Campbellton's got a volcano!!
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Many people don't realize that Campbellton has its own volcano. It is in Sugarloaf Provincial Park, and is aptly called Sugarloaf Mountain and is a prominent hump seen from a distance such as Campbellton View 1 (GC15VZH).
Sugarloaf is an extinct volcano of the Devonian period. Its formation is associated to a period of crustal thinning that followed the Acadian orogeny in the northern Appalachian Mountains. The Devonian Period, the era between 418 million and 360 million years ago, is often referred to as the age of fish. During this period most life on Earth was confined to the world's oceans. What we now think of as Northern New Brunswick was south of the equator, and the Sugarloaf Mountain that forms a backdrop to Campbellton was an active volcano.
Sugarloaf Mountain is encircled by a perimeter road which is closed to motor vehicles and is available for walking, jogging and running during the spring, summer and fall seasons. During the winter season, this perimeter road is groomed for cross country skiing. The summit of Sugarloaf Mountain itself is accessible from a hiking trail that climbs its eastern slope and is suitable for those with intermediate hiking experience. The park has many hiking and biking trails, a campground, ski hills, and is open to the public year round.
Background
A volcano is an opening, or rupture in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot magma, volcanic ash and gases to escape from below the surface. Volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. A mid-oceanic ridge (the Mid-Atlantic Ridge), has examples of volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates pulling apart; the Pacific Ring of Fire has examples of volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates coming together.
By contrast, volcanoes are usually not created where two tectonic plates slide past one another. Volcanoes can also form where there is stretching and thinning of the Earth's crust in the interiors of plates, e.g., in the East African Rift, the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field and the Rio Grande Rift in North America. This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of "Plate hypothesis" volcanism. Volcanism away from plate boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes. These so-called "hotspots”, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the core–mantle boundary, 3,000 km deep in the Earth.
Divergent plate boundaries
At the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another. New oceanic crust is being formed by hot molten rock slowly cooling and solidifying. The crust is very thin at mid-oceanic ridges due to the pull of the tectonic plates. The release of pressure due to the thinning of the crust leads to adiabatic expansion, and the partial melting of the mantle causing volcanism and creating new oceanic crust. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore most volcanic activity is submarine, forming new seafloor. Black smokers or deep sea vents are an example of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, Iceland.
Convergent plate boundaries
Subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. In this case, the oceanic plate subducts, or submerges under the continental plate forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. Water released from the subducting plate lowers the melting temperature of the overlying mantle wedge, creating magma. This magma tends to be very viscous due to its high silica content, so often does not reach the surface and cools at depth. When it does reach the surface, a volcano is formed. Typical examples for this kind of volcano are Mount Etna and the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Types There are three types of volcano: shield, composite, and cinder cone. Shield volcanoes are is so named because the gently sloping sides resemble an ancient warrior’s shield. Famous examples of shield volcanoes are Mauna Loa Hawaii, Mt Wrangell Alaska, and Rangitoto New Zealand. Composite volcanoes have the steepest sides and usually have a crater at the top. Mount Fiji in Japan, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and Mount St Helens USA are good examples. Cinder cone volcanoes are bowl-shaped and rarely rise above 300 meters (1,000 ft.) in elevation. Sugarloal Mountain falls in this category.
Volcanic Debris. Solid pieces of rock that are expelled from volcanoes are known as tephra. Ash is tephra that is smaller than 2 mm in diameter. Pieces larger than 2 mm but less than 64 mm are referred to as lapilli. Blocks and bombs are projectiles greater than 64 mm. Tephra can also combine with superheated gases to form a pyroclastic cloud (or flow) that moves outward or flows downhill from the volcano. These clouds have been known to travel 100 km/hr. Toxic gases, which can suffocate people, can also be emitted from volcanoes. On the other hand, the erupted volcanic material can produce very fertile soil after it has been weathered.
Sugarloaf Mountain is volcanic, and it is part of a very old volcanic system. Sugarloaf Mountain is classified as a fissure similar to Krafla volcano in Iceland. It is a vertical dike or volcanic neck, a remnant of the structure that fed a volcano.
To claim this find, email the answers to the following questions to me through my caching profile:
What type of volcano do you think Sugarloaf Mountain is?
How high is the mountain (what elevation)?
What direction do you think the glaciers went when they wore the mountain down
Optional - post a picture of yourself at the summit, or with the mountain in the background
For more information on volcanoes, got to "volcanoes.usgs.gov".
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