Hopewell Rocks Geology

The reddish cliffs at the Hopewell Rocks were first formed millions of years ago as a massive mountain range - older than the Appalachians and larger than the Canadian Rockies - slowly eroded. Mud, pebbles and rock washed down the mountains into the valley. Over time, these deep layers of sediment compressed into solid rock, forming the basis for the flowerpot formations.

Through the millennia, as the earth's crust twisted and tilted, the rock layer broke into blocks, creating vertical fissures. Rain and ice whittled away at these fissures, separating the cliffs into chunks of rocks. The last ice glacier retreated about 13,000 years ago.

This area was once a dry rift valley, but after the Ice Age, the valley filled with water, creating the Bay of Fundy. While rain and ice continue to erode from the top, the daily tidal action wears away at the bases of the cliffs and rock formations. One can clearly see how high the tides rise by looking at the narrow curved bases of the formations.

Today, visitors clambering over and between clusters of rounded mounds cloaked in rockweed may not realize that these are the remains of age-old formations, toppled by the tide, and slowly disintegrating as the Bay of Fundy tides continue to sculpt the flowerpots of the future and erase those of the past.

Read more…