Bowmanville 2015

[Malcolmt]

Well once again, what is becoming an annual trip to St. Mary's cement in Bowmanville Ontario Canada was an absolute winner this weekend. This is a world class collecting locality that unfortunately is generally not available for regular collecting. A number of forum members were present but a big hats off thanks to our very own Northern Sharks (Kevin) for leading and organizing the trip this year. This is the only day in the year that the very active quarry with 5 levels is open for collecting. Approximately 30 collectors took advantage of this and made it a very special day. The weather was amazing for late October and not a drop of rain unlike some other years. The quarry was quite muddy as it had rained non stop the previous day but that is a good thing because all the rock piles were nice and clean.

I only saw what a few collectors found as Quarryman Dave from the forum here and myself were too busy making then most out of our limited collecting time (9:00 to 4:00PM). We are all here for the trilobites......

I did see complete isotelus, ceraurus (2 species), thaleops and flexicalymenes that were found by people. My saw got a fair bit of use cutting mostly isotelus and a few ceraurus out for people on the 3rd level.

I think Dave and I did reasonably well, though we only found isotelus and perhaps a thaleops that were keepers. We did find a lot of partial ceraurus but nothing worth bringing home.

Dave found two double isotelus plates and we found a number of complete iso's.... Everything that we found was on level 3 and 4 of the quarry. We did not have time to look at levels 1 and 2 and level 5 seemed a bit too wet and muddy for my liking. From what I heard from a few others nothing of note was found on level 1 or 2 this year. I know Peter Lee spent some of the day up there and he did not find anything but partials from what I recall.

Here is the group picture of what we found all unprepped at this point (the trip was only yesterday) We should get a few nice ones out of this batch once I get them prepped. I will try to post some pictures as they get completed but that will not likely be for a while as I have a large backlog of material to prep for myself and others.

Other members of the forum that were there please jump in and show us some of what you found. ..........

Edited October 26, 2015 by Malcolmt

[Ludwigia]

Thanks for posting, Malcolm. It's not that often that we get a chance to see freshly found fossils from there. Looks like a good collection of Isos that you've got at any rate. Looking forward to seeing what the others found. Hope they chime in soon.

[Northern Sharks]

Thanks Malcolm. As I said before, anything I can do to get this trip done, I'll do. I spent a lot of time on level 2, probably too much, but still got a few things. An Isotelus and a Flexi that I'll post pics of later if they're complete. The Flexi is pretty iffy and the Isotelus had only a pygidium and a couple of thoracics exposed, but if it's in there, it should be sweet. I also added a conularid (needs some excavation) and a Dictyonema graptolite colony. The one pictured is not the one I took. Mine is on a much smaller and more stable rock. Nothing of note from level 3 then finally a crinoid crown from level 4. No idea on the species and it's going to take some work to prep it as it's only on a fragile thin flake of shale.

[jpc]

Excellent stuff, guys. I am not much of a trilobite guy (not many out here), but complete Isotelus, now that's exciting.

[Fossildude19]

Excellent finds, and report!

Thanks for showing us, Malcolm!

Can't wait to see them after your expert hands get them prepped.

Regards,

EDIT: Great finds, Kevin! Thanks for positng them.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Fossildude19

[JustPlainPetrified]

Nice work and a big thanks to the weather gods!

[Blastoid]

Very cool, thanks for showing your finds. Looks like it's well worth the drive, I'll have to make the trip next time!

[Jeffrey P]

Congratulations. Looks like you did extraordinarily well. Complete Isoteles are special no matter where you go, and your specimens looks especially keen. Can't wait to see the end results of prepping. Good luck on that. By the way. How does one get on the list to visit that quarry? Thanks for posting.

[Trilofind]

Just joined this forum and saw that there was a section for the Bowmanville 2015 trip. Pictures of a trilobite before and after cleaning as well as two others.

[Northern Sharks]

I know those bugs. How`s it going Derek, it`s Kevin.

Jeffrey, the quarry allows collectors access 1 day per year but you must be a member of a recognized Canadian club. It looks like I will be the organizer for these trips for the foreseeable future.

[Blastoid]

Kind of hard to believe that these incredible things get crushed every other day of the year, eh?

Kevin, you're to be congratulated for taking on the burden of overseeing access.

I hope to be there next trip.

[Malcolmt]

Here is the first one of Quarryman Dave's finds, pretty much prepped from the Bowmanville weekend. If you look in the original group trilo picture at the start of this thread this bug is in the center just above the ruler and show the blast damage.The bug is 4 1/2 inches long and has amazing eyes. There is eveidence of two crush injuries on the bug either pre or post mortum. It is a real shame that there was damage to the bugs midsection from the blasting. It is a fine bug as it is but it could easily have been a spectacular one.

Frontal view including crush feature...

Edited November 27, 2015 by Malcolmt

[FossilDAWG]

It looks as if it has a chocolate coating. Has anyone given it the lick test?

I'd love to get in to that quarry one of these years. I'm glad they allow access once a year, but it is a shame someone had to mess up the old arrangement of regular weekend access.

Don