 Glaciers scoured away earlier soils, and as is typical of the Canadian Shield, the new topsoils are thin and poor, being derived from the rock beneath or nearby rather than from deep layers of glacial till, which is intermittent and relatively shallow over most of the region.Consequently, much of the bedrock is exposed, except for the sediments and glacial till in the watershed of the Saint Louis and Cloquet Rivers inland on the west.Gabbro outcroppings anchor both ends of the complex.