It is located between the towns of Berwick and Alysford and is about five miles wide and is 10,000 years old. From the co ordinates you can see the peat bog and a treed spot about 500meters out which is likely Caribou Lake surrounded in trees.
The Annapolis-Cornwallis Valley is a long, narrow, flat lowland which parallels the Bay of Fundy in Annapolis, Kings, and Digby counties, approximately 62 miles long in Nova Scotia. It varies in width from 3 miles near Annapolis Royal to 8 miles near Wolfville.
Early Fluuian Erosion
When the sandstones were first exposed as the basalt wore away, rivers flowed at right angles across the valley. These rivers rose on South Mountain and flowed north across the present valley and North Mountain before discharging into the centre of a river which flowed down the Bay of Fundy. The sandstone wore away more quickly than the basalt, and when the ends of the Valley became open to the sea, the drainage was diverted to the west and east. Sandstone is infrequently exposed within the Valley because it breaks down so readily to form a sandy soil. The Valley is flanked on one side by North Mountain and on the other by South Mountain, both of which are broad uplands. It has been carved out by river action and deepened by glacial scouring. The Valley proper is defined as the area underlain by Triassic sedimentary rocks.
Glacial Deposits
Nova Scotia was overridden by continental ice at least twice during the Pleistocene Epoch. Depending on the nature of the mantling glacial debris and the depth to which this material has filled in the underlying bedrock topography it is a subsequent valley eroded into Triassic shale and friable sandstone. Triassic rocks have the greatest influence on topography at the eastern end of the Valley where only a thin mantle of glacial drift covers broad, low, discontinuous sandstone ridges. Annapolis Valley is mantled in large part by stratified glacial drift and is agricultural land. . It is not a typical valley terrain because the pro glacial melt water and sediments did not originate in a valley but headed by an active alpine glacier.
Peat and Muck
Following deglaciation, many flat or slightly depressional areas with poor drainage began to fill with peat and/or muck. The most extensive areas of peat and muck accumulated in the central part of the Valley, commonly over outwash sand and gravel. They are important as commercial quantities of peat present, as in the case of the Caribou Bog
From this marshy divide at Carbou Bog , the Annapolis River which is 43 miles long, flows westward to the Annapolis Basin, and the Cornwallis River, which is 19 miles long, flows eastward to the Minas Basin. The two rivers, have gradients of 3 ft./ mile and 6.5 ft/mile
Due to the geography of the area a bog has been formed. Organic soils are scattered through the Valley, the most notable example being the large Caribou peat bog located on the watershed divide between the Annapolis and Cornwallis river systems at Aylesford. The Valley Wetlands are characterized by the accumulation of Sphagnum moss as peat. The bog surface, which is raised or level with the surrounding terrain, is virtually unaffected by surface runoff or groundwater from the surrounding terrain. Generally the water table is at or slightly below the bog surface. As natural processes raise the bog surface, the water table in the bog rises relative to the elevation of the water table at the edges of the bog. Precipitation, fog and snowmelt are the primary water sources. Bog waters are low in dissolved minerals and acidic (usually between pH 4.0 and 4.8
Peat moss production has been in operation since 1949 and extracts material from the 300 hectares from Caribou Bog. They get 10,000,000 bales of sphagnum peat moss for things like potting soil, top soil, black earth and sheep/cow manure mixes and also produce specialized products. Cranberry fields can be seen right next to the bog area. Production is a million pounds each year. Cranberries can grow in peat or sand. On this farm sand is the growing medium which would be due to the firable sandstone.
To claim this earth cache go to posted co ordinates and observe. At this point along the rails to trails there is a no trespassing sign so please obey all signs. You have a good view of the bog from this location.
1: What is the elevation at the coordinates?
2 : One reason why this area turned into a bog?
3: What two rivers orginate from Caribou Bog?
4: Describe the peat seen at this location.
5: 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.