Confluence, Wetlands and Delta of Mavillette EarthCache

Confluence, Wetlands and Delta of Mavillette

Mavillette (Community) is located in the Clare district, Nova Scotia (NS) in Canada. There is a classic stretch of white-to-ivory sand, rolling sand dunes, and a salt-water marsh area, typical of the Fundy shore in Nova Scotia. Located at the village of Cape St. Mary’s, in the county of Clare, this is a dominantly Acadian French part of the province, and has a unique charm as a result.

Mavillette river flows out of a Cape St Mary's member within the white rock formation of the late Ordovician to early Devonian period. The river has two major branches that meet 1 kilometer before it empties into the ocean at the beach.

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean. "Right tributary" and "left tributary" (or "right-bank tributary" and "left-bank tributary") are terms stating the orientation of the tributary relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream (in the direction the water current of the main stem is going).

A confluence is where two or more bodies of water meet together, this usually refers to the joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary, a river or stream that branches off from and flows away from the mainstream. Distributaries are most often found in river deltas.

Confluence

A confluence occurs when two or more flowing bodies of water join together to form a single channel. Confluences occur where a tributary joins a larger river, where two rivers join to create a third or, where two separated channels of a river, having formed an island, rejoin downstream. This confluence formed when a tributary joined the Mavillette River. The area where they joined is a low land or Talweg and a wetland has formed.

Talweg

In geography and fluvial, geomorphology, a thalweg or talweg is the line of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse. Each of the first 2 bridges (reference points) you visit cross the river showing where they join.

Wetlands

The Mavillette wetland system is a sandy beach, dune and back barrier tidal wetland system. The wetland and marsh is an approximately 130 ha wetland and dune system located behind a 1.5 km long beach that together make up the Mavillette Beach Provincial Park. High tides would slow the flow and back up into the salt marsh.

Delta

Deltas form as rivers empty their water and sediment into another body of water, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river moves more slowly as it nears its mouth, or end. This causes sediment, solid material carried downstream by currents, to fall to the river bottom.

The slowing velocity of the river and the build-up of sediment allows the river to break from its single channel as it nears its mouth. Under the right conditions, a river forms a deltaic lobe. A mature deltaic lobe includes a distributary network—a series of smaller, shallower channels, called distributaries, that branch off from the mainstream of the river.

Ground Zero: N44° 05.555' W66° 11.349'

Ref A: N44° 06.013' W66° 11.090'

Ref B: N44° 05.784' W66° 11.444'

Ref C: N44° 05.453' W66° 11.670'

Beach parking: N44° 05.435' W66° 11.592'

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. Which location site is the main river system (Ref A, B or C)?

2. Which location site shows the confluence (Ref A, B or C)?

3. Why is this confluence so dramatic?

4. Describe the wetlands and what do you think caused them?

5. 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.