Lone Shieling Park
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- [REQUIRED] Please post a photo in your log of yourself or a personal item in the park to prove you visited the site.
- Beside the doorway of the shieling is one of the inlier rocks. It is grey and white boulder. What kind of rock is the grey and white boulder?
- Describe the color and texture
- How does this rock compare to the other rocks around it?
This area is the only representation of the continent Laurentia in Nova Scotia. It forms one small corner of the Cape Breton Highlands containing remnants of a billion-year-old mountain range. Laurentia was a large continental craton that now forms the ancient geological core of the North American continent. It forms a large part of North America, and originally it also included the cratonic areas of Greenland and also the northwestern part of Scotland, known as the Hebridean Terrane.
The Blair River inlier is part of Laurentia. It is preserved on Cape Breton Island because it was located on a bulge, or promontory, of the margin of Laurentia.
A remnant of the now-eroded mountain range, the inlier here once lay at the heart of an ancient supercontinent, Rodinia. Geologists use the word "inlier" to identify a discrete area of older rock surrounded by unrelated younger rock. Inliers are typically formed by the erosion of overlying younger rocks to reveal a limited exposure of the older underlying rocks. An inlier may be exposed because it has been uplifted along faults or because it is more resistant to erosion than the surrounding younger rocks.
Conversely, an outlier is an area of younger rock surrounded by older rocks. An outlier is typically formed when sufficient erosion of surrounding rocks has taken place to sever the younger rock's original continuity with a larger mass of the same younger rocks nearby.
The Lone Shieling structure
The walls of the Lone Shieling and the low wall enclosing its grassy surrounds are both made from local stones, including those of the Blair River Inlier.
Some of the stones are sedimentary, some igneous, and some metamorphic.
Igneous Rocks
Igneous rocks are formed when magma (or molten rock) cools down, and becomes solid. If magma cools underground, it cools slowly, which enables minerals to crystallize and gradually grow large enough to be visible to the naked eye. Igneous rocks that form below the Earth's surface and hence have large crystals are called plutonic. In contrast, volcanic igneous rocks form when magma reaches the Earth's surface. Volcanic igneous rocks have small crystals or are made of glass with no crystals.
Sedimentary Rocks
Sedimentary rocks are usually formed by deposition of sediments, and this normally occurs inside water bodies. Sediment is Earth material that has been eroded and weathered due to wind and water, and the resulting accumulated loose particles settle and form sedimentary rocks. These rocks are formed from sediments (mud, sand, and gravel) formed from other rocks. One type of sedimentary rock is conglomerate, which is made by the accumulation of small pebbles and cobbles. Other types include shale (made from mud) and sandstone (made from sand). Limestone is a different type of sedimentary rock, made chemicals precipitated from sea water, or from the shells of clams and other organisms.
Metamorphic Rocks
Metamorphic rocks are the result of the transformation of other rocks. Rocks that are subjected to intense heat and pressure change their original shape and minerals, and become metamorphic rocks. These changes in shape and minerals are referred to as metamorphism. These rocks are commonly when minerals recrystallize into other minerals in the solid state, without melting. Gneiss is a type of metamorphic rock, and it is formed by high pressure and temperature, and complete recrystallization of the minerals contained in the original rock.
