Note:
This earthcache is in a rocky area, with slippery rocks, and impacted by tides. Please check your tide schedule, and use caution when visiting the site.
To log this earthcache, please don’t stress about answering the questions. Simply send your best attempts in a private message to me, (the cache owner), and then go ahead and log it as found.
You don’t need to wait for my approval. All attempts will be accepted.
Go ahead and have fun learning! 
- [REQUIRED] Post a photo of yourself or a personal item at the site to prove you were there.
- Describe the colour and texture of the shale mounds against the beach.
- Do you see any alignment of minerals on the shale mounds? (Do they seem to be lined up in one direction?)
- What direction do the mounds face, where the snow plough (Humber Arm) would have been headed?
This earthcache is to experience characteristics of disrupted shale.
Lobster Cove Head, has sedimentary layers preserved in and engulfed by the Rocky Harbour melange, which is a flaky, black shale. The shale was created when the Humber Arm pushed westward on Laurentia, sliding along the weaker shale. The shale around the cove was subjected to intense, chaotic movements as the stronger Humber Arm shoved its way westward in a “snowplough effect” crushing the shale and pushing it along with it.
Black shale is a variety of shale that contains abundant organic matter, and sometimes carbonate layers and, in some locations, concentrations of other elements such as copper, nickel, uranium, etc. Black shales occur in thin beds in many areas at various depths. They were deposited under anaerobic conditions underwater. Black shale is dark-colored, organic-rich sediment. Black shales are source rocks for petroleum and natural gas.
The black shale at this site is in mounds along the beach, mixed in with pebbles and seaweed. The mounds of shale are like shadows against the lighter coloured beach. The shale is black because it formed in deep water containing little oxygen but rich in organic carbon. When they were being pushed westward, the minerals aligned to form thin layers along which the rocks breaks so easily.