LOCATION
We spent the rainy afternoon of day 15 galavanting on the Cobequid shore of western Nova Scotia, on the Bay of Fundy. The cliffs and beaches here offered much to observe; we hurried along the water's edge before the incoming tide could block our return.

The photograph to the right shows not only our enthusiasm for basalts and fault lines, but also a great view of the interbedded red shales and dark gray basalts. Note the spectacular view in the background of this image. Read on to learn more about the processes that created this amazing landscape.

ENLIGHTEN US, DAVE: GEOLOGIC IMPORTANCE
Whereas most of the rock we studied prior to Cobequid formed about 424 Ma (during the Acadian Orogeny), this area formed during the tectonic action of a major continental break-up, less than 200 Ma, at the beginning of the Mesozoic Era.

During continental break-up, rifting causes crustal extension and faulting. In the Bay of Fundy region, extension occurred during the rifting, or opening, of the Atlantic Ocean. A rift can be compared to a large tear in the Earth's crust. The major tear, or rift, of this movement, lies in the mid-Atlantic, but many smaller and faulted rifts are apparent elsewhere. Cobequid, you my have guessed, represents one of the small

FAULTS, BASALTS, AND DEPOSITION
The faults here are composed of two parts; the uplifted horst and the downdropped graben. The graben is compose of red sandstone and some shale, while the horst is mostly dark gray basalts (with spectacular vugs filled with zeolites!).

Sandstones and shales were deposited on top of the thick sequence of basaltic lava flows. The sediments are primarily lacustrine (lake) deposits. The sandstone that we see today used to be above the gray basalts (because the basalt was here first) but has since slid downward along the fault lines, and not lie next to them.

click on this photo to get a sense of the scale at Cobequid