Partridge Island a Shingle Tombolo EarthCache

Partridge Island a Shingle Tombolo

Partridge Island is a significant historical, cultural and geological site located near the mouth of Parrsboro Harbour and the town of Parrsboro on the Minas Basin, in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. Partridge Island is actually a peninsula that is connected to the mainland by a sandbar isthmus.

According to local legend, the isthmus was created during the Saxby Gale of 1869. Partridge Island is a favourite hunting ground for rockhounds because its ancient sandstone and basalt cliffs are steadily eroded by the fast-moving currents of the world's highest tides. Rocks and debris worn away from its cliffs are dragged down the beach making it possible to find gemstones, exotic-looking zeolite minerals and fossils. The Tombolo is a shingle beach on the East side and a marshy expanse on the west side that floods depending on the hight of the tide.  

Sandbars begin forming underwater. As waves break, this pulls material from the shoreline, migrating further into the ocean. During heavy storms, large waves can build sandbars far from shore, until they rise above the water’s surface. The sand bar structure depends on the material it is made of, some are loose and some are hard packed. Some can be just below the surface at high tides and others have developed so much they raise above the sea level and may become roadways.

A shingle beach (also referred to as rocky beach or pebble beach) is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles (as opposed to fine sand). Typically, the stone composition may grade from characteristic sizes ranging from 2 to 200 millimetres (0.1 to 7.9 in) diameter.

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.

Questions:

1 - How long is the tombolo?

2 - How wide it the tombolo?

3 - How is it different on the East side from the West side?

4 - Describe the shingles/pebbles on the East side?

5 - Post a picture of the site.

[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.