Where to look in southern Ontario?

[noahc0d]

Hi, I'm relatively new to fossil hunting and I'd like to know of some spots to find stuff in or close to Essex county. I've been to Arkona for the Rock Glen conservation area and found some cool ones there, though I'm disapointed the quarry is closed off. If anyone knows of other spots around there that would be cool too!

 

Thanks!

 

Edit: Any tips for getting into quarries? There's a few around here and I think those might be good spots to check out. (I don't mean trespassing lol)

Edited April 25, 2021 by noahc0d

[Fossildude19]

@Monica  @Kane 

 

I believe all of the quarries are pretty much off limits. 

There are some locals I have tagged who may be able to give you some more information on the area. 

[Northern Sharks]

Unfortunately you've missed the glory days by a few years. You've already been to the last great spot in Southern Ontario (Arkona) and there isn't a whole lot else. If you join a club (London or Niagara) you'd have a couple more options including the pits at Hungry Hollow, but not many. The quarry in Fort Erie allows collecting on Fridays, by appointment, but that's not nearly as productive as it used to be.

[Kane]

I don't think you will find too much in Essex County. There may be some very small pockets of Devonian material (which can be very massively bedded, dense, and challenging to split), but a lot of the area is fairly flat with a great deal of glacial till / overburden. At times, water-worn corals may wash up along the lake. Your best bet is to go east. From there, it is all reading the geologic maps and prospecting. That is the way most of us collect these days, and the sites we encounter are usually small, and not very productive for long. Sometimes it is just a ditch, a muddy creek, or trucked-in rock fill under a bridge. 

 

As for quarries, the only thing you can really do is ask permission (and ensure you have all safety gear such as CSA standard hard hat, boots, and reflective vest), and then follow their explicit safety instructions. That being said, for issues of legal liability, almost all quarries will not just let non-workers enter a working quarry. In the past, it was possible for permission to be gained through a CCFMS rock/gem club via club trips, but those opportunities are far fewer these days (and during Covid virtually nonexistent). 

[noahc0d]

8 hours ago, Kane said:

the sites we encounter are usually small, and not very productive for long. Sometimes it is just a ditch, a muddy creek, or trucked-in rock fill under a bridge.

Yea I get that, I managed to find one tiny spot in a local park where I found some really densely packed rocks with tiny fossils in them (idk how small it needs to be to be considered a micro-fossil), along with one brachiopod and a fragment of a trilobite, but not much in the times I've returned. I'll try to get some pictures of the rocks I did find tomorrow.

 

8 hours ago, Northern Sharks said:

If you join a club (London or Niagara) you'd have a couple more options including the pits at Hungry Hollow

I'll check this out, thanks! I had thought that they closed those both off permanently.

 

9 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

I believe all of the quarries are pretty much off limits. 

There are some locals I have tagged who may be able to give you some more information on the area.

Oh that's too bad, if I find any with Kane's advice I'll post about it and let y'all know. Thanks, I appreciate it and looking forward to their input if they so choose.

[noahc0d]

Ok so this is from the local park, lots of brachiopod shell fragments, crinoids, bryozoans, etc...

And this is my best find so far (I know it's not much but I'm proud) before and after. I'm aware of the scratches, I got impatient lol. It's from Hungry Hollow in Arkona.

It's just the head, but it looks awesom IMO.

[Monica]

Hello there, @noahc0d!

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

I'm sorry to be late to the party - I'm a teacher, and so is my husband, and we have two young kids (grade 2 and grade 5), so it's been a brutal year.  But the good news is that summer's right around the corner, so I can get back to fossiling - yay!

 

Nice hash plate (I really like finding such fossils - there's so much packed together that you never get tired of looking at it!) and beautiful Eldredgeops cephalon!  Congrats!

 

Re: where else to look for fossils - if you have access to a car, you can check out the roadcut near Formosa.  You likely won't find the most beautiful, complete fossils at this location, but you will find trilo-bits, tabulate coral chunks, and some molluscs, so you might like that.  Otherwise, I suggest that you just do a lot of research (as Kane has suggested) - i.e. look at geological maps to see what aged rocks are in an area, and then find access points (e.g., bridges over creeks/rivers, roadcuts) using Google Maps satellite view (I find the 3D option especially helpful).

 

Good luck in your hunt!

 

Monica

[noahc0d]

@Monica

Yea, I'm a high-school student so I understand where you're coming from.

 

Thanks, they're a couple of my favorite finds.

 

Thanks for the advice, it's a bit far for me as of right now, but I'll have that in mind for the future if I'm ever in that area. Unfortunately, as far as I know in my area there are no natural outcrops of rock anywhere (except for a few quarries). I'm pretty sure the fossils I have found arouund here are part of fill from said quarries :/

I appreciate the advice, and I've done so for a couple areas I plan on visiting so I know where to stop.