The King of Tides: Collecting Minerals in the Bay of Fundy Area with Ray McDougall
Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy has been famous among mineral collectors for a long time. The shoreline and island occurrences are among the earliest of Canadian mineral localities, and have been producing superb specimens of many mineral species since the mid-19th century. Fine mineral specimens are found in the northeastern area of the Bay of Fundy, including particularly the Minas Basin. From Cape D’Or on the north shoreline, to the Morden area on the south shore, the linear length of shoreline to travel to the various mineral occurrences is over 400 km.
The Bay of Fundy is known for the highest tides in the world, with a difference of over 50 ft. from low to high tide. These daily surges of huge volumes of water scour the cliff bases of the shorelines and the islands. Together with the annual destruction caused by freeze-thaw, the phenomenal tides cause significant erosion and change, constantly exposing mineralized areas.
Several minerals occur in world-class specimens from the Bay of Fundy localities: analcime, chabazite and gmelinite are the classics. Excellent specimens of natrolite, native copper and thomsonite are also found. Even certain more common minerals, known in spectacular specimens from other world localities, occur in rather unique specimens from the Bay of Fundy. For example, stilbite colours range into distinctive and beautiful golden yellow and orange hues. The type locality for mordenite is Morden, Nova Scotia, on the south shore of the Bay of Fundy.
This presentation focuses on five classic localities: (1) Wasson’s Bluff; (2) Blomidon Peninsula/Amethyst Cove; (3) Cape D’Or; (4) Two Islands and (5)Five Islands. The emphasis is on the beautiful minerals from this region, highlighting specimens that have been collected over the last 25 years, and with insights into the nature of the collecting, localities and the scenery along Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy.
About Our Speaker:
Raymond McDougall was born in Montreal, grew up in Toronto, and studied mineralogy and geology while completing a B.A. at McGill University in 1992. He went on to become a corporate/securities lawyer in Toronto for 18 years, where he was an internationally-known partner of the firm Stikeman, Elliott LLP, working with clients in the Canadian mining industry. He retired from law in 2013 to become a full-time mineral dealer (McDougall Minerals – www.mcdougallminerals.com ). His website includes articles and reports, including an annual report about this Symposium.
Ray has been an avid mineral collector since childhood and has enjoyed field collecting across Canada and around the world. Living in the woods near Bancroft Ontario, he burrows in holes in the woods and travels internationally, all in pursuit of fine mineral specimens – and he spends a lot of time in a dark room taking mineral photographs.
The November Meeting will be held at the Knox United Church on Wednesday beginning at 8:00 pm November 1st ( See details below).
Directions to our Meetings
- Where:Knox United Church Hall
2569 Midland Avenue
Toronto (Scarborough) M1S 1R3
north-east corner of Midland and Sheppard Avenue
- We meet in the Church Hall which is the building north of Knox United Church.
- To get to the Hall: When driving north on Midland just past Sheppard, you will pass the church which is on the corner. Then keep you eye out for a small laneway that runs south of the Hall. This leads to the parking lot behind (east) of the Hall.
If you miss the laneway, keep going till you hit a small street on your right (east) called Rural Ave. Turn right (east) and look for a driveway into the Church Hall parking lot. - The door to the Hall is visible from the parking lot. The door is propped open for the meetings. Come in the door & walk up a half a flight of stair into the hall.