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Cape Jack Beach Nova Scotia

Hi all, My friends recently visited Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia. While they were there they went on a fossil hunt with a geologist who curates the local museum. They were told that they could collect the small, loose stuff, and so brought back plenty of nice fossils. They gave a couple specimens to me, and I’m just wondering about IDing them. There are a lot of Calamites fossils among what they brought back, but I’m having trouble with the rest. I live in the Ordovician and don’t have a lot of experience with Carboniferous flora except finding a few pretties in Pittsburgh. First pic (1) has what they were told is an early seed cone. Can anyone corroborate and specify species? I was looking at Lepidostrobus but the shape seems different. Second pic (2) is one of the fossils they gave me. They thought that the top left might be part of a seed cone but I think it’s Annularia. Thoughts? And are those oval-shaped leaves Pecopteris ? Alethopteris ? And just for fun, I’ll add a couple more pictures (see comments) if anyone wants to have at it. Anyways, thanks!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/minas-basin-ancient-fish-species-discovery-1.4667718

Found two pieces of stone this weekend.. would like to know the timeframe and what they are ... if anything other than twigs. Found in Cape Jack, Nova Scotia A Beach on St George's Bay.

A team from Harvard were in luck, finding tetrapod bones that could add to the story of life. =) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/harvard-fossil-find-cape-breton-1.4311303

...Will post 3 more images Is this a Dinosaur footprint? Looks like Theropod maybe? Found on Nova Scotia Beach Any insight is appreciated for this amateur. Thanks in advance.

Found on Cape Jack Beach Nova Scotia. I have 3 more like this. Stigmaria Root? I have one I know is an imprint.. but is this one a fossilized piece of root or an imprint? Would love any insight! Thanks in advance. I have more pictures but they are 3mb each.. Can I post more?

I found a few of these at Joggins fossil cliffs on Nova Scotia. I wonder if it's a nut from the Coal Age tree in the forest fossilized within the cliffs?

Hello!!!! Not sure what this is but I have had it kicking around for years (20 to be exact). It was found on a beach in Nova Scotia. It appears to be bone, is about 2 inches high by 1.5 inches across but doesn't look to be a complete segment. Any ideas?

Harvard team fossil hunting at Blue Beach, Nova Scotia Heather Desveaux, Chronicle Herald, June 22, 2017 http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1480307-video-harvard-team-fossil-hunting-at-blue-beach The Blue Beach Fossil Museum http://www.novascotia.com/see-do/attractions/blue-beach-fossil-museum/1611 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Beach Mansky, C.F. and Lucas, S.G., 2013. Romer’s Gap revisited: continental assemblages and ichno-assemblages from the basal Carboniferous of Blue Beach, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Carboniferous-Permian Transition. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 60, pp. 244-273. http://www.academia.edu/12658498/Romers_Gap_revisited_continental_assemblages_and_ichnoassemblages_from_the_basal_Carboniferous.. Yours, Paul H.

While going through some older stuff, I came across a fossil I collected several years ago in Nova Scotia, Joggins area (I was given permission to keep it). There may not be enough detail here for an ID, but I thought I'd ask the tribe if they could zero in on what species of plant this might have been. From what I was told, it is fairly common and of little scientific value.

I was back out in the field today on the hunt for more fossils. Gathered a bunch of rock to split and examine. What I did find were fragile fossils of vegetation. The picture shows what looks to be a fossilized chunk of wood. Hope to get back out there! B.A.Wagner

I was back in the field this morning and was on the hunt for shale and other sedimentary rocks that may contain fossils. I found this one and cracked it open and found what looks to be a fossil. It is Kane of hard to see so I outlined the areas of interest in red. I found fossils on this field before but I just don't know what this is. Would love some help. B. A. Wagner

I am new to fossil hunting and new to the forums, I found these "fossils" in a field in front of my house. I was wondering if these are really fossils, or just natural geological formations. Hope you can help me ID what these are. Thanks B.A.Wagner

I have a box of some freebie fossil plant publications to give away. Mostly Maritimes. And a few others on western USA and the Arctic. Includes paleobotany textbook. Free to anyone in the Nova Scotia or New Brunswick in the Maritimes who has a current interest in the subject or studying the local stratigraphy. Decent condition but used. Please, personal message only. If you dont hear back, box is taken.

First time posting on here. Seems like there is a lot of knowledgeable members so I'm hoping there is someone who is familiar with Tournasian age vertebrate fauna and can help me to properly identify this jawbone. I have a few candidates, however, I would like to hear thoughts from members. There is also an ulna bone situated directly above the jaw.

October of 2014 saw a few storms that rocked the coast of Joggins pretty good. In sites like these, the day(s) after a storm is the best day to see if nature revealed more of its secrets. I invited my friend Ray to come down South to Nova Scotia with me for a little trip and boom, on the road with good company! For people that don't know what or where Joggins is by now (look up my previous posts or just search for it on the 'InTeRnEtS' via a search engine), you'll find out that this UNESCO site plays a crucial part in trying to understand our past, before the domination of giant diapsids, aka dinosaurs. This place touts having discovered some of the (if not the) oldest reptile ever found, which most remains are lodged inside fossil trees which Joggins is reknowned for. The area that we usually like to walk to is a section along the Joggins Formation, located between Lower Cove and Shulie. The formations North/North East of the targeted section, Boss Point/Lower Cove, are older. The cliffs are set as classic layer position, although tilted for a few kilometers, where the older rock is at the bottom, and topped with younger strata. There is a nice spot to park near the small bridge in Lower Cove. From there, you make your way down and start heading South. It only takes a few hundred feet before you start encountering the exposed cliff strata. Calamite within another plant fossil(square on scale=1cm) Walking a few meters more we noticed this while looking up... As we saw some of the sandstone slabs and boulders slide down the cliff, or just hang there precariously, we came up upon this slab. These had wonderful tetrapod tracks running on one side of the slab of sandstone, running from the bottom, and running off on the left side. These prints are not bad, well preserved, and can easily make out the manus and pes (hands and feet) of the track-making animal. The average height of these prints are between 3 to 4.5 CM, with a width of 4 to 4.5 CM. I have many more photos that offer different angles and exact scale measurements, which I didn't post. And yes I realize that the scale on these 3 pics obscure an actual print. My bad. Ray playing the role of the human scale Trying to figure out from which layer this dropped from Being observers without a permit, we had to leave the tracks untouched where we found them. Unfortunate as these are most probably shattered in pieces, carried by the strong tides. We that, we moved on. The remainder of our walk is what is considered a typical Joggins walk, seeing trees, roots, plants, and the occasional fern. Tree cast with coal Close up Stigmaria Mass of ferns Tree cast Calamite There might be changes coming and the chance to save these type of fossils could be made a little easier with positive collaboration with invested entities such as the Joggins Fossil Center. In the future, I and others will have to be more careful in capturing relevant data, flagging the specimen(s), record the coordinates, and try to flag someone who has the power to extract said so fossil(s). This way the chances to save something like the trackways found that day from the ravages of time and nature would be more favorable. Time will tell. Till the next adventure! - Keenan

Taken from one of my latest posts: http://redleafz.blogspot.ca/2014/01/blue-beach-hantsport-nova-scotia-fall.html I had meant to make a post on my blog on my last trip from last year to Blue Beach, in Nova Scotia but it had slipped my mind. I had brought my new Olympus SLR camera with me to capture snapshots and compare the quality with what I used to take photos with. A bit bulkier than the old gal, but I must admit that I won't miss her much. I can't recall when I went down there, and the data on the camera isn't accurate as I didn't bother setting the right time/date format. On this trek you will notice there's a little of everything spread all over along the beach. South of the Jurassic and Triassic rocks that make up most of the Blomidon Peninsula lies the Carboniferous Horton Formation. These fossil bearing sedimentary rocks stretch from a little South of Hantsport to about Boot Island, North East of the city of Wolfville. The further one ventures South, the more you'll encounter rocks containing evaporites. These would be mostly part of the Carboniferous Windsor group, full of limestones and gypsum, such as in Cheverie (click to see other post on location). Before heading down the path you get to see this The walk through the woods is nice The view as soon as you turn left walking down the path. These stratum have marine animals such as bivalves, brachiopods, and fragments of other animals. I've found some shale with arthropod traces in this area. I've mostly found them further North though. Some nice traces Rusophycus and cruziana from what I can tell There is also a good amount of plant material found along the beach. Fish scales Tree section Mechanical or actual tracks? Diplichnites Section of the cliffs where some of the bigger traces were found, further North. Tracks? Rusophycus (largest I've seen here so far) Last year was a great season and Blue Beach didn't disappoint. It's one of these places where it keeps attracting you. It will be one of my first beaches to hit when the ice starts to melt. The cliffs keep working out new material, so every time is a new adventure. Till next time... - Keenan

The 10 day dig at Wasson Bluff, where the oldest dinosaurs found in Canada can be found, wrapped up last Sunday. Many interesting finds were made and lots of people contributed to make this dig a successful one. Dr. Tim Fedak posted on the Earthquake Dinosaurs's blog a very good summary of the successful project. Click on the link to check it out! http://earthquake-dinosaurs.ca/volunteers-and-science/ I was very proud to have participated in this project! Cheers! - Keenan

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1147369-digging-for-dinosaur-clues Article on the work going on at Wasson's Bluff, site of where Canada's oldest dinos were found. I just posted on the forums a blog post I just did, as I went down there myself to lend a hand. http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/39864-dig-going-on-at-wassons-bluff-where-oldest-dinosaurs-in-canada-have-been-found/

Taken from my blogpost http://redleafz.blogspot.ca/2013/08/cape-breton-sydney-mines-donkin-july.html I had planned to head back to Cape Breton in the Summer of 2013. I set aside a few days during my first week of vacation in July to head back over there. I decided to go during the week, leaving on a Tuesday to avoid the weekend touristic rush. My plans were to spend some time looking at rock, but to also do the touristy thing and visit some of the local interests, such as the French Fortress of Louisbourg. From Moncton to Sydney is a bit over 5 hours of driving by car. After a few stops along the way, I arrived at the hotel at about mid afternoon. I booked my room that I had reserved in advance, dropped my stuff, and jetted out to the beach for a little afternoon stroll to check out some rocks before turning in for the night. Point Aconi, Cape Breton I headed out to a spot I had already gone last year to check for rocks. Point Aconi is well known for its Carboniferous fossils, having coal seams cross that area, leading to economy based on that product, with several mines tapping throughout an extensive period of time. Going down the beach was tricky as you had to walk over thick layers of smelly, rotting seaweed. Once on the sand, the rest of the walk was practically easy. When I reached the point, the beach was littered with shale fragments all over the place. There weren't many fragments larger than the size of my hand. Fossil bearing shale The shale that comes out of these cliffs are rich in fossils. There's barely any piece of rock that you would grab that didn't have something on it. The tides surely did some good work, grinding these rocks to tiny bits. Still, there was some pretty ones, albeit not numerous. Annularia After spending some time picking at rocks, I headed back to town for supper and to relax a bit. The city of Sydney is nice, especially with all the beaches and rocks surrounding it. I called it the day and turned in early. The next morning I took a drive to Sydney Mines, north of Sydney, to check out the Cape Breton Fossil Museum where I met Stuart and Jim, the gentlemen responsible for this beautiful interpretation center. We had a good chat on everything related to rocks and Cape Breton, and happily went about checking their fossils on display. The quality of their collection is quite good and a must for anybody visiting Cape Breton. After my stroll in the center, I said my goodbyes and proceeded south towards Louisbourg. ** If you want to see the Louisbourg visit, go check my post where I post a few pics of my walk down history here: http://redleafz.blogspot.ca/2013/08/cape-breton-sydney-mines-donkin-july.html When I was done with my stroll in the park, I decided to do some more rock hunting before heading back for a long drive home. From Louisbourg I drove up north towards Donkin to check out the rocks. It was hard not to walk over rock that didn't have any fossils on it. The cliff erodes at a pretty good rate, and thick slabs of rock dropped on the beach have nice plants on it. The fossils in this area are very nice and numerous. I ended up staying a bit later then I expected and managed to twist my ankle by stepping in a stupid gopher hole. Limping back to the car, I left a little bit after 7pm and got back home at around 1am. Quite a drive, but it is one of the things I enjoy the most when I'm out there. It was a good trip and another item to scratch off my list of the year. I'd say it ended up being a good kickstart to my Summer. Cheers! - Keenan

Taken from blog post http://redleafz.blogspot.ca/2013/07/joggins-nova-scotia-june-2013.html Being on vacation meant being on the road, looking for rocks. That also meant that during that week, I had to make at least one stop at Joggins, in the wet province of Nova Scotia, where the bees shoot flames, and.. ok, lets move on. Here's a few photos of my trek down the beach. Like always, be mindful of the tides. Not knowing when high tide comes in could spell trouble as exit routes are not easily found. So you'd end up stranded for a few hours, so really not recommended to stick around when high time comes around. Sand nodule containing plants The sand nodules that I found on the beach are extremely hard and those I came across contained mostly plants, like the one I found already cracked on the photo above. Some of them were covered with pyrite (fool's gold). Trackways or sediment deformation? Lots of new plants, especially calamites (some whole) A lonely fern Found the other print of the lonely fern Got to the coal mine shaft and was surprised of how much had eroded away in a matter of weeks. Parts of the top of the shaft had collapsed then washed away, leaving a bigger gap. You could smell sulfur, and it smelled like heck! Mine shaft pic taken last year (left) and this Summer (right) View of inside the shaft Stigmaria ('tree' root) Calamites in situ Sigillaria imprint I was surprised that this time around there were not many trees. I've found one partly buried in scree, and another (mostly flame scarred) loose on the beach. There was a lot of material that had come loose, but the tide had managed to carry and spread these all over. This spot is usually hard to resist when talking rock trip. Every time I come down here, I end up seeing an ever changing scenery. If you're ever in the area of Joggins, Nova Scotia, stop by. Its worth it. Cheers! - Keenan

Taken from my blog post: http://redleafz.blogspot.ca/2013/06/cheverie-hantsport-nova-scotia.html I had planned to go back to Blue Beach in the Avonpart area for a while now. The site and other neighboring lcoations have always yielded wonderful specimens and I was itching to get back on the beaches and under the warm Nova Scotia Sun. I hadn't had the chance to hit the road for weeks due to some illness, but seeing the opportunity to go on a day trip, I took it. 1st stop Cheverie (red), 2nd stop Hantsport (red) 3rd and final stop Parrsboro (blue) (red path - from Moncton to stop #2 in Nova Scotia ) (blue path - from stop #2 to #3 in Parrsboro, then back to New Brunswick) I had planned to make a few stops in the Windsor area along the coast. I'd decided to check the white beaches of Cheverie and its gypsum cliffs. These evaporites were left from an ancient body of water, the Windor Sea. Gypsum makes up big sections the area, and is intermixed with very fossiliferous limestones and shales, from Cheverie to across the bay at Blue Beach, which would be my second stop. Stop #1 Cheverie is a few hours from Moncton, about 3 hours drive one way. I took the scenic route via Walton to drive along the coast. The drive itself was excellent as the weather couldn't have been better. Sunny with +30 degrees Celcius along the coast, what more can one ask? I left Moncton at around 7:30am and arrived at my first destination at about 11am. There was some road construction so that added a few more minutes to the trip. Parking on the side of the road, I grabbed my camera and proceeded down the beach. These cliffs are mostly composed of gypsum, with some limestone outcrops jutting out from time to time in some areas. Gypsum outcrop Horsetail White beaches of Cheverie After a short walk on the beach, I packed my gear and headed on the other side of Avon River, to Hantsport. My second stop that afternoon was Blue Beach down Bluff Road. I've been here a few times before and there is so much to see. The outcrops at Blue Beach are abundant with fossils from the Carboniferous Period, with layers transitioning between land- and water-type paleoenvironments. Stop #2 The shale and mudstone are rich in fossils, with numerous brachiopods and bivalves, fish scales, bones, and arthropod trackways. Some of the other sediment type such as some of the sandstones contain various well preserved plants and tetrapod tracks. Scales Shells Bone Arthropod and worm feeding and resting traces Outcrop where loose material contained many fossils Molluscs in groups Bones Possible trackways? Tree segment with bark impression Diplichnites (arthropod tracks) Trackways (?) - fossil plant part of the sandstone block I spent a couple of hours on the beach and kept coming up on a lot of material to look at. When it was time for me to leave, I noticed that I had only walk a tiny fraction of the beach that I had initially intended to. This site deserves another visit really soon from yours truly to check the rest of the beach. Having spent most of the day on the other side of Cumberland, I thought that it would be nice to have a bite in Parrsboro, across the Minas Basin. It was 4pm and I realized that it would be a 2 hour drive, or detour, but the Sun was out in full and the drive would be nice, especially driving along the coast. I packed up my stuff, and made my way towards Parrsboro, which would end up being stop #3. I drove into town and went down Two Island road to finally end up at the Harborview Restaurant, which had opened a few weeks earlier for the season. The food's great and you just can't beat the view. View from outside the restaurant Even though I wasn't able to hit all the spots I wanted, it was a very nice and productive day. Being cooped up in the house with the flu for two weeks, it was nice to catch some vitamin D from the good fiery globe in the sky. I arrived back in Moncton at about 8:30pm, but I could have kept on going. I will definitely have to swing back by that area very soon. Till then, cheers! - Keenan

Here's the link to the original blog post: http://redleafz.blogspot.ca/2013/04/somewhere-in-parrsboro-there-are.html A few days ago I drew a map of the West Bay/Cape Sharp area South-West of the town of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. I had wanted to check the Jurassic age basalt cliffs of Cape Sharp and poke around a bit to see if I could come out with anything. On the cliffs on each side of Cape Sharp are Carboniferous sandstone cliffs which displays a fascinating record of trackways, especially those of tetrapods. I had marked on my makeshift map where the location of a possible access point to the beach would be. If that wasn't the case, I had a plan B, set by driving back towards Parrsboro and finding an access point via Partridge Island. I woke up Sunday (April 14th) morning and it was snowing. I said to myself: "Rain, Snow, or Shine, I'm heading down!". I hit the road at 7am that same morning. The temperature kept at about 0oC Celcius so the road conditions were pretty decent. The snow was melting as soon as it hit the pavement. I had checked the forecast the night before and they had called for higher temperature and a break in late morning. That was good enough for me. I got to the road leading to the supposed beach access by driving a red, muddy, slippery road with my Rabbit. My car is usually gray, but not this morning after my trip down here. I parked the car, got my gear, and headed down the path. Getting down the trail was somewhat annoying. Big trees had fallen at numerous spots and sometimes that meant I had to crawl in the mud or hop on the logs. I'm barely 5'2", so yeah it wasn't a pretty picture. Cape Sharp behind the snowy haze I got to the ledge of the cliff and there was somewhat of a 'trail' going down. It zigzagged a bit but the last 15 feet were just muck and loose sediment. I don't think that if I went down I could get myself back up. I tested the trail halfway and tried going back up. The face of the cliff was so loose and slippery that it took every ounce of strength in me to make it back up. There was no other spots to go down so, defeated, I made my way back up the steep trail. I exerted myself trying to go up that I had to lie down for a few minutes, fighting waves of nausea. During that episode I somehow managed to gash my hand pretty good. Wet, muddy, and bloodied, I sat my sorry in the car and drove to Plan B. West tip of Partridge Island There was no way that this rock trip was gonna be in vain, so I found myself taking the beach road behind the Ottawa House down West Bay Road. Last time I was here was in 2011 so my memory was a little bit hazy. I drove down the sandy road and after dodging or ramming through some major olympic sized pools of water, I managed to park in a safe area. Dirty rabbit! The tides were coming back slowly so I had lots of time to stroll on the beach. Everything was wet so I was curious to see if I could still spot trackways with all the glare. Turns out after a few minutes that I could, and I managed to spot some old tracks and some new ones. The cliffs are put at about Late Carboniferous, and are part of the Cumberland Group - Parrsboro Formation. The layers show an environment alternating between wet and arid, indicated by layers rich in river biota with surrounding vegetation, and the next indicating dryer conditions. Mud crack features The next few photos show a series of trackways and close ups of the ones I managed to spot. Multiple sets of tracks Tracks running horizontal Set of tracks, evenly spaced, with drag mark running along the center Close up of one of the indentation (from the previous photo) No clue at the present of what this is In a section that was protected from the elements, I took the time to take a closer look at some of the rippled surface and found some nice tiny tracks skipping on the surface. Each mes/pes are about ~1cm, running in several directions. Folding where two major faults intersect. The rock is strained and the strate disappears under a thick mix of glacial till, only to reappear a few hundred feet further West. Some trackways to be found, but mostly deformed and barely identifiable. This trip ended up being a very good one. I was able to get to see a few things I haven't seen before, and new data to incorporate in my ever evolving map of the area. Shows that its nice to prepare a litte in advance so that you're not left in a lurch. To finish a good trip in Parrsboro, I had to stop at my friends place, Doug and Jackie's of course! Stayed a while and talked rock. I managed to get out of town with two gorgeous pieces to add to my ever increasing mineral collection. Here's their site: http://www.amethystboutique.com/ On this note, I leave you to your musings. Cheers!

Taken from my recent blog post: http://redleafz.blogspot.ca/2013/04/five-islands-provincial-park-2012.html Here's another of my belated posts on one of my trips last year. Me and my buddy Craig went for one of many trips to the beautiful town of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. From town, we headed East towards the small village of Five Islands, which has a Provincial park of the same name: Five Islands Provincial Park. Islands from right to left: Moose i., Diamond i., Long i., Pinnacle i., Egg i., Pinnacle rock Five Islands Provincial Park is a location that has witnessed several events, including a major extinction. Most of the rocks South of the park, towards Red Head and continuing on to Lower Economy, are of a red sandstone from the Triassic Period. These red sandstones from around Red Head are indicative of an arid, desertic climate. On top of the Triassic rock is a layer that corresponds to the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, sandwiched between Triassic sandstone and Jurassic basalts right on top of it. This Triassic-Jurassic layer is identified by its white sandstone and mudstone. The importance of this layer is that it represents one of the major extinction events that had occurred at the boundary. It is still being studied today. The basalts that top these sandstone layers South of the park and protrude West and created the islands, are of the same found at Blomidon and Cape d'Or. These Jurassic age ancient lava flows and dykes could have been part of an active volcanic network seen all over the Minas Basin. The Old Wife is a result of this contorted, violent past. The islands which dot the landscape are also mostly composed of this Jurassic basalt, and some sections of Jurassic sandstones. "Old Wife", with Moose Island in the background The red cliffs just North of the basalt and separated by faults is of Jurassic age. Dinosaur tracks and other fossils have been found occasionally from either the cliff face, or from loose rocks on the beach. A local by the name of Eldon George had found, among many other wonderful fossils, the smallest dinosaur tracks ever found back in the 1980s at Wasson's Bluff, sandstones of the same age and formation not too far from here. See Jon Tattrie's article. Organic layers within water channel Jurassic McCoy Brook Frm. (left), Jurassic North Mountain Frm. (right) But I digress, as I keep rambling on the technical and less on the practical. We arrived at the park when the tide was going down. We walked down the beach and was met with a thick band of fog that was going out the bay. Lava flows Heading South after searching the beach for agate and fossil fragments, the fog lifted and the Sun came out. We went around the Old Wife and headed towards Red Head. Fault running through columnar basalt Beach made up of basalt and minerals "Red Head", seperating the Triassic-Jurassic Blomidon Frm. (West) and Triassic Wolfville Frm. (East) Triassic Wolfville Frm. red sandstone cliffs Modern day trackways (crab) This area is only accessible at extreme low tide, so the window of opportunity is very small. Getting trapped or stranded is a very highly probable so good planning and looking up the tide charts before heading down this way is an ABSOLUTE MUST! This is one of the places in Nova Scotia that I highly recommend visiting, among other sites of course. =)