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Emthegem

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Hello to all! Hope everyone is doing well, cause after my recent finds I am definitely doing well :rolleyes:

 

So a little backstory: 10 years ago in grade school when I used to collect fossils with my father, we would never find any good fossils in shale. Always layer upon layer of the bland gray rocks with nothing even close to a fossil. For the longest time I never even bothered glancing at the large sections of shale dotting the many rivers of Toronto.

 

jump ahead to the beginning of the month when I read some posts from @JUAN EMMANUEL showing some very nice nautiloids from shale. At first I didn't think anything of it and figured I'd never find anything THAT nice in shale.

 

But, jump to a week later: While exploring a new location, I happen across a large section of layered shale on the riverbank and figured I'd try my luck - and started doing some digging. I pretty quickly came across a shell. A second shell. Then a third, fourth, fifth, and after chipping back the layer I found dozens of very tightly knit shells to my surprise. I was shocked to find anything after thinking for years that Toronto shale held almost nothing of interest. But still - they were ambonychia shells which I already have plenty of in my collection.

 

So I keep looking around and chipping away at other layers, thinking maybe I'll find something a little more exciting. An hour goes by while digging in a somewhat awkward position, and my legs start to fall asleep so I readjusted my legs and out of the corner of my eye I noticed something right near my knee. My heart absolutely skipped a beat as I realized what I had found: A perfect and complete trilobite in the shale. After taking a closer look I realized there was in fact TWO of them right near each other! I hadn't found a trilobyte of this quality since grade school when I used to go with my father - let alone two. I just sat there for about 2 minutes staring at them, thinking they were going to shatter as soon as my pick got anywhere near them. Ultimately, luck played in my favour and the trilobites came out perfectly!

 

But, the story doesn't end there, oh no! So now I'm going back to all these old places, primed with the fresh new knowledge of how to hunt shale. Although the work is pretty messy and uncomfortable, it seems to pay off quite nicely. And before I know it, a couple days later I end up finding yet another trilobite. But the crown jewel of the month came last weekend when I found two different nautiloids - one being an absolute MONSTER specimen, and the other being my most complete nautiloid ever (it even included the tip at the very end!).

 

I just gotta give a big thanks to the people on this forum. Without the knowledge shared on this forum, I would likely have still been stuck in my ways avoiding any piece of shale in sight. :yay-smiley-1:

I also have also included some other fossils that I found this month.

[All fossils found in Humber, Etobicoke and Mimico river/creeks riverbanks - located in Toronto ON, Canada // Georgian Bay Formation // Ordovician (485.4 - 443.8Ma)]

 

 

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The first set of trilobites In Situ from humber river.

 

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The first two trilobites on the left and the later one on the right.

 

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The many pieces of nautiloid that came out during extraction. They unfortunately broke VERY easily so I figured there was no point stressing about it coming out in less than a dozen pieces.

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Here is what it looked like when all the pieces were assembled together (with the help of a little super glue of course).

 

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It even seems to have the very tip of the nautiloid as well (which would be a first for me)!

 

here are a couple other decent pieces I found as well:

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If you thought that first nautiloid was big, here is the REAL monster nautiloid:

 

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Nautiloid In Situ in shale sidebanks.

 

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Unfortunately during extraction, it split into about 15 pieces similar to the ones above.

 

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Luckily dollarama superglue works very well with rocks so this wasn't too much of a problem!

 

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*A little disclaimer: Yes I know the nautiloid is very compressed, especially when found in shale - meaning its much thinner when uncompressed. But still, I'd say its likely one of my biggest finds so far!

 

Following the theme of absolute monster fossils, I also found my most complete chunk of an Isotelus pygidium.20200803_215030.thumb.jpg.852a5d80b99dda1717cbb2bd3841b1bb.jpg

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Nice finds!

Both the nautiloids and trilos are really cool, I especially love the two found right next to each other.

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Here are some nice shells I found as well:

 

Ambonychia bivalves:

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Rafinesquina brachiopods:20200803_220326.thumb.jpg.7be8f53f58c918cb3124288a29b07fcb.jpg

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Some very nice Pholadomorpha pholadiformis shells along with a nicely defined ambonychia specimen:

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Some Lophospira shells:

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A nice split with a Lophospira party frozen in time.

 

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A slightly more packed Zygospira brachiopod party.

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I also found an unusually shaped bryozoan that I thought was very nice (and surprisingly complete):

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And I also found this, but I don't even know where to start with it. I have NEVER personally seen anything like this in Toronto before - if anyone knows I'd be glad to know Thanks to the many comments posted in response that identified this as a Conulariida. It feels kind of obvious in retrospect - especially considering I just found my first one a couple weeks ago:headscratch:

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And finally as usual, some scenery shots to cool things off a bit after all these spicy finds:

 

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And of course I have to thank two my two amphibian companions for guarding my bike while I was hunting:

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Hopefully you enjoyed this post, I am quite proud of these finds! 

 

-Em

 

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27 minutes ago, Emthegem said:

And I also found this, but I don't even know where to start with it. I have NEVER personally seen anything like this in Toronto before - if anyone knows I'd be glad to know:

 

20200728_183807.thumb.jpg.47b758feb96a09c6e24c7ad2fc9556da.jpg

 

 

Conulariid?

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@Emthegem I'll also go along with Conularid for your mystery find. Congratulations on the fabulous finds, particularly the trilobites and the Nautiloidea. Any idea what species the trilobites are? Maybe @Kane could be of help if you don't know. Is the shale still part of the Georgian Bay Formation?

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Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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Now you're talking!

Shale can definitely contain some nicely-preserved fossils, though often distorted one way or another, and it almost always requires glue.

I agree with conulariid for those mystery items.

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There are two common trilobites that appear in the Georgian Bay Formation, both of which are represented in this trip report:

 

Flexicalymene granulosa

Isotelus maximus

 

The less common ones that are reported (cf. Isotalo) would include:

 

Ceraurus sp.

Ceraurinus sp.

Cryptolithus bellulus
Triarthrus sp.

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Hooray, Em - outstanding finds!!! :yay-smiley-1:

 

That "monster" nautiloid is likely Endoceras proetiforme - great job with the extraction and subsequent supergluing!!!

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A nice group of fossils!! Can anyone explain to me why fossils in shale are often distorted?? Shale, being "mud", seems likely to preserve fossils without compression. 

 

 

mike

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4 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

A nice group of fossils!! Can anyone explain to me why fossils in shale are often distorted?? Shale, being "mud", seems likely to preserve fossils without compression. 

 

 

mike

Mud turns into shale by being compressed under the weight of accumulating mud or other sediment (a lot of it) on top of it.  As the mud is compressed it is dewatered (water is squeezed out) and dissolved minerals precipitate and bind to the mud grains, cementing them into rock.  A considerable thickness of mud may be compressed into a relatively thin layer of shale.  Generally, fossils buried in the mud are also compressed and flattened.  Fossils may escape this fate if they are composed of material that is hard enough to resist the compression (such as a strong or thick shell), or if they are encased in a concretion which forms before the mud is compressed and dewatered.

 

Don

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You have some excellent fossils in this set.  The giant nautiloid is indeed an endocerid, as Monica said.  A nice diagnostic feature is that you can see the siphuncle sticking out from the preserved phragmocone (the part with the chambers).  This is common because the siphuncle is less fragile than the septa (the shell that forms the chambers), so the phragmocone is often missing (or largely missing) leaving the robust siphuncle behind.

Your mystery is a nice conularid as many people have said.

I really like the two trilobites side by side.  :wub: Personally I would have left them together in the prep.  Multiple trilobites on a slab are always more impressive than isolated single specimens, to my eye. 

 

Don

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Wow there are a lot of comments, thanks to all ( @connorp @Misha @Wrangellian @RuMert @Kane @aek @Monica @minnbuckeye @Tidgy's Dad @JamieLynn)! Special thanks for the trilobite, conulariida and nautiloid identification!! :tiphat:

 

18 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

@Emthegem I'll also go along with Conularid for your mystery find. Congratulations on the fabulous finds, particularly the trilobites and the Nautiloidea. Any idea what species the trilobites are? Maybe @Kane could be of help if you don't know. Is the shale still part of the Georgian Bay Formation?

Ah yes, thanks to you and many others for the ID - its definitely a conulariid (I don't know how I didn't catch that first to be honest, it seems so obvious in retrospect). I do believe the shale is part of the formation as well, not sure why there is such a variety in fossil rock types though... I'd be interested in knowing myself.

 

10 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

You have some excellent fossils in this set.  The giant nautiloid is indeed an endocerid, as Monica said.  A nice diagnostic feature is that you can see the siphuncle sticking out from the preserved phragmocone (the part with the chambers).  This is common because the siphuncle is less fragile than the septa (the shell that forms the chambers), so the phragmocone is often missing (or largely missing) leaving the robust siphuncle behind.

Your mystery is a nice conularid as many people have said.

I really like the two trilobites side by side.  :wub: Personally I would have left them together in the prep.  Multiple trilobites on a slab are always more impressive than isolated single specimens, to my eye. 

 

Don

Ah thanks! That is good to know, It nice to have a new species of nautiloid in my collection - that's always pretty exciting! Yes, I think I would have kept it like that too, but when the fossils were chipped out they fell apart like that unfortunately :/ Although I could still glue them back at the small attachment point. Actually, the bottom of the embedded trilobite just barely shows the outline of the pleura segment on its underside, so it seems to be the full fossil underneath the matrix which is also quite exciting. When I get my own place I'll invest in a proper cleaning set and spice it up a little bit.

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6 hours ago, Emthegem said:

I do believe the shale is part of the formation as well, not sure why there is such a variety in fossil rock types though... I'd be interested in knowing myself.

 

The answer to your question can be found in the digitized text available here, particularly on pp 73-79. Liberty's work may be a bit dated, but it is a classic and certainly still relevant. :look:

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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22 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Personally I would have left them together in the prep.  Multiple trilobites on a slab are always more impressive than isolated single specimens, to my eye. 

 

I'm not sure there was a choice in the matter. 

The original slab looks pretty well fractured. :unsure: 

 

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    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Wow, everything you found was great! Those nautiloids are jaw-dropping though. Thanks for sharing your bonanza of finds.

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I always try to conserve a nice association too. As long as it doesn't disintegrate into smithereens during extraction, and you only get, say, a dozen pieces or less, they can all be brought home and jigsaw-puzzled together with glue, though I often find that there is one glaring piece that went missing somewhere along the way. Soaking the area in glue before extraction sometimes helps but not if it's wet, of course.  ;)  The glue mainly helps to keep little slivers from flaking off, but you might still end up with a few larger pieces that need to be joined at home. It's a lot of work, but sometimes it's worth it.

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A wonderful assortment! Neat to see the nautiloids pieces in cross section and how well the internal anatomy is preserved. 

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