“Such a section as never was put together before”: Logan, Dawson, Lyell, and mid-Nineteenth-Century measurements of the Pennsylvanian Joggins section of Nova Scotia

Self Cite

The 1125-m-thick type section of the Pennsylvanian Boss Point Formation is well exposed along the shore of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. We provide the first comprehensive account of the entirety of this formation, which comprises nearly one-third of the stratigraphic thickness of the Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage Site. The basal Chignecto Bay Member (0-91.5 m) is composed of redbeds, single-storey channel bodies with northerly paleoflow, and thin palustrine limestones. The middle Ward Point Member (91.5-951.7 m) contains up to 16 megacycles composed of alternations between thick packages of braided fluvial sandstone and fine-grained deposits. Although regional studies of the Boss Point Formation suggest that the fine-grained deposits are largely composed of lacustrine sediments, these intervals consist largely of poorly drained and well-drained floodplain deposits in the type section. The facies variations and southeast-directed paleoflow in the Ward Point Member record modest uplift associated with the growth of the salt-cored Minudie Anticline. The North Reef Member (951.7-1125 m) is composed of redbeds and two distinctive multistorey channel bodies. This uppermost member records a shift to more arid, oxidizing conditions, was the precursor to a major phase of salt withdrawal, and represents a transition to the overlying Little River Formation. The sedimentological framework, revised stratigraphy, and detailed measured section and map will provide a foundation for future study of this remarkable Pennsylvanian exposure.

Section: Major Channel Bodies (Cb)supporting

confidence: 88%

“…Strata of the Joggins section were originally described by William Logan in June, 1843 (Logan 1845;Rygel and Shipley 2005). As currently defined (Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the type section of the Pennsylvanian Boss Point Formation, Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Nova Scotia, Canada

Rygel

Lally

Gibling

et al. 2015

Self Cite

“…This apparent need to emphasize the shoreline implies that the term, "the Joggin(s)" was still being used as a descriptor for the straits in the upper reaches of Chignecto Bay as late as the 1830s. This may explain why William Logan's famous 20 km long section from Mill Cove to Shulie (Logan 1845) became known as the "Joggins Section" (Rygel and Shipley 2005) despite the fact that at the time Lower Cove was the only sizeable community on an otherwise sparsely populated coastline (Gesner 1836, meaning of the Mi'kmaq words most similar to Gran'choggin: choggin may refer to a brook or creek (Tooker 1911) while chegoggin is thought to mean "a place of fish weirs" (Hamilton 1978, p. 339). A third word, chegoggins, which means "great encampment" (Calder 2006) seems less relevant to this geographic context but could have derived from the locality if an encampment had sprung up around the fishery.…”

confidence: 99%

Earliest history of coal mining and grindstone quarrying at Joggins, Nova Scotia, and its implications for the meaning of the place name “Joggins”

Falcon-Lang

2009

The rich history of coal mining and grindstone quarrying at Joggins, Nova Scotia, prior to Lyell's visit in 1842 is less well known than its subsequent history. Franquelin first observed coal there in 1686, and within little more than a decade Acadian coal mines had sprung up at the Coal Cliffs. Following the British acquisition of Nova Scotia in 1713, the coal mines attracted Captain Belcher and other New England traders, who loaded their ships with coal for sale in Boston. In 1731, eager to impose duty on this unregulated trade, the Nova Scotia Council sponsored a British coal mine at Joggins operated by Major Cope. Unable to safely load ships at the Coal Cliffs, Cope constructed a wharf and coal depot at Gran'choggin (present-day Downing Cove), seven miles to the north of the mine. It was by association with this depot that the Coal Cliffs later became known as Joggins. Cope's coal mine survived less than eighteen months before the Mi'kmaq, aided and abetted by Acadians, destroyed the site in 1732. Following this episode, Acadians worked the Joggins coal mines until they fell under the control of British forces engaged in the Seven Years War in 1756. Subsequently, the Lords of Trade suppressed coal mining at Joggins, fearing it would harm British imports, and full-scale operations did not recommence until 1847. During this lull, the grindstone industry boomed. Beginning sometime before 1764, the principal stone quarries operated at Lower Cove, where the famous Blue-Grit was cut. Grindstone quarries were also worked on the Maringouin Peninsula and the two opposing sides of Chignecto Bay became known as the North and South Joggins.

“…Since the mid-1800s, well over one hundred scientific papers have featured Joggins, and many more mention it. Excellent accounts of the early research at Joggins, from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s, have been undertaken by Calder (2006), Falcon-Lang (2006), Rygel and Shipley (2005), and Scott (1998). However, no in-depth review exists of recent work, from about 1950, encompassing the entire World Heritage Site, a gap that we fill with this contribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage site: a review of recent research

Grey

Finkel

2011

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage Site is a Carboniferous coastal section along the shores of the Cumberland Basin, an extension of Chignecto Bay, itself an arm of the Bay of Fundy, with excellent preservation of biota preserved in their environmental context. The Cliffs provide insight into the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) world, the most important interval in Earth's past for the formation of coal. The site has had a long history of scientific research and, while there have been well over 100 publications in over 150 years of research at the Cliffs, discoveries continue and critical questions remain. Recent research (post-1950) falls under one of three categories: general geology; paleobiology; paleoecology. It provides a context for future work at the site. While recent research has made large strides in our understanding of the Late Carboniferous, many questions remain to be studied and resolved, and interest in addressing these issues is clearly not waning. Within the World Heritage Site, we suggest that the uppermost formations (Springhill Mines and Ragged Reef), paleosols, floral and trace fossil taxonomy, and microevolutionary patterns are among the most promising areas for future study. RÉSUMÉLe site du patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO des falaises fossilifères de Joggins est situé sur une partie du littoral qui date du Carbonifère, sur les rives du bassin de Cumberland, qui est une prolongation de la baie de Chignecto, elle-même un bras de la baie de Fundy. L'endroit offre un excellent milieu de préservation de la faune et de la flore dans leur environnement. Les falaises donnent un aperçu du monde du Carbonifère tardif (Pennsylvanien), soit la période de l'histoire de la terre la plus importante pour la formation du charbon. Ces falaises ont fait depuis longtemps l'objet de travaux de recherche scientifique et plus de 100 publications y ont été consacrées au cours de 150 années de recherche. L'endroit suscite encore des découvertes et il soulève toujours des questions essentielles. Les travaux de recherche récents (depuis les années 1950) se répartissent en trois catégories: géologie générale; paléobiologie; et reconstitution des paléomilieux, en plus d'offrir des avenues pour les futurs travaux qui devraient s'y dérouler. Même si la recherche récente a largement contribué à une meilleure compréhension du Carbonifère tardif, de nombreuses questions demeurent sans réponse et commandent qu'on les étudie et les résolve et il est manifeste que l'intérêt pour ces questions est bien loin de s'amenuiser. Sur ce site du patrimoine mondial, nous soutenons que les futurs sujets d'étude les plus prometteurs seraient les formations supérieures (Springhill Mines et Ragged Reef), les paléosols, la taxonomie florale et des ichnofossiles, ainsi que les paramètres de microévolution.[Traduit par la redaction]