home   Printer friendly version Add to site
Advanced search
Time & Space Fossil Gallery Famous Flora & Fauna
Careers Resources K-12 Collections PaleoPeople

The Silurian in Nova Scotia, Canada

Silurian in Nova Scotia map

undifferentiated rock units help

Choose a time period:

Quaternary
Tertiary
Cretaceous
Jurassic
Triassic
Permian
Carboniferous
Devonian
Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrian
Precambrian

Silurian Fossils
Fossil photos from Silurian in Nova Scotia

Previous (8 slides) Next
Search the fossil gallery

Paleontology and geology

The two microcontinents that make up what is now northern Nova Scotia (the Avalon Zone) began to collide with Laurentia in the Silurian, causing an episode of mountain-building, metamorphism, and volcanism. As a result, these Silurian rocks are a mix of sandstones, shales, and limestones deposited in shallow seas and layers of volcanic ash and basalt from the frequent eruptions. Many of the Silurian sedimentary rocks contain fossils, but the most famous are the Arisaig shales and siltstones along the northern coastline and the highlands. They are known around the world for their abundant fossils of terrestrial spores, acritarchs, gastropods, graptolites, brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, trilobites, and tentaculitids, an extinct group of animals that had cone-shaped shells.

In the southern region (the Meguma zone), the land had now rifted from Gondwana and began drifting toward Laurentia behind Avalonia in the north. We know they traveled together because sediments eroded from Avalonia make up some of the sandstones in the Meguma Zone. Volcanoes were active as the rifting took place. These Silurian igneous and sedimentary rocks have since been metamorphosed and contain few fossils. They are exposed along the southern coast.

Due to the complex history of Silurian age rocks, including periods of metamorphism, intrusion, and erosion, many of the rocks may appear as undifferentiated Paleozoic rocks on this and other maps.


Quebec Province Map
Prince Edward Island Province Map
New Brunswick Province Map