Post by 150FromFundy on Jul 18, 2010 6:12:51 GMT -5
Yesterday was a little warm for the country, so I headed off to the Bay of Fundy where it is usually 5 to 10 degrees cooler along the coast. Lets take a walk back in time and see some evidence of our earth’s turbulent past.
[Sorry about the photos. The sun was shining on the beach and the fog was hanging off the water. The photos tend to be both dark and overexposed. Any suggestions from the camera gurus?]
This is the beach near Clark Head at low tide. I’m sitting at the wet line of the last high tide. The low tide is between 300 and 400 yards off in the distance. The photo doesn’t show the elevation difference very well. When the tide returns, my feet will be wet and the water at the current low tide mark will be 36 feet deep.
That’s Clark Head off in the distance. It’s about a 1-1/2 miles away, or about an hour of trudging through the sand.
The headland is a crash scene of five distinct bedrock formations that collided, faulted, and were exposed to partial metamorphism. On the left of the 45 degree contact, you can see red sandstone of the Mabou Group (Late Carboniferous – 320 million year old). On the right, you can see siltstone, mudstone and sandstone of the Blomidon Formation (Late Triassic – 210 million years old). Both were once horizontal sediments on the ocean floor.
A little closer to the headland, we are passing by the Windsor Group (Early Carboniferous – 340 million years old) which is famous for its evaporites including limestone, gypsum, anhydrite and lots of salt.
At first glance off in the distance, the salt can make your heart race with anticipation of a major zeolite score. Upon closer examination, all dreams are shattered.
Tide carved salt.
This formation is known as a Flower Pot. They have always amazed me! At low tide, they are pinnacles of solid rock formed from ancient volcanic pipes. The softer bedrock once surrounding the pipe was been eroded by the tide.
At high tide, the water level will be between 30 and 40 feet in this area and the Flower Pots will become islands. The amazing part is that life can survive in these incredibly harsh conditions. The trees have no soil and are dwarfed from the salt spray. The rubble pile is North Mountain basalt (Jurassic – 200 million years old) and contains some quartz, agate, jasper and zeolites.
The sedimentary rocks of the Windsor Group are easily eroded and form sea caves along the base of the cliff face.
The once horizontal bands of the sedimentary rock have been folded from the pressures along the contact zone as continents once collided.
The next area is the Fault Zone. I didn’t find any fault, but I did take a couple of photos of some amazing displaced horizontal banding patterns on the cliff face.
All the heat and pressure of colliding continents along the contact zone can cause partial metamorphism to some rocks. This one is kind of nice, actually it is gneiss.
I’ll post some slices from the finds shortly.
Darryl.
[Sorry about the photos. The sun was shining on the beach and the fog was hanging off the water. The photos tend to be both dark and overexposed. Any suggestions from the camera gurus?]
This is the beach near Clark Head at low tide. I’m sitting at the wet line of the last high tide. The low tide is between 300 and 400 yards off in the distance. The photo doesn’t show the elevation difference very well. When the tide returns, my feet will be wet and the water at the current low tide mark will be 36 feet deep.
That’s Clark Head off in the distance. It’s about a 1-1/2 miles away, or about an hour of trudging through the sand.
The headland is a crash scene of five distinct bedrock formations that collided, faulted, and were exposed to partial metamorphism. On the left of the 45 degree contact, you can see red sandstone of the Mabou Group (Late Carboniferous – 320 million year old). On the right, you can see siltstone, mudstone and sandstone of the Blomidon Formation (Late Triassic – 210 million years old). Both were once horizontal sediments on the ocean floor.
A little closer to the headland, we are passing by the Windsor Group (Early Carboniferous – 340 million years old) which is famous for its evaporites including limestone, gypsum, anhydrite and lots of salt.
At first glance off in the distance, the salt can make your heart race with anticipation of a major zeolite score. Upon closer examination, all dreams are shattered.
Tide carved salt.
This formation is known as a Flower Pot. They have always amazed me! At low tide, they are pinnacles of solid rock formed from ancient volcanic pipes. The softer bedrock once surrounding the pipe was been eroded by the tide.
At high tide, the water level will be between 30 and 40 feet in this area and the Flower Pots will become islands. The amazing part is that life can survive in these incredibly harsh conditions. The trees have no soil and are dwarfed from the salt spray. The rubble pile is North Mountain basalt (Jurassic – 200 million years old) and contains some quartz, agate, jasper and zeolites.
The sedimentary rocks of the Windsor Group are easily eroded and form sea caves along the base of the cliff face.
The once horizontal bands of the sedimentary rock have been folded from the pressures along the contact zone as continents once collided.
The next area is the Fault Zone. I didn’t find any fault, but I did take a couple of photos of some amazing displaced horizontal banding patterns on the cliff face.
All the heat and pressure of colliding continents along the contact zone can cause partial metamorphism to some rocks. This one is kind of nice, actually it is gneiss.
I’ll post some slices from the finds shortly.
Darryl.