Three Cool Things (Tablelands Edition)

There are, of course, way more than three cool things about the Tablelands. But I'll start with three. 

Larch and Juniper

larch

juniper

Okay, these are technically two things but together, they tell such a fascinating story! These trees are really very old--the larch in the photo could be as much as 200 years! The junipers can live up to 300! These conifers represent an incredible story of adaptation and resilience. There aren't many nutrients in the soil on the Tablelands. The winds are strong here and the winter weather is forbidding. In his book, Gros Morne National Park: The Most Beautiful Place, Michael Burzynski states: "Plants are exposed to the drying wind and sun, to cold, and to abrasion by wind-borne ice and sand particles. Branches and buds that poke through the meagre snow cover are quickly pruned back." This gives these trees their unusual form. And yet these plants survive and even thrive. 

Pitcher Plant

I've been waiting for a chance to tell you about the pitcher plant. When I first arrived in Gros Morne, I saw a lot of these, their heads nodding shyly away from the trails. I knew they were pitcher plants but I didn't really know much about them.

These are carnivorous plants! This means that they live off of the nutrients of insects, spiders, snails, etc.--anything that has the misfortune of wandering into the liquid that is stored in their leaves. They do not eat these organisms outright. When they get trapped in the liquid, they drown and other organisms break them down. When they are broken down enough, they are absorbed into the plant, providing much-needed nutrients.

Serpentinite

There is a lot of rock on the Tablelands. The orange mountains are peridotite (usually found in the oceanic crust) that have oxidized. Serpentinite is the same rock but it has metamorphosed. To read about the rock cycle, which includes metamorphosis, click this link. What I love about serpentinite is its surface, which resembles snake skin. Thus the name.

And yes, peridotite is where peridot comes from--my birthstone!