The Hopewell Rocks

The famous “flower pots” of the Hopewell Rocks are a natural treasure of Canada. Located in the Province of New Brunswick, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, visitors can easily see how the erosion of the tides has worn away the sandstone and conglomerate bases of these sea stacks, creating slender columns supporting blocky-looking masses of rock. Trees and other vegetation sprout from the tops of many of these, making the rocks appear as giant potted gardens.

The history of the sediments present here goes back to over 600 million years ago when a colossal mountain range known as the Caledonia Mountains had formed in the region due to the collision of what are now the European and North American Plates. Though the mountain range stood higher than today’s Rocky Mountains, there were no eyes to view the lofty crags. The earth was in the Ediacaran Period, which lasted from 635-542 million years ago, and life had only just begun evolving complex multicellular organisms. Imagine that this grand mountain scenery was devoid of green vegetation and consisted solely of rock, snow, ice, and meltwater streams and rivers. As the mountains were eroded, sediments accumulated in the valleys. Further tectonic movement uplifted and tilted the sedimentary layers, causing them to fissure and split into blocks.

In the more recent geologic past, the glaciation periods of the ice age covered the region in glaciers that carved out a valley leading to the sea. When the last of the ice sheet retreated about 13,000 years ago, sea levels rose and flooded the valley, leaving us with the Bay of Fundy, famous for having the highest tides in the world. Rainwater and ice have worked through the fissures, widening the cracks in the ancient sedimentary layers.

I enjoyed a stroll between the towers of rocks at low tide in September of 2005. Many otherwise interesting landscape shots were spoiled by the yellow signs warning visitors to stay out of dangerous areas where unstable rocks might fall loose. I found most of my best photographs were of detailed sections of the ancient sedimentary rocks.