Arkona Hungry Hollow Ontario Trip

[crinus]

Thank you Crinus for the clarification.... I found these on surface in the south clay pit... so these must be refered to what some people called crinod lens formation in the Arkona shale formation are the tentaculite plates from the Widder Formation then or are they from the Arkona Formation also.

PL

The tentaculid plates are also from the Arkona Formation.

Crinus

[pleecan]

The tentaculid plates are also from the Arkona Formation.

Crinus

Thank you Crinus for the information!

PL

[micropterus101]

wow thats just amazing what you are finding there! Would a metal detector help find the pyritized stuff?

[pleecan]

wow thats just amazing what you are finding there! Would a metal detector help find the pyritized stuff?

A pulse inductive metal detector may detect iron rich deposits that may increase the chances of finding pyritized fossils.... I have tested a high end PI metal detector and placed a dozen pyritized goniatites in a ziploc bag... net results... no detection.

I have already tested a bunch of metal detectors with this concept and came up zero... see discussion thread.

Simplest way to detect pyrite is to wait till a rain fall then go hunt in the sun light and the reflection in the sun light will help one zero in on the pyritized fossil... I am able to pick up pyritized microfossil as small as 2mm with this technique.

PL

Edited April 23, 2010 by pleecan

[crinus]

Hmmm... so find the crinoid hash and you just may find whole crinoids on top?

This is correct. However, since they are not working the pits you find no new hash layers. In the old days (don't you hate hearing that) you would come to the pit on the weekend after they scrapped off several inches of clay and look for hash layers. When you found a hash layer you started digging and 9 time out of 10 you would hit a crinoid pocket. Sometimes the pockets were about 5X5 feet and lots of crinoids. But that was in the old days.

These days one needs a dozer to remove the clay layer.

crinus

Edited April 24, 2010 by crinus

[glacialerratic]

Yes, Crinus, I (we) do hate hearing that!

So, I was able to squeeze about 5 hrs. in last Sunday, 4/18/10. Originally, the plan was for an all day Fri. hunt, but that got blown out of the water by work schedules. Though I could have hunted from sunrise to sunset, you can find some good stuff in half a day.

I started out early poking around in the North Pit, spending about an hour looking for the fabled Arkona Shale lenses. Just as I was about to leave, I scraped across some hard matrix -- a lens! Well, it looks to me to be all brachiopod hash, but it was fun digging it out. No pictures yet. Still have to clean it up.

Then it was off to the South Bluff. The river was still up a bit, but judging from the high water mark, not as much as it had been. I had brought my neoprene chest waders, and a full backpacking pack for my gear. I started to cross a shallow spot, but the boulders were too slippery. I moved up stream, past a big pool and a fast chute above it. About 10 yards above the chute, the water was slow, looked about chest deep, and fairly rock free. I slipped in the water. About mid-stream, it started getting really deep. I hadn't considered that my pack would add buoyancy. I floated up just enough for the current to push me over and started me downstream. "No way am I going down that chute!" So I did the only thing I could, sat down, turned around, and dug my boots into the gravel. That worked, and the water down my waders gave me some stability. I made it to the south shore, dumped my waders, and started poking around.

There was a lot of fresh-fallen shale and a bunch of blocks of Widder. All of it was fairly dirty, so I'm thinking it came down with the thaw. A few good hard rains should turn all that into good hunting. The only thing worth noting from surface collecting is a nice big segment of cephalopod.

One of the pieces of Widder that had fallen was huge, at least 500 lbs. I spent most of my time working on that. Lots and lots of Greenops pieces. Over a 3 hour span, I did find 3 whole Greenops. They are all small, a little bigger than a nickel (forgot to measure them). One is really nice, one has a crack running down the right side thorax, and one is sharing it's exoskeleton -- half on the positive, half on the negative.

I also found several Tornoceraus in matrix. Best one shown.

After a very long walk to back to parking, I got to meet Pleecan (Peter), a super nice guy. Due to my boulder splitting obsession, we didn't get to do much more than chat, but I'm looking forward to some future hunts together.

At the border, the US customs dude gave me all the usual questions. "What have you been doing?" "Fossil hunting" "Where?" "H.H." Then he looked right at me and asked, "Do you have any firearms?" "No sir." "Well, what did you use?" "Hammers, chisels." "Hammers???" "Yeah, you know, rock hunting equipment." The guy did a big mental double-take and said "Oh, fossil hunting! I thought you said possum hunting!" (I could see this guy's mental picture of me whacking a possum on the head) I said, "Hey, there's no season on those guys, but I just use my car." He said, "Have a nice day."

Yes, sir!

[Auspex]

Great report; got my heart rate up with the river crossing escapade! Sweet finds; congrats

[glacialerratic]

Thanks, Auspex!

Nothing like a little adventure, some nice fossils, and a new friend to make for a memorable day.

Tim

[Northern Sharks]

Tim: I only wish I was there to see that. I can relate to how slippery those rocks are, but I managed to stay vertical. That is an impressive cephalopod piece

[pleecan]

Those are great finds Tim! Great shots with the new camera.... as an aside

(I chicken out and did not chance crossing the river as it was high water and running fast that would have flooded my rubber boots.... being a non swimmer... did not fancy the idea of slipping on the algae coated rocks and possibly drowning and be carried down stream .... the good stuff was across the river where Tim was hunting.... Pete's survival instincts.... if situation looks threatening... run away to live another day.)

PL

[bigjohn835]

Nice finds Tim love the bugs. I'm surprised border patrol didn't give you trouble about taking the fossils across.

[glacialerratic]

Tim: I only wish I was there to see that.

Kevin, yeah, you'd have gotten a good laugh, and the perfect opportunity to dispose of my trilobite findin' body in the river!

Bigjohn835, thanks for the compliment. I cross at the Blue Water Bridge, at Port Huron. Small crossing, as they go, and they seem pretty relaxed there. I've got one of the new 'Fast Pass' driver's licenses, complete with RFD chip. Border Patrol really likes them. They searched 2 vehicles right in front of me Sunday, but I've never had a problem.

Tim

[crinus]

Tim

I assume that you walked back up river crossed at the bridge and walked back down river?? WHY didn't you just drive to the other side and walk?????

Nice haul. Did you leave anything for the rest of us? The rock falls in the spring are the best time to find complete Greenops. Good job.

crinus

[glacialerratic]

Hi Crinus,

well, I got there about 6:45am Sunday morning, and didn't really feel like getting in the property owner's space. I really appreciate being able to hunt H.H., and would like to do my part to keep it open.

On the upside, I wasn't about to cross back at that spot on the river, I had about 60 lbs. of rock in my pack! I went upstream, and there was the owner of that house fishing. We got to talking (really a nice guy), and he told me the best crossing spot -- just downstream from the little grassy island, which is just downstream from the old bridge footing. Super easy and shallow. I asked the owner if he minded my crossing his property, and he said "No! Anytime!"

I didn't have time to split ALL the Widder. In fact, I got tired of the block I was working on, so there's still some of that, and one about half the size right in front of that.

Kevin: the blocks are just up, towards the bluff, from where we where splitting that huge shalely chunk with all the brachios in it.

Looks like Arkona is getting a good rain today -- y'all should have fun next weekend!

Tim

[FossilDAWG]

Tim

I assume that you walked back up river crossed at the bridge and walked back down river?? WHY didn't you just drive to the other side and walk?????

Nice haul. Did you leave anything for the rest of us? The rock falls in the spring are the best time to find complete Greenops. Good job.

crinus

Dang! I have relatives in London, so I get to Arkona once on a while, but only later in the summer as I always have a heavy teaching load in the spring. A couple of years ago some fresh material had been bulldozed in the pit and I found some crinoids, half a starfish, and some trilobites, but usually by late July or August the place is pretty picked over and I come away disappointed. I got a couple of nice Greenops probably 20 years ago, but I haven't seen a piece of Widder bigger than 4 inches square in ages! For those of you who haven't been there, even late in the season there is TONS of the common stuff, perfectly preserved brachiopods, corals (very diverse), Greenops pieces, etc. It is a fantastic site. What I'm grousing about is always being there too late to find that perfect crinoid or trilobite or even blastoid just sitting out there waiting to be picked up.

And Crinus, I'm pretty sure I ran into you and your brother at Hungry Hollow a few years ago. I was with my brother-in-law, who wasn't collecting (he was doing Soduku puzzles, he'd been sent to chaperon me and make sure I headed home in time for dinner).

Don

[crinus]

And Crinus, I'm pretty sure I ran into you and your brother at Hungry Hollow a few years ago. I was with my brother-in-law, who wasn't collecting (he was doing Soduku puzzles, he'd been sent to chaperon me and make sure I headed home in time for dinner).

Don

Wrong, I am not that BIG. That was my buddy Mike and his brother John. I am the good looking one of the bunch. I will see Mike and John later tonight. We play pinochle on Sunday nights.

crinus

[pleecan]

More Arkona Tentaculite Hash Plates

[glacialerratic]

Peter,

those are some jam-packed hash plates!

Very nice, I like those tenaculites.

Tim

[pleecan]

Thanks Tim.

PL

[matt cable]

Wrong, I am not that BIG. That was my buddy Mike and his brother John. I am the good looking one of the bunch. I will see Mike and John later tonight. We play pinochle on Sunday nights.

crinus

And Moe was the good looking one of the Stooges.

[FossilDAWG]

And Moe was the good looking one of the Stooges.

Well the two guys I met were friendly enough anyway. They gave me their email addresses, which I recently rediscovered as I was sorting a bag of Arkona goodies. I won't post the whole of the addresses but they started with arkonajohn and arkonamike. They mentioned having put together an identification guide to Arkona ostracods, I wonder if that is still available?

Don

[crinus]

Well the two guys I met were friendly enough anyway. They gave me their email addresses, which I recently rediscovered as I was sorting a bag of Arkona goodies. I won't post the whole of the addresses but they started with arkonajohn and arkonamike. They mentioned having put together an identification guide to Arkona ostracods, I wonder if that is still available?

Don

That is them. Great guys. And they have the world's finest collection from Arkona. Even the ROM drools.

I think you misunderstood the ostracod book. The University of Michigan did put out a book titled Dimorphic Middle Devonian Paleocopan Ostracoda of the Great Lakes region by Kesling and Chilman. It does include Arkona. A few years back, the universty decided to get rid of all the hard copies and we (our club) took them and offered them for sale on the cheap. Mike may still have hard copies and that is what he may have been referring too. It is also available in digital form on the University of Michigan DeepBlue.

Ostracod Book

PS I just went and took a look at some of the books I am storing in my basement and there was one copy of this book. It is your for the cost of postage.

Edited April 26, 2010 by crinus

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

I really like the plates with all the brachiopods on them. And the other items are really nice too. Great finds in my book.

[matt cable]

Well the two guys I met were friendly enough anyway. They gave me their email addresses, which I recently rediscovered as I was sorting a bag of Arkona goodies. I won't post the whole of the addresses but they started with arkonajohn and arkonamike. They mentioned having put together an identification guide to Arkona ostracods, I wonder if that is still available?

Don

You misunderstood. John and Mike are great. I was just poking crinus at his claim he's the best looking of the three. I know all three of them very well and they've taught me plenty.

[glacialerratic]

Here are some shots of the hash plate I pulled out of the shale in the north pit, partially cleaned with water. Probably won't do that again even with a brachiopod plate. This stuff is beautiful and delicate!