Boulder Bank - Jacob S

Whoosh! Crash! Grind!

Boy, isn’t it lucky that Nelson City has the Boulder Bank. “What?” I hear you ask,
“It’s just a pile of rocks”. Maybe to you, but let’s take a closer look…

The Boulder Bank is a natural formation made of granodiorite boulders originally

from McKay Bluff, but have travelled up to 13 km from home to form the Boulder
Bank.

Rocks fall from McKay Bluff due to the various agents of erosion: wind, waves, rain,
and disturbance by goats all washing, blowing, or digging the dirt away.

“What, all those stones just rolled 13 km along the coast?” Oh, silly me, I forgot to
tell you about long shore drift—a near-shore process that occurs when the
prevailing wind, or the common direction of wind (don’t you hate it when those
scientists think up big words to sound smart), creates waves that move material
along the shore face, so that when stones fall from McKay Bluff, they move
southwest to form the start of the Boulder Bank. Gravity and backwash then pull
the boulders back down the shore face, which are then pushed along the coast by
the prevailing waves. Of course, rocks continue to fall from McKay Bluff, causing
the Boulder Bank to increase in length.
So…a resource that protects the entire Nelson coastline and is even home to a few
batches and a lighthouse—more than just a pile of rocks I’d say!

By Jacob