Green Point is located 12 km north of the town of Rocky Harbour in Gros Morne National Park,Gros Morne National Park: Visitor information (2007) Retrieved August 18, 2008 from http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nl/grosmorne/visit/visit4_e.asp#04 on the west coast of Newfoundland. It is the home to a small summer fishing community and a drive-in campground. In 2000, Green Point was designated the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) representing the division between the Cambrian and the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...

systems.Cooper, R. A., Nowlan, G. S., and Williams, S. H. (2001). Global Stratotype Section and Point for Base of the Ordovician System. ''Episodes'', 24(1). Retrieved August 18, 2008, from http://www.stratigraphy.org/Tremadocian.pdf

Geology

In 2000, the cliffs at Green Point were approved as the Global Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Ordovician system by the International Union of Geological Sciences. The boundary is a section 60m thick composed of layers of shale and limestone with overturned beds dipping 60-70 degrees to the South East. It is marked by the first appearance of ''

Iapetognathus fluctivagus ''Iapetognathus fluctivagus'' is a species of denticulate cordylodan conodonts belonging to the genus '' Iapetognathus''. It existed during the Tremadocian Age ( million years ago) of the Ordovician. It is an important index fossil in biostrat ...

'', a conodont fossil, 4.8m below the earliest known planktic

graptolite Graptolites are a group of colonial animals, members of the subclass Graptolithina within the class Pterobranchia. These filter-feeding organisms are known chiefly from fossils found from the Middle Cambrian ( Miaolingian, Wuliuan) through t ...

fossil, '' Rhabdinopora praeparabola''. Green Point 1

The

shales Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...

represent a 30 million year record of deep-ocean sediments laid in a base-of-slope environment in the Iapetus Ocean. The

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

layers indicate periodic avalanches from the shallower waters. Portions of the same limestone avalanches that came to rest further up the coastal slopes are featured at Cow Head. There, the individual rocks in the limestone conglomerate are much larger.Burzynski, M. (1999). Gros Morne National Park. St. John's, NL: Breakwater Books. p.44 Green Point 2

Campground

There are 31 drive-in campsites at Green Point.

References

External links

Overview of Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points

Gros Morne National Park of Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Point, Newfoundland And Labrador Paleozoic paleontological sites of North America Landforms of Newfoundland and Labrador Paleontology in Canada Cambrian paleontological sites Ordovician paleontological sites

Geology

Campground

See also

References

External links