“Water, in its many forms, continues to amaze me. From warm gentle streams in summer to the surprising frozen cryovolcanoes of the shelf-ice of the Great Lakes, water is ever changing” – Ed Lehming

Today, I went for a walk along the shores of Lake Ontario. My destination, once more, was Lakeshore Beach in Sandbanks Provincial Park, which I have written about quite a bit lately. Just a few weeks ago, the water was wide open, and people were enjoying a leisurely winter stroll along the beach, the waves rolling into the shore.

As I descended the narrow path towards the beach, I noticed a significant change in the landscape. The once open water was now covered in mountains of snow and ice. And a feature that I believe is unique to large bodies of fresh-water; cryovolcanoes.

Cryovolcanoes are formed in the colder days of winter, once ice has formed a thick crust. When storms force water to shore and under the ice shelf, the force of the wind presses the water beneath the shelf ice, forcing it through a crack or a hole. The water sprays through this opening and freezes on contact with the ice and cold air, forming a cone, much like a typical volcano. Except here, it is water cooling, not lava. The water continues to flow and freeze, eventually forming the tall, distinct mountain shapes.

When the shallower water closer to shore freezes, the water is cut off, and the whole process begins again, just further out. This creates even bigger volcanoes since the water below is deeper and takes longer to freeze. It’s a fascinating process.

Today, there were several people walking on the beach, taking in the sights and reminiscing about what the shoreline looked like a week ago.

Most people around here are actually quite water-savvy and avoid the shelf ice, which, while beautiful and interesting, can be extremely fragile and dangerous. The temptation is to venture out to these mountains of ice and cryovolcanoes to get a closer look. However, it’s extremely dangerous, and I was glad I had my long lens with me today to capture a few stunning photographs of these unique features from the safety of shore.

Nikon D800
Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G I AF-S VR Zoom @ 185 mm
1/800 sec, f14, ISO 400