The discovery of fossils of early life forms on Newfoundland's craggy coast are providing paleontologists with new information about how life evolved on Earth.

While walking on an outcropping on the Newfoundland coastline, researcher Guy Narbonne found tiny, delicate imprints of organisms that were trapped in mud 565 million years ago.

"I looked at it and it was so exquisite, I said, 'Can this be real?'" said Narbonne, a geology professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.

Guy Narbonne.
Guy Narbonne.

The 120 fossils, which are about two to three centimetres long, are known to science as rangeomorphs – soft-bodied marine organisms that resemble ferns but are actually animal-like remains.

Early evolutionary experiment

The fossils were found in the Spaniard's Bay area on the north coast of the Avalon Peninsula.

Fern-looking fossil of an early, soft-bodied creature.
Fern-looking fossil of an early, soft-bodied creature.

The outcrop is about half the size of a basketball court. Narbonne called it one of the best locations in the world to see the "earliest experiments of multicellular life."

He and his colleagues study the intricate patterns in the fossils by glazing them with layers of latex. They then peel back the layers, creating a reproduction to examine in the laboratory.

One such reproduction will grace the cover of Science magazine this month.

"It's absolutely amazing," said Alex Dececchi, a field assistant. "The clarity of the fossils and the size and the absolute beauty of these things is just incredible."

Up the bay, Narbonne's team has begun work at an older site of 575-million-year-old fossils.

The research garnered international attention in 2002, when Narbonne announced the discovery of the formation at Mistaken Point, on the southern tip of the Avalon Peninsula.

"What we're seeing here is that we're getting extremely complex stuff early on," said Mark Laflamme, a student at Queen's.

Narbonne estimates there are tens of thousands of fossils in the area to explore.