Geology | Scenic Quality

The Drumlins District has been divided into six units:
431 Annapolis Drumlins
432 Ponhook Drumlins
433 Kejimkujik Drumlins
434 Lunenburg Drumlins
435 Eastern Shore Drumlins
436 Headwater Lakes

Geology and Landscape Development
Nova Scotia's drumlins are mostly confined to the Atlantic side of the province, where the ice moved across level areas or down a slope, with a free exit to the continental shelf. Most of the drumlins are associated with slate areas. Slate strata are sheared off more readily and to a greater depth than other types of strata, so a large amount of material was available for molding by the ice. Drumlins in Nova Scotia are rare

South Chair Island Click to enlarge

along a band one to five kilometres wide on the northwestern side of a slate area, but to the southeast they may extend for several miles into a greywacke area. Occasional drumlins may be found in a granite area, but generally they quickly disappear once the granitic border is crossed. This restriction to the slate areas is not so well marked in the Halifax -Guysborough area, where drumlins sometimes appear in a predominantly greywacke area where bands of slate are narrow and widely separated; there, perhaps, more material had been accumulated from areas farther north. Carboniferous materials with a distinct red colour form the eastern sections of the large drumlin field in Lunenburg County (Unit 434), and the drumlins on the Eastern Shore and north of Halifax. Isolated "red" drumlins may occur in any part of the Atlantic Interior. Slate drumlins are "grey," providing an easy field identification of their origins. Almost all drumlins - of any origin, local or distant - seem to exhibit a thin cover of granite pebbles and boulders.

Drumlins were formed with their long axes parallel to the direction in which the ice was moving. Those in southwestern Nova Scotia indicate a nearly southerly ice movement becoming southeasterly in eastern Lunenburg and western Halifax counties. Drumlins around Halifax have about the same size and orientation as those in central Lunenburg County. However, from Sheet Harbour east to beyond the Guysborough County border, the drumlins again have a north-south orientation, as if they were formed by ice that moved directly down from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The few around Canso are oriented more to the southeast. In general, the ice appears to have moved directly across central and western mainland Nova Scotia from New Brunswick, whereas in eastern Nova Scotia the ice moved southward from Pictou and Antigonish counties and spread out to the east into Chedabucto Bay.

The composition of the drumlins is greatly varied. Most are composed of fine-textured tills derived from underlying or adjacent rocks. In several areas, material from Carboniferous rocks to the north composes the drumlins or drumlin field (see Figure 12):

• 431 Annapolis Drumlins - granitic materials
• 432 Ponhook Drumlins - quartzite materials
• 433 Kejimkujik Drumlins - slate materials
• 434 Lunenburg Drumlins, 435 Eastern Shore Drumlins, and
• 436 Headwater Lakes - Carbon-iferous materials, predominantly "red" drumlins with some slate

Scenic Quality
The drumlins within a single drumlin field or "swarm" have a similar size, shape, and orientation. However, Nova Scotia's drumlin fields provide markedly dissimilar landscapes, depending primarily on their suitability for early farming and settlement. Of the six Districts, only the Lunenburg Drumlins (Unit 434) and Kejimkujik Drumlins (Unit 433) were extensively exploited for their well-drained loam soils. Here farms still dot the landscape (even though there has been much land abandonment) and provide variety and interest. They cling to the frequent small hills interspersed between lakes and bogs. The dense road network allows easy visual access to the landscape and scenic ratings range from medium to moderately high. The other drumlin Units (431, 432, 435, and 436) have poorer soils and historically have supported very little farming. As a consequence, they have less scenic interest and are also provided with less road access.