Hopewell Rocks

The Hopewell Rocks, on the shore of the Bay of Fundy near Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick, are a series of sedimentary rock formations popularly called flowerpot rocks, sculpted from soft conglomerate and sandstone deposited some 350 million years ago and left standing as isolated pillars, some reaching 15 meters, capped with vegetation that gives them their flowerpot-like appearance. Their unusual shape results from the extreme tidal range of the Bay of Fundy, among the highest in the world, at up to 16 meters, which floods and drains the shoreline twice daily; the relentless rise and fall of tidal water combined with wave action and freeze-thaw weathering has eroded a narrower base into the rock while a resistant, tree-rooted caprock at the top erodes more slowly, leaving the characteristic mushroom-shaped pillars. At low tide visitors can walk on the ocean floor among the formations, while at high tide the same pillars stand partly submerged, directly illustrating the tidal process that shapes them.