Transition at Kerncliff EarthCache
Hidden : 8/23/2010
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:


The Transition at Kerncliff.

An inactive quarry formally worked by Nelson Crushed Stone Limited that is located on the brow of the Niagara Escarpment. The quarry has been restored and has been tuned into a park. The park is called Kerncliff Park and it surrounds the former quarry and includes some of the forested areas untouched by the quarry activities. A Bruce Trail sidetrail and some park trails runs though the quarry while the main Bruce Trail runs above the quarry at the top of the cliff providing a great lookout over the city.

The old quarry is of geological interest as it exposes a transition area between well-bedded Lockport dolomitic limestone of the Niagara Peninsula-Dundas area and the reefy dolomitic limestone of the Amabel Formation of the Waterdown-Georgetown-Bruce Peninsula area. The quarry also had abundant fossils.

The Ontario Geologic Survey has identified the abandoned quarry as a site of "considerable geologic significance" which has been recognized by the Ministry of Natural Resources in its designation as a provincially significant Earth Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest.

The quarry marks the southernmost visible occurrence of the Amabel Formation. At Kerncliff park this formation overlies the Lockport dolostone of the Reynales Formation which has been exposed by quarrying activities on the site. Two thinner dolostone layers, the Rochester and the Irondequoit Formations, combined with abundant fossils within the dolostone along the quarry face.


KerncliffBedrockNoNumbersSmall
Unit Descriptions as described in the Ontario Geologic Survey report (refer to the formations diagram figure):

Unit 4 : Amabel Formation
 Three distinct faces are present in this unit, but occur in no apparent order.
Dolostone (facies 1): light grey to buff grey, weathers buff-tann; medium to coarsely crystalline; massively bedded with irregular partings; large biohermal lenses are present.
Dolostone (facies 2): Light grey to pink, weathers to tan to light grey; medium to coarsely crystalline; thin to thickly bedded, contacts are sharp and panar; occasional fossil fragments are present.
Dolostone (facies 1): mottled creme to light grey, weathers light grey; medium to coarsely crystalline; medium bedded, contacts are sharp; very porous appearance; crinoidal debris occurs as large tabular lenses.

Unit 3: Rochester Formation
 Shaly Dolostone and Dolomitic Shale: medium grey, weathers same; very finely crystalline, with shaly zones; thinly bedded, with shaly partings, undulatory and irregular; rare brachiopod.

Unit 2: Irodequoit Formation
 Dolostone: Blue grey, weathers grey to tan; fine to medium crystalline; massively bedded; vugs are abundant with calcite and gypsum (rare) mineralization; very porous; abundant fossils include crinoids and brachiopods rare rugose and gastropods; lower contact is welded and disconformably with the Reynales Formation.

Unit 1: Rynales Formation
 Dolostone, with shaly partings: buff grey, weathers tan to light grey; finely crystalline; thin to medium bedded, contacts have shaly partings; scattered pyrite mineralization present in brachiopod molds and nodules; mud casts with glauconite in lower half metre and on quarry floor; pentamerids are very abundant, rare rugose.

Answer the following four questions on site and email them to me to claim the cache:
 You may post your log without waiting for a reply from me but logs with no email received or which clearly have not visited the waypoints will be deleted. Do not post answers in logs.

1) Estimate the total height of the cliffs at the highest point (north west corner, seen from earthcache co-ordinates)?
2) Estimate what the approximate height/thickness of the Amabel Formation is here?
3) Estimate what the approximate height/thickness of the VISIBLE portion of the Reynales Formation is here? Do NOT try to access the cliff base through the wetland area. (you may need to visit the base of the cliff accessible from Waypoint 2 if your view is obscured it at the main co-ordinates) If you do not wish to access the base of the cliff tell me what is obscuring your view of the Reynales Formation from the main co-ordinates.
4)Follow the trail for 100 metres to the northeast (waypoint 2: WAY2), what do you see on the quarry floor here (what is occurring here?) and which mineral could be causing this to occure? (refer to the description of the Reynales Formation above, it's something listed there) Look closely and you should be able to see some unweathered material in the center of some. (may require a bit of research if your not a geologist but a bit of googling should help you).

If you wish to access the base of the cliffs to get a better look at the formations do NOT try to access the cliff base through the wetland area, continue down the trail 100 M to WAY2 and you will have a dry access point to the cliff base for a better look at the transition. Watch for broken glass vandals have littered here. Be aware there is a trail at the top of the cliff and there may be falling debris or rocks and take safety precautions if you are accessing the base of the cliff. Note: Kerns Road southbound is permanently closed at the escarpment edge. You can only reach the upper Bruce Trail parking when driving from Dundas St. To reach the southern parking lot (for Kerncliff park proper) you must approach from the south. If on Dundas continue east to Brant St, take Brant south to Tyandaga Park Drive , go west on Tyandage Park Drive to Kerns Rd, take Kerns Rd north, watch for the park sign on the east (right). Kerns road is open for northbound traffic only, one way, at the escarpment here.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



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