The Marenisco plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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−8° on Nov. 15, 1959, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1888. Next is −6° in 1950.
Marenisco’s center stands about 1,520 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 1,500 ft to 1,730 ft, a difference of 230 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Wolf Mountain, about 1,830 ft, 6 miles northwest.
The section below crosses 10 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 39×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Gneiss, amphibolite. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Granite, granodiorite. Age: Mesoarchean to Neoarchean, 2.6 to 2.9 billion years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Sandstone. Age: Mesoproterozoic, 1 to 1.6 billion years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Basalt. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 2.5 billion years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Quartz-feldspar-schist. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Basalt. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 2.5 billion years old. About 2 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 4 smaller units along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Marenisco reaches Lake Superior by way of the Pelton, the West Branch Ontonagon and the Ontonagon: about 75 river miles. From there it moves on through the Great Lakes, over Niagara Falls and down the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic.
Lake on the way: Lake Gogebic.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Marenisco; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Marenisco has a warm-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 78° in July; winter nights fall to about 2° in February. A normal year brings about 180 inches of snow; with the rain, that comes to about 43 inches of water.
On November 14 Marenisco normally reaches 39° and falls to 24°. The record high is 67°, in 1999; the record low 4°, in 1911. The most rain on this date, 0.90 in, fell in 1949.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1888 at Bergland Dam, 16 miles north-northeast, 220 ft lower. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
