The climate is dominated by lacustrine influences near its margins, but an extreme frost pocket is near the center of the broad wetlands. Average annual precipitation is 32 to 34 inches. Bedrock is typically covered by 100 to 200 feet of glacial drift, but is near the surface along the western edge. Landforms of lacustrine origin. Deltaic deposits occur along the northern margins of the embayments, where glacial meltwater streams carried massive amounts of sand into the shallow waters.
Many rivers originate in the wetlands here.
All these rivers meander, creating broad oxbows on the flat landscape. Most of the rivers, including the Manistique, Fox, Driggs, Creighton and Sturgeon, flow to the southeast, perpendicular to the regional bedrock slope. Peats, poorly drained sands, excessively drained sands. Excessively drained sand soils occur on level lake plain, outwash plains, and transverse dune ridges. Based on the surveyors' notes, fires occurred regularly on both the extensive peatlands and on the transverse dunes within the peatlands.