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Home , Fossil track, Fundy Basin, Joggins, Nova Scotia Museum, Wasson Bluff

FUNDY ISSUES #31 Autumn 2010 Autumn 2010 ISSUE # 31

Further Information The Cliffs of Joggins. L. Ferguson. Museum, Halifax, NS. 52 pages. (1988)

Joggins Fossil Cliffs: Nomination of The Joggins Fossil Fundy’s Fascinating : Cliffs for Inscription on the World Heritage List. Joggins Fossil Institute. 129 pages. (January 2007)

Dawning of the . The Story of ’s Oldest The Unique Palaeontology of the Canada’s only finalist for the Dinosaurs. H. Thurston. Nimbus Publishing and the Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax, NS. 91 pages. (1994) “New7Wonders of Nature” The Last Billion Years. A Geological History of the “the rocky shores of Fundy bear a rich trove The growing number of research facilities in the Mari- Maritime Provinces of Canada. Atlantic Geoscience of scientifically important fossils” Society. Atlantic Geoscience Society Spec. Public. No. 15. times devoted to palaeontology, as well as the expanding Nimbus Publishing Ltd., Halifax, NS. 212 pages. (2001) The Bay of Fundy has long been known as an exciting and rewarding destination for those cadre of researchers staffing or carrying out studies at interested in fossils, both professionals and amateurs alike. Interest began almost 175 years these facilities, bodes well for the ongoing efforts to un- Geological Background and Physiography of Nova Scotia. A.E. Roland. The Nova Scotian Institute of Science, Halifax, ago (1836), when medical doctor and amateur geologist Dr. Abraham Gesner wrote about ravel the many fascinating chapters in the story of the NS. 311 pages. (1982) the geology of the region. In 1841, William Logan, founding Director of the Geological Earth’s distant past that are slowly being revealed in the Survey of Canada, discovered tracks at Horton Bluff, Nova Scotia. International crumbling cliffs around Fundy. The Evolution of Nova Scotia. J.H. Calder. In: D. Blundell and A.C. Scott (editors). "Lyell: the past is recognition came the following year (1842) when the renowned British geologist Charles the key to the present". Geological Society of London. Lyell roamed the shores of the upper Bay in search of fossilized plants. A decade later, he Special Publication 143, pages 296 to 331. (1998) returned in the company of Canada's foremost geologist, William Dawson. Together they Air-breathers of the Coal Period. J.W. Dawson. J.W. found "one of the most famous fossil discoveries in palaeontology"; namely, the remains of Dawson Brothers, Montreal, QC. 81 pages. (1863) the earliest reptile ever found, lyelli. The multi-layered, fossil-bearing cliffs of This Fundy Issue is financially supported by: Vertebrate from the Carboniferous Sediments the upper Bay, now known as Joggins, even warranted a special mention in Charles Dar- Atlantic Ecosystem Initiative of Nova Scotia: A Historical Review and win's momentous book "The Origin of Species", first published in 1859. Environment Canada - Atlantic Region Description of Newly Discovered Forms. Dartmouth, Nova Scotia W.A.S. Sargeant. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Over the following century and a half, a large number of other scientifically important fos- Palaeoecology 23. pages 279 to 306. (1978) sil sites, spanning almost a billion years of geological history, have been found scattered all The views expressed herein are not around the Bay of Fundy. That the rocky shores of Fundy bear a rich trove of scientifically Acadian Geology. J.W. Dawson. McMillan and Co. London 694 necessarily those of Environment Canada important fossils finally received official recognition worldwide in July 2008, when one of or other BoFEP partners. pages. (1878) www.openlibrary.org/works/OL2519518W/ Acadian_geology the region’s best known locations, the fossil cliffs at Joggins, was designated a "World Written and designed by J.A. Percy, Heritage Site" by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization SeaPen Communications, Granville Ferry. N.S. Websites e-mail: [email protected] (UNESCO). Nova Scotia Museum: Fossils of Nova Scotia http://museum.gov.ns.ca/fossils.htm Acknowledgement It is important to note that both Nova Scotia and have also recognized the My thanks to Melissa Grey at the Joggins Fossil Centre, Ken Stonehammer Geopark, New Brunswick scientific value of the prov- Adams at the Fundy Geological Museum, Randall Miller at http://stonehammer.nbm-mnb.ca/ inces' rich fossil deposits the , Deborah Skilliter at the Nova Global Network of Geoparks by enacting legislation to Scotia Museum and Chris Mansky at the Blue Beach Fossil http://www.globalgeopark.org/ protect them. In Nova Sco-

Museum for commenting on early drafts of the document. tia the Special Places Pro- The editing skills of Peter Wells are also appreciated. Joggins Fossil Cliffs Centre http://jogginsfossilcliffs.net/ tection Act states that a Heritage Research Permit UNESCO World Heritage Sites http://whc.unesco.org/en/ is required to excavate fos- This Fundy Issue may be reproduced sils or disturb any places and circulated for educational or other Fundy Geological Museum, , NS where they are present. non-commercial purposes with credit to the http://museum.gov.ns.ca/fgm/ Similarly, in New Bruns- Nova Scotia Special Places Protection Act wick the Heritage Conser- Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/legc/statutes/specplac.htm vation Act affirms that fos- Other Fundy Issues are available on the New Brunswick Heritage Conservation Act & permits sils are heritage objects that BoFEP Website at: http://www.bofep.org http://www.gnb.ca/0062/acts/acts/h-04-05.htm can only be collected by in- http://www.gnb.ca/0131/HeritageConservationAct/ dividuals with a provincial Palaeontological_field_research.asp permit. Percy J.A. Fundy’s Fossils are protected by law Page 16 FUNDY ISSUES #31 Autumn 2010 FUNDY ISSUES #31 Autumn 2010

Before we discuss the location and character of the and some of the organisms that existed at a particular time community. Researchers from Dalhousie and McGill Bay’s most prominent fossil sites it may be helpful to period in the long history of planet Earth. By analyzing Universities, the Nova Scotia Department of Natural consider some of the geological factors that are responsi- the evidence from these different sites it has been possible Resources and from as far away as the New Mexico ble for this region being such a notable hot-spot in the to put together a coherent story of how living creatures Museum of Natural History, Sweden and Australia, to world of palaeontology (the science of the study of pre- slowly evolved and to ascertain how long ago each of the name a few, have been avidly studying Chris’s collec- historic life). major evolutionary milestones occurred. The Bay of tion and publishing scientific papers on their interpre- Fundy is one such scientifically important region, with nu- tations. They have concluded that these are some of the Fossils Few and Far Between merous fossil sites whose rocks bear a record of the life oldest tracks ever found. They clearly show forms and their habitats at the time of some very impor- that there were four-legged, five-toed fully The formation, preservation and eventual discovery of tant evolutionary steps, such as the development of primi- capable of walking on land early in the Mississippian any fossil are each unimaginably rare and chancy events, tive aquatic algae, the movement of vertebrate animals sub period (360-345 mya). While much remains un- which is why the fossil record of evolution still has from their watery ancestral home and gradual adaptation clear about the creatures and habitat of the ancient many perplexing gaps. However, palaeontologists have to a life on the land, and the very beginnings of the slow Blue Beach site and more study is obviously required, been able to painstakingly piece together the impressive evolution of those endlessly fascinating “terrible lizards”, gradually an interesting and scientifically important evidence for the evolutionary story because the geologi- the dinosaurs. story is emerging. cal history of a favoured few places in the world have Chris Mansky (3rd from right) guides been especially conducive to the formation, preservation Future Fossil Fame? and discovery of fossils at different periods in the history To understand why the rocks around Fundy are yielding fossil enthusiasts on Blue Beach of the earth. These special places provide unique win- such a wealth of diverse fossils in so many different loca- — J.A. Percy This overview has only touched on some of the more dows into the past, each revealing to us the environment tions, one must know something about how fossils formed prominent coastal fossil sites in the Fundy region. wealth present at Blue Beach is largely attributable to Much of the shoreline of the has rich fos- the dedicated collecting efforts over many years by sil deposits, including the remains of Canada’s oldest Legend: amateur fossil enthusiast Chris Mansky and his partner -like reptile (Arctotraversodon) found at Burntcoat Head, NS, fossil-bearing limestone deposits Sites discussed in detail Shubenacadie Sonja Wood. In 2002, they established a small but com- Hillsborough prehensive museum and research centre at the Blue at Newport Landing and along the Shubenacadie Sites mentioned in text River Beach site to display their remarkable and rapidly ex- River, and plant fossils found near Econ- panding fossil collection and make it more accessible to omy, to name but a few. Further afield, phytosaur Albert County shale the scientific community and the general public. Chris (early -like reptiles) remains have been found also leads guided tours along the fossil cliffs backing along the shores of St. Marys Bay, NS, Ordovician/ Joggins Cliffs Blue Beach. The collection of fossils that they have Devonian marine invertebrate fossils are present at amassed over the past decade and a half has in recent nearby Bear River, and remains of early bony are New Brunswick Economy years attracted increasing attention from the scientific abundant in the oil shales of Albert County, NB. Saint John Without question, the eroding sedimentary cliffs rim- Fern Ledges ming much of Fundy contain a unique, truly remark- able and scientifically valuable record of great geologi- Green Head Point cal changes and biological evolution from a number of Burntcoat particularly important periods in the history of the Horton Bluff Head Earth’s development. This is one of the reasons (along with its stunning beauty, bountiful marine resources, Blue Beach diverse coastal habitats and abundant wildlife popula- Newport Milford tions, and not forgetting the highest tides in the world) Landing that the Bay of Fundy is now one of 28 finalists, and the sole Canadian entry, in an international competi- Bay of Fundy Bear River tion. The Bay of Fundy Tourism Partnership is spear- heading the campaign to have the Bay of Fundy de- clared one of the “New7Wonders of Nature”. The win- ners will be announced in November 2011. Whatever St. Marys Nova Scotia Percy J.A. Bay the outcome of this competition, the Fundy region will Display of tetrapod trackways continue to be an important and exciting arena for palaeontological research, discovery and education. Locations of prominent fossil sites around the Bay of Fundy At Blue Beach Museum

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away the overlying layer of mud. The prints, in rocks The geological time scale showing important highlights in geology and biological evolution, dating from the early Carboniferous Period, are as well as the dating of important Fundy fossil sites. (Note: the vertical time-line is not to scale) thought to be the oldest tracks of vertebrates ever found anywhere and are still the oldest found in Can- EON ERA PERIOD MYA GEOLOGY BIOLOGY FUNDY SITES ada. Although it was not possible to identify the ani- Quaternary Mastodons in Maritimes 0.08 mal, it may have been an early that was 0 Periodic glaciations; Continents in Major extinctions of large mam- mya - Milford NS, Hillsbor- Cenozoic probably about 2 metres long and lived in shallow 1.8 present location mals; humans present 1.8 mya ough NB. coastal waters. More recently, it has also been sug- Modern Tertiary Continents approaching present Hominids appear; and gested that it could be a trail left by a lobe finned Life location; volcanic activity; cli- birds diversify and expand rhizodont fish (see below) stranded in shallow water 65 mate cooling that left the trackway as it struggled to get back to Continents moving apart; warm Extinction of dinosaurs 65 mya; deeper water. A fibreglass cast of this trackway made climate; elevated sea level flowering plants arise; mammals Clipart.com by the Nova Scotia Museum in 1979 provides a perma- 145 small, dinosaurs dominant nent reproduction of a natural feature that has long Mesozoic begins breaking apart; First birds appear; large dino- flows form North Moun- Fossilized , an “ichnite” since been eroded away by Fundy's relentless tides. warm climate saurs dominant; conifers domi- tain, Grand Manan etc. 200 mya The Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History in Hali- Middle 200 nate flora Wasson Bluff fossils 200 mya Life long been known in palaeontological circles as" Ro- fax has this cast in its collections as well as other fossil P Pangaea begins to ; climate hot Major extinction; conifers flour- mer's Gap”, after eminent palaeontologist Dr. Alfred material collected from Horton Bluff/Blue Beach and H and dry ish; primitive mammals; reptiles Burntcoat Head 230 250 and dominant mya Romer, who first noticed the apparent blank space in many other areas around the province. A the fossil record. The question of how life on land N Pangaea present; sea level low; Mass extinction (249 mya); started is considered to be one of evolution’s greatest During the early Carboniferous Period (350 mya) the climate variable; widespread Mammal-like reptiles dominant; E 299 deserts, seasonal monsoons diverse ; conifers mysteries. The fossils from Horton Bluff/Blue Beach, area that is now Horton Bluff/Blue Beach was situated R dating from about 350 million years ago, are scientifi- along the margin of a very large tropical estuary or O Pangaea present; sea level low; Coal deposits form; swamps and Fern Ledges 313 mya cally important because they are some of the few fossils bay. These shallow waters were not fresh, nor fully mountain building; climate warm forests; giant fern, horsetail and Joggins Cliffs 318 - 300 mya Z Carboniferous at start then cools; Windsor Sea club moss relatives dominant; to date that have been found from Romer’s intriguing marine, but were probably brackish. These waters were O forms; salt and gypsum deposits amphibians abundant; lizard-like Blue Beach/Horton Bluff 360 - gap. As some of the oldest land vertebrates ever found, populated by a variety of different archaic , I Mississippian 360 formed reptiles, eggs appear 345 mya they may help us gain a better understanding of the whose fossilized bony remains are far more common C Palaeo- Devonian Climate warm; contents moving Lobe-finned fish move onto land types of animals that were the successful intermediates than the tiny populations of tetrapods. Among these zoic together to form as tetrapods; “Age of Fish”; in the pivotal move from water onto land. were giant lobe-finned fishes called “rhizodonts” that Pangaea; Appalachians form; sea primitive terrestrial plants could reach lengths of five metres. Over 2000 fossil Ancient 416 level high spread; invade land The first indication that Horton Bluff/Blue Beach bones of a species of large rhizodont (in 2005 it was Life Silurian Continents begin drifting to- Bony fish appear; yielded interesting fossils came in 1841 when Canadian named Letognathus or “jaws of death, annihilation or gether; climate warming; high sea abundant; first primitive plants geologist Sir William Logan came across a slab of ruin”) have been found at Blue Beach. These voracious 444 level; move to land stone that had fossil footprints of an unidentified predators probably dominated the deeper areas, leaving Ordovician Continental masses separate enti- Marine invertebrates dominant tetrapod larger than a crocodile. only the surrounding shallows as ties; volcanic activity; sea level and diverse 488 high At the time these were considered “the Fundy region will long continue safe places for smaller fishes and the oldest fossil footprints ever tetrapods. Furthermore, many Cambrian Supercontinent Pannotia forms Cartilaginous fish appear; com- to be an important and exciting arena and breaks apart; sea level high; plex hard bodied invertebrates found. Such fossilized footprints, for palaeontological research, additional species of fish and in- extensive coastal seas abundant (readily fossilize); land which are not the actual remains discovery and education”. vertebrates have also been found 542 barren except for microbial mats of an animal but simply traces of at the site, providing useful in- P Protero- Supercontinent Rhodinia forms Single celled and multicelled Green Head/Saint John 900 its passing, are called “trace fos- sight into the ecology of the and breaks apart; mountain build- organisms abundant; algal mats mya sils” or “ichnites” by palaeontologists. More than a food chain in the early Carboniferous. Tree-bark fos- R zoic ing; oxygen increasing in atmos- form stromatolites. Oldest rocks in Maritimes form century later, in 1964, two students (one of them was sils and other plant remains give us a sense of the na- E 2500 phere 1200 mya (Cape Breton) C Dr. David Mossman, now a professor of Geoscience at ture of the early Carboniferous forests that mantled the Achean Earth hot; volcanic and tectonic Cyanobacteria abundant; single Mount Allison University in Sackville NB) carrying out shorelines and provided habitat for these very early A activity; no free oxygen; Canadian celled organism without nuclei; M shield forms; oldest know rocks primitive algae form stromato- a hydrological survey in the region found a series of 27 tetrapods. At least five kinds of tetrapod footprints 3800 form 3800 mya. lites. fossil tracks extending for over 20 metres. The tracks have already been named from the current fossil col- B were spaced about 30 cm apart and each was about 30 lection, but the many unnamed species represented by R Pre- Planet Earth condenses and cools; Primitive life forms develop I crust forms 4600 mya; cm in length. Located intertidally, about 50 metres off- bones suggest that between 7 and 10 species of geological shore, this track way had been exposed by an excep- tetrapods have now been discovered here. A tionally low tide and an earlier storm that had flushed A recent resurgence in the recognition of the rich fossil N 12000 “Big bang” produces universe

Page 14 Page 3 FUNDY ISSUES #31 Autumn 2010 FUNDY ISSUES #31 Autumn 2010 long ago, what subsequently hap- caused some parts of the earth’s which opened in late 1993, located in the coastal town pened to the fossil bearing rocks crust to rise and others to become of Parrsboro, NS. The museum comprises not only a and why they are now reappear- depressed. These depressed areas large exhibition gallery, whose displays were com- ing in such great numbers? Fos- are called “basins” and were ideal pletely revamped in 2010, but also a laboratory, a mul- sils are typically embedded in environments for the accumula- tipurpose room and a gift shop. Staff members conduct sedimentary rocks, which can tion of sediments washed in from public field trips to Wasson Bluff and several other form on land or in water by the nearby highlands. The earliest geologically important sites in the region. steady deposition of air or water- sediments occurring in the Mari- A lumbering tetrapod making tracks borne particles such as silt or sand times Basin after the Acadian (manus = forefoot, pes = hindfoot) Avon’s Amazing Tetrapods to form layers or strata. Dead ani- mountain building event are those — Dennis C. Murphy, "www.devoniantimes.org" mals or plants buried by the accu- of the Late Devonian-Early Car- Directly south of Wasson Bluff, on the opposite shore mulating sediments may leave boniferous Horton Group, depos- that the creatures present in the rocks of Wasson Bluff of the Minas Basin, lies Horton Bluff/Blue Beach, an- impressions of their bodies as the ited in large estuaries and bays represent those that survived this mass extinction; they other crumbling stretch of rocky cliffs along the west- particles fuse together to form between 365 and 345 mya. The are mostly small to moderate in size (less than 25 kg) ern flank of the mouth of the Avon River near Avon- rock by the growing weight of tropical forests and swamps of and include early , lizards, freshwater sharks port. Geographically the distance between Wasson and sediment accumulating above. this period were home to the first and small dinosaurs. The latter are important because Horton Bluff/Blue Beach is a mere 30 km, but geologi- Some fossils are not formed from known terrestrial arthropods they are early forms living at the “dawning of the age of cally they are separated by almost 150 million years. the actual remains of organisms, (invertebrates) and tetrapods dinosaurs” and may shed more light on the early evolu- The cliffs at Horton Bluff/Blue Beach, which are but nevertheless, provide clear (vertebrates). The final stage of tion of the great dinosaurs. In recent years the remains steadily eroding and releasing their palaeontological treasures, comprise over 30 distinct sedimentary lay- circumstantial evidence that a clipart.com Pangaea’s formation, sometime of six sauropod dinosaur skeletons, including 3 adults particular type of animal was around 340 mya saw several epi- almost 5.5 m long, have been teased from the eroding ers, or strata, stretching along about four kilometres of shoreline. The very much older Horton Group strata there. Such "trace" fossils include Fossilized bones embedded in sodes of further subsidence, low- rocks of the cliff face. These lizard-hipped herbivorous found here were laid down footprints or other tracks left in sedimentary layers ering the basins and allowing sea- dinosaurs were the early forerun- soft mud, the remnants of bur- water to flood in to form the so- ners of the renowned gigantic spe- “ [The Wasson Bluff site represents]... around 350 mya, near the begin- ning of the Carboniferous Pe- rows or tubes once occupied by animals, and the petri- called “Windsor Sea”. Over a 15 million year period the cies that evolved during the Juras- one of the largest finds of fossils riod, about 40 million years be- fied remains of animal droppings (coprolites). The level of this sea rose and fell numerous times. Salts in sic Period. Other scientifically im- from the early Jurassic Period Fundy region has yielded examples of all the different this sea became highly concentrated by evaporation in portant fossil finds include fore the Joggins Cliffs site. What types of fossils in great abundance. the hot climate and settled to the sea floor as trithelodonts or mammal-like rep- (200 mya) ever discovered ”. makes the fossil found here es- “evaporites”. These now comprise tiles such as Pachygenelus sp. In pecially exciting and scientifi- Meandering Maritimes the thick subterranean beds of gyp- fact, the Wasson Bluff site comprises the world’s larg- cally important is that they are from an age that corre- sum and salt found around much of est deposit of trithelodont fossils. Such mammal-like sponds to the time when vertebrates were emerging The Maritimes and the Bay of the inner Bay of Fundy. By about reptiles had dominated the landscape for well over a from the water and finding ways of adapting to a much Fundy have not always been lo- 325 mya, the Windsor Sea had re- million years but were largely wiped out in the great ex- different life on land. cated midway between the Equator treated and much of the Maritimes tinction at the end of the Triassic Period (199 mya). The and the North Pole, neither have its was swampy lowland surrounded rare survivors amongst the trithelodonts gradually The earliest four-legged animal (tetrapod) fossils found different parts always been to- by the highlands of the growing evolved into true mammals (albeit initially tiny, unob- previously in other parts of the world were clearly fish- gether. Beginning over 400 mya like in nature and not much evolved beyond lobe- Maritimes Appalachian Mountain range. The trusive shrew-like creatures) that would only blossom (million years ago), several large region still lay near the equator and forth into the great array of mammals we see today, af- finned fishes similar to that famous “living fossil”, the continental land masses began the climate was tropical and humid ter the dinosaurs died out at the end of the Cretaceous . These aquatic tetrapods of the late Devo- drifting together on their way to during this “coal age” or Late Car- Period (65 mya). nian Period (365 million years ago and known as “the forming a supercontinent called boniferous Period. Some 295 mya age of fishes”) were unable to bring their primitive Pangaea. The land area that would the Maritimes was still nestled limbs completely underneath their body and thus could The early Jurassic fossils found at Wasson Bluff are eventually become the Maritimes within Pangaea near the equator, not have walked effectively on land and were largely embedded in the latest (youngest) sedimentary rocks would come to lie near the middle but the climate had changed so that water dwellers. They have been characterized as essen- found in the area. At the time they were of Pangaea, virtually on the equa- periods of very hot arid conditions tially "fish with legs". Then there is a rather perplexing being deposited, the continents were drifting apart and tor, and was formed by the fusing were interspersed with monsoon- 30 million year gap in the fossil record, with few traces the major coastal rifting had ceased. The land surface together of bits of three of these like intervals of torrential down- of tetrapod fossils found anywhere. By the time was no longer sinking steadily and the rapid build up of different continental masses. It was pours. Gradually the climate be- tetrapod fossils appear again during the latter part of sediments had virtually ceased. The geological and fos- at that time attached to what is now Approximate location of the came drier and by 250-245 mya the the early Carboniferous Period (about 335 mya) they sil history of Wasson Bluff and adjacent areas of the Morocco in North . All this Maritimes near the centre of landscape of the region was a had evolved into the primitive ancestors of all subse- movement of the land masses coast are on display at the Fundy Geological Museum, quent land-dwelling vertebrates. This fossil hiatus has Pangaea about 340 mya parched desert-like region covered

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mendous fracturing, shifting and twisting of by extensive sand dunes created by tropi- the rock layers over time created an enor- cal winds. About 250 mya Pangaea began When rock forms it may contain mously complex geological jigsaw puzzle to slowly break apart and the new conti- radioactive elements

that scientists have painstakingly recon- nents began their drift to their present loca- structed during recent decades. tions. As the continents drew apart (at a 1/1 speed that has been likened to the growth At half life, half the Interest in the area was first stimulated in of a fingernail), the seafloor between them amount of the radioactive 1984, when amateur fossil hunter Eldon thinned and great cracks or “” formed element has decayed George found tracks of one of the earliest di- along lines of weakness in the crust. The nosaurs ever found in Canada. In 1984 and Bay of Fundy was formed by one such rift. By measuring the amount 1985, a team of American palaeontologists, However, this initial splitting ceased when remaining the age of the 1/2 rock can be calculated led by Paul Olsen of Columbia and Neil another great fissure opened up further off- A trithelodont - a mammal-like reptile Shubin of Harvard, visited the area and with shore and became the final demarcation line between the separating continents. The — Nova Scotia Museum permission collected over 3 tons of rocks containing 1/4

fossilized bone. Over the next couple of years they Bay of Fundy is thus known geologically Radioactive element remaining element Radioactive plays interpret the many unique features of the site for teased over 100,000 fossil fragments from the stoney as a “failed rift”. It is interesting to specu- 1/8 growing numbers of visitors from around the world. It matrix, making it one of the largest finds of fossils late that if this initial rifting had not failed, 1/16 also provides ample space for educational programs and from the early Jurassic Period ever discovered. These much of Nova Scotia would now be in continuing research on the fossils. Guides also lead in- bones appear to have accumulated in an ancient valley, North Africa, separated from New Bruns- 0 1 2 3 4 5 formative tours along the nearby fossil-rich cliff face. wick by the instead of the where they may have been washed in from surround- Time (half lives) ing higher ground by repeated massive flooding. The Bay of Fundy! The Joggins Fossil Institute, a registered charitable or- sandstone matrix also has basalt rocks and boulders Dating rocks by radioactive decay ganization, focuses on promoting, developing and pro- embedded in it, which were probably also carried in by Clearly, hundreds of millions of years ago tecting the cliffs as well as raising general awareness of the floods. environmental conditions in what is now the Fundy re- meticulously excavated to reveal their treasures. Layer the Carboniferous Period. It manages the World Heri- gion were very different from today. For long periods, by layer, inch by inch, the overlying rock has to be tage Site and runs the Centre, while also conducting and The Wasson collection is particularly important be- conditions were ideal for the formation of sedimentary painstakingly chipped, drilled and brushed away. Not so fostering further research, recognizing that the site still cause slightly earlier, at the end of the Triassic Period rocks and the preservation of fossils. Eventually, the fos- in Fundy - the fossil layers in the seashore cliffs are con- has much to teach us about the past. The UNESCO des- (199 mya), there was a massive extinction of life on sil bearing sedimentary rocks became buried deep under- stantly being savaged and scoured by relentless currents ignation and the work of the Fossil Cliffs Centre will earth when almost half of all species of animals died ground as the geologic processes of crustal sinking, ero- and smashing waves powered by the highest tides in the ensure that the Joggins site will long continue revealing out. The fossils found at Wasson Bluff provide strong sion of highlands and volcanic activity built up deep lay- world. The soft sedimentary rocks erode rapidly, con- its intriguing palaeontological secrets. ers on top of them. Immense geologic forces, associated tinually revealing new surfaces, with the exposed mate- supporting evidence for this extinction event and allow it to be dated with greater accuracy. This great die-off with the moving continents, were also at work over the rial eventually falling to the beach below. In the Bay of Wasson's Wonders ended the dominance of the mammal-like reptiles. aeons, twisting, tilting, warping and fracturing these lay- Fundy palaentologists can patiently work according to Forty Km due south of Joggins, on the Minas Basin With little competition remaining, the dinosaur-like ers of sedimentary rocks. Today, they no longer resem- the tides and currents and allow nature to excavate the side of the Chignecto Peninsula, can be found yet an- reptiles were able to diversify, multiply and eventually ble the orderly flat layers that once formed on a lakebed, fossils. other of Fundy’s world-famous palaeontological sites. rule the Earth during much of the Jurassic and Creta- riverbed and seafloor or in a swamp. Over time, continu- The eroding coastal cliffs of Wasson Bluff are located ceous “Age of Dinosaurs” (200 – 65 mya). It is thought ing buckling, weathering and erosion of the land has Dating Deposits some 6 Km east of Parrsboro. brought some of these layers back to the surface. The Some of the fossil-bearing rock formations of Fundy are Although geographically al- cliffs now exposed along the shores of much of Fundy particularly important scientifically for an even more most next door to Joggins, Dennis Murphy www.devoniantimes.org are made up of layers of rock formed at particularly fundamental reason. Normally, it is not possible to accu- these cliffs reveal the world as critical times in the evolution of life on earth. Similar rately date sedimentary rocks. The relative ages of their it existed about 100 million layers were also formed at many other places around the layers are typically determined by the types of fossils years after the great coal age world, but many of these are now largely inaccessible to they contain. For example, a layer with only primitive swamps of Joggins were scientists…. either still buried far underground or long fish remains would normally be deemed much, much formed. It is renowned for what ago eroded away to dust. In contrast, in the Fundy sites, older than one bearing dinosaur footprints. But exactly it tells us about life in the early scientifically important fossil bearing layers are right how many hundreds of million years separate the two Jurassic Period (200 mya). A there on the faces of the cliffs, awaiting the observant re- different rocky layers is usually difficult to ascertain. It number of different ancient en- searcher. Furthermore, Fundy has yet another feature is fortunate that in the Fundy region some of the impor- vironments are represented in that attracts professional and amateur fossil enthusiasts tant sedimentary, fossil-bearing layers were covered by different areas of the extensive A lobe-finned fish of the type that in droves. In many parts of the world, fossil deposits, al- flows of volcanic at various times in the far distant cliff face at Wasson Bluff. Tre- evolved into land-living tetrapods though present near the surface, have to be actively and

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the Maritimes are found here, embedded in the grey land, there was a sharp re- tected as they were by a basalt 3.4 mya marble of the Green Head rock group. This geological duction in the number and thick membrane, didn’t formation, named after Green Head Point where its pres- variety of these mammal- have to develop and hatch ence was first scientifically described, is located at the ~3.5 mya like reptiles. However, some in water. This remarkable Sedimentary mouth of the St. John River on the tip of the peninsula of them continued evolving little reptile is providing 3.6 mya on which the main part of the city lies. The same forma- into small, secretive warm- crucial insights into that basalt tion is also exposed at other locations around the region. blooded mammals that point in the Earth’s history would eventually explode when the ancestors of all These grey marble rocks date from the Precambrian era. into world-wide dominance reptiles, and ultimately This was the very long period of the Earth's history ex- immediately after the catas- birds and mammals, were tending from about 4.5 billion years ago, when the Earth Dating fossil bones in trophic extinction of dino- coming to terms with a first solidified, to about 540 mya, when the primitive saurs at the end of the Creta- very different life on land. sandwiched between layers of volcanic basalt hard-bodied animals that fossilised easily first appeared. ceous Period (65 mya). It was officially designated During this long period, four-fifths of the age of the past. Such lava comprises, for example, the basalt layers the Provincial Fossil of earth, small, very primitive soft-bodied animals and But all this lay far in the fu- Nova Scotia in 2002. of the North Mountain range on the Nova Scotia side of plants were evolving slowly, but leaving scant trace of ture. Only relatively small the Bay and Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick. their existence. Imagine the excitement amongst palae- early amphibians and a few The Joggins site received While the basalt itself contains no fossils, the time of its ontologists when, in 1870, strange concentric structures, primitive reptiles were official international rec- hardening can be dated very accurately. The flowing that seemed to be of biological origin, were found in the roaming the Joggins forests ognition on July 7th, 2008, lava contains a radioactive isotope of potassium that grey marble of Green Head Point. However, further in the late Carboniferous. when UNESCO recog- very slowly (half life of about 1.25 billion years) decays analysis led to the initial conclusion that these were The top predator seems to nized its outstanding uni- to form the gas argon. As long as the rock is hot and "concentric nodular masses ……apparently destitute of have been a large tetrapod versal value by designating molten, the argon produced escapes to the atmosphere. organic structure and probably concretionary", in other (primitive four-limbed early it a World Natural Heri- However, when the lava cools and solidifies, the argon words not formed by living organisms. However, in land vertebrate) of the genus tage Site. The organization no longer escapes and it gradually accumulates in the 1890, George Matthews in an article in the Bulletin of Baphetes, nicknamed ‘Rex’ affirmed that this section rock. By measuring the ratio of the amount of potassium the Natural History Society of New Brunswick ascer- by the staff. at the Fossil Entrance to Joggins Fossil Cliffs Centre of Fundy coastline remaining to the amount of argon present, it is possible tained that they were indeed "stromatolites", the remains Cliffs Centre. Another slug- — J.A. Percy “represents the finest ex- to accurately calculate the date when the lava solidified. of a primitive life form that existed through much of the gish metre long primitive ample in the world of the This makes it relatively easy to infer the time of forma- later Precambrian Period. He named the New Brunswick amphibian inhabiting the swamps was named Dendrer- terrestrial tropical environment and ecosystems of the tion of adjacent layers of sedimentary rock that may bear organisms Archaeozoon acadiense, making it one of the peton. However, one of the earliest, and probably still Pennsylvanian 'Coal Age' of the Earth's history.” A important fossils. Few other places in the world allow first definitive Precambrian fossils to be reported and the the most famous, fossil animal found at Joggins is the few months earlier, on Earth day (April 22nd, 2008) such accurate dating of fossils and thus the confirmation first to be given a double-barrelled scientific name ac- small (20 cm long) insect eating reptile Hylonomus the Joggins Fossil Cliffs Centre officially opened its of the age and length of major geologic time periods. cording to the genus and species naming convention es- lyelli. Its remains were found by Dawson and Lyell in doors to visitors. This 13,000 square foot building in- 1852 encased in a fossilized tree stump. They theorized corporates in its design the latest in green technology, As a result of the geological processes and sequences de- that occasionally a large jungle tree would fall, leaving such as a wind turbine, solar water heating and water scribed above, the different fossil sites around Fundy just a stump protruding from the ground. The softer conservation features. The Centre’s innovative dis- provide a unique window into the world as it existed at heartwood decayed more rapidly than the harder, resis- particular times in the past. Indeed, as we shall see, the tant bark, which remained as a hollow cylinder. As rocks from different Fundy sites offer informative sediments accumulated around the stump, such tubes glimpses into the Earth's distant past at intervals over a became deadly pitfall traps for unwary animals scurry- period of almost a billion years. ing across the forest floor. Subsequent flash flooding may then have overtopped the rim of the stump filling it Saint John Stromatolites with sediments that hardened to rock around the re- The geology around Saint John, New Brunswick is par- mains of the trapped animals. Hylonomous is scientifi- ticularly complex, consisting of exposures of rock for- cally important because it is the earliest reptile ever mations from many geologic eras. Over the past century found - the first known vertebrate truly adapted for liv- and a half some of 's most eminent geolo- ing on land. Its limbs were much sturdier than those of gists and palaeontologists have studied these rocks and the water-dependent amphibians and much better de- have succeeded in piecing together a fascinating story Museum Brunswick New signed for walking efficiently on land. Also, its dry skin Archaeozoon acadiense , a Precambrian about the area’s geologic history. The oldest fossils in didn’t need to be kept constantly moist like that of an Scotia Museum Nova stromatolite in Green Head Marble amphibian. Perhaps most importantly, its eggs, pro- Wasson Bluff

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was slowly subsiding. animal is one of the larg- tablished by the great European taxonomist Linnaeus. a 90 m long series of ledges consisting of a 45 metre Across this flat sinking est land living arthropods The organisms were large mat-like colonies of blue- thick bed of sedimentary rocks with alternating layers of plain many rivers me- (animals with exoskele- green algae, primitive single-celled plants without a dis- grey to greenish sandstone and grey to black shale. andered, carrying heavy tons and jointed limbs) crete nucleus but able to photosynthesize. These algal Hartt named the area Fern Ledges because of the abun- loads of sediments known. Its broad sinuous mats, probably growing in shallow warm water at low dance of ancient fern fossils in the rocks and he and the eroded from nearby trackways are abundantly latitudes, trapped settling sediments within their struc- group collected over 8,000 fossil samples from the area. mountainous regions engraved in the Joggins ture and these eventually fossilized into the distinctive Although mostly plants, including ferns, seed ferns, that are now the Cale- rocks. The forest was concentric shapes of the stromatolites. They were ini- sphenopsids (ancestors of our horsetails) and bryophytes donia Highlands to the also home to many other tially formed in sedimentary rock known as limestone (ancestors of our mosses), animal remains were also north and the Cobequid types of crawling and (formed by the deposition of calcium carbonate), but found. These included a wide variety of early insects, Mountains to the south. flying insects and other early in the Cambrian Period heat and pressure caused centipedes and , sea scorpions, spiders, land Some of the mud, set- invertebrates. Three hun- the deeply buried limestone to metamorphose into the snails, phoronids (commonly known as horseshoe tling along the shores of dred million years ago, marble that comprises the Green Head rock formation. worms), and horseshoe crabs, as well as early fish and these slow, winding the most advanced verte- However, traces of the stromatolites still remained visi- the tracks of primitive amphibians. These fossils at- streams, built up the brate animals that had ble in these altered rocks. Although similar structures tracted the attention of William Dawson, professor of banks into levees, Dawson’s sketch of the fossilized evolved were fish, am- have been found in rocks as old as 3.5 billion years, Geology at McGill University, who worked with the which raised the rivers bones of Hylonomous lyelli phibians and primitive those found in the Saint John area are from 900 million group over the next few years and published some of above the adjacent land- reptiles, all of which were to one billion years old, and thus from the Proterozoic their findings. scape. Occasionally, very heavy rains would cause the represented in the rivers, lakes and forests of Joggins. Era. They are the only evidence to date of Precambrian rivers to rise and break through the levees, flooding the This is one reason why the Joggins fossils are so scientifi- life found in the Appalachian area of . surrounding lands and leaving behind a thick blanket of cally important – they provide a detailed snapshot of the sediment. Over a period of about 10 million years, the time not long after amphibians had emerged from the wa- Near the end of the Precambrian, many new types of liv- accumulating sediments more or less kept pace with the ter and were in the early stages of becoming reptiles, the ing organisms appeared, ushering in the Cambrian Pe- sinking crust, allowing the build up of kilometre thick first true land dwelling vertebrates that lived independ- riod (542-488 mya). Notably, many of these newly deposits. Entombed within these sedimentary layers ently of the water and didn’t have to return to it to breed. evolving animals had hard skeletons or shells that fossil- were representative samples of the plants, animals and Some of these early reptiles would, within a period of an- ized more readily. Rocks from the Cambrian (as well as landforms that existed at various times over the 10 mil- other 100 million years, evolve into the great array of the subsequent Ordovician Period - 488-443 mya) lie be- lion year period. massive, fearsome dinosaurs that would come to domi- neath much of the central area of Saint John. Canada's nate the Earth. Joggins thus provides a rare early peek at leading 19th century expert on the Cambrian Period, At that time, the Joggins area was a lush, tropical, the “dawn of the age of dinosaurs”. George Matthew (father of palaeontologist William Mat- swampy jungle dominated by towering Lycopods or thew), described the geology and fossils of the area in a scale trees, ancient relatives of present day club mosses Another group of reptiles found in tropical swamplands of number of publications. The fossil finds include early that were up to a metre across at Joggins during the Carboniferous Period were small, sponges (Protospongia), brachiopods (a large group of the base and reaching 30 metres rather primitive members of the Pelycosaura two-shelled animals called lamp shells, most of which high. The two most abundant named Protoclepsydrops haplous. During are now extinct), primitive stalked echinoderms called types found at Joggins are Lepido- the subsequent Permian Period (299-251 crinoids (distantly related to sea urchins and starfish), dendron and Sigillaria. Also com- mya), Pelycosaurs evolved as large snails, bivalve molluscs, worm-like creatures with shells, mon was the 30-metre tall tree- “sail-reptiles”, named for a as well a variety of fossil track ways and burrows. The like Calamites, a close relative of Hylonomous large fan-like appendage well-known trilobites also appeared during the Cambrian modern day horsetails (Equisetum lyelli on its back. It is thought Period. Interestingly, George Matthew’s son William sp.) as well as species of Cor- that this sail helped the 3-4 m found in the Saint John area a fossil of one of the world's daites, primitive conifer-like trees, growing 5 – 10 me- long animal regulate its body temperature by acting as a largest trilobites, now on display in the New Brunswick tres high. Ferns and fern-like plants festooned the damp radiator to absorb or dissipate heat. This, and other char- Museum. forest floor. However, there were no flowering plants of acteristics, such as tooth and skull structure and architec-

any sort, because their evolution lay another 150 million ture of the limbs, leads palaeontologists to characterize Fossil Fern Ledges years into the future. them as ‘mammal-like’ reptiles (Synapsida) to distinguish them from the typical ‘lizard-like’ reptiles (Anapsida). In the early 1860s, Charles F. Hartt and members of the Scurrying amongst this lush vegetation were many un- Through the Permian Period such mammal-like reptiles Steinhammer Club (a Saint John amateur geology group) usual types of animals, perhaps the most impressive be- evolved into many different forms and dominated the began exploring an outcropping at Duck Cove on the Clipart.com ing a giant ‘bug’ called . Up to two metres landscape. Much later, during the Jurassic Period (200- shore of the Bay of Fundy, about 3.5 km southwest of Trilobites and other marine invertebrates in length and a third of a metre wide, this -like 145 mya), when the larger dinosaurs began to rule the the city centre. Here, in the intertidal zone, was exposed of the Cambrian Period

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Dawson concluded that the Fern Ledges fossils were member of the Global Geoparks Network. UNESCO de- Lyell and Dr. Dawson found car- from either the Silurian (443-416 mya) or the Devonian scribes a geopark as "A territory encompassing one or boniferous beds 1400 feet thick in (416-360 mya) periods. This pronouncement launched a more sites of scientific importance, not only for geologi- Nova Scotia, with ancient root- lengthy controversy about the actual age of the deposits. cal reasons but also by virtue of its archaeological, eco- bearing strata, one above the Many palaeontologists were sceptical of Dawson’s logical or cultural value." The geopark program seeks to other at no less than sixty-eight claim, because similar insect and amphibian fossils had conserve and enhance our geological heritage, foster different levels.” Since then, not been found before in rocks older than the Carbonif- educational and research opportunities in geology and steady streams of prominent ge- erous Period (360 - 300 mya). palaeontology, and foster ologists, palaeontologists and ama- The controversy continued “The rich and complex fossil history of socio-economic development teur fossil enthusiasts have unabated until 1910 when the south western New Brunswick is well associated with sustainable scoured the cliffs and beaches and Director of the Geological interpreted in the collections and displays geotourism or agritourism. amassed, catalogued and analyzed Survey of Canada, exasper- of the New Brunswick Museum” The rich and complex fossil the many different types of fossils ated by the lack of agreement history of south western New that have come to light. During amongst his staff, brought in an independent expert, Brunswick is well interpreted in the collections and dis- more than a century and a half, Marie Stopes, a palaeobotanist from Great Britan, to fi- plays of the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John. over 200 different plant and ani- nally settle the matter. In a masterful classic study of the mal species have been found, al- plant material that appeared as a monograph in 1914, she Jungles of Joggins lowing palaeontologists to piece unequivocally showed that the rocks, and thus the asso- together the intriguing story about ciated insects, fish and amphibian fossils, were indeed Without question, one of the best known jewels in the how this remarkable geological rich Fundy palaeontological treasure trove is the site at much younger than previously thought and dated from J.A. Percy formation developed and what it the late Carboniferous Period (Pennsylvanian subdivi- Joggins, Nova Scotia. On the north-western shore of the tells about life in the area over 300 sion) about 313 mya. In fact, the rocks are similar in age Chignecto Peninsula that juts into the upper Bay of million years ago. to those of the 'Coal Age' Joggins area in Cumberland Fundy, the fifteen kilometre stretch of crumbling, fossil- A section of the fossil cliffs at Joggins Basin (described below) at the head of the Bay of Fundy. rich, sea cliffs have been aptly termed a "Coal Age Gala- The story begins about 310 mya, towards the end of the Ongoing studies of the geology, animals and plants of pagos" by palaeontologists because of the abundance along the narrow beach, one cannot help but be im- Carboniferous Period or ‘Coal Age’, when the world’s Fern Ledges indicate that three distinct coastal habitats and diversity of plant and animal remains dating from pressed by the many different hued striations showing vast coal deposits were forming in lush tropical swamps. were once present in the area. Inland was an upland dry the late Carboniferous Period (a geologic subdivision on the cliff face, comprising sandstone, siltstone, and The Cumberland Basin area around Joggins was then lo- community with forests of giant trees ancestral to our known as the Pennsylvanian, 320-299 mya). The batter- shale layers as well as the characteristic ebony seams of cated in tropical latitudes near the centre of the newly conifers and cycads, as well as large extinct seed ferns; ing tides of Fundy and the probing frosts of winter are coal that once supported a burgeoning mining industry formed Pangaea. The Earth’s crust in this area was being then came a lowland, marshy community with shrubbier steadily eroding away these 30 metre high cliffs, con- in the region. Originally laid down horizontally, the deformed by immense geologic forces and the surface vegetation and finally a shallow brackish coastal embay- tinuously exposing fresh rocks and new fossils. Walking rocky layers have over time been depressed by the great ment. River channels cutting across the coastal plain weight of accumulating sediments to form a bowl - drained into the sea. The rich trove of fossils was proba- shaped structure, so that the cliff layers near Joggins bly formed by a sudden subsidence and subsequent bur- now tilt upwards towards the north at an angle of about ial of a stretch of this coastline. Fern Ledges is truly a re- 20 degrees. This means that as you walk northeast along markable site, scientifically renowned for the diversity the beach, deeper and deeper sedimentary layers are be- of its "world famous fossil biota" including some of the ing revealed on the face of the cliff – you are literally world's oldest insect and land snail fossils. The fossil of walking backwards in time through a lengthy geological the early moss, Thallites lichenoides, is one of only a epoch. The deposit of reddish material at the top of the few found anywhere in North America. cliff is a six or seven metre deep mix of clay and boul- ders left behind by kilometres-thick glaciers that finally In early October 2010, the Global Geoparks Network, an receded from the area only late in the Quaternary Period, organization assisted by UNESCO, recognized the inter- a mere 13,000 or so years ago. national scientific importance of all these geological for-

mations, not only in Saint John and Fern Ledges, but Scientists from around the world have been excited by across a wide swath of southern New Brunswick border- these cliffs ever since the mid 19th century, when two ing on the Bay of Fundy. It designated the new Stone- renowned British and Canadian geologists visited the hammer Geopark encompassing 2,500 square kilometres area and uncovered the oldest fossil of a reptile ever between Lepreau and St. Martins and extending inland Clipart.com found. This notable find even influenced the evolution- as far as Grand Bay-Westfield and Norton. One of 77 ary thinking of , who noted in his earth- Period Coal the J.W.of Dawson. breathers Air A “Coal Age” forest such geoparks worldwide, it is the first North American shaking book, , “thus Sir C. Carboniferous amphibians and reptiles

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