Mistaken Point

Official Name: Mistaken Point

Location: Newfoundland, Canada

Type: Natural

Year of Inscription: 2016

Mistaken Point is a fossil site that is about 10 miles long. It is on the Avalon Peninsula along the southeastern shore of Newfoundland in eastern Canada. It contains large numbers of deep-sea fossils from the Ediacaran Period, including the oldest known fossils from this period ever found. The fossil site is located within Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, a larger area that extends inland from the coastal cliffs that comprise Mistaken Point.

The fossils in the area were preserved as the result of volcanic activity that deposited large amounts of volcanic ash on the ocean floor, burying the sea life. This process happened repeatedly, causing a 1.25-mile-thick multi-layer fossil bed to build up over time. More than ten thousand animal specimens are captured in the rock and preserved in precise detail.

People who live in the area were aware of the strange impressions and patterns in the rocks in the area throughout the twentieth century. However, it was not until 1967 that their significance was identified. From that point, paleontologists and other researchers began formal study of Mistaken Point to learn about the Ediacaran Period and its significance in Earth’s history. Mistaken Point was granted consideration as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site when it was added to the list of tentative sites in 2004. It was added as a formal World Heritage Site in 2016, becoming the eighteenth such site in Canada and the country’s fifth fossil site to be so recognized.

History

The fossils in Mistaken Point were formed during the Ediacaran Period, a time just following two major ice ages known as the Sturtian and the Marinoan glacials. During this time, Earth’s land masses were shifting and moving, creating major changes in geography and climate. Volcanos became prevalent and the moving land masses churned large amounts of nutrients into the waters surrounding them.

Scientists theorize that this process created fundamental changes in the ocean, adding oxygen and increasing the type of life the water could support. The fossil records prior to the Ediacaran Period are mostly small organisms. The fossils from this time include the first record of larger animals, leading researchers to believe that the changes in the ocean led to the development of Earth’s first large animal life during this time. These animals are more biologically complex than the microbial lifeforms that scientists say lived prior to this time.

Seventeen species of fossils have been identified at Mistaken Point, including a number that are not found anywhere else in the world. The most common fossil is the rangeomorph, a sea creature unlike any other animal on record. It had no muscles or mouth and no gut. Instead, it was nourished through a process known as osmotrophy, where the skin’s surface absorbs the necessary nutrients. They became extinct without leaving any known animal ancestors or evolving into any other known animal species.

The rangeomorphs and other prehistoric lifeforms that died and were buried under tons of volcanic debris remained unknown when humans first encountered the area now known as Mistaken Point. The area was mostly regarded for the danger it posed to sailors in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when it was often misidentified as another nearby land point, Cape Race. Sailors would turn north, thinking they were headed into the safe harbor at Cape Race. Instead, they would sail over dangerous underwater rocks that led to nearly one hundred shipwrecks in the area between 1864 and 1904. It was this case of mistaken identity that led to the area being named Mistaken Point.

Historical records indicate that residents were aware of the presence of strange rock markings in the area at least during the twentieth century. There are reports of children likening them to flower designs. Then, in 1967, Indian-born student Shiva Balak Misra was studying the area as part of his research for a master’s degree from Memorial University in Newfoundland. Misra, along with his field assistant, Paul Thompson, were mapping rocks in the area that dated back to the Precambrian era when they came across some of the fossils.

They realized the significance of the fossil beds and shared their findings. As word spread, the area was flooded with researchers, academics, and scientists. It also attracted for-profit fossil hunters and the curious, who arrived with sledgehammers and explosives to extract them. Official fossil hunters from museums used more delicate but equally destructive methods, such as diamond saws.

Academics and locals, particularly those from the nearby areas of Cape Race and Portugal Cove South, began efforts to protect the site on their own, posting watches and looking out for unauthorized people in the area. They also began campaigning for more official protection. In 1987, the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve was formed, and it became illegal to remove any material, especially fossils, from the area. The reserve area was expanded on a temporary emergency basis in 2003 when an additional adjoining area was also found to have fossils. This additional area was permanently added to the protected ecological reserve in 2009.

In 2004, Mistaken Point was added to Canada’s tentative list of prospective World Heritage Sites. The site’s nomination dossier was submitted in 2015 through a cooperative effort between government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Mistaken Point Ambassadors Inc. This led to Mistaken Point officially becoming inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.

Significance

The area that comprises Mistaken Point was once the bottom of the ocean floor. Over time, a layer of sediment built up in a layer of about 1.25 miles in thickness. The process involved the deposit of volcanic ash that brought a sudden end to the sea life it fell on. The animals were buried alive and protected from any decomposition or decay, much like what happened to humans and animals during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii in 79 CE. This resulted in fossil specimens that were nearly intact representatives of the animal and extremely detailed.

The eruptions happened repeatedly over a time, allowing the volcanic ash to capture and preserve a wide variety of plant and animal life. The climate also changed over time, allowing the area to develop different ecosystems between the ash deposits, further enhancing the diversity of the plant and animal life that became caught in the ash and fossilized. The sudden nature of the volcanic ash flows captured virtually all the life that was present in the area, meaning that the layers are now nearly perfect representations of what they looked like at each moment in time.

More than one hundred sea beds are represented in the area, ranging from small layers within a single fossil to large expanses with more than 4,500 fossils in place. In all, more than ten thousand fossil impressions ranging in size from less than an inch to nearly six feet. While conditions that categorized the Ediacaran Period affected areas of Earth, only Mistaken Point contains such a rich variety covering such a long period of time with so many fossil impressions. Many of these impressions do not appear anywhere else in the world and are from animals for which no similar animal species have been found.

As a result, the paleontological site at Mistaken Point is viewed as having the oldest, most abundant, and most varied representation of fossils from the Ediacaran Period anywhere on Earth. Because it is on an island that is in a somewhat isolated area, it is less affected by human traffic and activity. This has kept the area relatively intact, increasing its value to researchers. The area is so important that while the fossils can be viewed in the field just as they were found, this is only possible by guided tour to protect the area for future research and study.

Bibliography

“The Ediacaran Period: Paving the Way for Our Modern World.” WWW.Educarian.Org, www.ediacaran.org/the-ediacaran-period.html. Accessed 29 June 2022.

Groat, Cody. “Mistaken Point.” Canadian Encyclopedia, 21 Nov. 2019, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mistaken-point#. Accessed 29 June 2022.

“Mistaken Point.” National World Heritage Sites, www.naturalworldheritagesites.org/sites/mistaken-point/. Accessed 29 June 2022.

“Mistaken Point.” UNESCO World Heritage Convention, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1497/. Accessed 29 June 2022.

“Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve – A Story 565 Million Years in the Making.” Newfoundland and Labrador, www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/trip-ideas/travel-stories/mistaken-point-ecological-reserve-a-story-565-million-years-in-the-making. Accessed 29 June 2022.