Cottage Pillows EarthCache

Cottage Pillows - Some Pillow Talk

Port George is a seaside community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Annapolis County. It is a former port situated on the Bay of Fundy, and sits on the 45th parallel north. The original name given to the area by the native Mi'Kmaq was "Goolwagopskooch" meaning "Haunt of the Hooded Seal". At the edge of the community is Cottage Cove Provincial park. Cottage Cove is a picnic park overlooking the Bay of Fundy, and provides an interesting walk along the rocky shore where you can explore the area’s wildlife, including bird watching.

This earthcache is about this unique bedrock and that happens to be found here in Cottage Cove. When you see the rocks it becomes easy to understand the name.

To see the pillows come when the tide is not in full and you will notice what appears to be a unique type of bedrock. These are called Lava Pillows, Pillow Lava or Pillow Basalt and were formed 200 million years ago during the Early Jurassic period. Pillow lava gets its name because it looks like pillows that are stacked side by side on their edge. Pillow lava is formed underwater and gets its shape because it is cooled quickly.

It consists of rounded lumps of lava typical of eruptions underwater, where the cold sea water quickly freezes the hot rock, shaping it into “pillows,” unlike the lava flows on land that run in long streams. The shape of pillow lava is usually spherical or elliptical. It is rounded on the topside and flat or concave at the bottom made of Basalt.

Basalt is generally a dark colored, hard, volcanic rock containing 45% to 54% silica rich minerals (SiO2), which results in low viscosity (resistance to flow). Basalt is erupted at temperatures between 2012 °F and 2282 °F. Basalt forms from rapidly cooling magma causing the fine grained, giving it a kind of a glassy look to it.

What happens is that lava comes up out of a vent in the earth's crust and the outside starts to harden because of the cold water. The middle takes longer to harden so the magma keeps getting pushed out. Think of it like blowing up a balloon. The outside of the lava balloon keeps the hot lava inside and the balloon gets bigger and bigger until it is easier for the lava coming out of the vent to start a new pillow (balloon) right beside the first one. Sometimes a hole will break in the "balloon" at the top or on the side and the hot lava will flow out creating a new formation on top of one of the older ones.

Slow extrusion gives enough time for a thick crust to form on all sides of a pillow lobe, and prevents individual pillows from coalescing into a sheet. Internally the pillows are fed by a system of interconnected channels. Pillows are not typically hollow and tend to solidify all the way through and often have scrape marks on their sides that form during extrusion.

At the posted coordinates you will find yourself viewing ocean side bedrock that has been exposed to the action of the waves for years. You should be able to easily identify the pillow features in the bedrock.

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.

To View the Pillow Pile, look 40 ft North of ground zero. You will need to be here at half to lower tide.

1. What is the dimensions of this pillow pile (l x w x h)?

2. What is the number of pillows on the south face of the pile (facing you).

3. Count the number of other pillow piles you see in the area?

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.