Researchers Uncover Secrets of Isolated Lake Superior Shoal

In September 2025, a research team from Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada, embarked on an expedition to explore the Superior Shoal, an underwater mountain rising nearly 300 meters from the bottom of Lake Superior. The shoal, first charted in 1929, is located 70 kilometers from the nearest shoreline, making it a largely mysterious and untouched part of the world's largest freshwater conservation area.

Led by Lakehead University associate professor Michael Rennie, the six-member science team spent nine days on a research vessel, collecting data on how the shoal's physical processes, such as currents, waves, and light penetration, interact with the local biological community. Their findings suggest that the Superior Shoal may play a crucial role in supporting the health of Lake Superior's trout fishery, as it is home to several unique strains of lake trout that have managed to survive the fishery's collapse in the 1960s and 1970s.

Joining the research team were filmmakers from Inspired Planet Productions, who documented the expedition to create a new series exploring the hidden freshwater world beneath the Great Lakes. Their footage, captured using a high-tech underwater robot, will shed light on the importance of these underwater mountain structures, known as "lakemounts," and the need to protect them, much like the seamounts in the world's oceans.