Elk Island National Park landscape · Landscape in Elk Island National Park
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Landscape in Elk Island National Park
Landscape in Elk Island National Park
The park protects the Southern Boreal Plains and Plateaus Natural Region - a transitional zone between the aspen parkland to the south and the boreal forest to the north. Elk Island National Park is knob and kettle topography rising thirty to sixty metres above the surrounding plains of Alberta. Elk Island National Park is an island, not in the geographical sense, but in terms of its landscape of small hills and depressions surrounded by flat plains. When the glaciers retreated from the area, they left debris clustered around chunks of ice that formed the knobs, while the melting ice made shallow ponds or kettles. These are eutrophic ponds, meaning they have a very poor oxygen supply, but they contain rich accumulations of nutrients, making them an excellent habitat for plants and wildfowl. The park has more than 250 lakes, ponds and wetlands over 20% of its surface area. Astotin Lake, near the park’s north end is 3.9 kilometers long, almost 3.1 kilometers wide and .5 - 10 meters deep, the parks largest body of water.
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Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Elk Island National Park - updated May 2024
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Elk Island National Park Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.