Shelburne - Yarmouth Field Trip
A group of EES students and faculty enjoyed mainly sunny weather for the annual end-of-term geological field trip around the South Shore of Nova Scotia. The two-day trip is the culmination of igneous, metamorphic, and global tectonics courses completed during the academic year. Most stops are on coastal outcrops and included rocks of ages ranging from about 550 million years to 201 million years and from unmetamorphosed (Shelburne dyke) to partially melted during metamorphism (contact aureole of the Barrington Passage tonalite). We pondered the chemistry of the original sedimentary rock that formed the spectacularly large abundant cordierite, staurolite, and andalusite crystals in the Shelburne area, the types of volcanoes that formed the thick mafic and felsic volcanic rocks at Cape Forchu and Cape St. Marys, and what might underlie the Goldenville Group at Bartletts Beach. The trip also provided Dr. Barr with the opportunity to buy dinner for Rowan Kennedy, this year’s “winner” of the annual “prize” for achieving the highest grade on the weekly geography quizzes in the Global Tectonics course. Well done, Rowan.
Searching for the lowermost Meguma rocks...
Happy students on the Moshers Island Formation.
Best turbidites at Green Bay.
Yarmouth Lighthouse and beautiful volcanic rocks.