Plant Fossils at Cape Enrage

Plant fossils are abundant in the Ward Point Member rocks at Cape Enrage in New Brunswick. You do not need to be an expert to find them in beach stones beneath the cliffs. You do need to be an expert to identify all the fragments accurately. I am not an expert. However, as far as I can make out, most of the fossils that I saw were the strap-like leaves of Cordaites, a primitive conifer from upland regions which according to the guide books resemble Amaryllis leaves or corn husks. There were also fragments of Calamites stems; this was a tree-like plant that could grow up to 10 m tall and is related to the much smaller present day horsetails or Equisetum plants (see images below). The stem is ribbed and jointed like bamboo with a diameter of about 10 cm and it would have had narrow whorled leaves at intervals along the stem. It formed dense thick undergrowth in lowland wetter areas. The diverse fossil flora at Cape Enrage represents dead vegetation washed downstream by rivers and stacked up in piles on the banks of many river channels about 320 million years ago in the late Carboniferous Period. The plant debris would become covered in successive layers of sediment brought down by the rivers as they wandered across the flood plain to the sea, and eventually preserved in sandstones and mudstones.

The Cape Enrage Visitor Centre has some excellent examples of fossils on display, and education officers are available to give advice and help with identifications. They are very helpful and friendly. I am sure that, time permitting, a professional guided tour would reveal many more in situ fossils of different types than those illustrated here.