Parrsboro Fossil Cliffs
The oldest dinosaur fossils in Canada are locked in the red sandstone cliffs along Nova Scotia's Minas Basin. At Parrsboro you can see clues to the changes in animal life during that critical time 200 million years ago when dinosaurs ruled the earth.

All collecting is prohibited by law at the protected Special Place just west of the Wasson's Bluff. Do not use rock hammers anywhere on these outcrops, even if you see no fossils. These fossils are small, rare and always important. Outside the protected site, it is still against the law to remove or disturb any fossil in the bedrock. All fossils in Nova Scotia have this legal protection.

Fundy Geology
"I never travelled in any county where my scientific pursuits were better understood or were more zealously forwarded than in Nova Scotia..."
Sir Charles Lyell, Travels in North America 1841-42

 Standing on the north shore of the New Minas Basin, you are in the midst of some of the world's most famous geology. The exceptional shoreline exposes have drawn geologists to the area since the mid nineteenth century when Sit Charles Lyell, founder of modern geology, first visited Fundy. The rock formations which make up the steep red cliffs of sandstone and the basaltic lava that surround you were formed 200 million years ago. Nova Scotia was then wedged near the equator between North America and Africa in the middle of a super continent known as Pangea. As the continental plates began to pull apart, great rift valleys formed. These valleys gradually filled with sediments that today make up the Newark Supergroup, which extends from Nova Scotia to South Carolina. The Bay of Fundy occupies one of these ancient rift valleys and is host to the world's highest tides, which rise and fall 40 to 50 feet (12 meters) twice daily. The tides have eroded through the Triassic-Jurassic sediments., opening a window for geologists into the world of 240 to 175 million years ago. While yielding bounties the tides also present constant danger to fossil hunters.

Threats
Each year the Fundy tides expose new rocks. The fossils are concentrated in a small area and the answers they hold are very important to science. So it is vital to preserve all Parrsboro fossils for study.  People may smash fossils while trying to pry them out of the rocks. These bones and teeth are tiny and hard to recognize. They can be accidentally destroyed by people hammering at something else.

Fossils taken from bedrock without making careful records first are stripped of most of their scientific information.  Fossils taken directly to private collections are often well cared for and admired, but they cannot provide new clues for the scientist or excite the imagination of our children.