26 September 2019, Thursday

This morning we are off to the Joggins Fossil Centre, about a 45 minute drive from our campground. Joggins is particularly important because it is the best location for seeing fossils from the late Carboniferous Period. This time period is referred to as the “Pennsylvanian” by geologists. The rocks here represent a time when Africa and North America were colliding as Pangaea, the supercontinent, formed causing the rise of the Appalachian mountains. The climate was cooler and wetter at this time and the atmosphere was quite oxygen rich, which allowed the growth of giant tree-like mosses and huge dragonflies, not to mention giant millipedes weighing hundreds of pounds! Layers of decomposing plants from this period were compressed over time beneath sediments and metamorphosed into coal, an organic sedimentary rock. It was here at Joggins that fossils of the earliest known reptile, Hylonomus lyelli was discovered. This is the first animal known to lay its eggs on land. It was able to do so because the eggs had a protective membrane that was impermeable to water, protecting the developing embryo from the dry conditions. 

The Bay of Fundy and the nature of the sedimentary rocks here are leading to the rapid erosion of the cliffs at Joggins. Our tour guide points out that many houses in Joggins near the cliff’s edge have had to be removed, and a road along the cliff is now closed as the guardrails are hanging over the precipice. This rapid erosion is constantly leading to new fossil discoveries.

Down on the beach we are shown where erosion has exposed coal mine shafts. We see small residual wood pilings from the dock where ships used to collect their cargo of coal. Many of the rocks we pick up have fossils embedded in them. I find one with an impression of distal branches of a lapidodendron. Other people find cylindrical “rocks” which are actually fossilized branches of these trees. O finds several pieces of coal and a sample of bog iron, where iron oxide has precipitated out around an organic nucleus. This is the same kind of iron that the Vikings at L’Anse aux Meadows used. 

From Joggins we proceed northward to Amherst, Nova Scotia. After an early dinner at Duncan’s Pub (where we sample a Triders Brewery Yellow Beer’d) we ride over to the brewery itself to see what other offerings might be available. Here we encounter a very friendly crowd, several of whom follow us out to Vincent for a tour of our van – now carrying both several varieties of Triders beer along with our Quidi Vidi brews. (I make a mental note to check how much beer we can bring back into the US.) We have a lovely sunset drive back to our Advocate Harbour camp.