World Heritage Identification Number: 686
World Heritage since: 1999
Category: Natural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇨🇦 Canada
Continent: Americas
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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Miguasha National Park: A Window into the Age of Fishes
Miguasha National Park, located on the southeastern coast of Quebec's Gaspé peninsula, offers a unique glimpse into one of the most significant periods in Earth's history—the Devonian Period, often referred to as the 'Age of Fishes'. Established in 1985, this protected area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, recognizing its exceptional value in understanding the evolution of life on our planet.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The palaeontological site of Miguasha National Park, in south-eastern Quebec on the southern coast of the Gaspé peninsula, is considered to be the world's most outstanding illustration of the Devonian Period known as the 'Age of Fishes'. Dating from 370 million years ago, the Upper Devonian Escuminac Formation represented here contains five of the six fossil fish groups associated with this period. Its significance stems from the discovery there of the highest number and best-preserved fossil specimens of the lobe-finned fishes that gave rise to the first four-legged, air-breathing terrestrial vertebrates – the tetrapods.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (viii): In its representation of vertebrate life, Miguasha is the most outstanding fossil site in the world for illustrating the Devonian as the “Age of Fishes”. The area is of paramount importance in having the greatest number and best preserved fossil specimens found anywhere in the world of the lobe-finned fishes that gave rise to the first four-legged, air-breathing terrestrial vertebrates - the tetrapodes.
Encyclopedia Record: Miguasha National Park
Miguasha Provincial Park is a protected area near Carleton-sur-Mer on the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec in Canada. Created in 1985 by the Government of Quebec, Miguasha was designated a World Heritage Site in 1999 in recognition of its wealth of fossils, which display a crucial time during the evolution of life on Earth. Other names for this site are the Miguasha Fossil Site, the Bay of Escuminac Fossil Site, the Upper Devonian Escuminac Formation, and the Hugh-Miller Cliffs. It is also sometimes referred to on fossil specimens as 'Scaumenac Bay' or 'Scaumenac Bay P.Q.'Additional Site Details
Area: 87.3 hectares
Coordinates: 48.105 , -66.35305556
Image
© Neumeier, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
