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FOSSILS IN NOVA SCOTIA

The following locations are sites where fossils have been discovered in Nova Scotia. Throughout the coming months this site will be increased to include the sites listed. Please check back often. All of the graphics have been generated from photos taken by Edward Rutherford of Chester.

Fossils, where do we find them in Nova Scotia?

If you are not interested in tracking down the fossils in their natural sites, some of them are isolated or require long walks, then you might want to visit the following:

• Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Summer St., Halifax.
• Joggins Fossil Center, Joggins, N.S.
• Fundy Geological Museum, Parrsboro, N.S.
• Parrsboro Rock and Mineral Museum and Shop, Parrsboro, N.S.
• Farrar's General Store, Big Tancook Island, Lunenburg Co., N.S.

Still another place to obtain information is sitting in your armchair with the following books:
The Fossil Cliffs of Joggins by Laing Ferguson, published by the Nova Scotia Museum
Dawning of the Dinosaurs- The Story of Canada's Oldest Dinosaurs by Harry Thurston, published by Nimbus Publishing and The Nova Scotia Museum.

Fossils? What are they?

The study of fossils is known as "Paleontology." Fossils are formed in various ways. Often sand or mud covers the animal or plant and the soft parts decay. The mud and sand fill the empty spaces making what is known as a pith cast. Hard parts sometimes don't decay and can turn into rock. They are found only in sedimentary rock.

Horn coral found in many locations.

Fossils are formed in various ways. Often sand or mud covers the animal or plant and the soft parts decay. The mud and sand fill the empty spaces making what is known as a pith cast. Hard parts sometimes don't decay and can turn into rock. They are found only in sedimentary rock.

Stem of horse tails which now are very small plants.

Petrified fossils are made from either bone or wood covered with wet mud or sand. Water dissolves the chemicals in the bone and wood cells and they are replaced with other chemicals and turned into stone.	Shell that has been turned into stone.
Fossils in amber, like those in Joggins, occur when insects and spiders became trapped in resin from evergreen trees. Eventually the resin turned into amber. The insects are perfectly preserved.

Fossils also occur when animals became trapped in tar.
Carbon fossils occur when plants or fish turn into fossil carbon leaving an imprint in rock, which may also be "black".
The fossils at Fundy are located in one of few places on earth where you can actually read the time periods. This is possible mainly because of the Fundy tides which cause considerable erosion each year. By counting the light bands of strata on the cliff face at Blomidon and Moose Island you can actually step back in time at 21,000 year intervals. This allows scientists to actually view rocks that were formed during both Triassic and Jurassic periods. Bony remains for the periods allow them to examine whether there was a dying off at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. It is in effect like a "Rosetta Stone" for scientists. The strata reveals that the basalt extrusion occurred over a period of 400,000 years and that the creatures at Wasson's Bluff, Parrsboro, occur in strata that dates them to 100,00 to 200,000 years after the extrusion. This makes them some of the oldest fossils found in the world.

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