Todd Ventura, Saint Mary’s University
The majestic fossil-rich cliffs of Joggins, Nova Scotia is host to Paleozoic aged peat mires, lakes, and rivers systems. The remains of the plants and animals that were living in these environments have been preserved as organic-rich shales and coal seams. It is thought that some of these rocks may record intervals of time when the Paleozoic Tethys seas may have also reached far enough inland to impact the Joggins fossil locality. If this happened, then the presence of marine conditions in Joggins would have also impacted the type of organic matter that became buried and the way that that organic matter could become preserved in these rocks. Our study is trying to find geochemical information that may help us determine if the Tethy’s oceans reached Joggins and if it did, exactly how this impacted the type and preservation of organic matter that currently exists in the Joggins rocks. Knowing this information may help us to better understand, or even predict, how oil and gas formed from other rock intervals both on and offshore of Nova Scotia.