Glacial ghosts at Harbour Main

Saturday the weather cooperated for a paddle though is was cool and there was a chance of drizzle.  We decided to do a paddle from Holyrood to Harbour Main.  Cathy, Gary, Shane, Terry and I left from the Holyrood Marina and ...

... explored the Holyrood Marine Base of the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfundland while we waited for Jenn and Max to join us.

When Jenn and Max joined up with us we began or paddle out the bay.

We arrived at the 75 meter high Blow Me Down Bluff.

At Mackays Point we took turns beating the bit of swell there was to scoot through the rocks at the point.

Inside the cove at Chapel Cove Point we stopped to check out the bit of swell breaking over some rocks.

At Red Rock cove the colour of the rocks change from dark grey to reddish brown.  Here these sedimentary rocks of Cambrian age are juxtaposed against the darker volcanic rocks of the Harbour Main Group, brought here by faulting.

Terry gets a closer look.

Rounding Harbour Main Point we paddled south and not far from Faheys Cove we crossed over to a beach at Moores Head.  Before taking out for lunch I checked out ...

... these sediments deposited during the Gaskiers Glaciation that occurred some 579 million years go during the Ediacaran Period.  These deposits are sometimes referred to as diamictites (though there is disagreement on the use of the term) that are formed when rocks embedded in the bottom of a glacier melt out and fall onto the sea floor.  The red oval contains one such cobble and one which has weathered out and left only a hole in the finer matrix.

I find it just humbling thinking about the huge time gap between the period of Snowball Earth and me floating in my kayak.  I felt very small in the grand scheme of things.

I came back to reality and joined the rest of the gang for a lunch stop before retracing our steps back to Holyrood to end another fine day in the kayak.

The main thing is getting out

Sunday looked a good day.  Where to paddle when we've been everywhere within reasonable daily reach?  A look at the maps and my eyes fell on Holyrood as we haven't been there in a while so I suggested a paddle from there to Harbour Main.  It wouldn't be new but it would be fresh.

We arrived at the marina in Holyrood where the big boys have been taken out of the water for the year.

Leaving the marina at 9:30 Bow Me Down Bluff in the left distance was our first objective.

At 10:30 we were there.  On the right (click to enlarge) the Holyrood Power Generating Station's three smokestacks were belching smoke into the sky that hung in the still air.  It burns Bunker C heavy oil but will soon be decommissioned and the power we consume will come from Muskrat Falls Hydroelectric Plant, our contribution to reducing greenhouse gases.

The sea was calm but in places paddling through the rocks proved interesting.

At Red Rock Cove the grey siltstones of the Conception Group gave way the Cambrian Age rocks juxtaposed by a fault.

Rounding the point at Red Rock Cove we entered Harbour Main.

At the bottom of the harbour where Maloneys River runs out we stopped for lunch.  I checked my GPS surprised to find we had make almost 12 kilometers.  Surprised because of the calm conditions and the relaxed pace made it seem much less.

The forecast was for sunshine.  It finally made an appearance after we finished lunch as we made our return.

Neville and Brian probe for a way through.

As we re-entered Holyrood Bay Butterpot Mountain, on the right, came into view.  Mountain may not be the term to use but at 1,000 feet it dominates the surrounding landscape.  It all relative.

The group got scattered a bit returning down Holyrood Bay so I decided to paddle all the way along the shore checking out Memorial University's Marine Institute Marine Base in Holyrood.  Their website indicates they  "provide a venue for practical and hands-on experience for students in a variety of degree and diploma programs including marine environmental studies, marine biology, marine ecotourism, diving and oil spill response.

At 3:00 we were back at the Holyrood Marina, the general consensus being it was a super day, a day to live for.  Thanks to Brian, Cathy, Clyde, Derek, Neville and Sue for sharing the day.

Tracking down diamictites of the Gaskiers Formation

Saturday, December 13th found us in Florida.  No, not really!  But it was 11C when we arrived at the home of the Holyrood Yacht Club.  An unreal temperature for this time of year.

Dean, Neville, Terry and I put-in under overcast skies at the slipway of the marina with millions of dollars stored out of the water for the winter.  Their hulls won't feel water until near the end of May next year.

As we made our way into North Arm two kilometers away the combination of the warm air and the cold saltwater created a foggy haze.  It started to rain heavily.  We were unmoved and undeterred.

When we paddled north out of North Arm and out of the protection provided by Joys Point the SE breeze cleared the air.  At the 250 foot high Blow Me Down Bluff the dark volcanic rocks of the Harbour Main Group loomed overhead but ...

... as we entered Red Rock Cove we found the red, hematite stained Cambrian age sediments faulted as a block against the volcanics.

This was where a GoPro would have been an advantage.  It was still in this picture but within minutes a rogue water entered the cove and rose in the shallows threatening to envelop Neville and myself.  We saw it coming, pointed our bows towards it and paddled hard.  I cleared the crest ahead of Neville and looking over my shoulder Neville was totally airborne.  Alas, no picture.

In Harbour it again got hazy.  Neville and Terry check out a waterfall.

We decided on having lunch on the beach by a church on the west side of Harbour Main but not before having a look at this outcrop of diamictite at water level.  A diamictite is a term most often applied to poorly sorted glacial sediments.  Here, stones of various sizes can be seen as they were dropped by melting of the base of the glacier floating on water at its terminus.

These diamictites are part of the Gaskiers Formation dated between 580 - 582 million years ago and thought to be evidence of a world wide glaciation termed "Snowball Earth".

I like to tell the guys about this stuff!

Things brightened up as we ate lunch at Harbour Main.  We felt the heat of the sun on our backs as did the cold seawater causing a fine mist to form.

After lunch we headed up towards Salmon Cove Point stopping in this cave to explore.  There's an opening at the end but rarely passable.  Today it was almost but conditions were just not right.  A gentle swell at highest tide may allow passage.

So, we arrived at Salmon Cove Point hoping to paddle through the cleft.  It didn't look good as water surged through.  The largest swells piled water a minimum of three meters in the middle of the slot then ...

... ebbed some ...

... and some more exposing land on the other side of Gasters Bay until ...

... sucking out leaving a hole and exposed rocks.

But, timing is everything.  Checking the wave action at the Point and being patient allowed Terry and myself to get through unscathed.  Waves not crashing on the Point opened a window of opportunity.

We left Salmon Cove Point to paddle back to Holyrood.  The sun came out and the slight wind we had earlier stiffened making it a bit of  slog.

The only thing we didn't have from the four seasons was snow.  That is unusual as normally a blanket of snow would be blanketing everything.  That will come soon enough but Saturday was a bonus.  As is everyday!

Here are the bredcrumbs:

Looking for Snowball Earth

How to add spice to a paddle?  How about having an objective other than just the paddle and scenery?  Today, Dean, Neville and I set out in search of Snowball Earth.  Or, at least the evidence for it.

Geologists believe there have been three major glaciations prior to the dawn of multi-cellular life on Earth.  The last major glaciation occurred during the Ediacaran perod and is know as the Gaskiers Glaciation that occurred 580-582 million years ago.  Some believe the entire Earth was a frozen ball during this time.  Some believe it was the catalyst for the emergence of multi-cellular life, the fossils of which are exposed in the rocks of Mistaken Point dating around 565 million years ago.

I was guided by the excellent book by Martha Hickman Hild entitled "Geology of Newfoundland".

We met at Indian Pond an paddled out into Conception Bay under the Trailway bridge ...

... and paddled south past the hydrothermal generating plant where we were going to do a short crossing to Chapel Cove.

We paddled past Chapel Cove and entered Red Rock Cove where red Cambrian slates are faulted against Harbour Main volcanics and Conception Group sedimentary rocks.

There was no wind or waves.  We poked into every nook to explore.

Dean checks out a route through kelp covered rocks in Harbour Main.

We stopped for lunch on a little beach near the church in Harbour Main.  After we had our lunch we went looking for the evidence of Snowball Earth in the rocks.  The Gaskiers Formation contains rocks that were formed from debris flows of sediments that were of glacial origin and we were on top of them.

At Moores Head the rocks are exposed.  Martha Hickman Hild's excellent book "Geology of Newfoundland" supplied all the information I needed to find the outcrop.  Prior to leaving home I entered the GPS coordinates supplied in the book enabling us to walk right to the outcrop.  Scattered cobbles could be seen in the cliff.

The rocks on top of the outcrop are heavily weathered but the same rounded cobbles are inbedded in the finer grained matrix.

Yes they are just rocks but knowing something about their history adds substance to their legacy.  Imagine, we were walking on rocks some 580 million years old, laid down when all or most of the Earth was in the grips of a global ice age.  Mind boggling, at least for me.

Satisfied we were in the right spot we explored further looking for a distinctive layer of rock known as a "cap carbonate".  The rocks are indicative of the end of glaciation when elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rained out as carbonic acid, leached out large quantities of calcium into the oceans which in turn precipitated out as carbonate sedimentary rocks.

After our geological explorations we got back in the kayaks and paddled up to Salmon Cove Point.  Along the way sea urchins clung to the rocks, as well as a small starfish.

We probed this cave.  Neville and Dean were in the entrance as I made my way back out.  I could see light at the far end of the cave but it proved to be impassable and therefore, a dead end.

The draw at Salmon Cove Point is this cleft in the rocks.  We paddled back and forth through the cleft waiting to catch the larger swells that rolled through.

Half a dozen trips through, we turned for a return to the take-out under Butterpot Mountain in the distance.

It was a large day.  For me it was more than a paddle along a shore.  It was about a reference point relative to how I fit into the grand scheme of things and the long, long, long evolutionary road that led to today.