Whose Fault Is It? EarthCache
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Approximately 540 million years ago, a large ocean separated the western parts of Newfoundland from its eastern parts. The west coast of the province including the Great Northern Peninsula, formed part of the ancient continent of Laurentia (the core of North America). The eastern part of the province, including the Bonavista, Burin and Avalon Peninsula's formed part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, which include parts of Africa and Europe. The wide ocean in between these two large continents, and therefore in between western and eastern Newfoundland is known as the Lapetus ocean.
The forces of continental drift (or plate tectonics) caused the Lapetus Ocean to begin closing around 490 million years ago. The continents of Laurentia and Gondwana drifted closely together, eventually colliding around 410 million years. This collision resulted in the formation of a great mountain range where the Lapetus Ocean had been, and the two former continents became welded together to form a huge new continent.
It was during this continental collision that great stresses were released in the earth's crust, and the major fracture or fault zone developed where the ancient rocks of Gondwana (or Africa and Europe)were being squeezed against rocks that had formed in the Lapetus Ocean (now the middle section of Newfoundland from Dover to Baie Vert. Today we know the surface expression of that crustal movement as the Dover Fault.
After the continental collision and the formation of the mountain range ( called the Appalachian Mountains), the new welded continent stayed intact until approximately 200 years ago. Then it broke apart to form the present Atlantic Ocean, with North America and South America on one side and Europe and Africa on the other. The split occurred somewhat east of the present-day Newfoundland leaving behind a portion of the previous continent of Gondwana in eastern Newfoundland.
To successfully log this cache you must:
....take a photo of your GPS with the Dover Fault in the background.
....answer two questions that are listed below.
Please post picture on cache page and E-mail answers to cache owners. Any answers posted in cache log will be deleted.
Question #1
What elevation are you when you are standing on the observation deck of the Dover Fault?
Question#2
What is the estimated distance from the observation deck of the Dover fault to the beach that separates the Europe side of the fault from the American side?
Additional Hints
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