Superior Shoal under the microscope: Is it key to understanding the Great Lakes ecosystem?

Imagine a huge mountain of volcanic rock, completely submerged by water and laying in the middle of an inland sea.

That description largely sums up the Superior Shoal — an underwater mountain that rises nearly 300 metres from the bottom of Lake Superior.

First charted in 1929, Superior Shoal is also entirely within the world's largest freshwater conservation area and is 70 kilometres from the closest shoreline. Its remote location in the centre of Lake Superior has left it something of a mystery.

However, a research team from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., and a film crew explored the shoal in early September. The expedition was tasked with collecting valuable data about the role this massive underwater structure plays on the lake’s ecosystem.

The shoal is a unique struc