Back in Black EarthCache
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Welcome to Saint John's beaches.... with glimmering ... black sand?!?!?!?
This Earthcache will take you to one of the few places in the world with a black sand beach. Some of the other ones include Vik, Iceland; Shelter Cove, Marin County and Redwood Park, California; Auckland, New Zealand; Tortuguero, Costa Rica; Piha, Australia; Santorini Island, Greece; Rafah, Egypt; Windward, St. Vincent Island; St. Mary, Jamaica; Tahiti and Grenada to name a few (thanks to Doc Livingstone for the list)
Black Sand in general is formed from the eroding of various deposits of igneous iron-rich minerals, which are generally heavier than normal sand. This weight enables it to remain in place when high-energy waves wash the lighter sand grains out into the surf zone.
Black sand is black due to the natural color that many of these minerals have. In the case here at Black Beach, many factors combined to create this natural occurrence. There is igneous rock all along the Fundy coastline, however the combination of the right cove structure, allowed for the accumulation of the black sands in this one spot.
One of the primary minerals at Black Beach is Magnetite, a ferromagnetic mineral that is the most magnetic of all the naturally occurring minerals on Earth. So with this in mind,
1) Bring a magnet, Take a picture of yourself testing the sand for magnetite content and post it online, describe in an email to me roughly what percentage of the sand is magnetite based on how much of the sand content sticks to the magnet
2) Take a picture of yourself with GPS in hand on the black beaches and post it.
Both pictures need to be posted or I reserve the right to delete the find...
Additional Hints
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