Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Cape Sante: Glacial Striations, Lummi Formation and Boat Watching

I had a project in Anacortes yesterday and took a side trip to Cape Sante. Cape Sante is a rocky upland northeast of downtown with a small park at its summit. At the parking lot one is greeted with a great example of glacial striations.
 
 
 
Glacial striated outcrop atop Cape Sante
 
The bedrock has a dark weather rind, but a few broken outcrops with fresh exposures are located down the slope to the south. (I didn't do it!) 


 
The bedrock is Lummi Formation. In this case a sand stone unit with a wide range of minerals suggesting it was deposited somewhat near its source material. Early workers suggested that the Lummi Formations was deposited on the Fidalgo Ophiolite (a slab of oceanic crust). However, the metamorphic minerals in the Lummi Formation suggest a different degree of metamorphism and the Lummi Formation is thought to be a different terrain than the Filddago with the terrains faulted into close proximity.
 
If you don't want to clutter your head with debates about various San Juan geologic terrains, Cape Sante is a great place for boat watching. Anacortes is a big boating center with very active marinas, boat works and fishing. And there are big boats as well as across the bay is the March Point and the oil refineries.
Pleasure boat, fishing boat and tankers. Hat Island is located in the distance

One of the Anacortes marinas as viewed from Cape Sante

Recent waterfront redevelopment at the former paper mill site
Additional new boat yards and old boat yards and marinas are located to the south and west

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