The Manitoba Escarpment (known in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 as the Pembina Escarpment) is a scarp

Escarpment

An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...

 that marks the boundary of glacial Lake Agassiz

Lake Agassiz

Lake Agassiz was an immense glacial lake located in the center of North America. Fed by glacial runoff at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined, and it held more water than contained by all lakes in the world today.-Conception:First...

. It occurs in South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

, and Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

.

Originally formed by the undercutting of Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

s by the ancestral Red River

Red River of the North

The Red River is a North American river. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the United States, it flows northward through the Red River Valley and forms the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada...

, the escarpment was later steepened bysections of New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

. Streams flowing off the escarpment have high gradients and a cobble substrate.

Native plants to the escarpment include burr oak

Burr Oak

Burr Oak is a variant spelling of Bur oak . The term can refer to some places in the United States:*Burr Oak, Indiana*Burr Oak, Iowa*Burr Oak, Kansas*Burr Oak, Michigan*Burr Oak Township, Michigan*Burr Oak, Missouri...

, beaked hazel

Beaked Hazel

Corylus cornuta is a deciduous shrubby hazel found in most of North America, from southern Canada south to Georgia and California. It grows in dry woodlands and forest edges and can reach 4 – 8 m tall with stems 10 – 25 cm thick with smooth gray bark...

, high bush cranberry

Viburnum trilobum

Viburnum trilobum is a species of Viburnum native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to British Columbia, south to Washington state and east to northern Virginia, with an isolated population in New Mexico...

, serviceberry

Serviceberry

Amelanchier , also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry, wild pear, juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum or wild-plum, and chuckley pear is a genus of about 20 species of deciduous-leaved shrubs and small trees in the Rose family .Amelanchier is native to temperate regions...

, and red osier dogwood

Red Osier Dogwood

The Red Osier Dogwood is a species of dogwood native throughout northern and western North America from Alaska east to Newfoundland, south to Durango and Nuevo León in the west, and Illinois and Virginia in the east...

.

The scarp forms the eastern edge of Riding Mountain National Park

Riding Mountain National Park

Riding Mountain National Park is a national park in Manitoba, Canada. The park sits atop the Manitoba Escarpment. Consisting of a protected area , the forested parkland stands in sharp contrast to the surrounding prairie farmland. The park is home to wolves, moose, elk, black bears, hundreds of...

 and Duck Mountain Provincial Park

Duck Mountain Provincial Park (Manitoba)

Duck Mountain Provincial Park is a 600 square kilometre forest in western Manitoba. It is not to be confused with Saskatchewan's Duck Mountain Provincial Park, located just across the Manitoba/Saskatchewan boundary....

 in Manitoba. Turtle Mountain Provincial Park

Turtle Mountain Provincial Park

Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is a provincial park located in the southwestern portion of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Within it is the Adam Lake and Max Lake campgrounds. The Park is known for its bike trails, fishing, back country cabins and canoe routes...

 and the Porcupine Hills

Porcupine Hills

The Porcupine Hills refer to geographical features located in the prairie provinces of Canada.-Manitoba-Saskatchewan:A feature known as the Porcupine Hills is located in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They are part of the Manitoba Escarpment, which was the shoreline of the...

 are also part of the southern portion of the Manitoba Escarpment.

External links

• Map of key land features in Manitoba