The physical landscape is a result of the geology and structure of the terrain, the erosive processes acting upon it, and the length of time over which they act. The memory of past events recorded in the landscape of Nova Scotia is brief, in geological time scales. The last prominent event recorded was the split-up of Pangea and the opening of the present-day Atlantic Ocean in the Triassic Period. The Bay of Fundy, a rift valley is a remnant of that split-up.

In Nova Scotia there is a variety of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary formations which have been exposed to desert, temperate and glacial conditions over 140 million years. This long erosive history can be divided into three parts: the development of a planation surface (essentially complete by the Cretaceous Period); uplift, tilting and redissection of this plain during the Tertiary; and glaciation during the Pleistocene (covered in section T3.3.)

This Document Includes:

The Cretaceous Peneplain
The Tertiary Uplift
Marine Incursion

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Additional Keywords:
kaolinites, flash flooding, diurnal expansion, diurnal contraction, quartzite, Cobequid Hills, granite knolls, Rawdon Hills, Wittenburg Mountain, Creignish Mountains, escarpments, highlands, climate, river valleys, karst, embayments, Scotian Shelf, sea level, erosion, lowlands, Horton sands

Associated Topics

T2.1Introduction to the Geological History of Nova Scotia
T2.3Granite in Nova Scotia
T2.4The Carboniferous Basin
T2.6The Triassic Basalts and Continental Rifting
T2.7Offshore Geology
T3.2Ancient Drainage Patterns
T3.3Glaciation, Deglaciation and Sea-level Changes
T3.4Terrestrial Glacial Deposits and Landscape Features
T3.5Offshore Bottom Characteristics