What is Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve?
[[File:Nfldmap.gif|thumb|right|220px|Map of Newfoundland. Reserve is on bottom right-hand corner of map, on the nearly-an-island Avalon Peninsula]] '''Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve''' is one of the world's greatest [[fossil]] [[wikt:site|sites]]. It is part of [[Newfoundland and Labrador]], in [[Canada]]. Mistaken Point was so named because [[sailor]]s found it a [[navigation]]al [[hazard]] on the [[fog]]gy tip of [[Newfoundland]]'s [[Avalon Peninsula]]. The site is on Canada's Tentative List for proposed [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]s. No-one can visit the fossil site without an official [[guide]]; collecting actual fossils may not be done. == The fossils == The fossils are in Mistaken Point's tilted and [[Fault (geology)|faulted]] [[mudstone]] and [[sandstone]]. They are exposed, visible on the surface. They are part of the [[Ediacaran biota]], the oldest complex ([[multicellular]]) life forms. The [[Ediacaran]] is the last period in the [[Proterozoic]] [[eon]]. They date to 579 to 542 million years ago, when all life was in the sea. The Reserve is the only place in the world where you can see a 565-million-year-old sea floor which preserves the [[ecology]] of these ancient deep sea [[Community|communities]].<ref name=MPER>[http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/parks/wer/r_mpe/index.html Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121126025650/http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/parks/wer/r_mpe/index.html |date=2012-11-26 }}, Newfoundland and Labrador, Dept. of Environment and Conservation</ref> This [[lagerstätte]] includes over 30 types of ancient creatures, most of them [[extinct]] groups unknown in our modern world. == The palaeoecology == The creatures lived on the bottom of a deep [[ocean]], below the depths that light could reach. What is now Newfoundland was then between latitudes 40°–65° South. The imprints of the soft-bodied animals were preserved in place on the muddy sea floor when they were suddenly buried by repeated [[volcanic ash]]-falls. The ash ([[tuff]]