Savary Cove and Salt Pond EarthCache

Savary Cove and Salt Pond

Plympton is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the District of Clare in Digby County. It is home to Savary Provincial Park. Savary Provincial Park is located at an old shipbuilding site; now it is a picturesque picnic area located under a birch canopy, overlooking St. Mary's Bay. At low tide you can beachcomb along the rocky shoreline. Folklore in the Mi’kmaq Nation claims that the large tides in the Bay of Fundy are due to a giant whale - a creature so powerful that his tail slap caused the water to slosh back and forth up the full length of the bay.

Marine ponds

Marine ponds are still connected to the sea through some sort of connection to the ocean and tides. The degree of water exchange between the pond and the open sea when the tide rises and falls depends on the size of the connection and distance to the sea. Because of these variations, the environmental conditions in all saltwater ponds are different. Salt ponds have a range of temperature, salinity (saltiness), light, sediment in the water and inputs of plankton and plant material. Also the depth of the pond, steepness of the sides, what type of material is on the bottom of the pond all influence what species are using the pond as habitat.

A variety of plants are growing around the edge of the pond and it discharges fresh water when the tide is out.

Cove

A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves. A cove is often located within a large bay, as in this case, St Mary’s bay. Coves are different from bays and gulfs in that the latter two have larger or broader entrances.

Coves usually form through the process of weathering. Weathering is the process of breaking down or dissolving rocks on Earth's surface. The weathering that creates a cove can occur many different ways. Crashing waves can break off large chunks of rock all at once. Seawater contains certain kinds of acids that can wear away at rocks. The steady movement of tides and currents can also slowly weather a shoreline to create the entrance to a cove. Coves are formed by differential erosion, which occurs when softer rocks are worn away faster than the harder rocks surrounding them. These rocks further erode to form a circular bay with a narrow entrance, called a cove.

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Questions:

1. What is the shape of the cove and how wide is it?

2. What material has been deposited on the floor of the cove?

3. What is the length and width of the salt pond?

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

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.