Miguasha National Park

• Official name: Miguasha National Park
• Location: Quebec, Canada
• Type: Natural
• Year of inscription: 1999

Miguasha National Park, or in French, Le Parc national de Miguasha, is a protected coastal park along the Chaleur Bay on the Gaspé Peninsula in southeast Quebec, Canada. The smallest of the parks in the Province of Quebec, Miguasha covers only an area of 215 acres (87 hectares). It was created in 1985 by the government of Quebec to protect the natural surroundings and fossils found there and was designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 1999. This site is also known as the Miguasha Provincial Park, Miguasha Fossil Site, the Bay of Escuminac Fossil Site, the Upper Devonian Escuminac Formation, or the Hugh-Miller Cliffs. Occasionally, it is referred to as “Scaumenac Bay” or “Scaumenac Bay P.Q.” on fossil specimens.

The park contains an exceptional paleontological fossil site called the Upper Devonian Escuminac Formation. This area is known for its rich deposits of plant and animal fossils that are from the Devonian Period, about 370 million years ago, which is also called the Age of Fishes. Five of the six known fossil fish groups can be found in this formation. Although about sixty known similar fossil sites exist, those in the Miguasha National Park are better preserved and greater in number than any other site in the world, which qualifies the site for UNESCO World Heritage status. The fossils found in the park include sarcopterygian lobe-finned fishes with lungs that are thought to have evolved into tetrapods, which had four legs, breathed air, and lived on the land. The park also features a comprehensive natural history museum with working fossil laboratories and exhibits that explain the paleontological significance of the park and display fossils, both from plants and fish, found there.

History

About 370 million years ago, the coastal areas of the Miguasha National Park were a tropical estuary filled with early Devonian primitive trees and insects, such as spiders and scorpions. The climate was much warmer, and sea life thrived in the warm tidal waters. The variety of fish that lived in these waters varied greatly; some were spiny and armor-plated, while others had lungs and lobe-like fins that allowed them to crawl on mud flats near the water. These fish were thought to have evolved into now-extinct tetrapods that lived about 350 million years ago. They were amphibians with four limbs that were able to live in water and on land.

The land the park now sits on was once home to the Micmac, or Mi’kmaq, Algonquin people of the peninsula. They called the area Megouasag, meaning “red cliffs,” and over the years, the name was eventually rendered Miguasha. These Indigenous people lived off the land and sea, using the nearby waterways to travel extensively by canoe. They were seasonally nomadic, so they moved down to the coastal waters of the Chaleur Bay near the cliffs to fish, gather shellfish, and hunt seals.

In 1788, the French government gave John Shoolbred, an English merchant, a strop of the coastal area along the Restigouche River to govern as a fiefdom, or seigneurie. This area included the Miguasha peninsula and the surrounding cliff rock formations. The seigneurial system was ended in Canada in 1855, and several private families settled in the area.

No discoveries of fossils were made until 1831 when Hugh Miller, a Scottish stonemason and geologist, found several fossils there that were similar to those found in the Old Red Sandstone fossil beds in Scotland. In 1842, Abraham Gesner, a geologist and medical doctor, next made major discoveries of fossils in the beds at the Escuminac Formation. Gesner, who also invented and trademarked kerosene, was passionate about geology and fossils and worked to discover some of the early fossils that made the site famous. By the 1880s, thousands of significant fossils were unearthed, and many of the important finds were sent to the British Museum and the Royal Scottish Museum.

The more modern development of the fossil sites began in 1976 when a team from the University of Quebec at Rimouski began to explore the area and develop an interpretative center. It opened in 1978 as a place to exhibit fossil finds to visitors, and, in the twenty-first century, is home to the Miguasha Natural History Museum. It houses laboratories, storage spaces, and exhibits to showcase the fossil beds. Fossil specimens and reproductions are lent and exchanged with various educational institutions to promote further research and understanding of the history of Miguasha National Park.

In 1972, the area of land along the cliffs containing a large part of the fossil beds of the Escuminac was bought by the Quebec government to ensure that it remained in the protected ownership of the Canadian government. Further, the formation of Miguasha’s conservation park status was established by the Quebec government in 1985, which made it impossible for the fossil sites to be privatized or owned by any individual. This status also prohibits visitors from collecting personal rock samples within park limits, which prevents any undiscovered fossils from being disturbed.

In 1990, the Provincial Mining Act was issued to prohibit oil, gas, and mineral exploration and mining in an area surrounding the periphery of the park which is 1,195 acres (775 hectares). This area is owned by about one hundred private holdings. In 2004, the province of Quebec changed the status of this buffer zone to become a reserve, so no development can take place in this area without the prior authorization of the Quebec Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife, thus providing further protection.

Significance

Miguasha National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that serves to preserve the plant and animal fossils found along the coastal Fossil Cliff and the Escuminac Formation within the park. The Escuminac Formation is made up of strata of gray sedimentary rock dating back to the Upper Devonian geological period. This alternates with layers of sandstone and shale that are estimated to be about 350– 70 million years old. The cliff face is facing the Chaleur Bay, exposing the fossil beds in the strata layers. The beach area of the park is also protected as part of the natural preserve. This protection allows for the recovery of fossils that fall from the top of the cliff area or are moved by the tides in the coastal area.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites must meet at least one of ten established selection criteria, and Miguasha meets criterion viii as a worthy fossil site with evidence of vertebral marine life from the Devonian geological period. This criterion states that a site under consideration has “outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features.” Since more than thirteen thousand specimens are part of the park’s national fossil collection, this is considered a significant scientific heritage. Most of these fossils are exceptionally well-preserved. The fossils in the park include a range of complete specimens, 3D specimens, and fossilized soft tissues that have been recovered from the fossil sites. The site contains the most well-preserved fossils of the sarcopterygian fish, including the Eusthenopteron foordi with lobe fins and lungs, which are thought to have evolved into tetrapods that gave rise to remaining terrestrial lifeforms.

A large amount of biodiversity exists in the park’s fossils. Besides the several species of vertebrate fish, invertebrates, plants, algae, and other microorganisms can also be found there. Some of the plant fossil species in the park are quite rare. For example, fossils of one of the oldest types of flowering plants, Spermasposita, have been found.

The Natural History Museum hosts about twenty-six thousand visitors annually and is home to a laboratory facility, which allows for the fossils collected at the nearby sites to be prepared by paleontologists. Afterward, specialized collection rooms at the museum safely store and preserve the specimens. Display rooms allow visitors to view the fossils and learn about the geological history of the Escuminac Formation and its significance to the fossil collection. Guided tours are also available for visitors, which allows them to view the teaching lab and the fossil beds near the cliff, where the latest research on fossils is explained.

Visitors to Miguasha National Park can also enjoy hiking along the red cliff side of the Bonaventure rock formation above the fossil-rich Escuminac Formation, which affords viewpoints of the northern shore of the Restigouche River and the surrounding estuary. At sunset, the setting sun makes the rocks on the cliff appear a glowing crimson red. Hiking trails also extend into the forested areas inland, which are rich in birch, aspen, and fir trees.

Bibliography

“The Criteria for Selection.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, whc.unesco.org/en/criteria. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

“Le Parc national de Miguasha.” Miguasha National Park, www.miguasha.ca/mig-en/le‗parc‗national‗de‗miguasha.php. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

“Miguasha National Park.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, whc.unesco.org/en/list/686. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

“Miguasha National Park.” World Heritage Datasheet, May 2011, world-heritage-datasheets.unep-wcmc.org/datasheet/output/site/miguasha-national-park. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

“Protecting a Unique Heritage.” Miguasha National Park, www.miguasha.ca/mig-en/protecting‗a‗unique‗heritage.php. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

“World Heritage Sites in Canada: Miguasha National Park.” Parks Canada, 19 Sept. 2023, www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/spm-whs/sites-canada/sec02m. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.