Rocks from the northern tip of Cape Breton Island are roughly one point four billion years old. Rocks in other areas of Cape Breton Island are between 750 million to 1 billion years old. These rocks were formed in volcanically active islands, which eventually combined to become Cape Breton Island.

Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia started to be originally formed in parts of northern Europe during the Cambrian and Ordovician periods. Rocks created during this time form northern Nova Scotia from Cape D’or to Canso and are delineated by the Cobequid-Chedabucto fault created by a collision between Avalonia and Meguma during the Acadian Orogeny. Fossils from the shallow seas of this time can be found in the Arisaig area and along the Northumberland shore.

 

 

This part of Nova Scotia was created as part of a continental shelf and turbidities (underwater landslides) of Meguma. This part of Nova Scotia was originally formed in what is the modern day continent of Africa.  The Meguma terrane in places was made up of very dense deposits of accumulated sediments. During the continental collision (the Silurian age) between Avalonia & Meguma, the region was heavily deformed into immense geological folds roughly 380 million years ago through processes of melting and fracturing. These folds run southwest to northeast and are referred to this as the South Mountain batholith. The granite rocks which run from Musquodobit to Yarmouth are outcrop examples of this time. These can be found in  Blue Rocks, Point Pleasant Park in Halifax and throughout the Yarmouth area.  During the collision massive mountains were created, remnants of which form part of today’s Appalachian mountain range. Through geological processes of uplift and erosion, much of the rock was eroded during a period lasting roughly10 million years.

During the start of the Carboniferous period, Nova Scotia had a climate much like middle east gulf states, creating and repeatedly evaporating an inland sea.  Evidence of this period can be found in evaporites in the areas Windsor, Truro and Pugwash with it’s salt mine as well as area gypsum and limestone deposits. The later part of the Carboniferous period was much wetter with dense coverings of plants & trees.  Extensive fossilized forests from Joggins area on the Bay of Fundy are evident. There is a provincial museum located in the town to explore this period of time.  

During the Permian period, Nova Scotia was located in Pangea near the equator. A time when massive periods of erosion formed red sands/ clays deposits, which can be found in the Northumberland Strait area.

Continuing into the Triassic period the province was covered with desert sand dunes, the remnants of which can be seen at the sand cliffs near Blomidon. During the later Triassic, the super continent Pangea  began to split apart. The Bay of Fundy  is one of the modern day features of this colossal movement in plate tectonics. The large basalt lava flows found in the  Bay of Fundy around North Mountain and Five Islands are remnants of this time.  

Much of present day Nova Scotia during in the Jurassic was found on the shores of the newly created Atlantic ocean basin.  Sedimentation from this time also contributed to the oil & gas deposits found offshore today.

From the Jurassic onwards, most of the geology of Nova Scotia moved offshore with the sedimentation into the newly formed Atlantic Ocean basin. This is where oil and gas was originally formed by dead/decaying animal life on the shores of the new ocean.

Repeated periods of glaciations beginning approximately 100000 years ago haved repeatedly scraped clean much of the provinces geological record. The last of these ending around 13000 years ago. Grinding striations evidence of miles high glaciers can be found in rocks all over the province.  Thick deposits of glacial till/dumlins can be seen all along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia.  An example of this evidence can be seen in Halifax’s Citadel Hill.  

Amphibolite Anhydrite Basalt Amygdaloidal Basalt Vesicular Chert Coal Conglomerate Diabase Dolomite Gabbro Gneiss Granite (Gray) Granite (Red) Granodiorite Graywacke Quartzite Hornfels Leucogranite Lignite

Limestone, Micritic Limestone, Pesolitic Marble Monzogranite Mudstone Orthoquartzite Pegmatite Peridotite Rhyolite Rhyolitic Tuff Sandstone, copper bearing Sandstone, gray (Arkose) Sandstone, hematitic Sandstone, red (Arkose) Schist, (andalusite/staurolite) Shale Slate Syenite Tonalite

Antimony Jamesonite Kermesite Stibnite Valentinite Arsenic Arsenopyrite Tennantite Beryllium Beryl Bismuth Bismuthinite Clay - Earths Kaolinite Ochre Smectite Cobalt Cobaltite Erythrite Copper Azurite Bornite Chalcocite Chalcopyrite Chrysocolla Covellite Cubanite Cuprite Digenite Malacite Tennantite Tetrahedrite Iron Ankerite Bog iron Fe-Oxide Goethite Hematite Iron Oxide Limonite Magnetite Pyrrhotite Siderite   Lead Boulangerite Cerussite Galena Pyromorphite Gold Arsenopyrite Sylvanite   Graphite Lithium Lepidolite Lithiophilite Spodumene Triphylite Magnesium Brucite Dolomite Magnesite Manganese Pyrolusite Manganite Psilomelane Braunite Hausmannite Rhodochrosite Rhondonite Spessartine Managanese Oxide Knebelite Fayalite Molybdenum Molybdenite Powellite Nickel Pentlandite Niccolite Phosphorous Apatite Fluorapatite Silver Proustite Sylvanite   Sulfur Pyrite

Tin Cassiterite Titanium Ilmenite Rutile Tungsten Hubnerite Scheelite Tungstite Wolframite Uranium & Rare Earth Autunite Bassetite Becquerelite Celestite Clarkeite Columbite Davidite Monazite Niobium  Pitchblende Schoepite Tantalite Thorite Torbernite Uraninite Zippeite Zeolites Analcime Clinoptilolite Epistilbite Heulandite Mesolite Mordenite Natrolite Scolecite Stilbite Thomsonite Zeolite Zinc Hemimorphite Hydrozincite Sphalerite Industrial Anhydrite Barite Calcite Diatomite Dolomitic Limestone Gypsum Halite Salt Selenite Wollastonite Other Agate Amethyst Andalusite Biotite Cordierite Chalcedony  Epidote Feldspar Garnet Gahnite Hornblende Jasper Quartz Marcasite Smokey Quartz Topaz Tourmaline Argentite Bitumen Chlorite Djurleite Dumortienite Durangite Fillowite Fluorite Germanite Gustavite Hessite Joseite Mawsonite Meneghinite Mercury Microlite Morinite Muscovite Pearceite Pinakiolite Platinum Polydymite Pyrophanite Reinerite Sillimanite Stannite Tapiolite Tellurides Tridymite