The recent groundwater-aquifer study of the Outaouais (Paces) revealed three types of bedrock geology of which Cantley is located in the Grenville Province zone which has rocks of various ages and origins as part of the Canadian Shield.  Wells in this zone are generally within 100m from the surface.  To drill deeper risks having the water becoming  progressively more saline from the remnants of the Champlain Sea. 

Outaouais groundwater is pumped from shallow overburden aquifers and from deeper fractured crystalline bedrock

There are  various types of glacial sediments in the Outaouais that apply to Cantley:

1. areas of elevated topography where bedrock is covered with till with bare bedrock outcrops in places. There, the recharge is elevated and the aquifers are located in the bedrock under unconfined to semi-confined conditions. Aquifer recharge occurs mainly in these areas.

2. fluvio-glacial sediment outcrops are only in the higher areas where the Champlain Sea did not invade.  Depending on their thickness, these deposits, made of sand and gravel, are good aquifers. They are even better in the lower parts of the valleys, if not washed out by the Champlain Sea. 

3. Cantley's main land cover is glaciomarine sediments which are generally coarse grained and good aquifers with Parc de Glacian being a site that illustrates the former connection between glaciomarine sediments and the bedrock.

4. Locally, alluvial sediments are potentially good shallow aquifers.

Outaouais groundwater is pumped from shallow overburden aquifers and from deeper fractured crystalline bedrock.  The PACES study looked at 139 wells for major ions, nutrients, metals and sulphides.  70% were obtained from bedrock wells, mainly in the Canadian Shield and the remainder from wells located in glacial deposit areas.   It was concluded the Champlain Sea invasion, cat-ion exchange and freshwater recharge are the main geochemical processes affecting groundwater chemistry.

Because of the modest undulating relief of Outaouais topography there is generally slow groundwater movement thus reduced mixing of water in the deep fractured bedrock zone resulting in the water quality being compromised with bedrock mineralization.

Three major water types were identified: 1) Ca-HCO3 in the unconfined aquifers as a result of silicate (Ca-feldspar) weathering, 2) Na-Cl as a remnant of the post-glacial Champlain Sea in stagnant confined zones of the aquifer, and 3) Na-HCO3, resulting from freshening of the confined aquifer due to Ca-Na cation exchange. Chemical data also allowed the identification of significant mixing zones. Isotope and noble gas data confirm the hypothesis of remnant water from the Champlain Sea and also support the hypothesis of mixing processes between a young tritium-rich component with an older component containing high 4He concentrations. It is still unclear if the mixing occurs under natural flow conditions or if it is induced by pumping during the sampling, most wells being open boreholes in the bedrock. It is clear, however, that the hydrogeochemical system is dynamic and still evolving from induced changes since the last glaciation. As a next step, the conceptual model will serve as a basis for groundwater flow, mass transport and geochemical modelling to validate the hypotheses developed in this project.

In the Cantley area uranium and radon are usually associated with groundwater and should be monitored for safe usaged.

In the area between hwy 307 and Mont Cascades - Lorne mtn - river the area is much like a sponge with its many lakes, streams and wetlands connecting with surface groundwater to play an important role in the water cycle by recharging and discharging the aquifer.

The satellite area also illustrates how biodiversity is enriched by groundwater discharge features such as springs and seeps which support species locally and also feed into downstream lakes and steams, creating abundant rich habitats.  This area provides opportunities to monitor trends in hydraulic head and discharge of baseflow, spring flow, peatland–aquifer interactions stemming from different recharge scenarios.

Cantley's groundwater exists almost everywhere as illustrated in the above where water is frozen as it seeps out of the bedrock's cracks and fissures on Chem Panoramique.

The 2022 derecho downed many trees in the Cascades - Lorne area which revealed how groundwater in the fractured bedrock is capable on nurturing relatively mature trees.

Cantley has many relatively long road ditches in areas of leda clay that turns rainfall and runoff for plant rejuvenation into a strong erosive force.  Such situations should be replaced with shorter sections of ditch that drains water before becoming erosive.

Without sufficient shoreline plant coverage Lac Cascade Creek and Blackburn Creek have become major contributors of clay sediment into the Gatineau River.

Transpiration is part of the water cycle humans can support by stewarding vegetation and habitats that enables plants to thrive and emit vapor into the atmosphere when cooling an area.  In the above, clover (for bees) and milkweed (for monarch butterflies)  seeds that were planted are being observed.

The Champlain Sea water came from from the Atlantic and about 13,000 to 10,000 years ago began shrinking as the land rebounded above sea level from the declining weight of the melting glacier.