Polystrate Fossil Trees at Joggins
Hosts: Doug Sharp and Rich Geer
The polystrate fossil trees at Joggins, Nova Scotia are upright, in‑place fossilized trunks—mostly lycopsids like Sigillaria and Lepidodendron—that extend vertically through multiple sedimentary layers in the Carboniferous Joggins Formation. They are one of the most famous and scientifically important examples of “standing fossil forests” anywhere on Earth, preserved along the Bay of Fundy’s rapidly eroding cliffs.
Polystrate fossils are organisms—often trees—that span several distinct sedimentary layers. At Joggins, these upright trunks penetrate coal seams, shales, and sandstones assigned to the Pennsylvanian period, ~318–313 million years old by evolutionary estimates. Their preservation requires rapid burial, because a standing tree would decay or fall if exposed for long periods. Geological studies show that Joggins was a deltaic coastal floodplain with frequent flooding, subsidence, and sediment pulses that repeatedly buried forest floors.
The Joggins fossils are evidence for rapid burial. Creationists contend that the rapid burial occurred during the flood of Noah and it was worldwide. The Joggins cliffs are tilted toward the west, representing 18,000 feet of strata that accumulated, sunk as a plate and then sheared off horizontally on top. Representations of these layers also can be viewed on Cape Breton Island and in Newfoundland.
Comments