Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve

Mistaken Point ({{Coord|46|37|32|N|53|09|41|W|region:CA-NL_type:landmark|display=inline}}) is a small headland on the Avalon Peninsula. Historically, Mistaken Point has been mistaken for Cape Race due to the area's typically foggy weather conditions. Sailors making this error would turn north, thinking they had reached Cape Race Harbour, and immediately run into treacherous rocks.

The first fossil to be found in the area, Fractofusus misrai, was discovered in June 1967 by Shiva Balak Misra, an Indian graduate student studying geology at Memorial University of Newfoundland.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7000829.stm |title=Rare honour for Indian geologist |author=BBC News |date=18 September 2007 |publisher=BBC South Asia |accessdate=10 July 2011}}http://www.mistakenpointfauna.com/paper1.html MISRA, S.B.,(1969a) Geology of Biscay Bay-Cape Race area, Avalon Peninsula,

South Eastern Newfoundland In the mid-1980s, the site quickly became recognized as an important location containing possibly the oldest metazoan fossils in North America, and the most ancient deep-water marine fossils in the world. A five-kilometre stretch of coastline was first established provisionally as a reserve by the provincial government in 1984 and was permanently designated in 1987. It was later expanded in 2009 after further fossil discoveries.

Studies have shown that the Mistaken Point biota represents the oldest Ediacaran fossils known globally, and are the oldest large and architecturally complex organisms in Earth history.[http://geol.queensu.ca/people/narbonne/recent_pubs1.html Queens University Research] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717031549/http://geol.queensu.ca/people/narbonne/recent_pubs1.html |date=17 July 2015 }} The fossil sites along the shore within the reserve were inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list on July 17, 2016.{{cite web|title=Mistaken Point|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1497|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|publisher=United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|accessdate=17 July 2016}}{{cite news|last1=MacEachern|first1=Daniel|title=Newfoundland's Mistaken Point named UNESCO World Heritage site|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/mistaken-point-unesco-world-heritage-site-1.3682798|accessdate=17 July 2016|work=CBC News}}[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1497 Unesco World Heritage List]

The fossil terrane of Mistaken Point is the named Avalonian terrane that is found in Western Europe.{{Cite journal|last1=COCKS|first1=L. R. M.|last2=MCKERROW|first2=W. S.|last3=VAN STAAL|first3=C. R.|date=September 1997|title=The margins of Avalonia|journal=Geological Magazine|volume=134|issue=5|pages=627–636|doi=10.1017/s0016756897007425|issn=0016-7568|bibcode=1997GeoM..134..627C|s2cid=130769330 }} It formed in the early Cambrian when Pannotia broke from Gondwana (now South America, Africa, Antarctica, and Australia).

In respect of Mistaken Point being 'the best example in the world of an Edicaran fossil community where life first got big and metazoan communities bloomed', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included the 'Ediacaran fossil site of Mistaken Point' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an 'IUGS Geological Heritage Site' as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'{{cite web |title=The First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites |url=https://iugs-geoheritage.org/videos-pdfs/iugs_first_100_book_v2.pdf |website=IUGS International Commission on Geoheritage |publisher=IUGS |access-date=13 November 2022}}

• Prolific Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip include a reference to Mistaken Point in "Fly", the fourth track on their 2006 album World Container. The same track also includes a reference to Moonbeam, Ontario.
• The wreck of the RMS Titanic was found on 1 September 1985, slightly more than {{convert|600|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Mistaken Point.

• List of protected areas of Newfoundland and Labrador

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{{commons category| Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve}}

{{Wikivoyage}}

• {{Official website|https://www.gov.nl.ca/ecc/natural-areas/wer/r-mpe/}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184241/http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/publications/parks/mistaken_point_ecological_reserve.pdf Management Plan], Newfoundland and Labrador, Dept. of Environment and Conservation
• [https://archive.today/20130115133256/http://geol.queensu.ca/museum/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=61 Queens University research]
• [http://mistakenpointfauna.com/ Discovery of Mistaken Point fauna]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150724081804/http://geol.queensu.ca/people/narbonne/recent_pubs1.html The Origin and Early Evolution of Animals]
• [https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/mistaken.html Localities of the Vendian: Mistaken Point, Newfoundland]

{{World Heritage Sites in Canada}}{{Newfoundland and Labrador parks}}

Category:First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites

Category:Nature reserves in Newfoundland and Labrador

Category:Paleontology in Canada

Category:World Heritage Sites in Canada