Joggins...

Did you like that little tiny teaser yesterday? It really was my favorite find of the day. If we could have taken anything off the beach... that would have been it!!

We met up with Grandma and Papa in Amherst for lunch then headed out to the Fossil Cliffs. Joggins became of World Heritage Site last summer and at the same time opened this most amazing interpretation center... which will open for the season on Earth Day... so we will be back to check that out this summer.

 

When planning a trip to Joggins you must pay close attention to the tides. The cliffs are on the Bay of Fundy which has the most dramatic tidal fluctuations in the world... 
We arrived about an hour after the tide started to head out... Papa was scoping out the stairway. The stairs get a real beating from the tides...
A few streams needed crossing...

Papa helped Nana across...
We were not on the beach long before a staff member came over to talk... 

She was wonderful! Super nice and very kind to spend some time with us. Educating us about what we were seeing. It really made the experience all that much better... 

Here she is showing us a fossil seed.

She also informed us that collecting anything natural... including rocks and shells could carry a fine up to $10,000! Yes, $10,000!

From what I understand in the past people were allowed to collect fossils from the beach but once it became a World Heritage Site the collecting stopped. Now they have paleontologist who regularly visit the beach to look for unusual fossils for research and to display in the interpretation center. 
Some of the fossils were rather large... like this tree bark.
Some were even bigger... like this tree in the cliff face. 

If you can't see it check on flicker and I will put a little note around it...
Here it is relative to the cliff face...

I wish we could have seen a better example of the trees in the cliff. This is what Joggins became famous for because the conditions surrounding the fossilization of the trees allowed small animals to get caught in the rotted out trunks and an amazing fossil record of those animals has been preserved within the trees. One specimen contained 17 different animals! 

The cliff face changes through the years with the dramatic tides exposing new fossils all the time.
This is an example of a Calamite fossil. They were plants that grew thick in the undergrowth of the forest. 
Some more calamites...

The fossils at Joggins are from the Late Carboniferous Period... and were formed from 310 -300 million years ago. The most common type of tree here was the Lycopod which is the giant ancestor of present-day club mosses and grew to up to 50 ft tall.One common lycopod was the Lepidodendron. This is an example of a branch core and the snake looking bark...

The other common lycopod during this time was the Sigillaria. Two examples of fossils from Sigillaria above. 

Of course Dylan was just in heaven with all of the rocks... and the mud!
The Carboniferous time... also known as the "coal age"... is when most of the coal beds in North America were laid down. It was easy to find coal on the beach and in the rocks...
Once Fionna knew what to look for she got pretty into looking...

This is coprolite... yup... fossil fish poop! 

While Wes and I were getting fossil lesson from Tammy the great guide... Grandma and Papa took the kids on a hike up the beach. Great fun!!
Grandma found this really cool fossil branch... I think she would have taken this one... 

The tide was pretty far out there... 
Cool fossil showing the curvature of the tree trunk... this one is pretty worn down by the tides...
Fionna hunting...
Fossil find and run...

She was coming up to me with rocks, fossils... then heading out for more...
Then there were the rocks... Some very cool please pick me up kind of rocks. 

Some fossils... some maybe not!
Dylan was having fun keeping up with sister. He is usually pretty sensible and when she jumps he will sit on his bum and slide down... this time he jumped! Almost cracked his noggin and joggin!
This was another one that I just loved. Bark from a tree. So amazing to hold something so old that you can relate to. Just not the same as holding a plane ol' rock... even though it might be just as old!
Wes and the little Dilly man...

That wood was an old dock. Ships would come here to pick up coal... another part of the history of this place that I need to read up on!
These are my unknown fossils... or not fossils at all?

I found them after our friendly guide said goodbye...
Tammy told us all about these too... Some sort of iron wrapped around the rocks. I wish I would have had a voice recorder so I could listen again. So much to take in!
Another rock I really liked but have no idea if those are fossils... looked kinda like layers of shells... Just thought it was cool... but I am just a rock lovin' kinda gal!

The family heading back down the beach...
At one point Dylan was so "stuck in the mud" that when I pulled him out he left a boot behind! 
Tide just starting to come back in...

Goodbye Joggins... 

Looking forward to another visit this summer!