To log this earthcache, please don’t stress about answering the questions. Simply send your best attempts in a private message to me, (the cache owner), and then go ahead and log it as found.
You don’t need to wait for my approval. All attempts will be accepted.
Go ahead and have fun learning! 
- [REQUIRED] Please post a photo in your log of yourself or a personal item at the outcrop to prove you visited the site.
- How high do you estimate the cliffs to be? (You can use your GPS elevation.)
- How many sea stacks can you see west of the cliffs from your vantage point?
You don't have to wait for a reply to your email to log the cache as found. Your answers will be reviewed in short time.
The information below should help you answer some of the questions.
The cape itself is 7 km (4 mi) long and ranges between several kilometres to several dozen metres in width. Both sides of the headland end in high cliffs overlooking treacherous tidal currents in the Minas Channel.
You may park at the parking lot for the hike, coordinates given. The hiking trail has existed for decades on Cape Split, and takes approximately 2–2.5 hours each way to get to the tip of the headland.
The cliffs at Cape Split are actively eroding and potentially dangerous, which is normal for a headland. The height of the cliffs is over 60 m (200 ft) and a fall could be fatal, so please watch your step. There are several worn and eroded paths that appear to be trails, but actually lead to steep edges with loose soil and rocks underfoot.
What is a headland?
Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides.
Headlands are characterized by high, breaking waves, rocky shores, intense erosion, and steep sea cliffs. Bays generally have less wave (and often wind) activity than the water outside the bay, and typically have sandy beaches. Headlands and bays form on discordant coastlines, where bands of rock of alternating resistance run perpendicular to the coast.
How do Bays and Headlands form?
Bays form where weak (less resistant) rocks (such as sands and clays) are eroded, leaving bands of stronger (more resistant) rocks (such as chalk, limestone, granite) forming a headland, or peninsula. Refraction of waves occurs on headlands concentrating wave energy on them, so many other landforms, such as caves, natural arches and stacks, form on headlands. Wave energy is directed at right angles to the wave crest and lines drawn at right angles to the wave crest (orthogonals) represent the direction of energy expenditure.
Orthogonals converge on headlands and diverge in bays which concentrates wave energy on the headlands and dissipating wave energy in the bays. In the formation of sea cliffs, wave erosion undercuts the slopes at the shoreline and they retreat landward. This increases the shear stress in the cliff-forming material and accelerates mass movement.
The debris from these landslides collects at the base of the cliff and are also removed by the waves, usually during storms where wave energy is greatest. This debris provides sediment, transported through longshore current for the nearby bay. Joints in the headlands are eroded back to form caves which erode further to form arches. These gaps eventually collapse and leave tall stacks at the ends of the headlands. Eventually these too are eroded by the waves.
Wave refraction disperses wave energy through the bay, and along with the sheltering effect of the headlands this protects bays from storms. This effect means that the waves reaching the shore in a bay are weaker than the waves reaching the headland and the bay is thus a safer place for water activities like surfing or swimming. Through the deposition of sediment within the bay and the erosion of the headlands, coastlines eventually straighten out then start the same process all over again.
The Fundy Basin is a sediment-filled rift basin on the Atlantic coast of southeastern Canada. It contains three sub-basins; the Fundy sub-basin, the Minas Basin and the Chignecto Basin. These arms meet at the Bay of Fundy, which is contained within the rift valley. From the Bay of Fundy, the Minas Basin trends northeast to Nova Scotia. Chignecto Bay runs from the Bay of Fundy northwest between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia which is separated from the waters of the Northumberland Strait by the Isthmus of Chignecto. The Fundy Basin is best known for the bay it contains. The Bay of Fundy is home to huge tidal changes and tidal bores. It is part of the system of Eastern North America Rift Basins.
Geology
Approximately 220 million years ago, during the late Triassic period, the supercontinent Pangaea began to break apart. The focus of the rifting began somewhere between where present-day eastern North America and north-western Africa were joined.
As in all rifting environments, grabens formed. Many of these grabens were created, but for some of them, extension stopped before full rifting occurred. Where only partial rifting occurred, basins formed. By definition, a basin is any area that collects sediments. These "aborted rifts" (rifts that are tectonically inactive and no longer collecting sediments) extend from Alabama to Newfoundland.
Along certain basins, rifting was not partial. Where full rifting occurred, the Atlantic Ocean was created. It is important to note that along these rifts, magmatic activity never stopped, as shown by the ongoing eruption of lava along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
The Fundy Basin is one in a series of these failed rifts. During its rupture, tholeiitic basaltic lava erupted, producing a sequence of continental tholeiitic basalts. These tholeiitic basalts form a volcanic mountain range known as North Mountain.
This cache owner
supports the
Association of Nova Scotia Geocaching