Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Mixed forests clothe the eroded peaks of the Appalachian Mountains.
OSTRICH FEATHERS, CHRISTMAS TREES, AND SPINDLES
PRESERVED IN
the fine volcanic ash-beds at Mistaken Point, at the southeastern tip of Newfoundland's Avalon
Peninsula, is a curious community of bottom-dwelling creatures, the Edi-acara, which inhabited the Iapetus
Ocean 575-560 million years ago. Ediacarans are the earliest known complex multi-cellular organisms, and
those at Mistaken Point are the only deep-water marine fossils of this age anywhere in the world. Buried in-
stantly, they are preserved in exquisite detail in dark siltstone and sandstone exposed by the battering of the
Atlantic's waves. These soft-bodied animals are variously described as resembling ostrich feathers, Christmas
