Discover Canada and Explore the Geodiversity and Fossils of the Discovery UNESCO Global Geopark
- Wayne Munday
- 27 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Sip back and discover Canada and explore the geodiversity and fossils of the north eastern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador at the Discovery UNESCO Global Geopark. Designated a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2020 it stretches for more than 280 Km along the rugged shoreline of the Bonavista Peninsula. The region preserves some of the world’s earliest complex multicellular life from the Ediacaran Period fossiliferous Conception and St. John’s Groups of rock. The Conception Group, dating to approximately 565 million years ago, features deep-marine turbidites, glacial diamictites, and the Mistaken Point Formation, where soft-bodied Metazoans are preserved. The younger St. John’s Group preserves fossiliferous shale from deep-marine offshore shelf and prodelta environments, including discoid Aspidella, frond-like Spriggia, fractal Rangeomorphs, and the muscular Haootia quadriformis, offering unparalleled insight into early animal evolution. Visitors can explore geosites like Port Union, Spillars Cove and Champney’s West, hike volcanic and glacial landscapes, kayak past icebergs carried southward by the Labrador Current, and observe puffins, seabirds, and migrating whales. Beyond its geological and paleontological significance, the geopark reflects rich cultural heritage, including the unceded territory of the Beothuk and historical sites connected to John Cabot’s 1497 voyage. Discovery Geopark is a window into deep time.
The Discovery UNESCO Global Geopark spans the upper half of the Bonavista Peninsula and is a three-hour drive from Province capital of St. John’s. The region is the ancestral territory for the indigenous people of the Beothuk (meaning “true people” or “the people”) who are believed to have descended from earlier groups such as the Little Passage people who lived along the island’s coasts. This is a landscape shaped by volcanoes, glaciers and where the North Atlantic pounds against cliffs whose fossil record goes back over 560 million years during to the Ediacaran Period of the late Neoproterozoic Era when Earth saw the emergence of the first complex multicellular organisms known as the Ediacaran biota. This period represents the end of the Precambrian and precedes the Cambrian Explosion.
The name “Discovery” is in recognition of John Cabot’s (Giovanni Caboto) 1497 voyage. He was an Italian navigator who undertook the earliest known European exploration of North America since the Norse visits to Vinland. Born in Genoa and later a citizen of Venice, he fled debt in 1488, eventually settling in England by 1495, where he secured backing from Bristol merchants and the influential friar Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis. In 1497, under the commission of King Henry VII, Cabot sailed from Bristol on the Matthew with a crew of about 20 aiming to reach Asia via a northerly Atlantic route a plan inspired by Columbus’s westward voyage. After roughly 35 days at sea they sighted land. Cabot’s journey opened the way for later European exploration of North America, and Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland.
Discovery Geopark is located within the Avalon Terrane of the Appalachian Orogen dated to the Ediacaran Period between 635 - 538.8 million years ago marking the end of the Neoproterozoic Era and the last period of the Precambrian. These sedimentary, volcanic and plutonic rocks that preserve the first multicellular life that predates the Cambrian Explosion.
Among the rock is the fossiliferous Conception and St. John’s Groups both located on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula and represent successive stages of Ediacaran geology and fossil preservation. The Conception Group is the older of the two, dating to approximately 565 million years ago, and is globally renowned for its deep-marine turbidites, glacial diamictites, and sandstones, including the iconic Mistaken Point Formation. Its fine-grained argillite beds preserve some of the world’s oldest complex, soft-bodied multicellular Metazoans including coelenterates including spindle-shaped fractofusids, frond-like charniodiscids, and bushy bradgatia were fossilised by volcanic ash prior to the Cambrian Explosion and offer unparalleled insight into the early evolution of life.
The St. John’s Group in Newfoundland, deposited after 565 ± 3 million years ago, is a fossil-rich Ediacaran fossiliferous shale formed in deep-marine to offshore shelf and a prodelta the deepest, outermost part of a river delta, located at the delta front’s toe, where fine-grained sediments such as mud and silt accumulate slowly. Notable fossils are found within the from the Fermeuse Formation include impressions of soft-bodied discoid forms such as Aspidella terranovica, Ediacaria and Rangeomorphs as well as frond-like organisms like Spriggia. Newfoundland’s globally significant Ediacaran fossil heritage is displayed at The Rooms Museum in St. John’s.
The geopark has a number of geosites that provide an opportunity for visitors to have a direct engagement with these fossils. Visitors can encounter Fractofusus, a spindle-shaped organism that reproduced clonally; fractal Rangeomorphs, adapted to maximize nutrient absorption; Aspidella, disc-shaped fossils interpreted as anchoring holdfasts; and Kimberella, an oval imprint with evidence of a feeding organ and also Haootia quadriformis, discovered the earliest fossil evidence of muscular tissue.
The Fossil Site at Port Union is accessible at low tide. Built in 1916 by William Ford Coaker and the Fishermen’s Protective Union, Port Union remains North America’s only union-founded town and is now a National Historic District. Along the shoreline, fine-grained sandstones reveal Ediacaran fossils buried. Visible here are Charniodiscus with its frond-like stem, cabbage-shaped Bradgatia, oval Aspidella, and enigmatic “pizza-shaped” Ivesheadiamorphs.
In 2008, the Murphy’s Cove to Lodge’s Pond Trail from Port Union yielded an extraordinary fossil find of Haootia quadriformis, possibly related to jellyfish and corals, it anchored itself to the seafloor, flexing its arms to capture food in the ocean. At more than 560 million years old and it has the oldest known muscular tissue. The name comes from the Beothuk word “Haoot,” meaning “demon,” chosen both for its brevity and for its otherworldly appearance. At the Champney’s West Aquarium is a display of a replica of Mamsetia manunis a newly discovered 565-million-year-old fossil staurozoan, alongside its living relative, the stalked jellyfish (Lucernaria quadricornis) that has help to reclassify Haootia as a staurozoan.
One of the geopark’s most dramatic geosites is Spillars Cove where the Spillars Cove –English Harbour Fault Zone divides Ediacaran fossil-bearing rocks of the St. John’s Basin from the Bonavista Basin’s fractured sandstones and conglomerates. Rising from the surf is the "Chimney" a slender sea stack formed from a resistant mafic igneous dyke. Today, it is both a geological landmark and a seabird nesting site.
The geology of the Bonavista Peninsula underpins its ecosystems. The volcanic soils support boreal forests of Balsam Fir and Black Spruce, while limestone pockets nurture orchids, pitcher plants and rare wildflowers. Along cliffs and sea stacks both Puffins, Kittiwakes gather in vast colonies, while offshore, Humpback, Minke and Fin Whales spend from April to October in the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador feeding on smelt fish.
The Labrador Current transports icebergs from Greenland and the Arctic southward along the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland in a region known as "Iceberg Alley" offering spectacular sights from late May to early June. Originating from glaciers, these icebergs travel via the Baffin Island Current into the cold, low-salinity Labrador Current, eventually melting near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
Discovery UNESCO Global Geopark in Newfoundland offers a unique journey through 560 million years of Earth’s history, where visitors can explore ancient ripple-marked rocks, kayak among icebergs, observe puffins along cliffs, and experience historic fishing villages. This destination combines geology, paleontology, biodiversity, and cultural heritage, allowing visitors to explore fossil sites, hike volcanic and glacial landscapes, encounter marine wildlife, and engage with local communities. Discovery Geopark provides an immersive experience into the origins of life and the region’s living heritage, inviting visitors to connect with both nature and deep time.