Special Interest - Geology

A trip around the Discovery Trail provides you with a unique opportunity to learn about the history of planet Earth. The sea cliffs and barrens around Bonavista Bay expose bedrock formed more than a half billion years ago. Hiking along the coastal trails (see the Hike Discovery page) allows you a glimpse of nature's earliest fossil organisms, see relics of ancient volcanoes and witness the results of recent ice ages and the erosive power of the North Atlantic.

The bedrock of the Bonavista Peninsula and the adjoining Avalon Isthmus is a truly remarkable, natural phenomenon. Geological events that formed the land began more than 750 million years ago, the result of processes much like those active on Earth today. The rocky hills and spectacular coastal cliffs hold the key to unlocking more than 400 million years of Earth history.

A number of unique geological phenomena can be seen around the Discovery Region. Fossilized examples of Earth's oldest multicellular organisms may be seen in coastal cliffs on the east side of the Bonavista Peninsula. These ancient fossils (protected by Provincial legislation) are flattened, low-relief impressions in bedrock surfaces. The unique forms were soft-bodied marine organisms that lived 565 million years ago and were buried by volcanic ash as it slowly settled. The ancient beds that formed hardened into rocks that today cover much of the eastern Bonavista Peninsula between Port Rexton and Spillars Cove.

The low, rocky cliffs along the coastline between Bonavista and King's Cove are made of layers of sandstone, more than 550 million years old, in which are large, exceptionally well-preserved fossilized ripples, like those forming on the sea-bottom today. Layer upon layer of red sedimentary rocks of similar age are exposed in spectacular coastal cliffs between King's Cove, Keels, west to Tickle Cove and from there to Plate Cove. Visitors to Keels will find white, quartz-rich sandstones that are fossilized remnants of well-washed sandy beaches formed 540 million years ago. The coastline from Plate Cove to Summerville is underlain by layers of sediment that formed more than 600 million years ago in a deep ocean basin. Ancient layers or beds of red sand and conglomerates are prominent around Musgravetown and Port Blandford, formed in rivers and on the slopes of ancient volcanoes that were active at the time. Striking examples of the modern ocean's erosive power can be seen along the many hiking trails in the region. In many places, steep coastal inlets, sea stacks and rock arches have been developed along fractures in the rocks. A unique undercutting effect of ocean waves is seen at the Dungeon, a spectacular coastal landform near Bonavista. Over the past 10,000 years, coastal erosion has produced sea caves in ancient bedrock. At the Dungeon, continued erosion has led to inland collapse of the cave's roof. Stop and explore today!