Fundy Geological Museum

Parrsboro Discovery

"Bones were sticking out all over the place. They were everywhere."

Neil Shubin, January 29, 1986. NEWS, National Geographic Society

In January 1986 the team of Dr. Paul Olsen of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory and Neil H. Shubin of Harvard University announced that they had found near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, 100,000 pieces of fossilized bone of ancestral crocodiles, large and small dinosaurs, lizards, sharks and primitive fishes. It had taken 10 years of determined scouring to uncover this cache of bones, which were fingernail to pencil size. Funded by the National Geographic Society and carried out in co-operation with the Nova Scotia Museum, their find was the biggest in North America that dates from around the Triassic-Jurassic boundary period, the time of the emergence of dinosaurs and many modern groups of animals, including the mammals, modern fishes and amphibians. Bones were recovered from ancient river channels, sand dunes and basalt fissures. Among these were 12 skulls and jaws of very rare Trithelodonts, the reptiles most closely related to mammals. A mere foot long, this creature could have been covered either with scales of hair, and ultimately may clarify the mystery of the evolution of mammals.

Fossil Footprints

"It has often happened to geologists, as to other explorers of new regions, that footprints in the sand have guided them to the inhabitants of unknown lands."

Sir J. William Dawson, 1863

It is very rare for bones and fossil footprints to occur together as they do along the shores of the Minas Basin, where thousands of footprints record a parade of diverse creatures. Climate alternated between hot, dry spells and heavy rains. Seasonal lakes surrounded by vast, sticky mudflats (similar to those now exposed at low tide) created conditions ideal for track preservation. The Minas Basin dinosaurs left their footprints in the fine muds bordering the lakes. Then coarser sediment, usually sand, washed down from the adjacent Cobequid Highlands, infilling the prints. The tropical sun baked the footprints before more sediment covered and protected them from the weather. Today, you will find two types of tracks: a natural cast formed by the infilling sediment, and a natural print, which appears as indented sediment.

"I wanted to let you know we had a fabulous time.  And you were a large part of that experience.  Thank you very much... The people were friendly, the sights were magnificent, the Bay of Fundy was incredible...  We wouldn't have seen all the things we did without your help." - Dave & Lynn Kearney, Plano TX - Itinerary Planning Service July 2004