"N.B.'s UNESCO bid explored by geologists" from CBC


"Geologists from Germany and Ireland are in southwestern New Brunswick this week to evaluate a proposal to create North America's first United Nations geopark.

The designation would cover an area from Lepreau Falls to Fundy National Park and inland to the Norton Fossil Field.

It would also include popular tourist attractions such as the Saint John River's Reversing Falls, where the stream forces its way through a narrow opening in billion-year-old rock.

The designation would highlight important geological features and the stories related to them. In order to get the project running, the group needs United Nations approval through UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The UN describes a geopark as a scenic area of special geoscientific significance, rare natural attributes and aesthetically ornamental value.

Geoparks are popular sites for sightseeing and cultural recreation, but also a key protected area of geological heritage and base for geoscientific research and popularization, it says.
Unique in North America

Irish geologist Patrick McKeever intends to check out all the key sites during his visit as a UNESCO evaluator.

"I was taken aback by how professionally the application had been put together," he said of the New Brunswick bid, which was officially submitted to UNESCO in April.

"It's going to give you something else other areas in Canada and North America simply don't have. It's going to be a unique product for New Brunswick and for the Saint John area."

If the application is accepted, the area will be designated Stonehammer UNESCO Geopark.

The province and the city of Saint John have put money into the bid. A decision is expected by the fall.

There are 64 geoparks in the world in such countries as Italy, Norway and Iran.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/08/30/nb-geologists-explore-geopark-bid.html#ixzz0yBUy2rQu"

I hope this becomes reality!

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Martin Head (Southern New Brunswick)

Image
There's a place, called Martin Head, located just West of Fundy Park that people having been going to for a very long time. I've been talking to people and every time I mention camping sites, people would ask me: "Have you gone to Martin Head yet?". As it turned out I hadn't, so thus became an item that went up in my 'To do' list. Martin Head is a mash up of very old and not as old rocks. The 'island' which goes by the name Martin Head is made up mostly of Cambrian rocks, or even older. The basalts are mixed with some sedimentary rocks of about the same age, and some mineral deposits (I couldn't find which type of minerals occurred). The section between the island and the beach which includes some sections of the cliffs are of younger age, dating close to the Late Triassic. Click here for information about the fossilized Sand Dunes of Martin Head. These are mostly buff or reddish sandstones. There is a small section that juts out fr...
Read more

Amethyst Cove (Blomidon, Nova Scotia)

Image
This past Summer I talked to people about collecting local minerals to add to my collection, and several people mentionned Amethyst Cove. Amethyst Cove is a section of Blomidon Provincial Park, near Canning, Nova Scotia. This location is quite difficult to get at as the options to get there are slim. You can access Amethyst Cove either by boat (preferably from Parrsboro at high tide), by walking around Cape Split or from White Water (which could take half a day or more, making it quite fucking impossible), or by repelling down a cliff 300 to 400 feet high, by shaky ropes. I talked to Matt about going to Amethyst Cove someday and didn't think that I would have made it this year. Matt offered to take me there. He was very familiar with the area as he has gone there several time. We picked September 24th to go down. I left Moncton at around 6:30AM and made my way to Halifax to pick up Matt and his buddy Chris. From there we proceeded to drive North towards Wolfville on the 101. (1...
Read more

Rock Hunting in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada)

Image
Me and my buddy Matt went for a trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia this past Saturday (November 26th, 2011) to snoop around the city and try to collect rocks and minerals. Why snoop around a big city for minerals? Halifax lies on top of a granitic pluton, a mass of magma located under the surface which has slowly cooled. The batholith intrusion was exposed over a long period of time, over several million years. The granite that you see on most road cuts leading in and out of the city was part of that feature. With igneous rock comes the chance to find interesting crystals. The area is known for its quartz (smoky), feldspar (K-feldspar), tourmaline, pyrite (fool's gold), and gold among other things. When we arrived in Halifax, we had driven by some road cuts that had yielded several minerals. We parked the car close-by so that we could go take a look before going for a bite to eat. We took some of our gear and headed out to check the outcrops. The granite contained fine to bigg...
Read more