Paleontology and geologyThere are no Cambrian rocks exposed in northern New Brunswick, but there are many outcrops in the central and southern parts of the province. Southern New Brunswick was part of the Avalon terrane, a piece of land that was starting to rift from Gondwana. This rifting generated substantial volcanism and formed some of the reddish-colored volcanic rocks seen in the south. On the other side of the terrane, limestones, sandstones, and mudstones were deposited in the shallow to deep marine environments off the coast. These sedimentary rocks preserve a snapshot of life in the waters off Gondwana, including trilobites, brachiopods, graptolites, sponges, conodonts, and eocrinoids. Cambrian rocks in central New Brunswick preserve pieces of some of the volcanic islands and oceanic crust that existed between Laurentia and the Avalon terrane. Some of the sandstones and mudstones even record underwater avalanches. |