North Shore Highlands

Their ecology derives from these origins, with thin, rocky soils supporting flora and fauna typical of their northern, inland location.

[1] They are bounded on the south by the North Shore of Lake Superior, from which they rise in rock formations ranging from gentle slopes to sheer cliffs.

Geologically, the region is part of the southern reaches of the rugged Canadian Shield, the core of the North American craton.

As the continent sundered, magma and lava flowed upward, which cooled into the present-day rock of the Duluth Complex and North Shore Volcanic Group.

Ecologically, the area is the North Shore Highlands Subsection of the Northern Superior Uplands Section of the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province of Minnesota.