulphur. The basin, about 37 miles long and 17 miles wide, was formed of many kinds of igneous rock forced while still molten into a roughly concentric arrangement some 1700 million years ago. These rocks and the minerals in the ore deposits probably had a common source deep within the Earth's crust.

Ontario · Canada