Direction Mountain, Canada
Geological Survey Canada image (fair use policy)
Direction Mountain is not a large peak except in contrast to the countryside around it. But it has a nick running around it from a time, a few thousand years ago, when the sea was 75 meters higher than today. The waves eroded into the rocks and left a fossil beach behind after the waters went down. Large lakes can leave ancient shorelines too.
The ocean was high here because the land was low. Like most of Canada, Newfoundland was covered with a thick continental glacier, and the weight of the ice pushed the crust down. That ice drew so much water from the ocean that it too was low, all over the world. When the ice melted, the sea came back, and before this land could rebound the water covered it for a time. This part of the world is still rising.
