Dendrochronological dating of coal mine workings at the  Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Nova Scotia, Canada

Quann, Sarah L.; Young, Amanda B.; Laroque, Colin P.; Falcon-Lang, Howard J.; Gibling, Martin R.

doi:10.4138/atlgeol.2010.011

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The rocks of the Minto Coalfield are of historical interest, having been the first place in North America where coal was mined, beginning in 1639, and they are mentioned in a 1667 entry of Samuel Pepys' famous diary (Smith ; Falcon‐Lang ; Quann et al . ).…”

Section: Geological Contextmentioning

confidence: 97%

Fish and tetrapod communities across a marine to brackish salinity gradient in the Pennsylvanian (early Moscovian) Minto Formation of New Brunswick, Canada, and their palaeoecological and palaeogeographical implications

et al. 2016

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42The cosmopolitan biogeography of many fish genera strongly indicates marine-based 43 dispersal, while strontium isotopic data suggest these same fish were exposed, at times, to ). An intriguing characteristic of this episode was the apparent widespread adoption of 68 a euryhaline habit amongst organisms as diverse as microconchids, ostracodes, xiphosurans 69 and fish (Anderson and Shuster 2003; Carpenter et al. 2011; Bennett et al. 2012; Gierlowski-70 Kordesch and Cassle 2015). Euryhaline animals are relatively rare in modern ecosystems 71 (Edwards and Marshall 2013; McCormick et al. 2013), and their dominance in Carboniferous 72 times suggests marine communities converged on similar osmoregulatory strategies in order 73 to utilise empty non-marine coastal ecospace for feeding and breeding (Williams et al. 2006; 74 Carpenter et al. 2014), prior to the widespread colonisation of freshwater tracts further inland. 75The mid-Carboniferous diversification event coincided with a sharp growth of 76Gondwanan ice sheets and the onset of significant Milankovitch-driven glacio-eustatic 86Much recent attention has been given to the apparent dominance of a euryhaline mode 87 of life amongst mid-Carboniferous fish communities (Schultze 2009; Carpenter et al. 2011 Carpenter et al. , 88 2014Carpenter et al. , 2015. However, consensus regarding ecology is currently lacking, with some 89 researchers arguing on palaeogeographic, sedimentological and geochemical grounds that fish 90 taxa, especially xenacanthid sharks (Masson and Rust 1984), may have been obligate 91 freshwater organisms (Śtamberg and Zajíc 2008;Fischer et al. 2011 Fischer et al. , 2013 Montañez and 92 Cecil 2013). In this paper, we describe a new fish fauna from the Carboniferous 93 (Pennsylvanian) of New Brunswick, Canada (Fig. 1A), and demonstrate -based on 94 independent indicators of palaeo-salinity -that fish taxa existed across a brackish to marine 95 gradient, and that communities must therefore have been euryhaline. We discuss how these 96 new findings improve understanding of Carboniferous fish ecology and the mid- 97Carboniferous diversification of non-marine ecosystems in particular. The fish fossils reported here were obtained from opencast mine sites (now reclaimed) within 102 the Minto Coalfield, Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada (Fig. 1A-C 98 +REVISE FOR TETRAPOD STORY 123Extensive borehole arrays indicate that this basal unconformity is marked by a major silcrete 124 paleosol, up to 9 m thick in places (Sullivan 1981; St Peter 2000), which mantles the 125 basement complex and indicates seasonally-dry climate weathering over the preceding (Fig. 3A), implying that the basin deepened towards the 137 southwest, and sediment progressively onlapped towards the northeast; and (2) NE-SW- Coal, fine towards the southwest (Fig. 3B) and suggest sediment transport in that direction. 140We note, however, that this inferred palaeoflow direction opposes regional patterns of Geological Surveys Branch, Fredericton (Fig. 4A). 154The low...

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Section: Geological Contextmentioning

confidence: 97%

Fish and tetrapod communities across a marine to brackish salinity gradient in the Pennsylvanian (early Moscovian) Minto Formation of New Brunswick, Canada, and their palaeoecological and palaeogeographical implications

et al. 2016

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“…Early First Nations people came to fish (the name Joggins is probably derived from the Mi'kmaq word Chegoggin, loosely translated as a "place of fish weirs"; Falcon-Lang 2009); and later, Europeans settled there to mine coal (Falcon-Lang 2009;Quann et al 2010). Scientists studying coal formation in the 1800s noted that observations at Joggins helped them resolve the mystery of how coal formed (Scott 1998).…”

Section: Petrologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage site: a review of recent research

Grey

Finkel

2011

atgeol

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The Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage Site is a Carboniferous coastal section along the shores of the Cumberland Basin, an extension of Chignecto Bay, itself an arm of the Bay of Fundy, with excellent preservation of biota preserved in their environmental context. The Cliffs provide insight into the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) world, the most important interval in Earth's past for the formation of coal. The site has had a long history of scientific research and, while there have been well over 100 publications in over 150 years of research at the Cliffs, discoveries continue and critical questions remain. Recent research (post-1950) falls under one of three categories: general geology; paleobiology; paleoecology. It provides a context for future work at the site. While recent research has made large strides in our understanding of the Late Carboniferous, many questions remain to be studied and resolved, and interest in addressing these issues is clearly not waning. Within the World Heritage Site, we suggest that the uppermost formations (Springhill Mines and Ragged Reef), paleosols, floral and trace fossil taxonomy, and microevolutionary patterns are among the most promising areas for future study. RÉSUMÉLe site du patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO des falaises fossilifères de Joggins est situé sur une partie du littoral qui date du Carbonifère, sur les rives du bassin de Cumberland, qui est une prolongation de la baie de Chignecto, elle-même un bras de la baie de Fundy. L'endroit offre un excellent milieu de préservation de la faune et de la flore dans leur environnement. Les falaises donnent un aperçu du monde du Carbonifère tardif (Pennsylvanien), soit la période de l'histoire de la terre la plus importante pour la formation du charbon. Ces falaises ont fait depuis longtemps l'objet de travaux de recherche scientifique et plus de 100 publications y ont été consacrées au cours de 150 années de recherche. L'endroit suscite encore des découvertes et il soulève toujours des questions essentielles. Les travaux de recherche récents (depuis les années 1950) se répartissent en trois catégories: géologie générale; paléobiologie; et reconstitution des paléomilieux, en plus d'offrir des avenues pour les futurs travaux qui devraient s'y dérouler. Même si la recherche récente a largement contribué à une meilleure compréhension du Carbonifère tardif, de nombreuses questions demeurent sans réponse et commandent qu'on les étudie et les résolve et il est manifeste que l'intérêt pour ces questions est bien loin de s'amenuiser. Sur ce site du patrimoine mondial, nous soutenons que les futurs sujets d'étude les plus prometteurs seraient les formations supérieures (Springhill Mines et Ragged Reef), les paléosols, la taxonomie florale et des ichnofossiles, ainsi que les paramètres de microévolution.[Traduit par la redaction]

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“…Detailed studies have been conducted in the largest European mining regions (Poland, Austria, Italia and Germany) such as Lower Silesia (Szychowska-Kąrpiec, 2007), Tyrol (Pichler et al, 2009(Pichler et al, , 2013, Hallstatt Sormaz, 1998, 2000;Grabner et al, 2007), Styria (Stöllner, 2009;Stöllner et al, 2011) or the Black Forest (Tegel, 2012). Only a few specific studies have been carried out in North America (Hattori and Thompson, 1987;Quann et al, 2010). Yet, owing to the lack of stratigraphic data, the relationship between dendrochronological dates and archaeological events has not been fully exploited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New insights on the chronology of medieval mining activity in the small polymetallic district of Faravel (Massif des Écrins, Southern French Alps) derived from dendrochronological and archaeological approaches

Shindo

Py-Saragaglia

Ancel³

et al. 2019

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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New insights on the chronology of medieval mining activity in the small polymetallic district of Faravel (Massif des Écrins, Southern French Alps) derived from dendrochronological and archaeological approaches. A B S T R A C TA large amount of well-preserved timbers was found during several archaeological excavations of the Faravel mining site (Southern French Alps, between 1950-and 2150 m a.s.l.). 232 of these timbers were sampled for dendrochronological analysis and 67% of them were dated. These 156 larch (Larix decidua Mill.) series, crossdated against existing reference chronologies, were averaged for a site chronology spanning from 777 to 1243. From this dataset, 33 timbers with (almost) complete sapwood allowed us to obtain tree felling years with seasonal resolution. The chronological distribution of these felling years highlights nine distinct mining phases that occurred between 1059 and 1243, revealing a discontinuous exploitation of the study site during the medieval period. In addition, the presence of late wood in the vast majority of complete samples, demonstrates that logging mainly occurred during late fall and early winter. These results, combined with historical, palynological and archaeological investigations, plead for short, seasonal, and low-intensity, mining campaigns, mainly carried out after the bulk of agropastoral activities using rudimentary techniques with limited impact on the forest cover.

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Dendrochronological dating of coal mine workings at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Nova Scotia, Canada

Cited by 6 publications

References 13 publications

Fish and tetrapod communities across a marine to brackish salinity gradient in the Pennsylvanian (early Moscovian) Minto Formation of New Brunswick, Canada, and their palaeoecological and palaeogeographical implications

Fish and tetrapod communities across a marine to brackish salinity gradient in the Pennsylvanian (early Moscovian) Minto Formation of New Brunswick, Canada, and their palaeoecological and palaeogeographical implications

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage site: a review of recent research

New insights on the chronology of medieval mining activity in the small polymetallic district of Faravel (Massif des Écrins, Southern French Alps) derived from dendrochronological and archaeological approaches

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