Ball's Falls, Ontario ichnofossil

[Wrangellian]

A member of our local rockhound club gave me this piece at the recent meeting. The only info she could provide is what's written on the label stuck to the bottom: Ball's Falls, Vineland, Ontario. Thankfully I have that particular bit of info. Can any of you Ontario folks fill me in on any of the other stuff? I gather from basic geo maps that it's from the Lockport Group (Silurian)... any way to determine the formation and which slice of the Silurian?

 

 

[doushantuo]

possibly Arthrophycus?

[Ludwigia]

I'm not at all familiar with the site itself, but maybe this link could help a bit if you haven't already found it. Looks like one would have to determine the rock type in order to come to some conclusion. Pity that the exact location of the find isn't given, since that would perhaps narrow things down within the range of Formations given here. But maybe someone here knows of a horizon which yields such trace fossils.

[Ludwigia]

I just thought I'd check out Thorold and Grimsby Sandstone, which could very well be your matrix and came up with this. Looks like doushantuo is correct with his suggestion.

[Wrangellian]

Thanks, both... No, I didn't see that page, maybe because I added an apostrophe to Ball's Falls, though the label on the specimen did not have one (yet there were many search results with it, including Google Maps, so I assumed that was correct).  Arthrophycus looks like a good match from the Google images I see, and I'm going to assume the Thorold sandstone is the source formation. The light color matches the description.

Looks like I was wrong about the Lockport Group, as the Thorold is well below that in the Lower Silurian (Niagaran), part of the Cataract (Medina) Group, I gather.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Wrangellian

[JUAN EMMANUEL]

I think this type of trace is more common the closer you get to Niagara Falls on the Niagara peninsula. I have never found anything like this on the Niagara Escarpment of Hamilton. 

Also this pic from the internet:

Balls Falls and DeCew Falls are both in the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario. 

Edited April 11, 2023 by JUAN EMMANUEL

[Wrangellian]

Thanks Juan. I guess I can include the species name alleghaniensis - there don't seem to be any others.

I see a recent (2016) paper suggests a new arthropod Pleuralata spinosa may be the culprit behind these burrows.