The Area
The Maxton Plain is familiar to people who are driving to remote
locations on northern Drummond Island... 4x4-ers, snowmobilers, and
geocachers (this is on the way to
Our Third Coast) pass by this exact location just beyond where
the pavement ends and just before the bumpy dirt tracks start. It
doesn't look like much, but it is actually a rare geological and
ecological area.
Now I'm no geologist or botanist, but I can tell you after
careful research (OK, actually I just read the informational
signs near the cache and checked out the Nature Conservancy's
website) that:
The nearby rocky shores of Lake Huron are bedrock beaches that
are actually compressed saltwater corals and sealife that lived in
the shallow oceans that were here millions of years ago. If you
venture north to
Our Third Coast, you will see "fossil beach" where thousands of
prehistoric creatures are preserved in the shale shelves that make
up the only beach.
Maxton Plain is an Alvar grassland. Unique and rare plants
exist in small shallow pockets of soil that were hollowed out in
the limestone bedrock over 400 million years ago. They represent
rare grasslands that have existed since the last glacier retreated
here 11,000 years ago. Alvar grasslands survive in only a few
places on earth in the Baltic region of Europe:
Estonia, and on the islands along the coast of Sweden.
Shallow dry crumbly soils and harsh growing conditions of an
alvar grassland discourage shrubs and trees while encouraging the
growth of rare grasses and herbs that dominate this system. The
underlying bedrock supports moderately alkaline soil (pH of 7.2-8).
Some of the rare plant species here include: tufted hairgrass,
prairie dropseed, prairie smoke, flatstemmed spikerush,
Richardson's sedge, early buttercup, early saxifrage, shrubby
cinquefoil, and bearberry. Alvar grasslands also create rare micro
habitats that are harbors of refuge for butterflies, small
songbirds, and many insects.
So now that you know, you can look twice in this area to
identify some rare geology and ecology. Please also read the three
educational signs located here... and in the interest of
documenting your educational experience (new requirements for
earthcaches) please email me the number of unique ecological
systems found in this "rare mosaic of plants, animals and unique
geology", a fact found on one of the signs.
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