September 7th, 2007
one of our traditions
Some of you may remember that I wrote about the Joggins Fossil Cliffs last year during our almost-annual trip to Nova Scotia. Check out that post if you want to get more of a feel for the place. I posted a panorama photo and some other shots that give a better idea of the size and setting of the cliffs. Visiting the cliffs has become something of a tradition for us. We first visited them in 1999 and have since returned several times. We don’t usually spend that much time searching for fossils — we found a few on previous visits — but come mainly to enjoy the feeling of place. The setting is a long expanse of beach with high cliffs curving around. The cliffs are layers of stone and sediment with occasional coal seams running through. Pitch black particles wash out into black streams of pebbles stretching down to the ocean. Large and small stones erode from the cliffs, as sections crumble and fall into the ocean at high tide — and this is the Bay of Fundy, so the tides are very high in this region. Fossils are unearthed daily, so visitors to the beach can search along the base of the cliffs if they are so inclined. Picking rock out of the cliff faces is prohibited as this is a geologically protected site.
During this visit, we caught a glimpse of the new Joggins Fossil Institute being built atop the cliffs overlooking the bay. It looks interesting — quite large — and seems to blend in well with its setting. A local resident told us that the finished structure will have a grassy roof covering. The Joggins Fossil Cliffs have been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I don’t know if it has received that designation as yet, but it does seem likely.
This is a closer view of a typical section of the fossil cliffs. When you’re this close, you can get some appreciation for the complex layers of sediment of which they’re composed.
I haven’t yet posted photos of profiles of the cliffs — I’ll probably follow up this post with another with a few more photos — but, as mentioned above, the cliffs are constantly eroding, with large sections occasionally washing down to the beach. Visitors do need to be wary about walking below overhanging sections of rock, and also of becoming stranded by the high tides that can rise rapidly.
On this trip, while I wasn’t intentionally looking for fossils — in fact, I was looking for seashells and beach-worn bits of glass — I came upon this large section of rock wedged beneath and even larger rock. By the look of it, I’d say it was almost definitely a fossil rock. It’s probably the largest I’ve seen down on the beach. There are some beautiful fossils up in the original fossil center which is still operating in the village a couple of blocks from the beach (it’s supposed to be closing once the new center opens later this year).
This trip, we spent most of our time wandering around the beach. I’ll post a few photos of some of our findings in the next day or two.