Brooklyn Street Moraine EarthCache

Brooklyn Street Moraine

As you drive down Brooklyn Street you see the river on one side and a large ridge on the other. When you stop at the site you get a good look at the type of material that makes up the ridge. This is an example of a lateral Moraine that extends to Aldershot.

Moraines

Moraines are formed from debris previously carried along by a glacier and normally consisting of somewhat rounded particles ranging in size from large boulders to minute glacial flour.  Moraines are landforms created directly by the wasting ice sheet. Often they are composed of glacial till--a sediment of mixed character, with many rocks and stones, laid down as the ice rapidly melts. Moraines are divided into four main categories: lateral moraines, medial moraines, supraglacial moraines, and terminal moraines.

Lateral moraines are formed at the side of the ice flow and terminal moraines at the foot, marking the maximum advance of the glacier. Other types of moraine include ground moraines, till-covered areas with irregular topography, and medial moraines which are formed where two glaciers meet.

Glacial History

During the Quaternary Period, which covers the last 1.6 million years of earth history. The climate cooled and large glaciers periodically covered the earth’s surface. Nova Scotia was affected by at least four ice advances from 75,000 to 10,000 years ago (called the Wisconsinan Glacial Stage).

During the early Wisconsinan glacial stage, about 75,000 to 62,000 years ago, a large sheet of ice coming first from the Appalachian Mountains and then from Hudson’s Bay area crossed the province in an eastward and then south eastward direction. The deposits from these and other ice sheets are called tills and are named after the best exposure sites.

During the middle Wisconsinan, 62,000 to 35,000 years ago, the climate warmed slightly which resulted in a period of ice retreats. The extent of this retreat is not certain.

During the next phase of glaciation the ice flowed northward from a long ice divide. Later the divide separated into smaller ice caps and glaciers. Today, ridges of sand and gravel called moraines mark the locations where the ice stopped advancing. The glacial deposits of Nova Scotia are and important resource in the construction industry. The porous glacial deposits are natural reservoirs for groundwater and are used by many communities for their water supply. The present day land surface of Nova Scotia is a result of sculpting and shaping by glacial erosion and depositing.

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. What is the height of moraine?

2. What is the texture of the material?

3. What type of moraine is it?  

4. What can this material be used for?

5. Post a picture of the Moraine.

[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.