Fortune Head Ecological Reserve

A Coastal Cliff Reserve Protecting The Globally Recognised Boundary Between The Precambrian And Cambrian Periods, Where Fossils Mark The Start Of Complex Life, With An Interpretation Centre In Fortune And A Walking Trail Along The Cliff. A Fossil Site Known To Geologists, Close To The Ferry To Saint Pierre · Fortune, Newfoundland and Labrador

Fortune Head Ecological Reserve is a short stretch of sea cliff beside the town of Fortune on the Burin Peninsula of south-east Newfoundland, protected since 1998 (confirm). Its fame rests on a single layer in the rock. Here geologists fixed the global reference point for the start of the Cambrian period, roughly 540 million years ago, where the first complex burrows and tiny shelled animals appear above older, simpler remains (confirm wording). A reference point of this kind is called a type section, and this one is among the few in the world. The ground is not showy: grey and green shale, thin sandstone and a rough shore, with the open Atlantic beyond. What you gain is a clear view of a boundary in time, explained at a small interpretation centre in Fortune and walked along a cliff path (confirm hours). Fortune also holds the ferry dock for Saint-Pierre, a French island 20 km offshore, so the two visits combine well. Allow spare time for fog and wind, which are common on this coast.

Fortune Head Ecological Reserve, a coastal cliff reserve beside the town of Fortune on the Burin Peninsula of south-east Newfoundland, about 300 km west of St. John's by road; coordinates approximate, Fortune, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

The reserve is open all year and has no gate, so the cliff path and the shore view cost nothing at any hour. The interpretation centre in Fortune keeps summer hours, often daily from about June to early September and shorter days or by arrangement in spring and autumn - confirm by phone before you drive out. Guided walks, if offered, run roughly July and August and may need booking (confirm). Daylight lasts late in midsummer, while winter days are short and the path can ice over. Fog is common from May to July, and the Saint-Pierre ferry keeps its own summer timetable.

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