Geographic Features

::  Wayne County is distinguished geographically by its position on the Detroit River, a body of water that extends the length of the County as the connection between Lake Erie on the south and Lake St. Clair on the north.

::   The river provides an international crossing into Canada, the only point along the international boundary where Canada is located south of the United States.

::   The river is part of the connecting system of one of the world's greatest reservoirs of fresh water - the Great Lakes - and has caused human settlement in the area for more than a thousand years. The quality of landing space and good shoreline was the cause of French settlement in 1701. Several important secondary rivers drain into the Detroit River, including the Rouge River Basin that has four tributary branches totaling 126 miles located in mostly urban areas of Wayne County. Large industry and shipping operations are located at the mouth of this river basin in Dearborn, and the city of River Rouge.

::  The majority of land area in Wayne County is fairly flat, occupying what was once an ocean bottom. A salt reservoir is located one mile below the surface of Wayne County that contains the remnants of the ancient ocean, stretching from Michigan to New York State. During the glacial period, soil deposits and a multitude of shallow lakes were deposited in the area. Soils range from fine textured clays interspersed with sands, to unstratified medium to coarse materials found in gravel pits. The climate in Wayne County changes through a four-season cycle, characterized by hot, humid, summers and cold, wet winters.