Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a
wilderness area
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located at the southeastern tip of
Newfoundland's
Avalon Peninsula in the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
province of
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...
. The reserve is home to the namesake
Mistaken Point Formation
The Mistaken Point Formation is a geologic formation in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is recognized as a Lagerstätte preserving fossils dating back to the Ediacaran period. It contains a stratum dated to .
Geology
Mistaken Point Formation incl ...
, which contains one of the most diverse and well-preserved collections of
Precambrian fossils in the world.
Ediacaran fossils discovered at the site constitute the oldest known remnants of
multicellular life on Earth.
Mistaken Point
Mistaken Point () is a small headland on the
Avalon Peninsula. Historically, Mistaken Point has been mistaken for
Cape Race
Cape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese name for this cape, "Raso", mean ...
due to the area's typically foggy weather conditions. Sailors making this error would turn north, thinking they had reached Cape Race Harbour, and immediately run into treacherous rocks.
History
The first fossil to be found in the area, ''
Fractofusus misrai'', was discovered in June 1967 by
Shiva Balak Misra, an
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n graduate student studying
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
at
Memorial University of Newfoundland. In the mid-1980s, the site quickly became recognized as an important location containing possibly the oldest
metazoan
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...
fossils in North America, and the most ancient deep-water marine fossils in the world. A five-kilometre stretch of coastline was first established provisionally as a reserve by the provincial government in 1984 and was permanently designated in 1987. It was later expanded in 2009 after further fossil discoveries.
Fossils
Studies have shown that the Mistaken Point
biota represents the oldest
Ediacaran fossils known globally, and are the oldest large and architecturally complex organisms in Earth history. The fossil sites along the shore within the reserve were inscribed to the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
s list on July 17, 2016.
Avalonia terrane
The fossil
terrane
In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust (geology), crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and Accretion (geology), accreted or "Suture (geology), sutured" to crust lying on another pla ...
of Mistaken Point is the named
Avalonian terrane that is found in
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
. It formed in the early
Cambrian when
Pannotia broke from
Gondwana (now
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
, and
Australia).
IUGS geological heritage site
In respect of Mistaken Point being 'the best example in the world of an Edicaran fossil community where ''life first got big'' and metazoan communities bloomed', the
International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included the 'Ediacaran fossil site of Mistaken Point' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an 'IUGS Geological Heritage Site' as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'
Cultural references
*Prolific Canadian rock band
The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassis ...
include a reference to Mistaken Point in "Fly", the fourth track on their 2006 album ''
World Container''. The same track also includes a reference to
Moonbeam, Ontario
Moonbeam is a township in Ontario, Canada, located in the Cochrane District. It is located between the communities of Fauquier and Kitigan along Ontario Highway 11, south of René Brunelle Provincial Park. It is known for its roadside flying s ...
.
*The wreck of the
RMS Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
was found on 1 September 1985, slightly more than from Mistaken Point.
See also
*
List of protected areas of Newfoundland and Labrador
References
External links
*
Management Plan Newfoundland and Labrador, Dept. of Environment and Conservation
Queens University researchDiscovery of Mistaken Point fauna
{{World Heritage Sites in Canada
First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites
Nature reserves in Newfoundland and Labrador
Paleontology in Canada
World Heritage Sites in Canada