“For a plant, living here is like growing in a polluted junkyard! Serpentine soil is full of toxic metals and it contains almost no nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous or potassium…”
This surreal valley is comprised of a huge chunk of Earth’s mantle thrust up to the surface half a billion years ago. This is the only spot on the planet where you can see material from the Mantle. The stream is formed from snowmelt last winter.
The rock I’m holding shows how the outer surface oxidizes into a reddish gold color while the interior black is the original serpentine mineral composition. This 500 million year old rock is as heavy as a piece of iron!
We were surprised at first to find lush vegetation along the trail, like these Harebell flowers, but we learned that the Park had trucked in tons of soil to make the trail itself. Other plants, like the carnivorous Purple Pitcher plant, have adapted to the environment and show up in abundance in every boggy wash.
I keep wanting to go to Newfoundland being not to far away in Nova Scotia, I know someone who has the only property in Gros Morne park, he has invited us a couple of times to come and stay with them, not managed it yet so far.
Thanks for sharing! Looks awesome and I love this stuff it’s so interesting to me, never seen “the mantle” or pieces so I’d love that too, hope you have an absolute blast!
A most excellent thread! Nice pictures and solid information on a subject I know virtually nothing about (so I got to learn something!). Thank you very much, @GrouchyOldMan, for sharing this with us!
Thanks @Calix, we’re going to take the Western Brook trip on our way back from the Viking center and a stopover in Labrador! We saw the entrance on our way east today, it looks astounding!
