Don't Steal the Nautiloid Cephalopods!

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Okay, so that's a melodramatic title.  But it summarizes the message conveyed by the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador in connection with the Table Point Ecological Reserve, which is about a 45 minute drive south of where we are camped in Port au Choix. 

The Reserve protects fossils and rocks that document changes to the continental shelf of the ancient Iapetus Ocean, which disappeared in the formation of the ancient supercontinent Pangea just as the ancient Appalachian Mountains started to form in what is now Newfoundland.  At the time, this area lay along the Earth's equator and was populated with tropical flora and fauna.  One of these was the nautiloid cephalopod, a fossil of which is pictured below in a stock photo we found on the Internet:

The unique limestone layers at Table Point were laid down during the Ordovician Period as shellfish died, and occasionally a specimen or its shadow impression was preserved whole in the limestone.  The nautiloid cephalopod fossils are so spectacular that fossil hunters combed this area and dug up the fossil beds to find it.  Apparently, one was found and taken.  This breach of archaeological etiquette resulted in the formation of the Reserve to protect what fossils remain.

The Reserve is not signed; you have to know where it is and find a nearby place to park off the highway.  What used to be a gravel road entering the Reserve from the highway has now been cut off by drainage work along the highway, so there is no vehicular access to the Reserve.  We found a bland white sign marking the road and decided it would make an appropriate trailhead sign for our outing:

This region of Newfoundland has an alpine tundra character.  The ground is so stony, with so little topsoil, that it is difficult for vegetation to take hold.  Those plants that do get a foothold get right to work in Spring with displays of colorful flowers to attract what pollinators can survive here:

The landscape has an alien -- almost lunar -- character, where the color of plants comes as something of a surprise:

The rock layer characteristic of Table Point is limestone laid down in the old Iapetus Ocean.  We were luck to find a rock that shows the layering of limestone from the shells of ancient shellfish:

The Reserve is protected for work by geologists.  We could see the sites where amateur fossil-hunters had dug the ground in search of trilobytes and such, but the geologists were much more circumspect in their work.  The only evidence of scholarly research was this one decaying sign that was somehow left behind, its number denoting a location for some research specimens:

Again, traditional plants always come as a surprise in this environment:

As we walked out to the point, where the limestone layers are most evident, we got a glimpse of the rocky beach below:

We found no fossils ourselves, but we did spot one piece of limestone with the track of some ancient sea worm.  We left it where we found it, for scientific purity, and to honor "leave no trace" -- and, oh by the way, to avoid criminal penalties.

Did we tell you how bright the few plants burst into color in the Spring?

We satisfied our geological and archaeological curiosity and drove on to our next stop, which was Arches Provincial Park.  It preserves conglomerate stone that, after the last Ice Age, was eroded by intruding sea water into arches.  Now, the beach on which the arches rest is littered with rounded stones that appear to have been smoothed by some large ancient river flowing down to the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the nearby Long Range Mountains or their ancestor Appalachians.

Of course, we had to get up close and personal with the Arches:

The beach is vast and filled with large rounded stones that are difficult to traverse by foot because they roll under your step:

Some prior visitor had formed a group of round stones into a heart, and Kathy jumped into the spirit of the moment to share the love:

But this was not our last stop!

We paused for lunch at Bennett's Lodge, in Daniel's Harbour, which, to our good fortune, just opened today to inaugurate its season.  Our fare was basic Newfie, although, interestingly, without seafood.  Plenty of potatoes.  Kathy had very good roast turkey, and David had a hamburger with a special secret recipe for the ground meat that he found particularly tasty; the owner would not reveal the recipe.

After lunch, we sought out a beach to do some beachcombing -- particularly to look for sea glass.  We decided to try our luck at Bellburns, where Bound Brook flows into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  It looked like an appropriately gravelly beach for sea glass searching:

The day was sunny and not so windy, so the scenery was dramatic and beautiful:

We parked on a cliff above the beach and, seeking a way down, followed a raised gravel path along the cliff, hoping that it would lead us to the shoreline.

We were not disappointed.  The Newfies love their staircases on trails, and that proved true again on this walk.  The beach beckoned to us from below:

As it turned out, while the beach was littered with many larger, round stones, there was enough gravel and small stones to make our search for sea glass worth the effort.  Kathy found several beauties, including some unique blue and yellow pieces.

David was after other quarry.  Bound Brook is very lively as it burbles down into the Gulf:

The day was so beautiful that we knew Ruby the Adventure Cat would want some time outside, so we hastened back to Port au Choix to open up the RV and let her out on her first adventure in our 3-day stay.  The wind and cold has been pretty fierce and she hates being out in it.

Sure enough, she loved her outing in the warm afternoon sun with only a light breeze ruffling her fur.