Reading Room 5: List of Maps Outlining the Route, Elevation, Physiography, Bedrock, Glacial and Surficial Geology of Nova Scotia

Route map of Nova Scotia with stop locations

Route map of Nova Scotia with place names and stop locations.

Regional bedrock geology of Maritime Canada

Generalized bedrock geology of the Maritime Provinces, featuring the upland sources of erratics found throughout Nova Scotia. The pink are areas of granititic rocks

Digital elevation model

Digital elevation model (DEM) image derived from 1:50,000 contours provided by the Nova Scotia Geomatics Centre. DEM image construction by Tim Webster, David Colville and Don Raymond, Nova Scotia Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS), part of the Nova Scotia Community College network.

Physiographic Subdivisions

Physiographic subdivisions from Goldthwait (1924)

Map of glacial retreat deposits

Map of glacial retreat deposits, which include waterlain deposits formed by glacial meltwater streams and debris flow deposits from the ice. These often mark glacier margins. You can download the complete geological map and legends from here. A cartoon describing the glacier processes that form these deposits can be accessed here

Map of glacial advance deposits (Stony Till Plain)

Map of stony till plain deposits, which cover upland areas of the province and regions underlain by hard Pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic rocks. These tills formed under the local ice caps that were prevalent in Nova Scotia during the ice age and are characterized by a loose texture, sandy matrix, and abundant, locally derived, angular stones and boulders. Click here for a picture of these deposits.

Map of glacial advance deposits (Silty Till Plain)

Map of silty till plain deposits, which cover large areas of the lowland regions of Nova Scotia. These tills are characterized by a reddish colour and a fine-grained silty clay matrix. Click here for a look at these deposits.

Map of glacial advance deposits (drumlins)

Drumlins are streamlined elongate hills that are oriented parallel to the flow of the glacier that formed them. They are found by the thousands in clusters called drumlin "fields" which form a unique landform type. They are made up of a reddish silty till. Click here for an aerial view of a drumlin field.

Map of bedrock areas

A map of the bedrock and residuum areas of the province. These areas are characterized by bedrock outcrop at or near the surface. Residuum is bedrock that has been mechanically and chemically altered to become soft and unconsolidated. Click here for a typical example of bedrock country.