Coastal Sedimentation at Lawrencetown Beach Eastern Shore, Nova Scotia

Abstract

The Lawrencetown beach ridge plain is located approximately 25 kilometres northeast of Halifax, along the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. It consists of two beach ridge complexes, one sub-parallel and the other sub-perpendicular to the present coastline. The formation of beach ridges began approximately 700 years B.P. Their presence is the result of marine reworking of sediments derived from drumlins during transgression. Their configuration is related to a drumlin, now a submerged boulder retreat shoal located between Lawrencetown Head and Half Island Point. The process of beach ridge formation is discussed and put into the context of an evolutionary model, which is concerned with the development of coastal sedimentation along the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.