Hunting the Niagara Escarpment in Hamilton, Ontario

[JUAN EMMANUEL]

Hello guys,

Summer is nearing its end so I decided to go and hunt the Niagara Escarpment of Hamilton, Ontario. The exposures I checked out at a creek ranged from the Cataract Group (early Silurian with the Whirlpool formation at its base and it sharply cuts the Queenston formation) all the way to the Clinton Group. 

Here is a pic of the Manitoulin formation, which is a part of the Cataract Group and is above the Whirlpool sandstone/formation. 

Above the Manitoulin formation is the mostly shale dominated Cabot Head formation.

The Manitoulin and Cabot Head formations will contain fossils like this rock below. On these rocks one can find many small rugose corals and brachiopods.

 

I move up stream to come across the base of an exposure with much rubble that comes from the Grimsby formation (Cataract Group) all the way to a portion of the Lockport Group. This stretch also covers the Clinton Group. 

A rock from the Rochester formation. 

This below is an interesting trace fossil as it reminds me of the Bergaueria trace fossils I used to find in the Georgian Bay formation of Toronto, Ontario. This one below belongs to the Cabot Head formation. If anyone thinks I should have kept this trace fossil, let me know what you think. 

New material is always falling at the base so it can be a nice ground to hunt for fresh material, even though some Silurian formations in this part of Ontario can be unfossiliferous. The creek ran on trickle since it is summer and made it easy to explore the creek. 

One of the finds I came across was this slab of pentameriid brachiopods (Pentameroides subrectus?) from the Reynales formation of the Clinton Group. In as much as I wanted to take home the entire slab of steinkerns, I decide to just smash it (as I am limited in space) to keep the more complete valves as finding nice complete valves from this formation is hard to find in my experience. But for real, this slab was also not eroded, had nice detail and would have made a nice display piece have I got the space. I also have the tendency to keep the best specimens I could get my hands on when I go fossil hunting at my locales.

Here is a rock I decided to take home from the slab with at least two complete valves of pentameriid brachiopod. 

Here is one of the valves I took home from smashing the slab. Smashing the rock was hard and bits of it went flying as I tried to smash it up. The Reynales formation is mostly dolomitic limestone and these pentameriid brachiopods I took home also had pyrite on them. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by JUAN EMMANUEL

[Wrangellian]

Nice trip report. Is that a Cornulties on that one piece with the corals etc?

And what is on this piece?

[JUAN EMMANUEL]

6 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Nice trip report. Is that a Cornulties on that one piece with the corals etc?

And what is on this piece?

No it’s actually a bunch of brachiopods.

This boulder is more like mud cracks or pock marks IMO.

[Wrangellian]

21 hours ago, JUAN EMMANUEL said:

No it’s actually a bunch of brachiopods.

 

I was referring to the piece in pic 3 of the first post.

[Mark Kmiecik]

I like ripple marks. A trace but not fossil. I had some when I was a kid.

[JUAN EMMANUEL]

On 9/1/2022 at 8:14 AM, Wrangellian said:

I was referring to the piece in pic 3 of the first post.

Oh, it's a whole bunch of fossils in a hash plate. It has Streptelasma sp. horn corals on it. 

[Wrangellian]

This (circled)...

 

[Stingray]

On 8/31/2022 at 4:06 AM, Wrangellian said:

Nice trip report. Is that a Cornulties on that one piece with the corals etc?

And what is on this piece?

Family: †Favositidae

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cnidaria
imo

[Fossildude19]

5 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

This (circled)...

 

 

 

Looks more like a Tentaculites, to me.

[PRLE]

Nice finds.  

 

Edited to add:  I see you are from Hamilton as well.  Hello from a fellow Hamiltonian.    

Edited September 22, 2022 by PRLE

[Wrangellian]

19 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

Looks more like a Tentaculites, to me.

Thx, I figured it was one or the other!

[jpc]

I took this photo a few hours ago flying from toronto to philadelphia.  This is the niagara escarpent at Grimsby, Ontario.  That gorge running north-south (north is to the left) looks like a good place to find fossils.  

Edited November 6, 2022 by jpc