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Explain what kind of tectonic plate boundary created your landform and HOW! (Divergent, convergent, transform or convergent subduction)

What fossils have been discovered here?

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A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where Earth's tectonic plates move apart, or rift. Rift valleys are found both on land and at the bottom of the ocean, where they are created by the process of seafloor spreading. Rift valleys differ from river valleys and glacial valleys in that they are created by tectonic activity and not the process of erosion. Tectonic plates are huge, rocky slabs of Earth's lithosphere-its crust and upper mantle. Tectonic plates are constantly in motion-shifting against each other in fault zones, falling beneath one another in a process called subduction, crashing against one another at convergent plate boundaries, and tearing apart from each other at divergent plate boundaries. Many rift valleys are part of "triple junctions," a type of divergent boundary where three tectonic plates meet at about 120° angles. Two arms of the triple junction can split to form an entire ocean. The third, "failed rift" or aulacogen, may become a rift valley. The Atlantic Ocean, for instance, is a result of a triple junction that started in what is now the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa. Two arms of a triple junction on the supercontinent Pangaea "opened" the ocean, while the aulacogen formed the rift valley known as the Benue Trough through what is now southern Nigeria. Rift valleys can also form at transform faults, where tectonic plates are grinding past each other. The Salton Trough, which stretches through the states of California (United States) and Baja California (Mexico), is a rift valley created in part by the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas is a transform fault that marks the roughly northward movement of the Pacific plate and the roughly southern movement of the North American plate. molten rock from the mantle may well up and harden as it contacts the frigid sea, forming new oceanic crust at the bottom of the rift valley.

In the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the North American plate and the Eurasian plate are splitting apart at a rate of about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) per year. Over millions of years, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge has formed rift valleys as wide as 15 kilometers (9 miles).

In the Pacific Ocean, the East Pacific Rise has created rift valleys where the Pacific plate is separating from the North American plate, Cocos plate, Nazca plate, and Antarctic plate. Like many underwater rift valleys, the East Pacific Rise is dotted with hydrothermal vents. Geologic activity beneath the underwater rift valley creates these vents, which spew super-heated water and vent fluids into the ocean.

Continental Rift Valleys Very few active rift valleys are found on continental lithosphere. The East African Rift, the Baikal Rift Valley, the West Antarctic Rift, and the Rio Grande Rift are Earth's major active continental rift valleys. The East African Rift is part of the "Great Rift Valley" system discussed below. The Baikal Rift Valley (sometimes called the Baikal Rift Zone) cuts through 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) of Siberia, in eastern Russia. The Baikal Rift Valley is formed by a divergent plate boundary, where the Amur plate is slowly tearing itself away from the Eurasian plate, and has been doing so for about 25 million years. The Amur plate is moving eastward at a rate of about 4 to 5 millimeters (.16 to .2 inch) a year. The West Antarctic Rift is a series of smaller rifts that roughly separate the two regions of Earth's southernmost continent, West Antarctica and East Antarctica. The West Antarctic Rift is one of the most difficult rift valleys to study, because it lies beneath the massive Antarctic Ice Sheet, which can be more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) thick. The Rio Grande Rift is a series of rift valleys along faults in the Southwestern United States. The Rio Grande Rift separates the Colorado Plateau, which is generally moving in a clockwise direction, from the older part (craton) of the North American plate. The Rio Grande Rift stretches from central Colorado to the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Mid-Ocean Ridges Many of Earth's deepest rift valleys are found underwater, dividing long mountain ranges called mid-ocean ridges. As tectonic plates move away from one another at mid-ocean ridges, Great Rift Valley The most well-known rift valley on Earth is probably the so-called "Great Rift Valley System" which stretches from the Middle East in the north to Mozambique in the south. The area is geologically active, and features volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, and frequent earthquakes. Today, however, the Great Rift Valley exists as a cultural concept, not a scientific one. All of the rift valleys in the "system" are connected, but not part of a single unit.

The northern part of the system is the Jordan Rift Valley. The Jordan Rift Valley stretches from the Golan Heights, near Israel's border with Syria and Lebanon, to the Dead Sea, to the Gulf of Aqaba-an inlet of the Red Sea that separates the Sinai Peninsula from the Arabian Peninsula.
Associated with the Jordan Rift Valley to the south is the Red Sea Rift. Millions of years ago, the Arabian Peninsula was connected to Africa. Seafloor spreading caused the Arabian and African plates to rift apart. The Indian Ocean flooded the rift valley between the continents, creating the Red Sea. Today, Africa and Asia are connected by the triangle of the Sinai Peninsula. Eventually, the Red Sea Rift will separate Africa and Asia entirely and connect the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

East African RiftSouth of the Red Sea Rift lies the massive, complex East African Rift. Throughout the East African Rift, the continent of Africa is splitting in two. The African plate, sometimes called the Nubian plate, carries most of the continent, while the smaller Somali plate carries Horn of Africa. The two major rift valley systems of the East African Rift are the Gregory Rift and the Western Rift. These rift valleys are dotted by volcanoes: Erta Ale, Ethiopia; Mount Kenya, Kenya (an extinct stratovolcano); Ol Doinyo Lengai, Tanzania; Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (a dormant stratovolcano); and Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo. The Gregory Rift stretches from the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea to as far south as Mount Kilimanjaro. One of the most important features of the Gregory Rift is the Afar Triple Junction, found where the Horn of Africa straddles the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea. At the Afar Triple Junction, the Arabian plate, Nubian plate and Somali plate are all tearing away from each other. Two arms of the Afar Triple Junction continue to widen in the process of seafloor spreading-the arm extending into the Red Sea and the arm extending into the Gulf of Aden. As these rifts continue, the narrow valley created by the Gregory Rift (the arm of the Afar Triple Junction located above sea level) may sink low enough that the Arabian Sea will flood it. Separated from Africa by this new strait, Horn of Africa (sitting on the Somali plate) would become a continental island, like Madagascar or New Zealand. The Western Rift, also called the Albertine Rift, includes many of the African Great Lakes. The Western Rift is one of the most biodiverse regions in Africa, featuring a narrow corridor of highland forests, snow-capped mountains, savannas, and chains of lakes and wetlands.
freshwater floods rift valleys, often mark rift valley systems. More than a billion years ago, for instance, the North American plate began a rifting process. A triple junction formed in the middle of the young continent, and deep rift valley developed. Freshwater drained and collected in this rift valley, creating a lake. After millions of years, however, the rift failed. The continent remained intact and the rift's arms failed to open up a new ocean. Today, the remains of that ancient rift lake, Lake Superior, rest atop one of the oldest and deepest rift valleys in the world. Lake Baikal, the rift lake over the Baikal Rift Valley in Siberia, is the deepest and oldest freshwater lake in the world. The deepest parts of Lake Baikal are 1,642 meters (5,387 feet), and are getting deeper every year. In addition, over the past 25 million years, layers of soft sediment have accumulated on the lakebed. The actual floor of the rift valley is more than 5 kilometers (3 miles) deep. Lake Baikal also has the largest volume of liquid freshwater in the world-a staggering 23,615 cubic kilometers (5,700 cubic miles). The Dead Sea is a rift lake in the Jordan Rift Valley. Although the Dead Sea is not the world's deepest lake, the deep Jordan Rift makes it the lowest land elevation on Earth. The surface of the Dead Sea is 429 meters (1,407 feet) below sea level, and the lake's depth is another 304 meters (997 feet). Unlike Lake Baikal, however, the Dead Sea is not a true rift lake as it was not formed entirely by the rift beneath it. The so-called Dead Sea Transform is a geologically complex area, where tectonic plates interact in many ways. The most famous rift lakes in the world may be the series of narrow, deep rift valleys in the East African Rift known simply as the Rift Valley lakes. The Rift Valley lakes, stretching from Ethiopia to Malawi, are sites of amazing biodiversity. They include freshwater lakes, similar to Lake Baikal, as well as saltwater "soda lakes" similar to the Dead Sea. Lake Tanganyika, whose long shores are shared by Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia, is the largest of the Rift Valley lakes. Lake Tanganyika is the world's second-deepest and second-biggest (by volume of freshwater) lake in the world. Only Lake Baikal is deeper and holds more water. Like many freshwater Rift Valley lakes, Lake Tanganyika is home to hundreds of endemic species of cichlid fish. Lake Natron, Tanzania, is one of the shallow, alkali-rich soda lakes of the East African Rift. Its dazzling red color is not a product of the region's rocky geology, but the pink salt-loving bacteria that live in the briny water. Rift Lakes Rift lakes, formed as

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Rift Valley | National Geographic Society

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A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where Earth's tectonic plates move apart, or rift. Rift valleys are found both on land and at the bottom of the ocean, where they are created by the process of seafloor spreading.

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Finding the Lucy Fossil — HHMI BioInteractive Video

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Nov 24, 1974 CE: 'Lucy' Discovered in Africa | National Geographic Society

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Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Editor National Geographic Society Producer other

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Explain what kind of tectonic plate boundary created your landform and HOW! (Divergent, convergent, transform or convergent subduction)

What fossils have been discovered here?

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Welcome to Britannica School , a safe, up-to-date, and age-appropriate information resource for Elementary, Middle, and High School.

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Explain what kind of tectonic plate boundary created your landform and HOW! (Divergent, convergent, transform or convergent subduction)

What fossils have been found here?

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What If the Ring of Fire Erupted Right Now?

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The Ring of Fire | Nat Geo Kids Volcano Playlist

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The Ring of Fire, also referred to as the Circum-Pacific Belt, is a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Its length is approximately 40,000 kilometers (24,900 miles). It traces boundaries between several tectonic plates-including the Pacific, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Indian-Australian, Nazca, North American, and Philippine Plates.

Seventy-five percent of Earth's volcanoes-more than 450 volcanoes-are located along the Ring of Fire. Ninety percent of Earth's earthquakes occur along its path, including the planet's most violent and dramatic seismic events.

The abundance of volcanoes and earthquakes along the Ring of Fire is caused by the amount of movement of tectonic plates in the area. Along much of the Ring of Fire, plates overlap at convergent boundaries called subduction zones. That is, the plate that is underneath is pushed down, or subducted, by the plate above. As rock is subducted, it melts and becomes magma. The abundance of magma so near to Earth's surface gives rise to conditions ripe for volcanic activity. A significant exception is the border between the Pacific and North American Plates. This stretch of the Ring of Fire is a transform boundary, where plates move sideways past one another. This type of boundary generates a large number of earthquakes as tension in Earth's crust builds up and is released.

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Ring of Fire | National Geographic Society

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The Ring of Fire, also referred to as the Circum-Pacific Belt, is a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Its length is approximately 40,000 kilometers (24,900 miles). It traces boundaries between several tectonic plates-including the Pacific, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Indian-Australian, Nazca, North American, and Philippine Plates.

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The Ring of Fire isn't quite a circular ring. It is shaped more like a 40,000-kilometer (25,000-mile) horseshoe. A string of 452 volcanoes stretches from the southern tip of South America, up along the coast of North America, across the Bering Strait, down through Japan, and into New Zealand. Several active and dormant volcanoes in Antarctica, however, "close" the ring.
Plate Boundaries
The Ring of Fire is the result of plate tectonics. Tectonic plates are huge slabs of the Earth's crust, which fit together like pieces of a puzzle. The plates are not fixed but are constantly moving atop a layer of solid and molten rock called the mantle. Sometimes these plates collide, move apart, or slide next to each other. Most tectonic activity in the Ring of Fire occurs in these geologically active zones.
Convergent Boundaries
A convergent plate boundary is formed by tectonic plates crashing into each other. Convergent boundaries are often subduction zones, where the heavier plate slips under the lighter plate, creating a deep trench. This subduction changes the dense mantle material into buoyant magma, which rises through the crust to the Earth's surface. Over millions of years, the rising magma creates a series of active volcanoes known as a volcanic arc.

The Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska, for example, run parallel to the Aleutian Trench. Both geographic features continue to form as the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the North American Plate. The Aleutian Trench reaches a maximum depth of 7,679 meters (25,194 feet). The Aleutian Islands have 27 of the United States' 65 historically active volcanoes.

The Andes Mountains of South America run parallel to the Peru-Chile Trench, created as the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate. The Andes Mountains include the world's highest active volcano, Nevados Ojos del Salado, which rises to 6,879 meters (over 22,500 feet) along the Chile-Argentina border. Many volcanoes in Antarctica are so geologically linked to the South American part of the Ring of Fire that some geologists refer to the region as the "Antarctandes."
Divergent Boundaries
A divergent boundary is formed by tectonic plates pulling apart from each other. Divergent boundaries are the site of seafloor spreading and rift valleys. Seafloor spreading is the process of magma welling up in the rift as the old crust pulls itself in opposite directions. Cold seawater cools the magma, creating new crust. The upward movement and eventual cooling of this magma has created high ridges on the ocean floor over millions of years.

The East Pacific Rise is a site of major seafloor spreading in the Ring of Fire. The East Pacific Rise is located on the divergent boundary of the Pacific Plate and the Cocos Plate (west of Central America), the Nazca Plate (west of South America), and the Antarctic Plate. In addition to volcanic activity, the rise also has a number of hydrothermal vents.
Transform Boundaries
The San Andreas Fault, stretching along the central west coast of North America, is one of the most active faults on the Ring of Fire. It lies on the transform boundary between the North American Plate, which is moving south, and the Pacific Plate, which is moving north. Measuring about 1,287 kilometers (800 miles) long and 16 kilometers (10 miles) deep, the fault cuts through the western part of the U.S. state of California. Movement along the fault caused the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which destroyed nearly 500 city blocks. The earthquake and accompanying fires killed roughly 3,000 people and left half of the city's residents homeless.

The Ring of Fire is also home to hot spots, areas deep within the Earth's mantle from which heat rises. This heat facilitates the melting of rock in the brittle, upper portion of the mantle. The melted rock, known as magma, often pushes through cracks in the crust to form volcanoes.

Hot spots are not generally associated with the interaction or movement of Earth's tectonic plates. For this reason, many geologists do not consider hot spot volcanoes part of the Ring of Fire.
Active Volcanoes in the Ring of Fire
Most of the active volcanoes on The Ring of Fire are found on its western edge, from the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, through the islands of Japan and Southeast Asia, to New Zealand.

Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand is one of the more active volcanoes in the Ring of Fire, with yearly minor eruptions, and major eruptions occurring about every 50 years. It stands 2,797 meters (9,177 feet) high. Mount Ruapehu is part of the Taupo Volcanic Arc, where the dense Pacific Plate is subducting beneath the Australian Plate.

Krakatau, perhaps better known as Krakatoa, is an island volcano in Indonesia. Krakatoa erupts less often than Mount Ruapehu, but much more spectacularly. Beneath Krakatoa, the denser Australian Plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate. An infamous eruption in 1883 destroyed the entire island, sending volcanic gas, volcanic ash, and rocks as high as 80 kilometers (50 miles) in the air. A new island volcano, Anak Krakatau, has been forming with minor eruptions ever since.

Mount Fuji, Japan's tallest and most famous mountain, is an active volcano in the Ring of Fire. Mount Fuji last erupted in 1707, but recent earthquake activity in eastern Japan may have put the volcano in a "critical state." Mount Fuji sits at a "triple junction," where three tectonic plates (the Amur Plate, Okhotsk Plate, and Philippine Plate) interact.

The Ring of Fire's eastern half also has a number of active volcanic areas, including the Aleutian Islands, the Cascade Mountains in the western U.S., the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, and the Andes Mountains.

Mount St. Helens, in the U.S. state of Washington, is an active volcano in the Cascade Mountains. Below Mount St. Helens, the Juan de Fuca plate is being subducted beneath the North American Plate. Mount St. Helens lies on a particularly weak section of crust, which makes it more prone to eruptions. Its historic 1980 eruption lasted 9 hours and covered nearby areas in tons of volcanic ash.

Popocatépetl is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the Ring of Fire. The mountain is one of Mexico's most active volcanoes, with 15 recorded eruptions since 1519. The volcano lies on the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, which is the result of the small Cocos Plate subducting beneath the North American Plate. Located close to the urban areas of Mexico City and Puebla, Popocatépetl poses a risk to the more than 20 million people that live close enough to be threatened by a destructive eruption.

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Plate Tectonics and the Ring of Fire | National Geographic Society

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The Ring of Fire isn't quite a circular ring. It is shaped more like a 40,000-kilometer (25,000-mile) horseshoe. A string of 452 volcanoes stretches from the southern tip of South America, up along the coast of North America, across the Bering Strait, down through Japan, and into New Zealand.

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Explain what kind of tectonic plate boundary created your landform and HOW! (Divergent, convergent, transform or convergent subduction)

What fossils have been discovered here?

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Fold mountains are created where two or more of Earth's tectonic plates are pushed together. At these colliding, compressing boundaries, rocks and debris are warped and folded into rocky outcrops, hills, mountains, and entire mountain ranges.

Fold mountains are created through a process called orogeny. An orogenic event takes millions of years to create a fold mountain, but you can mimic it in seconds. Cover a table with a tablecloth, or place a rug flat on the floor. Now push the edge of the tablecloth or rug-wrinkles will develop and fold on top of each other.

The vocabulary of fold mountains owes something to this simple tablecloth experiment. Some of the key structures in fold mountains are nappes. Nappes are common, dramatic folded rocks or rock formations. "Nappe" is French for "tablecloth" and it is believed the formations were named after the tabletop experiment.

The huge difference between the rock folds and cloth folds is that in the tabletop experiment, the table itself does not fold. In the creation of fold mountains, Earth's crust itself is warped into folded forms.

Fold mountains are often associated with continental crust. They are created at convergent plate boundaries, sometimes called continental collision zones or compression zones. Convergent plate boundaries are sites of collisions, where tectonic plates crash into each other. Compression describes a set of stresses directed at one point in a rock or rock formation.

At a compression zone, tectonic activity forces crustal compression at the leading edge of the crust formation. For this reason, most fold mountains are found on the edge or former edge of continental plate boundaries. Rocks on the edge of continental crust are often weaker and less stable than rocks found in the continental interior. This can make them more susceptible to folding and warping. Most fold mountains are composed primarily of sedimentary rock and metamorphic rock formed under high pressure and relatively low temperatures. Many fold mountains are also formed where an underlying layer of ductile minerals, such as salt, is present.
Young and Old, High and Low
Fold mountains are the most common type of mountain in the world. The rugged, soaring heights of the Himalayas, Andes, and Alps are all active fold mountains.

The Himalayas stretch through the borders of China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, and Pakistan. The crust beneath the Himalaya, the most towering mountain range on Earth, is still the process of being compressed. Here, the Indian plate is colliding northward with the Eurasian plate. The sedimentary rocks of the Himalayas include shale and limestone. Metamorphic rocks of the region include schist and gneiss. Dikes of igneous rock also intrude throughout the rock formations of the Himalayas.

The Andes are the world's longest mountain chain. They stretch along the entire west coast of South America, from Colombia in the north and through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina to the south. Here, the dense oceanic crust of the Nazca plate is subducting beneath the less-dense continental crust of the South American plate. The Andes are mostly being folded and uplifted from the thicker, less-dense rocks of the South American plate. The sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the Andes are dotted by active and dormant volcanoes.

The Alps roughly mark the top of the "boot" of the Italian Peninsula. The Alps stretch across Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Monaco, and France. Here, the tiny Adriatic microplate is colliding with the much larger Eurasian plate to the north. The J-shaped Adriatic microplate is a remnant of the African plate to the south, and today it carries the eastern Italian Peninsula as well as the entire Adriatic Sea. Alpine geology includes sedimentary and metamorphic rock, as well as igneous rocks that once were part of the ocean floor and were later uplifted in the process of folding.

Not all fold mountains are soaring peaks. The Appalachians, stretching along North America's east coast, are generally low-lying, gentle slopes. Millions of years ago, the Appalachians were taller than the Himalayas! Millions of years of erosion, however, have taken their toll. Today, some of the highest peaks of the Appalachians are less than a third of the height of Everest.

The crust that is now the Appalachians began folding over 300 million years ago, when the North American and African continental plates collided. Plate tectonics created this ancient mountain range, then called the Central Pangean Mountains . . . and plate tectonics tore it apart. As tectonic activity ripped apart the ancient supercontinent Pangea, the African, Eurasian, and North American plates drifted apart.

The Appalachians are just one remnant of the Central Pangean Mountains. The Appalachians stretch from the province of Newfoundland, in southeastern Canada, through the southern state of Alabama in the United States. They are related to the gentle fold mountains of the Scottish Highlands (Eurasia) and the Little Atlas Mountains in Morocco (Africa)-their orogenic sisters from the Central Pangean Mountains.
Types of Folds
Fold mountains are defined by complex, vital geologic forms known as folds. There are many, many different types of folds. Geologists primarily categorize folds by their shape-do they have sharp turns or gentle curves? Are the folds convex or concave?

A fold mountain usually displays more than one type of fold. Anticlines and synclines are the most common up-and-down folds that result from compression. An anticline has a ∩-shape, with the oldest rocks in the center of the fold. A syncline is a U-shape, with the youngest rocks in the center of the fold.

Domes and basins are often considered types of folds. A dome is a series of symmetrical anticlines, roughly shaped like half a sphere. Like an anticline, the oldest rocks in a dome are found in the center. A basin is a depression, or dip, in Earth's surface. Like a syncline, a basin has its youngest rocks in its center.

Other types of folds include:

monoclines. A monocline is a type of fold in which all rock layers incline, or dip, in the same direction.

chevron. A chevron is a sharp, straight fold where rock layers look like zig-zags.

slump. A slump fold is a result of slope failure (a type of mass wasting or landslide). The slope failure happened when sediments were soft, before they became a single mass of rock. As the sediments lithified, they became a slump.

ptygmatic. Ptygmatic folds are a type of slump fold created where the folding material is much more viscous than the material surrounding it. Many ptygmatic folds are created as metamorphic rock melts and intrudes into another rock layer, forming a dike.

disharmonic. Disharmonic folds describe rock formations in which different rock layers have different fold shapes.

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Fold Mountain | National Geographic Society

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Fold mountains are created where two or more of Earth's tectonic plates are pushed together. At these colliding, compressing boundaries, rocks and debris are warped and folded into rocky outcrops, hills, mountains, and entire mountain ranges. Fold mountains are created through a process called orogeny.

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'Fish lizard' fossils found in Swiss Alps belonged to some of the largest creatures that ever lived | CNN

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The fossils of giant, extinct marine reptiles have been found in an unlikely place: within the high altitudes of the Swiss Alps. The fossils belong to three ichthyosaurs, and they may have been some of the largest animals that ever lived on Earth.

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"The natural wonders of Vancouver Island are apparent to even the most casual observer- the tall trees, the delicate wildflowers, and the abundant wildlife. But to the trained eye of Graham Beard the rocks themselves hold secrets mysterious and beautiful."
-from The Parksville-Qualicum Beach News, Tuesday April 2, 1991, Mike Robinson, News Reporter
This story introduces Vancouver Island and explains how the region is very important to people who study fossils. It also introduces Graham Beard, a local retired teacher and amateur paleontologist. Graham has made several important fossil discoveries and has dedicated his life to educating the public about fossils. Finally, we introduce the 'stars' of the paleontology collection at the Qualicum Beach Museum. We hope you enjoy this exhibit and that in the future you will come visit the museum to see these magnificent fossils up close.

This clip, featuring Graham Beard, talks about the history of paleontology on Vancouver Island.
View Video with Transcription (EN)
FINDING FOSSILS ON VANCOUVER ISLAND

It all started almost 100 years ago, when an unusual tooth was found in ancient shale rock on the Trent River near Campbell River. Since then, discoveries by paleontologists have shown that the Island was home to a huge diversity of life forms in the water and on the land.

A dazzling variety of fossils has been found on Vancouver Island and on the nearby Gulf Islands. These include trilobites, ammonites, marine mammals, and many plants. Even tropical species existed on Vancouver Island in warmer prehistoric times. Paleontologists have discovered fossilized walnuts and palm fronds at a fossil site near Campbell River.

VANCOUVER ISLAND AND 'THE RING OF FIRE'

To begin to understand fossils, we have to understand the massive movements of the earth that have happened over millions of years.

Vancouver Island is located in the Pacific 'Ring of Fire'. The Ring of Fire is a region in the Pacific Ocean that has a lot of volcanic and earthquake activity. It might seem strange, but Vancouver Island and much of BC were formed very close to the tropical equator. This is different from most of North America which is made up of rocks that are billions of years old. BC is made up of several different types of younger rocks. These rocks were formed in the tropics and were moved northward over millions of years by plate tectonics. This is why BC has different fossils than the rest of Canada. Most of them were created under the ocean, which is why we find sea shells on the tops of mountains.

GRAHAM BEARD: AMATEUR PALEONTOLOGIST

Graham Beard is a local amateur paleontologist and active community member. He is also the curator of the fossil collection at the Qualicum Beach Museum. Graham's expertise at fossil-finding is well known. Over the past 50 years he has been instrumental in the discovery of many significant Vancouver Island fossils.

Many of his fossils, and those found by other locals, have become valuable resources for research by paleontologists from around the world.

FAMOUS FOSSILS AT THE QUALICUM BEACH MUSEUM

The QB museum has many fascinating fossils. There is a giant spiral shaped sea creature called an ammonite that was found on a local mountain. The collection also contains Vancouver Island's only known trilobites and some very rare fossilized flowers. We also have a display about 'Rosie'- an Ice Age walrus who was found in Pleistocene clay north of Qualicum Beach.

Read on to learn more about young Graham Beard, the boy whose fascination with fossils became a life-long passion. Find out more about the amazing Vancouver Island fossils discovered by Beard and his fellow amateur paleontologists.

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Vancouver Island Fossils - Traces of our Ancient World | Paleontology on Vancouver Island

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"The natural wonders of Vancouver Island are apparent to even the most casual observer- the tall trees, the delicate wildflowers, and the abundant wildlife. But to the trained [...]