Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve

Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve
IUCN category II (national park)
Map showing the location of Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve
Map showing the location of Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve
Location Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Nearest city St. John's
Coordinates 46°37′55″N 53°11′25″W / 46.63194°N 53.19028°W / 46.63194; -53.19028Coordinates: 46°37′55″N 53°11′25″W / 46.63194°N 53.19028°W / 46.63194; -53.19028
Area 5.7 km2 (2.2 sq mi)
Established 1984 (1984)
Governing body Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Environment and Conservation
Official name Mistaken Point
Type Natural
Criteria viii
Designated 2016 (40th session)
Reference no. 1497
State Party Canada
Region Europe and North America

Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a wilderness area located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada which contains the Mistaken Point Formation, the site of Ediacaran fossils representing the oldest multicellular life on Earth.[1] The reserve contains one of the most diverse and well-preserved collections of Precambrian fossils known.

Mistaken Point

Mistaken Point (46°37′32″N 53°09′41″W / 46.62556°N 53.16139°W / 46.62556; -53.16139) is a small headland on the Avalon Peninsula with the ecological reserve. Mistaken Point takes its name from the deadly results of mistaking it for Cape Race, in the area's typically foggy weather. Sailors who would make this mistake 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 Indian graduate student studying geology at Memorial University of Newfoundland.[2][3] The site became quickly recognized in the mid-1980s as an important find containing probably the oldest metazoan fossils in North America and the most ancient deep-water marine fossils in the world. a A 5 kilometer 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.[1]

Fossils

Studies have shown that the Mistaken Point biota represents the oldest Ediacaran fossils known anywhere, in fact the oldest large and architecturally complex organisms in Earth history.[4] The fossil sites along the shore within the reserve were inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list on July 17, 2016.[5][6][7]

Avalonia terrane

The fossil terrane of Mistaken Point is the named Avalonian terrane that is found in Western Europe. It formed in the early Cambrian when Pannotia broke from Gondwana-(now South America, Africa, Antarctica, and Australia).

Cultural references

  • Prolific Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip 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.
  • The wreck of the RMS Titanic was found on 1 September 1985, slightly more than 600 km (370 mi) from Mistaken Point.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve". NL Department of Environment and Conservation. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  2. ↑ BBC News (18 September 2007). "Rare honour for Indian geologist". BBC South Asia. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  3. ↑ http://www.mistakenpointfauna.com/paper1.html MISRA, S.B.,(1969a) Geology of Biscay Bay-Cape Race area, Avalon Peninsula, South Eastern Newfoundland
  4. ↑ Queens University Research Archived 24 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ "Mistaken Point". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  6. ↑ MacEachern, Daniel. "Newfoundland's Mistaken Point named UNESCO World Heritage site". CBC News. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  7. ↑ Unesco World Heritage List
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