Fundy "Rockhound" EarthCache

This cache has been archived.

Geocaching HQ Admin: It has now been over 30 days since Geocaching HQ submitted the disabled log below and, unfortunately, the cache owner has not posted an Owner maintenance log and re-enabled this geocache. As a result, we are now archiving this cache page.

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Hidden : 3/29/2007
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

The gravel beaches of Scots Bay are a rockhounds paradise. Once you are on the beach keep your head down and search among the small gravels, look among the large boulders, and be sure to check the gravels on the other side of the high water line.

Along the shores of Scots Bay, Chalcedony, Amethysts, Jasper ,Agate can be found. Several archeological sites along the bay have been identified and this area may prove to be one of the earliest "quarries" in Nova Scotia. Ancestors of the Mi'kmaq exported materials all over the province and the eastern seaboard. (Archaeologists suggest that people came up from Maine and other parts of the Maritimes to the Scots Bay area of Nova Scotia on collecting trips.) Scots Bay was, in essence, a factory where materials were collected, and tools and weapons were roughed out and mass-produced. The active erosion here results in an abundance of materials suitable for flaking, such as chalcedony, jasper and agates. Harder igneous rocks were generally used to make implements that required a continuous cutting or grinding edge. Scots Bay Beach is located at the north eastern end of an area in which Jurassic basalt lava flows above soft sedimentary rocks formed a ridge. The ridge is composed of several basaltic lava flows which dip northwest towards the Bay of Fundy at a shallow angle. They form the southern rim of a tilted spoon-shaped trough which underlies the bay. The rounded up-tilted eastern side of the trough can be seen in the curve of Scots Bay. The basalt in the lower western part eventually disappears under the water beyond Brier Island. It is within these basalt flows that the semiprecious gems can be found.
To Log this Earthcache:
1) Take a picture of yourself and or your group on the beach with GPSr showing.
2) Search the gravels of the beach, find a sample of one of the above minerals and identify it.
3) Do a little research to answer the following questions :
a. Jasper is an impure variety of what mineral?
b. Agate also has an industrial use other than ornamentation, what use?

Email the answers to the cache owner -And post photos of any interesting finds that you make!


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