Post by 150FromFundy on May 26, 2009 19:48:46 GMT -5
While Laura was entertaining her Ladies Garden Club last Saturday, I was banished from the house for several hours. That’s like having the proverbial “Get Out of Jail Free” card to go rockhounding without repercussion.
My previous posts have all been from an area on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy. This week I thought I would try something a little different and post some locations from the New Brunswick side. The Bay of Fundy is an ancient rift valley. Both Big Salmon River and St. Martins are directly opposite my previous locations, but there is about 30 miles of deep water between them.
Photo 1 – The Fundy Trail
This is a distant view of the mouth of Big Salmon River as seen from the Fundy Trail. There is a small inlet about halfway along the distant shoreline. The mouth is hidden behind the rocky headland. Given that the tide is high, the Bay of Fundy has risen up to the cliffs submerging any beach collecting opportunities along the way.
Photo 2 – Big Salmon River
This is the crescent beach at the mouth of Big Salmon River. There is a fair amount of color and pattern variation in the beach boulders indicating that there is good collecting here.
Photo 3 – Rocky Headland
I wasn’t going to push my luck today and hike around the headland given that the tide was still high. I’ll return here sometime on a falling tide to see what lies around the bend.
Photo 4 – Today’s Finds
It took about an hour to sift through the millions of beach rocks and choose these. There’s a mixture of banded rhyolite, porphyritic rhyolite, jasper, agate like material and a few unknowns.
Photo 5 – Close-up of Today’s Finds
On the way back from Big Salmon River, I did a quick stop at the beach of St. Martins. Drive up to the beach, park, and collect rocks with a few feet of the truck. It doesn’t get any easier than this.
Photo 6 – Red Sedimentary Stuff
The red sandstones, mudstones, and siltstones are fairly soft and full of sea caves. Unfortunately, they are not visible here due to the high tide.
Photo 7 – Red Clashes With Grey
I’m not very good at fashion, but in a geological sense, they have certainly clashed here. Another contact zone between the red sedimentary stuff above, and grey conglomerate.
Photo 8 – Conglomerate Close-Up
This is a close-up of the grey conglomerate cliffs. You can see the voids where cobbles have popped out from erosion. All this grey mundane material is quite colorful once it is cleaned up by the tides. Given that these cliffs are hundreds of feet high and eroding constantly, I don’t think the beach will run out of rock anytime soon.
Photo 9 – A Little to the Left
This is also an area of uplift due to the movement of the rift valley (Bay of Fundy). The ancient sea floors (conglomerate cliffs) were originally bedded horizontally. On this side of the Bay of Fundy, the rift valley moved to the left while being uplifted on the right. Those other people on the beach just aren’t into rocks!
Photo 10 – Today’s Finds
I told you those cobbles that eroded from the conglomerate cliffs (Photo 8) were quite colorful once the tides cleaned them up. St. Martins offers a lot of greens.
Photo 11 – Close-up of Today’s Finds
More banded rhyolite, porphyritic rhyolite, jasper, agate like material and a neat piece of diorite (Black and white) that have a little more colour intensity than the Big Salmon River finds.
Hope you enjoy the photos.
150FromFundy
“Rock it, Man!”
Elton John
My previous posts have all been from an area on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy. This week I thought I would try something a little different and post some locations from the New Brunswick side. The Bay of Fundy is an ancient rift valley. Both Big Salmon River and St. Martins are directly opposite my previous locations, but there is about 30 miles of deep water between them.
Photo 1 – The Fundy Trail
This is a distant view of the mouth of Big Salmon River as seen from the Fundy Trail. There is a small inlet about halfway along the distant shoreline. The mouth is hidden behind the rocky headland. Given that the tide is high, the Bay of Fundy has risen up to the cliffs submerging any beach collecting opportunities along the way.
Photo 2 – Big Salmon River
This is the crescent beach at the mouth of Big Salmon River. There is a fair amount of color and pattern variation in the beach boulders indicating that there is good collecting here.
Photo 3 – Rocky Headland
I wasn’t going to push my luck today and hike around the headland given that the tide was still high. I’ll return here sometime on a falling tide to see what lies around the bend.
Photo 4 – Today’s Finds
It took about an hour to sift through the millions of beach rocks and choose these. There’s a mixture of banded rhyolite, porphyritic rhyolite, jasper, agate like material and a few unknowns.
Photo 5 – Close-up of Today’s Finds
On the way back from Big Salmon River, I did a quick stop at the beach of St. Martins. Drive up to the beach, park, and collect rocks with a few feet of the truck. It doesn’t get any easier than this.
Photo 6 – Red Sedimentary Stuff
The red sandstones, mudstones, and siltstones are fairly soft and full of sea caves. Unfortunately, they are not visible here due to the high tide.
Photo 7 – Red Clashes With Grey
I’m not very good at fashion, but in a geological sense, they have certainly clashed here. Another contact zone between the red sedimentary stuff above, and grey conglomerate.
Photo 8 – Conglomerate Close-Up
This is a close-up of the grey conglomerate cliffs. You can see the voids where cobbles have popped out from erosion. All this grey mundane material is quite colorful once it is cleaned up by the tides. Given that these cliffs are hundreds of feet high and eroding constantly, I don’t think the beach will run out of rock anytime soon.
Photo 9 – A Little to the Left
This is also an area of uplift due to the movement of the rift valley (Bay of Fundy). The ancient sea floors (conglomerate cliffs) were originally bedded horizontally. On this side of the Bay of Fundy, the rift valley moved to the left while being uplifted on the right. Those other people on the beach just aren’t into rocks!
Photo 10 – Today’s Finds
I told you those cobbles that eroded from the conglomerate cliffs (Photo 8) were quite colorful once the tides cleaned them up. St. Martins offers a lot of greens.
Photo 11 – Close-up of Today’s Finds
More banded rhyolite, porphyritic rhyolite, jasper, agate like material and a neat piece of diorite (Black and white) that have a little more colour intensity than the Big Salmon River finds.
Hope you enjoy the photos.
150FromFundy
“Rock it, Man!”
Elton John