Toxic Tablelands and High Above Trout River

Thursday, August 6, 2013

We had a short drive to the Tablelands parking lot, but we didn't want to be late. When we arrived a camera crew was filming an attractive young female naturalist, who later lead a large group of French speakers on a tour. Every day at 10 AM during the summer a park naturalist leads a two hour hike into the Tablelands to study the geology, plants and animals. Imagine our surprise when the naturalist to show up was Kris that we met at Green Point, who used Greg's Pennsylvania geology tee shirt map for a reference.

Kris, our geologist guide

Parks film crew

It was a warm day without much wind. Normally it howls through the valley there. The heat chased away the caribou who are normally seen there, so once again we missed Newfoundland caribou. We had a large group that showed up for the tour, and Kris proved to be an excellent narrator, even intriguing the kids as she animatedly discuss the geology, and used them to illustrate continents colliding. We made several stops as we hiked up the valley to look at geology and discuss the plant life. The Tablelands contain extremely toxic rock, so little can grow there. Visually they resemble the American Southwest, except for the streams and waterfalls cascading down the rocky hillsides.

U-Shaped Valley with lateral moraines of glacial debris at the base of the cliffs

Isolated bogs, a few feet across, host typical bog plants like carnivorous Butterwort and Sundew. These were tiny, photographed with macro.

The old road out of Trout River

Some plants thrived on toxic metals, like Canadian Wormwood

and Moss Campion

Three leafed Dog Tooth Cinquefoil

Caribou Lichen

Pitcher plant

All evidence of plate tectonics in one photo - Deep Mantle Peridotite (barren) in the foreground, African Plate sediments on the left, Gros Morne Mountain in the middle background (shallow ocean sandstone) and the Long Range in the distant background (Canadian Shield basement rock)

Greg's commentary on the Tablelands- Before the mid-1960's, many academic geologists refused to even look at the Tablelands because they had no way to explain how such an odd assemblage of rocks came to be placed together. Those working to develop the theory of plate tectonics found that the only explanation that worked for the Tablelands was the collision and later separation of the continents of North America and Europe/Africa. The Tablelands consists of deep mantle rock, called peridotite (a dense, fine-grained rock that weathers bright orange due to high iron content), that stuck to the bottom of the African plate and was pushed up and over the edge of the North American plate and left stranded. As a result, we have a very rare chunk of deep mantle rock next to African tropical ocean sedimentary rocks, next to ocean crustal basalts (lava flows), on top of North American continental rocks. The rocks were exposed and shaped by recent glaciers, but the high levels of toxic nickel, aluminum, chromium, and cadmium keep thick vegetation from covering the peridotite. Just across the valley (maybe 1/2-mile) the slopes and ridges of African sandstones, shales, and limestones are covered by balsam fir and black spruce. The Tablelands are protected as part of Gros Morne National Park, which was established due to the area's beauty, otherwise they may have been mined for iron and rare metals. In the late 1990's, UNESCO named the Tablelands as its first World Heritage Site for scientific reasons. This location has the most complete evidence for plate tectonics at one site in the whole world.

Toxic peridotite barrens on the left. Well wooded sedimentary rocks, from the African plate, on the right

Peridotite partly metamorphosed into serpentinite with recrystallization borders

Juniper that tolerates the toxic rock but does not thrive

Looking up into the glacial cirque

After our hike we talked with Kris. She grew up in Washington, DC and attended Rockville High School. When she was 17 her family moved to Canada, so that her father could do graduate work at McGill University. She attended there too, and stayed in Canada. She and her husband, who is a Newfoundlander with fishing roots live in a small village nearby. How fortunate she is to live and work in a place with such amazing beauty and geology!



We went into Trout River to eat lunch at the Seaside Restaurant that comes recommended by The New York Times, Frommer's, Best Places to Eat in Canada, etc., etc....It has a great view of the beach especially from the second floor table we were given. Again, slim pickings if you don't eat fish or seafood. I got a chef's salad and Greg had chowder and a fish sandwich (Not fish and chips – but pretty close). He tried the Quidi Vidi Iceberg, the beer they make from iceberg water. A novelty, but nothing exciting. Note from Greg – a girly beer, not enough hops and too much iceberg!

Knitted socks and mittens hung out for sale

Drying cod

Completely different from fish and chips

Partridgeberry Pie

We had wanted to hike the Green Gardens Trail over the headlands to the beach, but 9-15.5 km depending on which way you hike, Greg could have done it, but me? Not so much... We had already done a good hike in the morning. We spotted a trail with steps running up the side of the cliff at the north end of the beach, so we decided to explore that. It was a steep climb up and the wooden logs for steps were beginning to rot away. At the top we found fenced pastures, but no livestock. Kris had told us when she started coming here in the 1990's people were still fencing their yards to keep the cows, sheep and horses out! They still turn them lose in the summer to live wild on the pastures around the towns. In the Fall they start coming back to town on their own. They have all grown to know their owner's voice, so they search around town until they are called. She said it can be odd to come into a town in the Fall and see all the livestock wandering the streets!

Town museum

We followed the trail out to the headland and then along it. This area was volcanic in the past and the basalt rock has eroded into interesting shapes and sea stacks along the beach. We took a turn into the trees and found our way back to the trail down the side of the cliff. We walked along the beach back to the rig. A short detour on the way back to the campground took us to the day use beach along Trout Brook Pond, where Kris had recommended a swim to the group and we saw a few of them there. Greg decided 65 degree water was still too cold for him, (wimpy Nantucketer!), so we headed back to the campground for our 5 second hot showers. They were push button showers and I timed it at 5 seconds a push! Felt good, even though it took a lot of pushing to get clean!

This was the shoreline 12,000 years ago, now 100 feet higher

Cliffs of basalt, volcanic rock

Tiger striped basalt

Runway Model for Sierra Trading Post!

Its that way!

I smell fish and chips!

Friday the forecast was rain, so we decided to travel south again on the Trans-Canada Highway to Corner Brook and out the peninsula to Blow Me Down Provincial Park.

Trout River Pond