Located in the Minas Basin is geological oddity known locally as a flowerpot.
These Flower Pots are Sandstone islands with a cover of Basalt which stand alone on the ocean floor and support growths of grass and trees on the top giving them the look of a flower pot.
Minas Basin is part of a rift Valley known as the Fundy Basin created about 225 million years ago when the supercontinent of Pangaea started to break apart. The fracturing of this supercontinent left rift valleys that later became sedimentary basins. The Fundy Basin is the largest rift valley in Eastern North America.
During the Triassic Period, swollen rivers carried coarse silt and windblown sand dunes added deposits to the rift valley which later became sandstone.
Later, near the end of the Triassic period, the Earth's crust became weakened by continuing Continental Drift. Volcanic eruptions covered the sedimentary deposits with lava which cooled to form basalt.
The high tides in the Bay of Fundy eroded some of the sandstone away, while the cap of basalt protected the top from erosion from the rain, creating these Flower Pot shapes.
To log the Earthcache, answer the following
1. Estimate the height of the Flower Pot
2. What is the height of the most prominent feature of this flower pot
3. From the posted coordinates look to the cliffs and describe the colors of the stone
4. On the Flower Pot, there is a band of different sediment incorporated into the stone, whiat is the average size of the aggregate in this layer.
5. Take a picture of you or your gps with the Flower Pot in the background (optional).
E-mail your answers to the Cache Owner. Please feel free to log the cache as soon as found. Logs that don't have an accompanying e-mail will be deleted.
The road to the parking area is a public road. The path to the trailhead is the left hand road from the parking coordinates and is also public access. The fields and the road to the right are private land, please respect the landowners and stay off these area.
The ocean bottom is often muddy, any clothing worn here could be ruined by the red mud.
The access trail can be slippery in places, exercise caution and don't travel alone.
Watch the tides as they come in faster than you may think.