Heritage sites, Archaeological discoveries, History of Archaeology

Joggins Fossil Cliffs

Location

Nova Scotia

Country

Canada

Year of Research

2008

Culture

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs has a 689 ha palaeontological site along the coast of Nova Scotia (eastern Canada), have been described as the “coal age Galápagos” due to their wealth of fossils from the Carboniferous period (354 to 290 million years ago).

The rocks of this place are considered to be iconic for this period of the history of Earth and are the world’s thickest and most comprehensive record of the Pennsylvanian strata (dating back 318 to 303 million years) with the most complete and known fossil record of terrestrial life from that time.

These includes the remains and tracks of very early animals and the rain forest in which they lived, left in situ, intact and unbroken. With its 14.7 km of sea cliffs, low bluffs, rock platforms and beach, the site groups remains of three ecosystems: estuarine bay, floodplain rain forest and fire prone forested alluvial plain with freshwater pools.

It provides the richest assemblage known of the fossil life in these three ecosystems with 96 genera and 148 species of fossils and 20 footprint groups. The site is specified as containing outstanding examples describing major stages in the history of Earth.

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs have been called as the “coal age Galápagos” and are the world reference site for the “Coal Age”. Their whole and accessible fossil-bearing rock exposures provide has the best evidence known of the iconic features of the Pennsylvanian (or Carboniferous) period of Earth History.