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Showing posts with the label triassic

[News] Possible Nova Scotian United Nations geopark a hidden gem

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[Personal note: The UNESCO team has been on site these past few days and I'm sure they're amazed by what they've seen. You can visit the Cliffs of Fundy Aspiring Global Geopark facebook page -- https://www.facebook.com/fundygeopark/ -- to get updates. Let's hope that they'll join the Canadian Geopark family¹!] from The Chronicle Herald - published June 25th Evaluators from UNESCO will be in Cumberland and Colchester counties in late July to evaluate the proposed Cliffs of Fundy Aspiring Geopark as a potential UNESCO Global Geopark. - Tourism Nova Scotia Maybe we should turn left at Truro once in a while. Many, if not most, Haligonians escaping the city on a summer road trip just sail through the hub city on their way north to P.E.I., New Brunswick or central Canada, or east to answer Cape Breton’s siren call. There are highway signs, though, that tease the knowing traveller west, to places like the beguili...

Blue Beach - Hantsport, Nova Scotia (Fall 2013)

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I had meant to make a post on my blog on my last trip from last year to Blue Beach, in Nova Scotia but it had slipped my mind. I had brought my new Olympus SLR camera with me to capture snapshots and compare the quality with what I used to take photos with. A bit bulkier than the old gal, but I must admit that I won't miss her much. I can't recall when I went down there, and the data on the camera isn't accurate as I didn't bother setting the right time/date format. On this trek you will notice there's a little of everything spread all over along the beach. South of the Jurassic and Triassic rocks that make up most of the Blomidon Peninsula lies the Carboniferous Horton Formation. These fossil bearing sedimentary rocks stretch from a little South of Hantsport to about Boot Island, North East of the city of Wolfville. The further one ventures South, the more you'll encounter rocks containing evaporites. These would be mostly part of the Carboniferous Win...

Dinosaur Dig at Wasson's Bluff (Parrsboro, Nova Scotia)

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Field work is going on right now at the site where Canada's oldest dinosaurs were found, near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. For a period of about 10 days, Dr. Tim Fedak and his team of students and volunteers are hoping to make some discoveries to add to the region's rich fossil history. One of the target areas where the team is concentrating  their effort to find an elusive dinosaur bone bed Dr. Fedak is among a number of people that had made important discoveries and unearth information on what went on during its ancient past in the Parrsboro area. Wasson's bluff has seen some of Canada's oldest dinosaur skeletons come out of these sandstones, tracing back all the way to the 1970s and beyond. Two Islands, viewed from across the dig site Prosauropods, early plant eating dinosaurs from the Triassic Period, fish, giant crocodiles, and some of the earliest mammal-like reptile remains have been found in the past, and the search continues to try to unveil more so to fill i...

Five Islands Provincial Park (2012)

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Here's another of my belated posts on one of my trips last year. Me and my buddy Craig went for one of many trips to the beautiful town of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. From town, we headed East towards the small village of Five Islands, which has a Provincial park of the same name: Five Islands Provincial Park. Islands from right to left: Moose i., Diamond i.,  Long i., Pinnacle i., Egg i., Pinnacle rock Five Islands Provincial Park is a location that has witnessed several events, including a major extinction. Most of the rocks South of the park, towards Red Head and continuing on to Lower Economy, are of a red sandstone from the Triassic Period. These red sandstones from around Red Head are indicative of an arid, desertic climate. On top of the Triassic rock is a layer that corresponds to the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, sandwiched between Triassic sandstone and Jurassic basalts right on top of it. This Triassic-Jurassic layer is identified by its white sandstone and mudstone. ...

Economy Point (Copequid Bay)

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Back in August of 2012, I took part of a walk organized by the Fundy Geological Museum (FGM). It was in the middle of the week (Thursday August 9th, I think), so there wasn't any tourist or non-employee beside myself. The gang consisted of geology students and staff, led by Ken Adams, the curator of the FGM. Looking out towards Cobequid Bay Economy is located in Nova Scotia, East of Parrsboro in Cumberland County. From Parrsboro, you take the 2 road and head East, past Five Islands Provincial Park. Economy Point has many trails that are beach accessible, but the getting there can be messy with the muddy silt snaking within the bay. View of Five Islands (background) The rocks of this area are part of the Wolfville Formation, Triassic aged red siltstone and desert sandstones, a lot of it apparently sculpted by wind. The bottom part of the cliffs along the bay are of this red sandstone, and upon it rests several feet of glacial till from the last ice age that helped sculpt th...