The North Mountain ridge where Baxters Harbour is traces its history to the Triassic {251.902–201.3 million years ago} period when this part of Nova Scotia occupied the center of the supercontinent Pangaea. It is a 201 million year old sequence of tholeiitic basalts, which contains columnar jointing. It is one of the two locations that columnar Basalt is found in Nova Scotia with the other being Balancing Rock, Long Island Nova Scotia (GC11YY6)
BASALT ( BAH-salt) - rock made from lava
Basalt is an igneous, volcanic rock. “Igneous” means that the rock formed from a melt and “volcanic” means that the melt erupted at the Earth’s surface as lava before it cooled to form the rock. After lava is erupted onto Earth’s surface, it cools. However, lava may take awhile to cool, and as it cools there may be a temperature gradient. Most commonly, the top of the lava flow will be cooler than the bottom of the lava flow.
When the lava cools, it contracts. When objects contract, they often crack or fracture. When contraction occurs at centres which are equally spaced (see the above diagram), then a hexagonal fracture pattern will develop. If the contraction is not evenly spaced, then other geometries of fractures, such as 5-sided or 7-sided fractures, may occur. Contraction may not be equally spaced if, for example, the thickness or composition of the lava flow varies. The fracture pattern that forms at the cooling surface will tend to be propagated down the lava as it cools, forming long, geometric columns. Thus, as lava cools to form basalt, it may crack in a hexagonal (or other) shape and form columns. These columns form in a variety of sizes– some are fairly small, and some are wider and much taller than people.
Basalt is a very hard rock and does not erode as easily as other rocks therefore can withstand the Bay of Fundy weather.
Uses of Basalt
Basalt is used for a wide variety of purposes. It is most commonly crushed for use as an aggregate in construction projects. When crushed, basalt is used for road base, concrete aggregate, asphalt pavement aggregate, railroad ballast, filter stone in drain fields, and may other purposes.
If the tide is out you can go to N45° 13.840' W64° 30.829' and stand on the top of a Columnar Basalt. Look down and see the cracks and shapes of the tops. Note all the formations in the harbour are Columnar Basalt.
Note: Parking may be limited in summer season.
To log this Earthcache visit the viewing location. Please answer the following questions and send in a timely manner to my geocaching profile or email. Answers not received will result in deleted logs.
1. Look to the East and estimate the height of the Basalt formation with trees on it?
2. Why are the Basalt formations in the Harbour not eroding very fast?
3. Height of the waterfall over the Basalt wall?
4. What is the colour and texture of the Basalt?
5. Post a picture of the Basalt.
[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.