Join host Veronica Klassen in Nova Scotia for this special episode on location at the Bay of Fundy! Dr. Jade Atkins, Curator and Director of Science Research at Joggins Fossil Cliffs, and geologist Danielle Serratos, Curator and Director of the Fundy Geological Museum, reveal the region’s one-of-a-kind fossils and dramatic geologic history. Along the way, they share the twists and turns of their unconventional paths into paleontology—and offer candid, inspiring advice for students and anyone charting their own career journey. Listen now: Spotify Amazon Music Apple Podcasts Read along with the podcast transcript: Introduction Hello, everyone. Welcome to Beneath Your Feet, a geoscience podcast. I’m Veronica Klassen, science communicator, geology enthusiast and your host. Here at the APGO Education Foundation, our mission is to spark curiosity and passion for the geology of Ontario. Whether you’re a geology nerd, science enthusiast, or nature lover, this podcast is for you. Join us as we geek out over fascinating geology, uncover the hidden storiesand secrets of our extraordinary planet and explore the captivating world beneath your feet. Veronica Klassen Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Beneath Your Feet. Today is a super exciting day and one that I have been looking forward to for a long time because I’m actually here in Nova Scotia visiting the Bay of Fundy, which has the world’s highest tides, as well as the oldest dinosaur fossils in Canada. Danielle And even more importantly since we’re here at Joggins… Jade We have the world’s oldest amniota reptile fossil. Veronica Well there you go! Today, I’m going to be talking to Dr. Jade Atkins, who is the Curator and Director of Science Research at Joggins Fossil Cliffs, as well as geologist Danielle Serratos, director and curator at the Fundy Geological Museum. Today we’re gonna be talking about the really unique geology of the Bay of Fundy area. We’re going be talking about life advice, career advice, some common misconceptions about geology and paleontology, and so much more. So thank you so much you two for agreeing to be on the podcast. Danielle Thanks for having us. Veronica Awesome. Let’s jump right into it. So start just by telling us a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you do? Jade Okay, so I’m Jade. I am not actually a geologist. I am a biologist that learned geology on the job. Veronica Okay fun. Jade At every sort of point in my career, I gained a little more geology knowledge, but I do have a biological background, so I approach fossils from a little bit of a different perspective than than your average paleontologist I think. Danielle And, Danielle speaking here, I am more of the stereotypical paleontologist. I grew up in North Texas, so I was surrounded by some really fantastic fossil sites and loved it from an early age. I went to University for my Undergrad, have a degree in Geology. Then went on to Grad school and became a specialist in marine reptile paleontology. Veronica Wow. That’s awesome. All right. Do you mind telling us a bit more about your respective organizations and what they do? Jade Absolutely. Yeah. So the Joggins Fossil Cliffs is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We were inscribed in 2008. And the reason for our inscription is that this is the best and most complete record of the late Carboniferous that you can find in the world. So it’s 15 kilometers looking out any window kind of in any direction at this point of a cliff face that has fossils is very fossiliferous. Sort of twice a day the tides come and they rework the beach and also the cliffs, and we have new findings every day. Danielle So I work at the Fundy Geological Museum. It’s in Parrsboro, about forty-five minutes from Joggins, where we are right now. We are a part of the Nova Scotia Museum. So, Nova Scotia has the largest most decentralized museum system in Canada. Veronica Wow. That’s a lot. Danielle Yeah. Most of them are heritage homes, but the Fundy Geological Museum was established in 1993, so we just celebrated our thirty-first year, thirty-second, something like that. I can do simple math. Our mission and mandate is to record Nova Scotia’s geological history, specifically around the Bay of Fundy. Because we’re situated on the North shore of the Minas basin, that is primarily where we collect fossils and minerals and do our research, however, because we are Nova Scotia’s geological museum, like the provincial museum, we also have specimens from all over the province. Jade Including from here. Danielle Yep. Jade. You do have some specimens from the Joggins formation. But that’s fine, fossils from the Joggins formation are found all over the world. Veronica They travel a lot? Jade They did. They are more well travelled than I am. Veronica That is awesome. And how did both of you end up here? So what was the spark that started you on this journey exploring rocks and fossils? And why did you end up here specifically? Jade It was a complete accident for me. I was not into, I was not into geology. I was not really into rocks as a kid. I wasn’t really into nature either. I didn’t meet a scientist. I’m from rural Nova Scotia. I didn’t meet a scientist until I went to university. So I went to university wanting to be a medical doctor because that is all I saw.Those were the people doing science in my community. Were teachers, and I knew I didn’t want to be a teacher, although I do teach now, and medical doctors and nurses. And I thought, okay, I could do that. And then I took a biology course in my first year and I am dating myself a bit. But Tiktaalik had just been found. Veronica Sorry just for the non geologists, do you mind just explaining quick what Tiktaalik is? Jade Yes. So Tiktaalik is called a fishapod