LIFESTYLES _ Builder finds ice age sheils in WV excavation gardens will softens lines i LIKE balcony and patio gardens — honest. I wouldn’t think less of you simply because you have gone a little pot- BE CAREFUL where you walk — you’re treading on history. Or even prehistory. Just a few feet under your shoes are remnaits of life from over 13,000 years ago, when most of the Lower Mainland lay beneath a layer of ice as much as 500 feet thick. By BARBARA BLACK News Reporter in West Vancouver recently, builders excavating for a founda- tion came upon sea shclls embedd- ed in blue clay at the ten foot level. But what amazed the workers was that the discovery was made ten ci- ty blocks above the present sea level. Work was suspended as the builders fingered the fossilized marvels, How on earth did they get up here? they asked themselves. According to John Clague, research scientist for the Geologi- cal Survey of Canada, these shell fossils are from old beach deposits. Similar findings have been car- bon-dated as being 11,000 to 13,000 years old. “It was a time when the Ice Age had ended and there was stil} a lot of ice in local mountains,’’ he says. Shorelines were higher because the earth’s crust was weighed down by the ice sheets. As the ice melted away, the land rebounded and the sea level drop- ped. This resulted in drastic changes to the shoreline locations, which explains the discovery of NEWS photo Terry Peters IT’S NOT pay dirt but it's interesting. Builders excavating for a founda- tion recently in West Vancouver came across an ancient beach terrace estimated (0 date back 11,000 to 13,000 years. The shells were preserved in the fine blue clay typical of ancient marine sediments. 13 ~ Friday, May 18, 1990 - North Shore News _ LIFESTYLES Baicony, patio ty. As a matter of fact, a well-done balcony or patio garden can create a nicer impression than some of your standard landscapes. The not-so-well done version can also look worse than doing nothing at all. This is rare and only seems to happen when the owners ap- parently forget why they created the garden in the first place. There are no doubt many reasons to start a container garden. None should receive higher priority than the introduction of a little softness and color into the some- times sterile regions of the townhouse patio and the apart- ment baicony. This in mind, why do we insist on paying more attention to the pots than the plants we put in them? If you must have that $300 ce- ramic urn on the balcony, make sure it has a drainage hole. If it doesn't, get a ceramic drill and put once in it; or better still, don’t use it for plants. What makes a good container for the balcony or patio garden? It must have holes in the bottom. If you think putting a couple of in- ches of rocks in the bottom are go- ing to act as a sufficient reservoir for the amount of rainfall we can normally expect, you're dreaming — California dreamin’. While we are on the subject, putting a couple of spacers (say 1°’ by 1°’ cedar) under the pots will assure you that the drainage holes will remain clear and over the garden gate Geoff Tobiasson unobstructed. Next, STAY AWAY FROM MEXICAN CLAY!! No, I am not aracist. I have just seen too many Mexican pot meltdowns. Mexican clay has a high salt content and the pots made from it area usually a dried. The first See Pots vative; less water leaches through so the shells do not dissolve. Apparently, marine fossil sites like this one are common along the North Shore and on Bowen Island. See clay Page 14 shell fossils well above today’s shore line. The unusual blue clay the workers discovered is actually marine sediment from a former beach terrace. 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