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59-622: There are many natural features within these bounds; they include the Niagara Escarpment , and the Bruce Trail . Many of these local features are protected by the Conservation Halton , Credit Valley Conservation & Grand River Conservation Authority . The primary population centres are Georgetown and Acton . Additionally, there are a number of hamlets and rural clusters within the town, including Ashgrove, Ballinafad (straddling

118-672: A concern for the lake's ecosystem. In southern Ontario, the Bruce Trail runs the length of the escarpment from Queenston on the Niagara River to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. Highway 401 , Canada's busiest, also crosses the Niagara Escarpment, beginning its long descent through rolling hills, farmland, and towns west of Milton. Rock exposed on the face of the escarpment can be seen along Highway 26 from Owen Sound eastwards towards Meaford, Ontario . Hamilton, Ontario

177-568: A non-official language as mother tongues, while 0.5% listed both English and French. 61.4% of the population were Christian , down from 72.1% in 2011. 34.3% were Catholic , 16.8% were Protestant , 6.2% were Christian n.o.s, 1.6% were Christian Orthodox and 2.6% belonged to other Christian denominations or Christian-related traditions. 32.2% were non-religious or secular, up from 26.3% in 2011. 6.4% belonged to other religions, up from 1.6% in 2011.The largest non-Christian religions were Islam (2.0%), Sikhism (1.9%), and Hinduism (1.5%). The town

236-452: A series of transverse ridges running across a valley behind a terminal moraine. They form perpendicular to the lateral moraines that they reside between and are composed of unconsolidated debris deposited by the glacier. They are created during temporary halts in a glacier's retreat. In permafrost areas an advancing glacier may push up thick layers of frozen sediments at its front. An arctic push moraine will then be formed. A medial moraine

295-714: A sharp turn north in the town of Milton toward Georgian Bay . It then follows the Georgian Bay shore northwestwards to form the spine of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island , as well as several smaller islands in northern Lake Huron, where it turns westwards into the Upper Peninsula of northern Michigan, south of Sault Ste. Marie . It extends down the Garden Peninsula and Potawatomi Islands into Wisconsin following

354-502: A single moraine, and most moraines record a continuum of processes. Reworking of moraines may lead to the formation of placer deposits of gold as is the case of southernmost Chile . Moraines can be classified either by origin, location with respect to a glacier or former glacier, or by shape. The first approach is suitable for moraines associated with contemporary glaciers—but more difficult to apply to old moraines , which are defined by their particular morphology, since their origin

413-404: Is unstratified and unsorted debris ranging in size from silt -sized glacial flour to large boulders. The individual rock fragments are typically sub-angular to rounded in shape. Moraines may be found on the glacier's surface or deposited as piles or sheets of debris where the glacier has melted. Moraines may form through a number of processes, depending on the characteristics of sediment,

472-612: Is a prominent Wisconsin feature in Dodge County, southwest of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; it is known there as "The Ledge" and is in Ledge County Park between Horicon and Mayville, Wisconsin. Some local organizations take their name from it, including The Ledgers, the sports teams at St. Mary's Springs Academy , which is perched on the side of the escarpment. Many resorts and ski areas in Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New York are along

531-631: Is a ridge of moraine that runs down the center of a valley floor. It forms when two glaciers meet and the debris on the edges of the adjacent valley sides join and are carried on top of the enlarged glacier. As the glacier melts or retreats, the debris is deposited and a ridge down the middle of the valley floor is created. The Kaskawulsh Glacier in the Kluane National Park , Yukon , has a ridge of medial moraine 1 km wide. Supraglacial moraines are created by debris accumulated on top of glacial ice. This debris can accumulate due to ice flow toward

590-426: Is accumulated at the base of the ice as lodgment till with a thin and discontinuous upper layer of supraglacial till deposited as the glacier retreats. It typically is found in the areas between end moraines. Rogen moraines or ribbed moraines are a type of basal moraines that form a series of ribs perpendicular to the ice flow in an ice sheet . The depressions between the ribs are sometimes filled with water, making

649-708: Is also covered by the following local newspapers and online media: A radio transmitter in Hornby is used by stations CFZM and CJBC . Halton Hills has one sister city: Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment , or cuesta , in Canada and the United States that starts from the south shore of Lake Ontario westward, circumscribes the top of the Great Lakes Basin running from New York through Ontario , Michigan , and Wisconsin . The escarpment

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708-617: Is an eastern white cedar from 688 A.D. The oldest known tree in Wisconsin, a 1,300 year-old eastern white cedar, was found in Brown County. Moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock ), sometimes referred to as glacial till , that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sheet. It may consist of partly rounded particles ranging in size from boulders (in which case it

767-539: Is borrowed from French moraine [mɔ.ʁɛn] , which in turn is derived from the Savoyard Italian morena ('mound of earth'). Morena in this case was derived from Provençal morre ('snout'), itself from Vulgar Latin * murrum ('rounded object'). The term was introduced into geology by Horace Bénédict de Saussure in 1779. Moraines are landforms composed of glacial till deposited primarily by glacial ice. Glacial till, in turn,

826-441: Is debated. Some moraine types are known only from ancient glaciers, while medial moraines of valley glaciers are poorly preserved and difficult to distinguish after the retreat or melting of the glacier. Lateral moraines are parallel ridges of debris deposited along the sides of a glacier. The unconsolidated debris can be deposited on top of the glacier by frost shattering of the valley walls or from tributary streams flowing into

885-429: Is divided into four wards, each of which elects two local councillors. Two regional councillors are also elected - one from Wards 1 and 2 (i.e., the area that was in the former Town of Acton and the former Township of Esquesing), and one from Wards 3 and 4 (i.e., the area in the former Town of Georgetown). The mayor is elected at large. The mayor and two regional councillors (who also serve on Halton Hills council) represent

944-520: Is dominated by mixed wood forests. It is a transitional type between the southern deciduous forests and the northern coniferous forests. The forest communities of the Niagara Section are dominated by broad-leaved trees. Overall, Halton Hills consists predominantly of agricultural lands with scattered woodlands and wetlands. The woodlands are mainly deciduous forest and the wetlands are either cedar swamp or cattail marsh. American ginseng exists in

1003-643: Is located within the provincial Greenbelt . Above the Escarpment, a large proportion of the rural area is classified as environmentally sensitive wetlands, and there are several sites that are licensed for aggregate extraction, for which expansion requires detailed environmental assessment. Below the Escarpment, the rural area is mainly agricultural, with the exception of an industrial area currently being developed between Highway 401 and Steeles Avenue. The town also forms part of three watersheds: The Water Survey of Canada operates two hydrometric monitoring stations in

1062-427: Is more resistant and overlies weaker, more easily eroded shale as a weathering -resistant "cap". The escarpment formed over millions of years through a process of differential erosion of these rocks of different hardnesses. Through time the soft rocks weather away or erode by the action of streams. The gradual removal of the soft rocks undercuts the resistant caprock, leaving a cliff or escarpment. The erosional process

1121-611: Is most readily seen at Niagara Falls , where the river has quickened the process. It can also be seen at the three waterfalls of the Genesee River at Rochester (additional resistant rock layers make more than one escarpment in some places). Also, in some places thick glacial deposits, such as the Oak Ridges Moraine , conceal the Niagara Escarpment, such as north of Georgetown, Ontario , where it actually continues under glacial till and reappears farther north. The dolomite cap

1180-509: Is often referred to as boulder clay) down to gravel and sand, in a groundmass of finely-divided clayey material sometimes called glacial flour . Lateral moraines are those formed at the side of the ice flow, and terminal moraines are those formed at the foot, marking the maximum advance of the glacier. Other types of moraine include ground moraines ( till -covered areas forming sheets on flat or irregular topography ) and medial moraines (moraines formed where two glaciers meet). The word moraine

1239-499: Is on the escarpment in such a way that the north end of the city is below and the south part above. Commonly referred to as "The Mountain" by its residents, many roads or "mountain accesses" join the urban core below with the suburban expansion above. From 1892 to 1936, the Hamilton Incline Railway transported people up and down "The Mountain." High Cliff State Park in Wisconsin shows how modern and prehistoric humans used

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1298-524: Is the cliff over which the Niagara River plunges at Niagara Falls , for which it is named. The escarpment is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve . The reserve has the oldest forest ecosystem and trees in eastern North America. The escarpment is not a fault line but the result of unequal erosion . It is composed of an outcrop belt of the Lockport Formation of Silurian age, and is similar to

1357-480: The Door Peninsula and then continues more inland from the western coast of Lake Michigan until ending in the southeastern corner of Dodge County. Study of rock exposures and drillholes demonstrates that no displacement of the rock layers occurs at the escarpment, which is not a fault line but the result of unequal erosion . The escarpment's caprock is dolomitic limestone , also known as dolostone , which

1416-568: The Genesee River flows through the city in three waterfalls over the scarp face. The escarpment thence runs westward to the Niagara River, forming a deep gorge north of Niagara Falls , which itself cascades over the scarp face. In southern Ontario , it spans the Niagara Peninsula , closely following the Lake Ontario shore through the cities of St. Catharines and Hamilton , where it takes

1475-565: The Onondaga Formation , which runs in a parallel outcrop belt just to the south, through western New York and southern Ontario . The escarpment is the most prominent of several escarpments formed in the bedrock of the Great Lakes Basin . From its easternmost point just south of Lake Ontario, the escarpment shapes in part the individual basins and landforms of Lake Ontario , Lake Huron , and Lake Michigan . In Rochester, New York ,

1534-494: The Clinton formation yielded green and brown shales and blue marl , which were used in the manufacture of mineral paints . Small oil and gas deposits have been discovered northwest and south of Acton, and around Hornby. While exploration had occurred as early as 1908, with oil being discovered in 1912, significant strikes did not occur until 1954. The town is located in an area that is considered to be of low seismic potential, and

1593-590: The Escarpment, hummocky morainic ridges deposited by glacial ice form part of the Horseshoe Moraines physiographic region. To the southeast below the Escarpment, is a smooth glacial till plain partially bevelled by lacustrine action, which forms part of the South Slope and Peel Plain physiographic regions. The Town of Halton Hills is underlain by Ordovician shales of the Queenston Formation east of

1652-587: The Halton Subdivision through Stewarttown while their usual route was closed for signal upgrades. From 1917 to 1931, Norval, Georgetown and Acton were also served by the Toronto Suburban Railway . HaltonHillsToday.ca is an online local news source in Halton Hills, offering the latest breaking news, weather updates, entertainment, sports and business features, obituaries and more. Halton Hills

1711-575: The Halton Till. There are several areas of thin drift cover south of Georgetown. The quarrying of limestone has been undertaken since the 19th century, and the lime industry was once quite prevalent. In 1886, the Toronto Lime Company had operations in Limehouse and Acton, employing a total of four draw kilns and eleven set kilns, producing common lime and water lime . At Limehouse, rock from

1770-570: The Niagara Escarpment, and by Silurian dolomites of the Amabel Formation west of the Escarpment. The escarpment face exposes a complex succession of shales , sandstones , limestones and dolomites of the Clinton and Cataract Groups. Red shales of the Queenston Formation underlie the eastern half of the town and are generally covered by more than 15 m of glacial sediments, predominantly

1829-579: The Rogen moraines look like tigerstripes on aerial photographs . Rogen moraines are named after Lake Rogen in Härjedalen , Sweden , the landform's type locality. Closely related to Rogen moraines, de Geer moraines are till ridges up to 5m high and 10–50m wide running perpendicular to the ice flow. They occur in large groups in low-lying areas. Named for Gerard De Geer , who first described them in 1889, these moraines may have developed from crevasses underneath

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1888-828: The Town are managed by the Halton Hills Public Library Board . In 1975, the Lord Lyon King of Arms awarded arms to the town, followed by the grant of a badge in 1984. Both were subsequently registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority in 2005. They are specifically described as follows: The town has four main roads: East-west North-south Bus service is provided by GO Transit along Highway 7 on its Georgetown line corridor. Via Rail and GO Train service are provided at Georgetown GO Station . The Grand Trunk Railway brought train service to

1947-510: The amalgamation of the former Towns of Georgetown and Acton , together with much of the former Esquesing Township , and a small portion of the Town of Oakville lying north of Ontario Highway 401 . Originally named the Town of North Halton in the establishing legislation, provision was made for a name change to be adopted in consequence of a referendum, and Halton Hills was thus chosen in October 1973: On August 1, 2013, Toronto Premium Outlets ,

2006-488: The area in 1856, with stations at Acton and Georgetown. Passenger service to Acton ceased in the 1990s, but GO Train service is planned to be revived there in 2013. Rail freight service is also provided by Canadian National on its Halton Subdivision from Georgetown southwest through Milton to Burlington. CN's Guelph Subdivision between Georgetown and London is currently managed by Goderich–Exeter Railway . In November 2020, VIA Rail Canada rerouted some of its trains onto

2065-399: The boundary with Erin ), Bannockburn, Crewsons Corners (straddling the boundary with Erin , Guelph-Eramosa and Milton ), Glen Williams , Henderson's Corners, Hornby, Limehouse , Mansewood , Norval , Scotch Block, Silver Creek, Speyside, Stewarttown, Terra Cotta (straddling the boundary with Caledon ), and Wildwood. The area was first settled in the 1820s. Esquesing Township, of which

2124-472: The dynamics on the ice, and the location on the glacier in which the moraine is formed. Moraine forming processes may be loosely divided into passive and active . Passive processes involve the placing of chaotic supraglacial sediments onto the landscape with limited reworking, typically forming hummocky moraines. These moraines are composed of supraglacial sediments from the ice surface. Active processes form or rework moraine sediment directly by

2183-438: The escarpment for not only cultural reasons, but economic gains, as well. A number of different animal and geometric effigy mounds and the remains of an early 20th-century limestone quarry and kiln are within the park. The relief and exposed edge are used by several wind farms stretching from Pipe to Brownsville in Wisconsin. Wind speeds average 18 mph (about 29 km/h) along this stretch. The Niagara Escarpment

2242-401: The escarpment. Niagara County, New York , near the eastern end of the escarpment, is the site of the 18,000 acres (7,284 ha) Niagara Escarpment AVA ( American Viticultural Area ). Wines produced in this region include traditional grape varieties such as Merlot , Cabernet Franc , Cabernet Sauvignon , Chardonnay , and Riesling , and fruit wines . Ontario's Niagara Peninsula is

2301-774: The first Premium Outlets Centre in Canada, opened for business on Steeles Avenue at the south end of Halton Hills near the border of Milton, Ontario . In 2021, Halton Hills was 84.6% white/European, 13.6% visible minorities, and 1.8% Indigenous. The largest visible minority groups were South Asian (5.6%), Black (1.7%), Chinese (1.2%), Filipino (1.0%) and Latin American (1.0%). 80.8% of residents spoke English as their mother tongue. The next most common first languages were Polish (1.7%), Portuguese (1.6%), French (1.5%), Punjabi (1.4%), Croatian (1.2%), Italian (1.0%) and Spanish (1.0%). 2.2% of residents listed both English and

2360-493: The glacier is advancing, receding or at equilibrium. The longer the terminus of the glacier stays in one place, the more debris accumulate in the moraine. There are two types of end moraines: terminal and recessional. Terminal moraines mark the maximum advance of the glacier. Recessional moraines are small ridges left as a glacier pauses during its retreat. After a glacier retreats, the end moraine may be destroyed by postglacial erosion. Recessional moraines are often observed as

2419-410: The greatest part went to form Halton Hills, was favourably described in 1846: This is a fine township, containing excellent land, and many good farms, which are generally well cultivated. Wheat of superior quality is grown in this and adjoining townships. The land is mostly rolling. The town is bisected by the Niagara Escarpment from southwest to northeast, and a significant portion of the rural area

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2478-449: The ice sheet. The Kvarken has a very high density of de Geer moraines. End moraines, or terminal moraines , are ridges of unconsolidated debris deposited at the snout or end of the glacier. They usually reflect the shape of the glacier's terminus . Glaciers act much like a conveyor belt, carrying debris from the top of the glacier to the bottom where it deposits it in end moraines. End moraine size and shape are determined by whether

2537-443: The largest recent earthquake to take place within its limits was of magnitude 3 on 29 June 1955. There is a POLARIS seismic monitoring station located just west of Acton. Halton Hills has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb ). The Town has two distinct climate zones: Environment and Climate Change Canada operates one climate monitoring station at Georgetown. Both Georgetown and Acton, as well as

2596-426: The movement of ice, known as glaciotectonism. These form push moraines and thrust-block moraines, which are often composed of till and reworked proglacial sediment. Moraine may also form by the accumulation of sand and gravel deposits from glacial streams emanating from the ice margin. These fan deposits may coalesce to form a long moraine bank marking the ice margin. Several processes may combine to form and rework

2655-509: The site of the largest wine-producing appellation (region) in Canada. Cool-climate varieties such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc are among the more than 30 varietals produced across 13,600 hectares (33,606 acres). Three subappellations lie along the benchlands of the Niagara Escarpment: Short Hills Bench , Twenty Mile Bench , and Beamsville Bench . Northeastern Wisconsin, at

2714-451: The smaller communities in the rural area, have histories which go back about 200 years. Settlement began in the 1820s. The hamlet of Hornby was home to the large Brain Brewery, established in 1845; it was eventually making 5,000 barrels of beer per year with ten employees. The facility closed when Prohibition started in 1916 and did not later reopen. Halton Hills was formed in 1974 through

2773-474: The summer. The presence of the lake produces a vacuum of sorts during the growing season: warm air over the lake rises, sucking colder air off the land and creating offshore breezes. Cold air cannot settle over the vineyards and a constant flow of warmer air makes the growing season here longer than in other parts of the state. The escarpment's glacial soils are made up of gravel, sand, and clay over limestone bedrock. An aquifer provides mineral-rich ground water to

2832-419: The surface in the ablation zone , melting of surface ice or from debris that falls onto the glacier from valley sidewalls. Washboard moraines , also known as minor or corrugated moraines , are low-amplitude geomorphic features caused by glaciers. They consist of low-relief ridges, 1 to 2 meters (3 ft 3 in to 6 ft 7 in) in height and around 100 meters (330 ft) apart, accumulated at

2891-637: The town at the council meetings of the Regional Municipality of Halton . The current (2022-2026) membership of the town council is as follows: Halton Hills has its own fire department. However, policing is provided by the Halton Regional Police Services . The Town has its own official plan which came into force in March 2008 and was consolidated in 2017 with the Region's plan. The libraries in

2950-585: The town, and is protected under the Endangered Species Act, 2007 . Butternut trees are also threatened by the butternut canker . The hooded warbler and the Jefferson salamander are also designated as threatened species. Brook trout had been eliminated from the Black Creek watershed for many years, following the ongoing environmental disaster due to the excessive consumption of faecal mater as well as

3009-775: The town, on the Black Creek below Acton, and at Norval on the Credit River . Halton Hills is located in the transition zone between the Huron-Ontario Forest Section of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest zone to the north and the Niagara Section of the Carolinian forest zone to the south. Both forest zones are part of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone . The natural vegetation in the Huron-Ontario Section

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3068-581: The trailer park polluting the water in the town of Erin. The trout have not returned, and anglers report that most of the fish have almost entirely disappeared from the area. The physiography and distribution of surface material in the Town of Halton Hills are the result of glacial activity which took place in the Late Wisconsinan Substage of the Pleistocene Epoch . This period of time, which lasted from approximately 23,000 to 10,000 years ago,

3127-580: The valley, or may be subglacial debris carried to the surface of the glacier, melted out, and transported to the glacier margin. Lateral moraines can rise up to 140 meters (460 ft) over the valley floor, can be up to 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) long, and are steeper close to the glacier margin (up to 80 degrees) than further away (where slopes are typically 29 to 36 degrees. Ground moraines are till-covered areas with irregular topography and no ridges, often forming gently rolling hills or plains, with relief of less than 10 meters (33 ft). Ground moraine

3186-510: The vines, encouraging deep root growth. In February 1990, the Niagara Escarpment was a designated World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO , making it one of 12 in Canada. Development and land use on and adjacent to the escarpment is regulated by the Niagara Escarpment Commission , an agency of the Ontario government. Cliffs along the scarp face have the oldest forest ecosystem in eastern North America. The oldest tree in Ontario

3245-533: The virtually lifeless landmasses, eventually formed a limestone layer. During the Silurian period, some magnesium substituted for some of the calcium in the carbonates, slowly forming harder dolomite layers in the same fashion. This dolomite basin contains Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie. Worldwide sea levels were at their all-time maximum in the Ordovician; as the sea retreated, erosion inevitably began. The escarpment

3304-515: The western end of the escarpment, is the site of the 3,800 sq mi (9,800 km ) Wisconsin Ledge AVA . Most of the region's vineyards lie upon the escarpment's eastern-facing slope that rises gently upward from the shores of Lake Michigan to the top of the Ledge, before dropping sharply off into Green Bay, and benefit greatly from constant air movement from Lake Michigan, which stores warmth during

3363-619: Was a major obstacle in the construction of the Erie Canal in New York and was traversed by a series of locks; the community which grew up at the site thus became known as Lockport, New York . The Welland Canal allows ships to traverse the escarpment between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario on the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario. The canal also allowed Sea Lamprey , an invasive species native to Northern Atlantic Ocean, to enter Lake Erie and became

3422-445: Was laid down as sediment on the floor of a marine environment. In Michigan, behind (south of) the escarpment, the cuesta capstone slopes gently to form a wide basin , the floor of an Ordovician -Silurian-age tropical sea. (The escarpment is essentially the remnant shoreline of that sea.) There the constant deposition of minute shells and fragments of biologically-generated calcium carbonate , mixed with sediment washed in by erosion of

3481-405: Was marked by the repeated advance and melting back of massive, continental ice sheets. The Niagara Escarpment dominates the physiography of the town and greatly influenced the pattern of glaciation in the region. The Escarpment, formed by erosion over millions of years, is a high relief bedrock scarp which trends to the north through the central part of the town. To the west, on the upper surface of

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