Editing Lake Agassiz (section)

=== Nipigon Phase: 10,630–9,160 YBP ===
The opening of the [[Kaministiquia River|Kaministiquia outlet]] to the east initiated the onset of the Nipigon Phase. The lower lake level ended the southern outlet through the ancestral Minnesota and Mississippi River systems.<ref name=Michalek/>  The ice sheets advanced and blocked the northwestern outlet through the Clearwater and Athabasca systems. There were several other low level outlets into the [[Lake Minong]] basin, including the Kaministiquia and the Lake Nipigon outlet. These allowed large amounts of water to flow from Lake Agassiz into Lake Minong. A series of ice advances and retreats between 10,500 and 9,500 [[Before Present|YBP]] blocked the Lake Nipigon outlet and the other low level outlets, creating intermittent catastrophic outbursts of water into the Lake Minong basin.<ref name=Michalek/>

These large inflows of water raised Lake Minong lake levels and flowed into Lake Algonquin in the Lake Michigan and Huron basins.<ref name=Michalek/> These outbursts refilled the Lake Michigan and Huron basins, which are extreme low water levels of [[Lake Chippewa]] (Lake Michigan basin) and [[Glacial Lake Stanley|Lake Stanley]] (Lake Huron basin). This was due to isostatic rebound of the northern shorelines combined with the opening of the [[North Bay, Ontario|North Bay]] outlet of the Lake Huron basin.<ref name=Michalek/> These repetitive outbursts from Lake Agassiz flooded the Lake Minong basin, then flowed over into the Lake Stanley basin, and then flowed through the North Bay drainage route into the [[Champlain Sea]] (present day [[St. Lawrence River|St. Lawrence]] lowland).<ref name=Michalek/> The shifting ice sheet created fluctuating drainage channels into the Lake Nipigon and Superior basins. A dozen beaches were created during short periods of stability. Towards the end of the Nipigon Phase, Lake Agassiz reached its largest geographical size as it joined with [[Lake Ojibway]] in the east.<ref name=Michalek/>