<P> The Canadian Shield is one of the world's richest areas in terms of mineral ores . It is filled with substantial deposits of nickel, gold, silver, and copper . Throughout the Shield there are many mining towns extracting these minerals . The largest, and one of the best known, is Sudbury, Ontario . Sudbury is an exception to the normal process of forming minerals in the Shield since the Sudbury Basin is an ancient meteorite impact crater . Ejecta from the meteorite impact was found in the Rove Formation in May 2007 . The nearby, but less known Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, has striking similarities to the Sudbury Basin . This suggests it could be a second metal - rich impact crater . </P> <P> In northeastern Quebec, the giant Manicouagan Reservoir is the site of an extensive hydroelectric project (Manic - cinq, or Manic - 5). This is one of the largest - known meteorite impact craters on Earth . </P> <P> The Flin Flon greenstone belt in central Manitoba and east - central Saskatchewan is one of the largest Paleoproterozoic volcanic - hosted massive sulfide (VMS) districts in the world, containing 27 copper - zinc - (gold) deposits from which more than 183 million tons of sulfide have been mined . </P> <P> The Shield, particularly the portion in the Northwest Territories, has recently been the site of several major diamond discoveries . The kimberlite pipes in which the diamonds are found are closely associated with cratons, which provide the deep lithospheric mantle required to stabilize diamond as a mineral . The kimberlite eruptions then bring the diamonds from over 150 kilometres (93 mi) depth to the surface . Currently the Ekati and Diavik mines are actively mining kimberlite diamonds . </P>

What geological process created the topography of the canadian shield