Maritimes - Summer 2008

July 5 - 25, 2008

Day 11 - July 15: Five Islands, Springhill, Joggins, & Parrsboro: Joggins - Visitor Centre

We enjoyed hearing that Joggins had received Unesco World Heritage designation and decided to visit the new beautiful visitor centre. Very nice displays and Little Blue had a fabulous time weathering the coal age storms in the 'cave' as well as watching the evolution movie narrated by the land snail Dendropupa...twice! We also found out that Joggins is actually referenced in Charles Darwins "The Origin of Species"... who knew?!
From the Joggins Fossil Cliffs earthcache description:
"The fossil cliffs of Joggins are a world-class palaeontological site, and they have been designated a Special Place under the Province of Nova Scotia's Special Places Protection Act. Joggins is located near the head of the Bay of Fundy, in an area where the tides are some of the world's highest (over 15 meters). This tidal action causes steady erosion of the 23 meter high cliffs.

The cliffs have yielded fossils which give an unprecedented glimpse into life during the Carboniferous Period, including: a rich variety of flora; a diverse fauna of amphibians; some exciting track ways of the Arthropleura; and, some of the world's first reptiles."

The entrance sign at the visitor centre... everything here looks brand new!

A giant piece of coal and the accompanying sign reminds us of the link between fossils...
and fossil fuels.

The visitor centre is all about the fossils... even the washrooms teach a lesson.
Here Sam is learning about coprolites... fossilized poo!

this display highlights the 'Carboniferous' Age (aka Coal Age) which dates from 360 to 299 mya when the first insects and reptiles were around and when Nova Scotia was still part of Africa!

These tree fossils represent lycopsid trees which were the most common tree in the Joggins swamps. These towering trees are one of the few major plane ecosystems in Earth's history to have collapsed into extinction... the only modern relatives of these are the tiny club mosses called Lycopodium that grow just a few centimetres high!

Sam followed some small dinosaur prints into a tiny prehistoric stormy cave.

The cave was a representation of a day in the life of a Coal Age swamp... and was one of Sammy's favourite things about the Joggins Cliffs!

Sammy watching the evolution movie narrated by the land snail Dendropupa.

She may not look excited, but Sam liked the movie so much, she watched it a second time!

The big evolution maze outside was a neat idea, but in the end it didn't teach much.

A look at the eco-friendly visitor centre.

Speaking of evolution, this was the moment of our trip when the idea of 'banana dogs' was born.

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