 Dawson's travels as school superintendent allowed him to deepen his geological studies, as he visited and studied geological sites across the region, leading to publication of his classic "Acadian Geology" (1855 and subsequent editions).He entered zealously into the geology of Canada, making a special study of the fossil forests of the coal-measures of Joggins, Nova Scotia, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.During the course of his second exploration of the cliffs with Charles Lyell in 1852, he discovered the remains of a tetrapod named "Dendrerpeton" entombed within a fossil tree.