Official name Mistaken Point Criteria viii Area 5.7 km² Nearest city St. John's | Type Natural Designated 2016 (40th session) Established 1984 | |
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Governing body Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Environment and Conservation | ||
A walk back in time visiting mistaken point ecological reserve newfoundland and labrador
Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a wilderness area located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada which contains the Mistaken Point Formation, the site of Ediacaran fossils representing the oldest multicellular life on Earth.
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. The reserve was first established provisionally by the provincial government in 1984 and was permanently designated in 1987. It was later expanded in 2009 after further fossil discoveries.
The fossil sites along the shore within the reserve were inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list on July 17, 2016.
