EclectEcon

During our recent trip to The Maritimes, Ms. Eclectic, The Interpreter, and I visited The Hopewell Rocks, an amazing geological site along the western edge and near the top of the Bay of Fundy.

The rocks are red sandstone aggregates, but the tides in this part of the Bay of Fundy are among the highest tides in the world (sometimes greater than 40 feet!), and the movement of the tides has eroded portions of the rocks to leave wonderful, awe-inspiring rocks along the coast and shore.

We went to the rocks one morning at low tide so we could walk along the shore among the rocks. Here is a famous one, the Lovers' Arch (as usual, click on a photo to see it larger and in better resolution):


And here are some others. The one on the left made me think of those tubes of Pillsbury biscuits that you can (could? I haven't had them for years) buy from the refrigerator case at the grocery store; each "biscuit" is about twice the height of a normal adult. The one of the right reminded me, depending on the angle from which I viewed it, of an old iron or (more majestically) of a Phoenix rising from the earth.











Here is a close-up of the rock type that is in these formations:


It looks as if the bits of granite should be easily dislodged from the red sandstone, but that material is very hard and erodes only slowly, over a long time. The rocks stretch for about two kilometres along the shore, but these are among the better known formations.

That afternoon, we returned to Hopewell Rocks to view the rocks at high tide. Here is the Lovers' Arch (from up on a cliff) at high tide:



The tidal swing was only about 35 feet that day, but look at the contrast between the first photo and this one. Simply amazing!

[h/t to Gail and to The Interpreter for suggesting we visit this place. More acknowledgements to follow.]