Sandy Point, Sand Bar EarthCache

Sandy Point, Sand Bar

Sandy Point is a community in Nova Scotia, located in the Shelburne municipal district of Shelburne County. It is known for it’s sand bar with a lighthouse built on the end.

The sandy point lighthouse was first built in 1873 and was located on a pier. It burnt down and was rebuilt and relocated in 1903 to its current location. It is built on a concrete base on a sand spit in Shelburne Harbor. The lighthouse used to be called “The Sand Spit” because it is situated on the sand spit extending west from the point. The lighthouse is accessible by foot at low tide.

What is a Sandbar Landform?

A sandbar is an area of sand, gravel or fine sediment that sits above the water. It may be connected to the shoreline, or it may be offshore. They are formed by wave action and currents with the unique feature of generally being formed in a  narrow straight line. A sandbar is also known as a shoal or sandbank. A large sandbar is called a barrier island.

How are Sandbars Formed?

Sandbars begin forming underwater from depositional formations caused by the lateral movement of water along a shoreline known as littoral drift. Wave energy rarely, if ever, makes perfect perpendicular contact with the shoreline. The transport of material along the foreshore and the shoreface is due to the action of the breaking waves and the longshore current.

When waves are large, sand, gravel and other sediment can gather underwater in large amounts. This can block channels and prevent ships and boats from passing. During a storm, this can cause a ship to become stranded on the sandbar and perhaps destroyed.

To log this Earthcache please answer the following questions and send answers in a timely manner to my geocaching profile or email. Answers not received will result in deleted logs. Do not post your answers in your log.

Questions:

1. The sandbar starts at the shore and goes to the lighthouse, how long is the sand bar?

2. What caused a sandbar to form in this location?

3. What is the sandbar’s level above sea level?

4. Take a picture of the lighthouse and post with your log.

[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.

You can catch an image of yourself on the beach using the Sandy Point Lighthouse web cam

Here is the link to the web cam