Miguasha National Park

Miguasha Provincial Park (French: Parc national de Miguasha) is a protected area near Carleton-sur-Mer on the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec in Canada. Created in 1985 by the Government of Quebec, Miguasha was designated a World Heritage Site in 1999 in recognition of its wealth of fossils, which display a crucial time during the evolution of life on Earth. Other names for this site are the Miguasha Fossil Site, the Bay of Escuminac Fossil Site, the Upper Devonian Escuminac Formation, and the Hugh-Miller Cliffs. It is also sometimes referred to on fossil specimens as 'Scaumenac Bay' or 'Scaumenac Bay P.Q.'

Parc provincial de Miguasha
Cliff of the Miguasha National Park
Map showing the location of Parc provincial de Miguasha
Map showing the location of Parc provincial de Miguasha
Map showing the location of Parc provincial de Miguasha
Map showing the location of Parc provincial de Miguasha
LocationNouvelle, Avignon Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada
Nearest cityDalhousie, New Brunswick
Coordinates48°06′38″N 66°22′10″W
Area87,3 ha
Established6 February 1985
Governing bodySEPAQ
TypeNatural
Criteriaviii
Designated1999 (23rd session)
Reference no.686rev
RegionEurope and North America

Miguasha Natural History Museum
Miguasha National Park (Québec): outcrop of the Devonian beds that are rich in fossil fish.
Bothriolepis, a fossil antiarch placoderm found at this site.

The park's museum features exhibits about the fossils and paleontology of the park. The museum's collection includes over 9,000 specimens of fossil fish and plants.[1]

Geology

The coastal cliffs are Upper Devonian strata of grey sedimentary rock belonging to the Escuminac Formation. They are composed of alternating layers of sandstone and shale, which are 350–375 million years old. The area today supports mainly birch, aspen, and fir forests.

Palaeontological significance

Some of the fish, fauna, and spore fossils found at Miguasha are rare and ancient species. For example, Spermasporites is thought to be one of the oldest flowering plant[2] genera on Earth.[3]

History

See also

References
  1. "Miguasha National Park and Natural History Museum (Sépaq) | Gaspesian Heritage WebMagazine".
  2. As per reference, but possibly they meant 'seed plant'.
  3. UNESCO citation 686
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