The Rocks of Peggy's Cove EarthCache
The Rocks of Peggy's Cove
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The Rocks of Peggy’s Cove
Approximately 380 million years ago, during the Devonian Period, the granite rock located at Peggy’s Cove was an 800°C mass of molten rock known as magma located beneath the Earth’s surface. As this magma rose toward the Earth’s surface it cooled, forming crystals of the minerals quartz, feldspar and mica. The first crystals to form didn’t take up any of the water found in the magma. So as crystals continued to form, the amount of water built up and pressurized, eventually creating cracks in the cooling granite. This water was blasted into these cracks, carrying with it the remaining magma, and a second round of crystallization took place. Where the magma cooled quickly, it formed a light-colored rock called aplite, which has fine-grained minerals and a sugary texture. Slow-cooling magma formed a coarse-grained rock called pegmatite, which has very large crystals of quartz, feldspar and mica. In the final phase of crystallization, the remaining boron-rich magma filled cavities in the rock and formed the dark tourmaline that you see here.
This Earthcache will take you on a rock hunt of Peggy’s Cove. The posted coords are for an information sign about the different rock types and interesting rock features that can be found by exploring the area. These rock types and features include Pegmatite, Granite, Tourmaline in Pegmatite, Xenoliths, Glacial Striations, Fractured Aplite and Layered Pegmatite-Aplite.
To log this Earthcache you must complete the following tasks.
1) Post a picture of yourself, clearly holding your GPS with the Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse in the background.
2) Explore the rocks and identify at least 2 rocks types or features, you must attach with your log a photo of the feature with your GPS in the picture and name the feature in the title of the picture.
3) Find a fun rock formation while you are exploring, and again post a picture of the formation with your log.
4) Find a fun Peggy’s Cove fact to share in your log, there is so much to learn from the area, that one visit will never allow you to take in all to learn from this site, this will be a means of sharing what you learn with others.
Note: As the times have changed since publication and many cachers are using their phones as both their camera and their GPS, photos without a GPS are also acceptable.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)