“Geology is Everywhere”
“You can’t avoid geology,” says Dr. Randall Miller. “It’s everywhere — in our coastal cliffs and islands, along our highways, even in the stones we’ve used to build our cities.”
Dr. Miller, Curator of Geology at the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, is a keen paleontologist specializing in marine fossils of the Devonian period, about 400-million years ago. He willingly shares his passion with others. Whether guiding a field trip or delivering a paper to a gathering of scientists, his enthusiasm shines in his eyes and resonates in his voice.
“New Brunswick is a wonderful place to explore prehistory,” he continues. “It’s a place where continents have collided over the ages, leaving us with remnants of many parts of the world. Rocks and fossils turn up here that you would expect to find in places like Scotland, Morocco, or South America.”
Earth sciences have a long history in New Brunswick. One of the many collections under
Dr. Miller’s stewardship was created in the 1830s by Abraham Gesner. Gesner was the first provincial geologist in Canada and, incidentally, an early pioneer in the extraction of oil from mineral deposits. Such early specimens are vitally important to geological research today. As methods of research improve, scientists learn more and more by comparing finds from different times and places.
“Recently,” Dr. Miller explains, “we were able to do a CT scan of a fossilized shark from a site in New Brunswick. It revealed all sorts of information about the internal structure of the fish, things we could never have learned without that technology.”
The ongoing possibility of such discoveries convinces him that New Brunswick’s geological heritage needs not only to be better known, but also to be better protected from excessive, careless traffic and casual collectors. That’s why he spends a lot of time briefing tourism operators and guides on how to answer visitors’ questions. As part of his interest in promoting safe, non-destructive discovery he is working on a geotourist’s guide to Saint John. Eventually, he would like it to include interpretive and conservation information on important geological sites all around the province — sites such as Mount Carleton, The Hopewell Rocks, the gypsum caves of Albert County, the Norton fossil forest and many more.
The entire sequence of geological periods is represented well in New Brunswick. For example, at the Reversing Falls you can see a Precambrian rock formation that is more than a half-billion years old. At the other extreme, a fossilized mastodon found near the village of Hillsborough probably died less than 100,000 years ago. You’ll see the reconstructed skeleton of that ancient, elephant-like creature when you visit the Museum’s geology gallery at 1 Market Square in downtown Saint John. Scientific colleagues consider the interpretive display that Dr. Miller built there to be one of the best of its kind anywhere. [For a preview, visit Permanent Exhibitions on the Museum Website]
DR. RANDALL MILLER
Curator of Geology
THE NEW BRUNSWICK MUSEUM
1 Market Square
Saint John
506-643-2338
www.nbm-mnb.ca