Congrats to Pink Foxglove and Life is Action for first to find. Loved you added pictures.
The Kentville Ravine is located on Federal land and the Elderkin Brook runs through the ravine. A trail traverses the length of the ravine for a moderate hike of 4.3 km between Highway 1 and Highway 101 . There is a trail from the lower parking area along the Highway # 1 but the area here is a floodplain leaving the best access to the ravine by parking up by the geocache “Gimmie Shelter” GC5JQYW . Special thanks to Lobstergirl for helping me with this one. It was quite a trek along the snow covered trail when we researched the earthcache.
Geology of the Kentville Ravine
The Wolfville formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation of Nova Scotia. The formation is of Carnian to early Norian Upper Triassic in age.
Outcrops of Triassic Wolfville Formation occur at intervals along the valley at the northerly start of the ravine for a distance of about 800 metres. This part of the Wolfville Formation consists of a poorly cemented brick red to reddish brown sandstone.
At the junction of the tributary brook the rock contains a few angular to subrounded pebbles up to 6 centimetres in diameter. Poorly defined bedding dips gently north. No fossils are known to be present here. Thin section work shows that the rock consists of angular quartz grains cemented with variable amounts of hematite, calcite and minor limonite. Small light green patches are due to the presence of chlorite.
The bedrock of the upper (south) part of the valley that can be reached by the trail is Halifax Group of Ordovician age which unconformably underlies the Wolfville Formation . The contact is not exposed here. These rocks are slate and minor siltstone having alternating bands of lighter and darker grey colour, with some beds of a greenish shade. The slates are finely banded, individual beds ranging from millimetre scale laminae up to beds a few centimetres thick. The bedding strikes northeast and dips about 60 degrees southward and axial planar cleavage is almost parallel to bedding. Graptolites have been found in these rocks in the area but none have been reported here.
The upper part of the valley is a steep-sided ravine whereas the lower part is more open, with a sandy alluvial plain on the valley floor. Near the end of the trail you will ascend a steep incline that offers you cliff edge views into the ravine. Here you will have to be careful and use caution, as there are no rails.
Because of it geology here, the area has one of the mildest climates in the province and with it being shaded and sheltered has given home to one of the few remaining large old-growth hemlock and red spruce forests in Eastern Canada. They can be seen growing on the slopes of the ravine. The floodplain forest includes hemlock, sugar maple, white pine, red pine, red spruce and american elm. The flora is well developed, with 125 species of flowering plants and 20 species of lower plants recorded The trails in the Ravine are popular with recreational walkers and naturalists and has long served as a site for research and education.. In short, the Ravine is a rich and heavily used community resource.
Questions to answer for this earthcache
1. What is the elevation of land here before decending into the ravine at the trail head ?
2. What is the elevation at the co ordinates N45 03 906 W 064 28.574?
3. What type of rock do you see at this co ordinate while going up the ravine?There is an out cropping that is visible on the ride side of the ravine.
4. At this co ordinate N45° 03.450' W64° 28.696' what type of rock formation do you see when looking into down into the ravine at the brook?
5. Is the rock formation horizontal or vertical?
6. What is the approximate elevation of land here?
Post a picture of the kame wall and/or you. [REQUIRED] In accordance with the updated guidelines from Geocaching Headquarters published in June 2019, photos are now an acceptable logging requirement and WILL BE REQUIRED TO LOG THIS CACHE. Please provide a photo of yourself or a personal item in the picture to prove you visited the site.