D~s)COVER~NGROCK~~ ~j!NERAl~ ~NfO)FOs)S~l5) ~NAllA~r~C (CANADA A GEOLOGY FIELD "GUIDE TO SELECTED SITES IN NEWFOUNDLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, PRINCE EDV\JARDISLAND7 AND NEW BRUNSWICK 7_".-- ~ _. ...._ .•-- ~.- Peter Wallace. Editor Atlantic Geoscience Society Department of Earth Sciences La Societe G60scientifique Dalhousie University de L'Atlantique Halifax, Nova Scotia AGS Special Publication 14 • DISCOVERING ROCKS, MINERALS AND FOSSILS IN ATLANTIC CANADA A Geology Field Guide to Selected Sites in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick • Peter Wallace, editor Department of Earth Sciences Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia Atlantic Geoscience Society La Societe Geoscientifique de L'Atlantique • AGS Special Publication • @ 1998 Atlantic Geoscience Society Department of Earth Sciences Dalhousie University 1236 Henry Street, Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada B3H3J5 This book was produced with help from The Canadian Geological Foundation, The Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, and The Atlantic Geoscience Society. ISBN 0-9696009-9-2 AGS Special Publication Number . 14.. I invite you to join the Atlantic Geoscience Society, write clo The Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University (see above) Cover Photo Cape Split looking west into the Minas Channel, Nova Scotia. The split is caused by erosion along North-South faults cutting the Triassic-Jurassic-aged North Mountain Basalt and is the terminal point of a favoured hike of geologists and non-geologists alike. Photo courtesy of Rob • Fensome, Biostratigrapher, Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic), Bedford Institute of Oceanography . • • CONTENTS Introduction v Acknowledgements vi Safety and Ethics on Field Trips vii NEWFOUNDLAND 1 KeIIigrews Quarry: Trilobites of the Manue1s River Formation 2 Brigus: Precambrian Deformation and the Precambrian-Cambrian Unconformity Boundary 5 Fortune Bay: The Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary Type Section 12 Moretons Harbour: Pillowed Lava Flows and Volcaniclastic Sediments of the Lower Paleozoic Cover Rocks of the Gander Zone 16 St Anthony: Metamorphism Beneath an Ophi10ite 18 Point Riche: Biohermsofthe Table Head Group 24 Cow Head: Limestone Boulder Conglomerate 27 Indian Head: Anorthosite and the Gneiss of the Grenvillian Basement 33 Black Cove and Black 'Point: Traversing from the Shelf Succession to the Humber Arm Allochthon 35 • Aguathuna Quarry: Three Ages of Fossiliferous Limestones 39 NOVA SCOTIA :; 43 Port Hood: The Upper Carboniferous Co1inda1e Member Type Section .44 Georgeville: Early Cambrian Intrusive Rocks 51 Arisaig Pier: Rocks of the Ordovician Aged Bear Brook Volcanic Group 56 Arisaig: Sediments and Fossils of the Ross Brook Formation, Arisaig Group 60 Victoria Park, Truro: Understanding the Importance of Rivers 63 Five Islands Provincial Park: Triassic-Jurassic Sedimentary and Volcanic Rocks 67 Spicer Cove and Squally Point: Volcanic Rocks, Dikes, and Thrust Faults 71 Joggins: The Fossil Cliffs of Joggins: One of the World's Classic Geological Sites 74 Rainy Cove: The Carboniferous-Triassic Unconformity 81 Horton Bluff-Blue Beach: An Ancient Lake or Restricted Marine Bay 84 Ross Creek Brook: A Section Through a 200 Million Year Old Basaltic Lava Flow 87 Head St Marys Bay: Quaternary Glacial and Marine Geology 90 Cape St Marys: The Contact Between the Halifax and White Rock Formations 93 • Salmon River: Multiple Till Deposits 97 DISCOVERING ROCKS, MINERALS AND FOSSILS IN ATLANTIC CANADA fiii • Shelburne Area: Staurolite-Andalusite Schist at Jordans Falls and Rocks of the Shelburne Pluton Margin 101 The Ovens: Gold Bearing Veins and Their Relationship to the Structural Geology of the Meguma- Group 103 Big Tancook Island: The Rocks of the Goldenville-Halifax Transition 108 Peggys Cove: A Piece of Nova Scotia 112 Chebucto Head: Layered Granites and Cross-cutting Dykes 115 Bayers Lake Business Park: The Meguma Group-South Mountain Batholith Contact 118 Point Pleasant Park: Bedrock Erosion by Glacier Ice and Flowing Water 121 Popes Harbour: The Weekend Dikes 125 Wine Harbour: Deformation and Quarz Veining in the Meguma Group 128 PRIN CE EDWARD ISLAND 131 Chelton Beach Provincial Park: The Red Beds of Prince Edward Island 132 Cedar Dunes Provincial Park: Beaches 135 NEW BRUNSWI CK •................................................................................................................................ 139 • Boudreau Village: Cyclic Fluvial Deposition of the Albert Formation 140 Frederick Brook: Oil Shales of the Albert Formation 144 Hopewell Cape: Stratigraphy of the Windsor and Hopewell Groups 148 Taylors Island: Geology of the Irving Nature Park 151 St Andrews: Geology of the Upper Devonian Perry Formation 155 Grand Manan Island: Polydeformation in the pre-Triassic Rocks 159 Fredericton: Bedrock Geology of the City of Fredericton 163 Bathurst Mining Camp: Nepisiguit River Falls and the Austin Brook Iron Mine 167 Pabineau Falls: The Pabineau Falls Granite 172 Bathurst: Tetagouche Group Pillowed Basalts 173 Chapel Point: Red Boulder Conglomerate of the South Charlo Formation and the Bryant Point Volcanics 175 Quinn Point: Sedimentary Rocks and Stromatoporoids of the Silurian aged La Vielle Formation 177 Highway 11: Chaleurs Group Basalt and Rhyolite Flows and Pyroclastics 180 Eel Bay-Dalhousie: Sedimentary and Volcanic Rocks of the Lower Devonian Dalhousie Group .182 .ther sources of information - books, videos, maps 183 iv / DISCOVERING ROCKS, MINERALS AND FOSSILS IN ATLANTIC CANADA • Introduction This book offers exciting geological field trips to the locations were sought around the provinces. I put a whole of the Atlantic region. It is part of a growing callout over the Internet and gave poster sessions at sector in publishing that caters to people wishing to local geoscience society meetings, and I put the touch experience nature and natural phenomena. Local resi- on friends and associates. The response was over- dents, as well as visitors from outside the region are whelming, even with the limitations of the target audi- taking up ecotourism; teachers are getting their students ence. In the first few months I received more than 30 out of the classrooms, and professional guides are look- suggestions or written guides. In consultation with ing for alternative venues and material. Since the mid- members of the AGS Education Committee, additional 1980s many guidebooks have found these audiences locations were chosen to fill in some gaps. and this volume is one more addition to that growing The first page of each location indicates its origin. library. If individuals wrote descriptions for this book I left The idea for this book started with a suggestion them as authors but if the decriptions originated from by Graham Williams, after I had been asked for help a GAC/MAC fieldguide, I referenced the original. In on field trips by several undergraduate students and a this latter situation, I tried to use minimal interpreta- couple of elementary school teachers. One of my jobs tion and in many instances left wordin.g similar to the as Senior Instructor in the Department of Earth original. Only rarely did I change ideas or data. Where Sciences at Dalhousie University is to organise and no author is given, the description is my composition. coordinate most first-year trips, as well as to teach the As you can see from the list of authors, it is truly a Field Methods course. This gives me experience on collaborative effort. places to visit within easy travelling distance of Hali- Because of the multi-authored nature of this book fax, as well as ideas on interesting places farther afield. the descriptions, style, maps, and format varies: I apolo- I am also part of the organisation called Scientists in gise to the reader at the outset for these inconsisten- the Schools (SITS) and consequently I have frequent cies. There is no way around this, although with edit- requests for help in the classroom and the field. In most ing and page design, some effort has been made to • situations, I refer to several series of geological con- overcome this. Also, because of the varied levels of ference guidebooks published by the Geological and readership, some portions may seem unduly complex, Mineralogical Associations of Canada. However, these while others seem over-simplified. guides are for professionals and contain too much In the summer of 1996 I visited most of the sites information, in the form of regional background listed here, to make sure the location maps and geol- material, as well as using complex language, and too ogy were accurate and the interpretations credible. In many stops or outcrop descriptions for day or week- rare instances I changed descriptions and interpreta- end trips. I usually end up copying the pertinent pages tions from the originals. While I can attest to the loca~ out of the guides and annotating them, drawing up tion and somewhat to the geological interpretation of detailed road logs on how to get to some of these places most of the sites, it is left up to you, the reader and and much more. A single request sometimes takes field person, to decide whether you agree with the in- hours. Writing a geological field guide for Atlantic terpretation. If you wish to enter into a discussion on Canada short circuits this process and makes an excel- the geology at any of these sites, you can either con- lent 25th Anniversary Project of the Atlantic Geosci- tact the original author or me, but I warn you I do not ence Society (AGS). have the definitive answer (nor, I suspect, does