THE ART OF NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY --- FOSSILS
By: Fely Sorensen

The art of photography is more than a visual art in a sense that taking images of our nature world is an internal appreciation of balance, harmony and beauty. The beauty of nature reflected in art is just another reminder of our need to protect it. Being outdoors can lift our spirits and stoke our creativity.

For centuries, the tides of the Bay of Fundy eroding the fossils along the shore near the town of Joggins, Nova Scotia.  The cliffs are the best known record from Earth's "Coal Age" when lust forest covered the region.  According to the Joggins official website, at Joggins Coal Age trees stand where they grew, the footprints of creatures are frozen where they once walked.

The exposed layers of rock reveal the world's most complete fossil record of life in the "Coal Age"  when lush forests covered Joggins and much of the world's tropics 300 million years ago.  The swamped forests produced massive quantities of organic matter that over million years, created the coal deposits for which this period of history is named.  Joggins Fossil Cliffs was once a swamped and  as seen in the picture above looks like today and it is the 15th UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The daily high tide erodes the cliff, the stone fossils fall out of the coal and are left on the shore when the tide recedes. Fossils have also been found in the area deep shaft mines and in drilling core samples hundreds of feet down. Joggins is one of the easiest places in the world to find early Pennsylvanian coal fossils.

The famous Fundy tides have exposed layers and layers of fossil-bearing sediments including impressive fossilized tree trunks.

Just by walking the beach at Joggins, you may find numerous examples of wonderfully preserved fossilized plants, reptile and amphibian foot prints,  if you are very lucky remains of these remarkable creatures that once inhabited the Coal Age forest of Joggins. 

Fossils are art of nature in general sense that:  they are impressions of a prehistoric organisms preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock. They are indeed precious gift from the geologic past and that's the beauty and art of nature worth capturing at any  time possible.

With careful observation and interpretation, you may find your own missing piece of time's puzzle.  As you explore the beach of Joggins, remember that every rock holds the possibility of discovery.

 At Joggins Fossil Cliffs, visitors love wandering and looking fossils but not allowed to take home as keepsakes but take a picture or pictures of your discovery.  These treasures have to remain in the site to others for study and research.

Petrified forests are rather common in the West and are often made up of a wide variety of trees.  The trees in this area are ancient pines that grew here about during the great Age of Reptiles, about 150 million years ago.

Petrified Log In The Valley Of Fire

Petrified wood is wood that has laid outside long enough to become a fossil. All the organic things have been removed by sun, wind, water, and time, and have been completely replaced with minerals.  Logs and stumps washed into Valley of Fire about 225 million years ago and are visible in two locations.  The logs are several colorful tree trunks lying close to the road, safely fenced off for all to enjoy.




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THE ART OF NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY --- ROCK FORMATIONS
By: Fely Sorensen

The art of photography is more than a visual art in a sense that taking images of our nature world is an internal appreciation of balance, harmony and beauty. The beauty of nature reflected in art is just another reminder of our need to protect it. Being outdoors can lift our spirits and stoke our creativity.


ROCK FORMATIONS

The art of nature are those things that have not altered by human intervention.  Nature refer to the realm of various types of living plants and animals and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects -- the way that particular types of things exist and change to their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the earth, matter and energy of which all of these things are composed. 

The tidal action of the Bay of Fundy has sculptured the rock formations into intriguing shapes.  Advancing and retreating tides and the associated waves have eroded the base of rocks at a faster rate than the tops, resulting in their unusual shapes and forms. 

Bay of Fundy, Hopewell Rock

Over hundreds of million years ago through the millennia as the earth's crust twisted and tilted the rock layer broke into blocks creating fissures. Rain and ice whittled away at fissures separating the cliffs into chunks of rock.

Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick

At low tide the viewers can explore the ocean floor to appreciate more closely the natural elements of the environment and an awesome opportunity for photography.

Walk on the ocean floor in the shadows of the majestic flower-pot rocks, unique formations carved by erosion over thousands of years.

Bay of Fundy, Hopewell Rock

These amazing red rock formation images  are at the Valley of Fire State Park, are just different and uniquely shaped.  They can be viewed throughout the park.

The Valley of Fire is a site of  red rock formations and sand stones. These rock formations have formed over many millennia by strong winds and rain slowly washing away the materials holding the sand grains together. 

The rocks weakened over time, allowing  the shapes that we see today and they could slowly disappear.  
 

Valley of Fire, Nevada

Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire, Nevada

Valley of Fire, Nevada

 At Red Rock Canyon, the gray carbonate rocks of the ancient ocean have been thrust over the tan and red sandstone in one of the most dramatic and easily identified thrust faults to be found.
The movement of this fault forced the older gray sedimentary rock over the younger red rocks, forming the varicolored landscape that can be seen in the mountain today. A thrust fault is a fracture in the earth's crust where one rock plate is thrust horizontally over another.

Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas

The Grand Canyon ,nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.  The Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs, simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon.

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Include isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrops.  These formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock.

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

The unique landscape of Peggy's Cove and surrounding areas was subsequently carved by the migration of glaciers and the ocean tides.

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

 Along with the ebb and flow of the glaciers, the ice ridge eventually melted and shifted and in the process scooped away and scoured large sections of rocks.

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

 As melted land glaciers flowed back to the oceans the changing tidal flows and rising sea levels filled the scarred areas with water, forming coves and inlets.  The movement of the glacial ice and rocks left scouring marks in the bedrock that are still visible.

Canyon Saint Anne, Quebec

Canyon Saint Anne is a spectacular, steeped sided gorge and all started  billion years ago when hard rock formed the canyon's walls and bottom.  This metamorphic rock was formed at a high pressure in the extremely hot depth of earth then rose to the surface through movements in the earth's crust.


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