The author among the fossils!
The town of Flower’s Cove perches on the upper western end of Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula. With a population of a few hundred souls it may not seem a lot different from other small communities dotting the island except – for one small detail: the 650 million-year-old mega-fossils that are gracing the shoreline. As you pass by, signs will instruct you to come and see the thrombolites. The instruction naturally posed a challenge to this old rock hound and I quickly parked my car and tried to locate the trail.
It seemed the access had been changed, so I hailed a charming granny, who was out hanging clothes, to see if she could point out the new path. With the typical, overwhelming hospitality of Newfoundlanders, she took me by the arm and escorted me over to the new trail-head. Along the way, she told me her life history and tried to fix me up with her unmarried 47 year old daughter. Only in Newfoundland!
Placard for world’s oldest fossils, Flower’s Cove, Newfoundland
Having found the path, I meandered along the shoreline and began to spot huge, stony structures from ten feet, to perhaps as much as thirty feet in diameter, and shaped like they had been made by giant Jell-O molds. These smooth mounds looked most definitely organic and signs along the way suggested that they were fossilized remnants of particles trapped and shaped by colonies of cyanobacteria, one called “blue green algae”. Apparently the oldest fossils in the world, some of these may be over 3 billion years old. They are rare, with colonies found in Western Australia and a few, some living, turning up in odd places around the world.
Doing a little research, I found Google results on the Flower’s Cove fossils to be rare, just like the fossils. I also began to question whether these were in fact thrombolites. Stromatolites are a related structure but while thrombolites are rough and “clotted” the stromatolites are noted for being laminated and smooth, which these amazing structures certainly were. Maybe nobody wants to have to change the signs, but my vote is that these are not thrombolites, they are stromatolites.
Large thrombolites. The mushroom-shaped one in the foreground was about the size of an armchair.
Whatever they are, they are well worth a stop-and-explore if you are driving up or down the coast of northwestern Newfoundland.
IF YOU GO…
Newfoundland and Labrador
Photo Credits
All photos by George Burden – All Rights Reserved
Love to hear about these adventures of yours, Dr. B!
Thank you Shirley!