Tickle Cove Sea Arch EarthCache

Tickle Cove Sea Arch

Tickle Cove is a scenic traditional outport community and is also the focus of a well-known Newfoundland folk song, “Tickle Cove Pond”. The popular song was written by a fisherman and songwriter Mark Walker (1846-1924), a resident of Tickle Cove. Tickle Cove Pond is also known locally for its dory races.

Drive to Tickle Cove and park at the signposts for the Arch Hole. Turn right at the white house with Newfoundland flag (just past the large, presumably abandoned, building) to find designated parking for the Arch Hole trail. The short trail to this interesting feature is easy to find and follow. The cliffs at the viewpoint are steep and dangerous; stay away from the edge at all times!

A legend tells how the glacial erratics were used by a giant as skipping stones, who tossed them across Bonavista Bay. This legend was mentioned in the movie ‘Bayo’ that was filmed in the town. It has been suggested by some that Tickle Cove has the largest Arch Hole in Newfoundland, or that it could be termed the Arch Hole capital of Newfoundland. Fortunately, neither of these options has yet been adopted as a tourist slogan.

Geology 

Most of the headlands from Tickle Cove to Duntara on the western side of the Bonavista Peninsula are composed of the erosion-resistant beds of the Random Formation. The Random Formation is a very distinct unit of white cross bedded quartz arenite interbedded with green-grey, coarse-grained sandstone and grey siltstone, deposited in a storm-influenced macro-tidal setting, during a globally recorded transgressive event (dramatic rising or fall of sea level).

The Red Cliff facies outcrops on the coast near Red Cliff  consist of dark purple-red, thin to medium-bedded, fine- to medium-grained sandstone containing bright-red, thinly laminated to disrupted siltstone beds and sand dykes. The sedimentary structures found in the Red Cliff facies indicate rapid burial creating over-pressure conditions in the subsurface with the resulting sand dykes and disrupted bedding occurring as equilibrium is achieved.

The Arch Hole is an interesting example of coastal erosion processes; it is a large sea-arch preserved in a small offshore island. The outcrops consist of red argillite, sandstone and conglomerate of the Red Cliff facies. The Tickle Cove Sea Arch is an excellent example of this coastal feature, and is made of sedimentary rocks, including red sandstone, siltstone and conglomerates. The cracks filled with other minerals showed how  great the stresses were on these rocks that they encountered on their journey to this current location.

Argillite is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles (no slate-like cleavage). Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts of silt-sized particles. The red rocks contain oxidized iron; the green rocks contain unoxidized iron.

Facies is a body of rock with specified characteristics, which can be any observable attribute of rocks (such as their overall appearance, composition, or condition of formation), and the changes that may occur in those attributes over a geographic area.

Erosion and Weathering

This sea arch is a wave-weathered rock wonder which formed due to the power of the Atlantic Ocean. Sea arches form at headlands, or areas of rocky land that jut into the sea. The waves wear away or erode the rock from both sides of the headland, creating sea caves that eventually join to form a sea arch.

A sea arch develops when a headland protruding into the ocean causes waves to refract around it. This refraction of waves concentrates their energy in specific locations along the headland, causing particularly rapid erosion if weakness such as faults and fractures are present in the rocks. In other cases, the waves may simply begin to erode into rock that is less resistant to erosion than the surrounding rock. Either way, the erosion leads to the development of small caves that may eventually meet below a promontory, leaving an arch above. The erosion continues and, for this reason, sea arches are very ephemeral coastal features. When they ultimately collapse, the remnants of the arch are called sea stacks.

Weathering describes the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the surface of the Earth. Water, ice, acids, salts, plants, animals, and changes in temperature are all agents of weathering.

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 big is the opening in the sea arch? (width, height)

2. What mechanism(s) caused the Arch formation at this location?

3. When reading the sign at the arch fill in the following… A closer look at the arch’s cliff faces reveals  _____ _____ filled with _____.

4. After reading on the makeup of the arch do you think the sea arch will erode over time soon?

5. Looking at the cliffs, what mineral are the cracks filled with and how did it get there?

6. 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.