Merigomish Coastal Islands and Spit EarthCache

Merigomish Coastal Islands and Spit

Merigomish is a community in the province of Nova Scotia, located in Pictou County. It is along the hwy 245 on the North shore of the Cape George peninsula. Merigomish is protected from the Northumberland Strait by a series of barrier islands, the biggest of which is called Big Island and a series of smaller islands called Pig islands. 

Barrier islands

Barrier islands are long, narrow, offshore deposits of sand or sediments that parallel the coast line. Some barrier islands can extend for 100 miles (160 km) or more. The islands are separated from the mainland by a shallow sound, bay or lagoon. Barrier islands are often found in chains along the coast line and are separated from each other by narrow tidal inlets.

The current theory is that barrier islands were formed about 18,000 years ago when the last Ice Age ended. As the glaciers melted and receded, the sea levels began to rise, and flooded areas behind the beach ridges at that time. The rising waters carried sediments from those beach ridges and deposited them along shallow areas just off the new coast lines. Waves and currents continued to bring in sediments that built up, forming the barrier islands. In addition, rivers washed sediments from the mainland that settled behind the islands and helped build them up.

Spit

As with most islands a large land spit has formed off the largest island, Big island. Spits are also created by deposition. A spit is an extended stretch of beach material that projects out to sea and is joined to the mainland at one end.

Spits are formed where the prevailing wind blows at an angle to the coastline, resulting in longshore drift. Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand and shingle) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on oblique incoming wave direction.

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 Big Island, starting at N45° 40.505' W62° 23.596' to ground zero?

2. At N45° 40.095' W62° 24.447' you can see some of the Pig Islands, what is the elevation?

3. How long and wide is the spit at ground zero? 

4. Post a picture in your log with a personal item or hand in picture to prove you were there.

[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.