Ancient Ocean Floor EarthCache
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Sitting high up in the foothills of Maine, you can find this remnant of an ancient sea floor right next to the road. Make sure you pull right off the road and, as always, be safe!
Around 400 million years ago, this site was part of the ocean flloor between what we now call North America and another ancient continet geologits called Avalon. Through the amazing process of Plate Tectonics, those continents moved and collided, squashing up the ocean floor and changing (metamorphosing) the sediments into metamorphic rocks. Evidence of this can be found in many places in Maine....but here is a pience of the ancient ocean floor in which we can see many thin layers.
This one boulder (about the size of a two-seater lounge chair) was once part of the bedrock, but was broken away and moved when they built the road here ....it is NOT strange bounder brought here by the glaciers in the last ice age. You can actually walk up the road 20 yards or so and find where it was once attached.
Have a close look at the rock and answer the following questions:
1. The layers in this rock were once flat laying. How would you describe the layers now?
2. What weathering feature makes it easier to see the different types of layers?
3. Can you count the number of layers in the rock? How many do you think there are?
We would love you to take a photo of yourself at the site....this is optional, and try not to show the entire rock in the picture.
A wonderful way to find out more about the Geology of Maine is to visit the website of the Geological Society of Maine (http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/index.htm)
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