World Heritage Identification Number: 1285
World Heritage since: 2008
Category: Natural Heritage
WHE Type: Natural Landscapes & Geographic Features
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇨🇦 Canada
Continent: Americas
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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The Joggins Fossil Cliffs: A Window into the Past
The Joggins Fossil Cliffs, situated along the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, serve as a remarkable testament to the rich history of Earth. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008, these fossil-rich cliffs have been aptly dubbed the "coal age Galápagos" due to their extensive collection of fossils dating back to the Carboniferous period (354 to 290 million years ago).
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a 689 ha palaeontological site along the coast of Nova Scotia (eastern Canada), have been described as the “coal age Galápagos” due to their wealth of fossils from the Carboniferous period (354 to 290 million years ago). The rocks of this site are considered to be iconic for this period of the history of Earth and are the world’s thickest and most comprehensive record of the Pennsylvanian strata (dating back 318 to 303 million years) with the most complete known fossil record of terrestrial life from that time. These include the remains and tracks of very early animals and the rainforest in which they lived, left in situ, intact and undisturbed. With its 14.7 km of sea cliffs, low bluffs, rock platforms and beach, the site groups remains of three ecosystems: estuarine bay, floodplain rainforest and fire prone forested alluvial plain with freshwater pools. It offers the richest assemblage known of the fossil life in these three ecosystems with 96 genera and 148 species of fossils and 20 footprint groups. The site is listed as containing outstanding examples representing major stages in the history of Earth.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (viii): Earth’s history, geological and geomorphic features and processes: The “grand exposure” of rocks at Joggins Fossil Cliffs contains the best and most complete known fossil record of terrestrial life in the iconic “Coal Age”: the Pennsylvanian (or Carboniferous) period in Earth’s history. The site bears witness to the first reptiles in Earth history, which are the earliest representatives of the amniotes, a group of animals that includes reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, and mammals. Upright fossil trees are preserved at a series of levels in the cliffs together with animal, plant and trace fossils that provide environmental context and enable a complete reconstruction to be made of the extensive fossil forests that dominated land at this time, and are now the source of most of the world’s coal deposits. The property has played a vital role in the development of seminal geological and evolutionary principles, including through the work of Sir Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, for which the site has been referred to as the “coal age Galápagos”.
Encyclopedia Record: Joggins
Joggins is a rural community located in western Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. On July 7, 2008 a 15-km length of the coast constituting the Joggins Fossil Cliffs was officially inscribed on the World Heritage List.Additional Site Details
Area: 689 hectares
Number of Components: 1
Coordinates: 45.7097222222 , -64.4358333333
IUCN World Heritage Outlook
The 2025 Conservation Outlook on Joggins Fossil Cliffs reports the following assessment:
Source: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) · View assessment
Image
© Photo by and ©2007 Dustin M. Ramsey (Kralizec!), CC BY-SA 2.5 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
