Springfest

Blanche Brook Fossil Tour May 28, 2011

The tour of the fossil site at Blanche Brook is a must-see event! To think that 305 million years ago, Newfoundland was part of one giant land mass called Pangaea and that the island we live on today was situated near the equator is rather…surreal. Yet embedded in the sandstone that line the edges of Blanche Brook lay the evidence – the oldest-known fossil bed of mountain plants, to date. The fossils provide a glimpse back to a time and place when the first tree species to grow at higher elevations occurred.  Trees towering to heights of 164 feet with 3 foot diameters that were once part of a tropical forest now rest, as fossils, on the river bed of Blanche Brook.