Lake Superior exists because, ~1.1 billion years ago, North America failed to rip in half. This summer, I traveled to the lake to see what kind of stories that failure left behind, and I ended up learning a whole lot about the Midcontinent Rift, basalt, copper mining, and geology.
This is one of the biggest projects I've done in a while, and I had a really good time with it. If you enjoyed this travel + science story, stop by the comments and let me know!
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Music:
"Too Many Valleys" by Josh Woodward. Free download: https://www.joshwoodward.com/
Main Sources:
Rift:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305927805_New_Insights_into_North_America%27s_Midcontinent_Rift
http://geo.msu.edu/extra/geogmich/rift_zone.html
https://sites.northwestern.edu/sethstein/the-midcontinent-rift/
https://www.nps.gov/articles/parkscience32_1_19-29_stein_et_al_3817.htm
https://phys.org/news/2017-12-geologists-theory-formation-midcontinent-rift.html
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/great_lakes/MCRS/
Copper:
2017: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/7/10/185/htm
Lovely Plain-Text Overview: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/CMG92_301731_7.pdf
http://www.minsocam.org/msa/collectors_corner/vft/mi2c.htm
https://www.mindat.org/article.php/255/Geology+of+the+Keweenaw+Peninsula%2C+Michigan
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/KeweenawGeoheritage/BlackLavas/Copper_Mining.html
http://riogrande.ees.nmt.edu/outside/courses/hyd571/lectures/Lecture7/Swenson_Geofluids.pdf