Moncton, Monday, 12-Jun-2023
While we're staying in New Brunswick, we drove to Nova Scotia today to the Joggins Fossil Cliffs.
The Joggins Fossil Cliffs are along a stretch of beach with exposed layers of rock that date to the Carboniferous Period, which was between 360 and 300 million years ago. We had signed up for a tour at 2pm, but there didn't seem to be very good food options in the area. We decided to eat in Amherst so we timed things to arrive at Joggins with enough time to walk up and down the beach and go through the interpretive center before the tour.
As we headed towards the stairs that go down to the beach, we started feeling a very strong wind coming off the water. That wasn't surprising, since we were essentially going through a wind tunnel. Once we got to the beach, we still felt the wind, but it wasn't nearly as strong.
Not really knowing what we were looking at, we still were able to find some fossils, including a fossilized tree, some plants, and roots. The cliffs consist of exposed layers of rock from the Carboniferous Period, angled such that as you walk along the beach, you move back and forth through history.
On the west coast, you would think the cliffs were exposed due to tectonic activity, but in this case, it was because of a salt dome. There was a sea between two mountains which evaporated, leaving a layer of salt. Sediment settled, piling up for millions of years. Eventually, the salt got squeezed out, causing the layers to become angled. Later, glaciers came along to expose the layers, and sea erosion helped make the layers visible.
It was close to low tide when we were walking along the beach, just like at Hopewell Rocks. At high tide, the water comes right up to the cliffs, so they don't allow people on the beach outside of low tide.
The cliffs are mostly made of sandstone. What I found interesting were several ridges of sandstone that stuck up several inches from the sand. In some cases, it was a continuous ridge from the cliffs to the water at low tide.
We went back up to the interpretive center and looked through things, then it was time for the tour. Apparently, it was a large group; the noon tour had only one visitor. The guide was very informative. He was able to point to where tree fossils left an impression in the cliffs, as well as identify different kinds of fossils in rocks that were lying around.
The guide also explained how coal was mined from the area, even though it was lignite coal, the lowest grade. He also explained that coal could form during the Carboniferous Period because bacteria and fungi didn't exist which could make plant material deteriorate, so it got compressed over time into coal. Now, such organisms will cause organic material to rot, so it would never stick around long enough to become fossil fuel.
After we were done with the tour, we drove back to Moncton and grabbed some ice cream from the place across the street from our B&B. We then walked to dinner and walked back to relax for the rest of the evening.
