Curatorial Walks

Curatorial Walks May-August 2012   

Ken Adams, Director/Curator of the Fundy Geological Museum will be offering interpretive tours during May through the end of August. The primary focus of the walks is geological and they are intended to help participants to learn about the area's rich geological past and natural heritage, and their connections to our daily lives.

Please note:

 v  Tours depart from the Museum, and last from three and five hours depending on length of drive to the site visited, and are planned in accordance with the tide schedule

v  The walks are conducted to a variety of locations with good road and beach access, low/moderate to higher cliff sections, sand to cobble foreshore, and recognizable tide related hazard

v  Participants must provide their own transportation

v  Bring sturdy footwear, layered clothing, a hat, sun screen and a camera

v  Some tours require getting your feet wet so bring a change of foot wear

v  Due to the length of drive to some sites and the duration of actual walks a cool drink and a snack are recommended

v  Some tours may have to be cancelled due to weather conditions

v  Although pre-booking is not required, participants should call the Museum at 1-866-856-DINO if they would like a boxed lunch, available from a local restaurant, prepared for them

v  Walks conducted during May and June are being offered to the Tantramar Seniors College as part of their Spring 2012 curriculum. Participants must be registered with the college. Please check their web site at: www.tantramarseniorscollege.ca or contact the Tantramar Seniors College coordinator at:nbnet.nb.ca

v  Curatorial walks held on Saturdays during July and August are free. A number of these tours are conducted at the local Cape Chignecto and Five Islands Provincial Parks, and these have been included as part of the “Park Events Guide” for 2012

v  Walks that are led by the museum’s Director/Curator, on Fridays, during July and August are included as part of paid admission to the museum. Additional fees may apply if participants want to book a boxed lunch

v  Participation in the July-August Curatorial Walks is open to Cumberland Geological Society members, and their quests, as part of their membership package

Creating your own Parrsboro “EXPERIENCE”

v  A Curatorial Walk could be just one part of a Parrsboro “EXPERIENCE''

v  Participants can discover more things to do and explore along our shore

v  Where to book a ticket for live theatre at The Ship’s Co

v  Where to find unique dining

v  Where to book an overnight stay at a local B&B, motel or campground

v  Where to discover their roots in Cumberland County’s heritage community, or

v  Where to find a quiet spot to enjoy the landscape and the tides

v  Check out the following sites for additional information on businesses, tourist attractions, accommodations, restaurants:http://www.town.parrsboro.ns.ca/

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/fgm/en/home/visitus/aboutthefundyarea/accommodations.aspx

 http://www.centralnovascotia.com/sitemap   http://www.novascotia.com/en/home/

Bay of Fundy Tides

When visiting our shores people will be experiencing an environment shaped by the highest tides recorded in the world. The flow of water in and out of the bay occurs twice each day and visitors should familiarize themselves with the tidal schedule. Information is available from a number of sources, including the Chronicle Herald which posts tide times for the following day in its weather section or click on the following links:

Canadian Hydrographic Service link at: http://www.charts.gc.ca/

Central Nova Tourist Association site at: http://www.centralnovascotia.com/tides

Tide times and heights are factored in to the scheduling of walks. Some beach sections with high cliffs cannot be safely accessed 2-3 hours on either side of high tide, and caution should be taken when visiting sites that you are not familiar with. Travel time from the museum has been considered in order to do tours within the window of access time related to the low tides.

Curatorial Walks Saturdays May-June Tantramar Seniors College Spring Curriculum

Curatorial Walks Saturdays July-August Park Events Guide 2012

Curatorial Walks Fridays July-August 2012

    Additional Walks July-August 2012 Curator’s Favorite Spots and Exceptional Tides

Geological Background for Walks:

The bed rock that underlies our region represents more than a half billion years of the geological record. Our shorelines, landscapes, and the Bay of Fundy have been shaped by past events that can be interpreted from the rocks, minerals and fossils around us. These stories can be told from a global perspective, as they illustrate many of the concepts used by geologists to describe their understanding of our world.

In one small geographic area we are able to determine that Nova Scotia was initially made up of two small micro-continents, known as the Meguma and Avalonia, each with their own very distinct geological histories. During the formation of the supercontinent Pangea they were crushed between the much larger land masses of North America-Eurasia and Northwest Africa. The merging of their continental margins occurred along the Minas Geofracture, a structure that cuts across the province from Advocate to Guysborough.

The formation of Pangea is a record of shallow tropical seas, mountain building, the emergence of tetrapods and plants on to land, formation of enormous deposits of gypsum, salt and limestone, development of  reptiles in our Coal Age swamps and the formation of the coal deposits that helped fuel our province’s growth.

The break apart of Pangea also resulted in momentous world events, marked by the rupturing of the earth’s crust, reactivation of the Minas Geofracture, and formation of the Atlantic Ocean. In our region a rift valley formed adjacent to the Minas Geofracture as it was reactivated as portions of the earth’s crust stretched, and the earth’s surface rose and fell.

Sediments deposited into the valley during the early Triassic (240 to 200 million years ago) host the remains and footprints of large reptiles, mammal-like reptiles, amphibians, and early dinosaurs. Further spreading of the crust allowed molten fluids in the mantle to migrate upwards through spreading fractures and faults and to flow out on the surface. These liquids covered most of the valley floor and when they cooled the earth had changed.

The sediments deposited on top of the cooling lava flows mark the beginning of the Jurassic period and the age of the dinosaurs. Over 50% of the terrestrial animals that existed prior to the earth shaping volcanic events at the end of the Triassic were now extinct. At Wasson Bluff we find a record of the types of animals that lived in the shadows of the dinosaurs for the next 140 million years, crocodiles, reptiles, proto-mammals, fish and sharks.

A significant gap occurs in the geological record as Nova Scotia, born of the coast of North Africa, remained attached to North America as the land masses slowly drifted apart.  As the Atlantic Ocean continued to grow we were located on the quieter, trailing portion of the continent. Our landscape has been further shaped by up to 190 million years of erosion. The orientation of some sedimentary beds, laid down over 190 million years ago, has not changed dramatically during the intervening time.

More recently, geologically speaking, at least four periods of continental glaciation has helped shape our landscape and led to the formation of the Bay of Fundy we know today.  Sea levels changed dramatically with the fall and rise of the continental margins, as a result of the formation and melting of these ice sheets. The advance of the ice sheets gathered up material smoothing and scaring the bed rock surfaces and their retreat left deposits of gravel and debris, mute evidence that is still visible today.

At the end of the most recent period of glaciation major deposits of gravel were formed along the north shore of the Minas Basin as melt water flowed away from the ice cap. As the surface of the land rose, with the rebounding continental margin, these deposits were shaped into the terraced landscape that many of our coastal communities are built on. Subsequently the land began to sink and sea level has been rising for the past 8,000 years, helping to shape the Bay and create the tides we see today.

The region has an exceptional number of interesting natural and cultural heritage features related to our geological record and the interaction of humans with this natural environment. Wetland and tidal marshes along our shores and the banks of many tidal rivers were transformed into agricultural land by the early European settlers, beginning with the Acadians, using a system of dykes and a wooden structure called an aboiteaux. Established within the past 5 centuries, some of these areas are now being reclaimed by the slowly rising tides (3 mm rise in sea level plus 1 mm subsidence of land annually)

Sites of Geological Interest

Apple River-Edgetts Beach-West Beach: A unique blend of natural and cultural heritage. From the beach access you can see a dyke and the remnants of an aboiteau near the drainage point for a Ducks Unlimited impoundment.  The road to the Eatonville entrance of Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is situated on the land side of dyke. A long shore gravel bar, located seaward of the dyke, is made up of a mixture of gravel eroding out of the cliffs, and reworking of the glacial tills located on top of the bedrock. Portions of the top of the gravel bar have been driven inland by the tides, blocking the pathway of a stream in the salt marsh behind it.

The Coal Age sediments in the cliffs that border and underlie the Apple River Harbour provide another view into the environments from this time period. Thick units of red pebble conglomerate alternate with thinner sandstones and siltstones, and the finer sediments preserve fossils similar to those seen at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs. The plant fossils include cordaites leaves and upright tree trunks, ferns, calamites, stigmaria, lycopod stumps and trace fossils.

A quarry, located at Pudsey Point in the 1800’s, used the sandstone units to produce grind stones, and one can be seen in the foreshore at low tide.  The light house at Cape Capstan is visible across the mouth of the Apple River Harbour and Alma, Fundy National Park, and the Cape Enrage lighthouse, all located on the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy can be seen in the distance. Keep your eyes open for shore birds, eagles and the occasional turkey vulture

Beyond Pudsey Point bedrock in the cliffs gives way to glacial till and raised peat bog. Orchids, pitcher plants, fox berry can bee seen in season, and the rare mainland moose leaves it tracks.

Continuing west we re-encounter Coal Age bedrock in the cliffs and in the foreshore, and plant fossils, including ferns, calamites, stigmaria and upright lycopod and cordaites trunks are present in the finer grained sediments and pebble conglomerates. These units have been faulted, and veins of baryte can be seen in these structures, similar to the mineralization noted at Spicers Cove.

Birch Cove, Raven Head Candidate Wilderness Area: Raven Head is one of two Candidate Wilderness Areas being proposed in Cumberland County.  Situated on the south shore of Chignecto Bay it extends from Apple Head to Shulie River. A number of landscapes were identified as significant natural areas throughout the province, and many have now been designated under the Wilderness Areas Protection Act. The objectives of the act also provide opportunities for wilderness recreation, education, and research and community stewardship. 

The Raven Head and Kelly River Candidate Wilderness Areas fall within the Chignecto Ridged Plain Landscape. The Late Carboniferous sediments that make up the regional bedrock and the cliff exposures along the shore have been carved by glaciers, and blanketed by the Shulie Till.

Glacial striations are visible in a number of localities nearer the coast where the till has been removed through erosion or construction of roads for forestry operations. Drumlins and moraines were also noted, although marine sediments are noted near the mouths of a number of rivers. Raised beaches, beach sands and wave terraces are present inland and above modern sea level.

The course of the Kelly River on the surficial geology map for the area is marked by deposits laid down as the most recent glaciers retreated and the rise and fall of sea level (Stea, R.R. and Finck, P.W. 1986, GSC Map 1603A). Hummocky terraine, kettles, kame terraces and kame delta are present along the river valley walls (Apple River member). In the area of the headwaters of the Kelly River and Fox River an esker parallels the valley.

Black Rock-FORCE Tidal Power Centre:

Blue Sac-Moose River:

Clark Head-Greenhill: The rocks in these cliffs present a cross section through Parrsboro's Paleozoic and Mesozoic past. They tell of the warm tropical seas, shallow lakes and coal swamps that existed during the formation of Pangea, and the desert sands and volcanic flows deposited during the beginning of the age of dinosaurs.

Diligent River-Rams Head: The rocks of Diligent River-Ram’s Head tell of the warm tropical coal swamps, rivers and shallow lakes that existed during the formation of Pangea before the beginning of the age of dinosaurs. This area has some of the most spectacular exposures of amphibian track ways to be found in the Parrsboro area.

East Bay-Partridge Island: The rocks along this shoreline represent a cross section through Parrsboro's geologic past. They tell of the warm tropical seas, shallow lakes and coal swamps that existed during the formation of Pangea, and the desert sands and volcanic flows deposited at the beginning of the age of dinosaurs.