GC4D0N9 COCAGNE FOSSIL BAY (Earthcache) in New Brunswick, Canada created by Cableguy

This cache has been archived.

geoawareCA: It appears the EarthCache is not actually located on private property, but it is being archived due to a complaint by one of the nearby residents.

Thank you,

geoawareCA
EarthCache Reviewer

GC4D0N9 ▼

A cache by Cableguy Message this owner

Hidden : 5/26/2013

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:

There is more to Lover's Lane, Cocagne, than what the street name implies. There is also a fascinating fossil deposit site here. Park at the beach, and take a stroll eastward down the beach. Make sure you do this Earthcache at Low Tide to have access to the better deposits 100m away. PLEASE CONSULT LOCAL TIDE TABLES. In the winter, however, when Cocagne Bay is iced over, the fossil site can be accessed at all times.

The rocks in the Cocagne and Grande-Digue area are from the Late Carboniferous, about 310 to 300 million years of age, with a thin layer of glacial till deposited by glaciers from the last few ice age cycles. By the Late Carboniferous, the continents are in full collision and the weather and environment is transitioning from a lush wet swamp geography to a more arid one. The Cocagne area is within a fluvial basin, diverse water channels intersecting and connecting to deposit sediments and any material that was once located at higher altitude. Most of the plant material comes from the highlands up the various valleys, and comes down by these waterways, mixed in with sediments from the eroding Acadian orogeny (the Appalachian mountains, dating back from the Early Devonian).

Plant geni like Cordaites and some Calamites dotted the highland landscape, among other plants and trees such as Walchia (ancestor of the leaf-bearing tree). On the lower plane close to sea level at that period you'd get your typical swamp flora, growing near meandering water channels like streams or rivers, such as fernseed plants and other lycopsids like lepidodendron. Where you are is one of those areas.

To log this cache, you must answer the first three questions using observations and email me your answer, via my profile, and optionally participate in the last question.

1- Measure and describe any of the larger fossils you find. Hypothesize on what it may have looked like in prehistoric times.
2- These fossils date back to what geological period?
3- There is a single outcrop at GZ, determine its direction as it points out into the ocean.
4- Optionally take a photo of yourself with any fossil in the background and post it with your log.

This is a fossil site. Like with all sites with historical importance, PLEASE TO NOT REMOVE ANY FOSSILS from the beach area. Please respect the site and its ever changing landscape. Touch with your eyes and with your camera, and enjoy the scenery.