Two Hour Soak at Hungry Hollow

[Kane]

The missus had an errand to run and asked if I'd like to be dropped off at Arkona for a few hours. Of course, I never turn down an opportunity to get out and collect!

 

It started drizzling, and then pouring. I was still adamant on going, and glad I did. Planning around the weather this year in SW Ontario seems an exercise in futility, as it has been a largely wet and unpredictable season as opposed to more even keel prior years. One of the slim advantages of going to Arkona in the rain is that you can actually see things much better when the ground is wet. 

 

As I was going in to the south pit, some intrepid fossil collectors were on their way out, soaked to the skin. They had had enough. They probably thought me foolish for thinking of going down there. And it was indeed mucky. At one point, with the accumulated sticky Arkona clay under my boots, I briefly experienced what life would be like four inches taller.  

 

The rains varied in intensity, from a mild drizzle to a somewhat frustrating downpour. Undaunted, I was going to make the most of my two precious hours even as I felt a whole lot heavier being soaked through, runnels and rivulets of rain running roughshod over my ragged mien - lol. 

 

I was not gunning for my usual fare this day given the short amount of time and the weather conditions, so it was more about casual surface collecting in the south pit.

 

And so poking through the Arkona clay, I figured I'd beef up my goniatite collection. Here is a row of them in ascending order of size. I am actually quite surprised and proud to have found a fairly large one in this formation, as those generally are nested in the matrix of the Widder Fm above:

[Kane]

It is generally unavoidable to look through the fallen and weathered out Hungry Hollow member stuff. Dominated as it usually is by abundant corals, crinoid bits, and bryozoan stems, it is somewhat a treat to find a little diamond in the rough - in this case, a full Eldredgeops rana roller. It is a bit squished on the back end, so not a fully rotund specimen, but complete nonetheless. Pictured above it is a tiny bit of fish plate. I am finding a bit more of these over the years as perhaps my eyes are getting more attuned to picking them out and not dismissing them as bryozoans.

Speaking of bryozoans, I had to pick this one up with its constellation of bumps. At first I thought, "fish plate?" but it was just bryozoan trickery!

[Kane]

So, with that roller in tow, although I was soaked to the proverbial gills, the little high of the find had given me the ability to more or less ignore the now lashing rains.

 

I don't usually go in for picking up coral, but every once in a while there is a piece that you can't ignore due to its elegance. In this case, a multi-cup specimen.

[ynot]

Oh what We will do to satisfy that incurable itch!

 

Glad that You were able to find some good stuff during the deluge.

 

Thanks for sharing the (soggy) experience!

 

Tony

[FossilDAWG]

Looks like a very respectable payoff for a couple of hours in the rain and mud.

 

Don

 

 

[Kane]

I've certainly found my share of large and fulsome Platyceras at this site in the past, but only a few presented themselves on this day. The one on the far left still has evidence of stubby spines, while the one in the centre is a juvenile rooted to some other creature that pyrite disease has pretty much made unidentifiable.

 

[Kane]

And here is a typical assortment of south pit goodies. I know I am not the only one afflicted with that curious condition some collectors at this site also have in compulsively picking up interesting crinoid bits and fully weathered out brachiopods in good shape - despite having buckets of them already. However, the great thing about crinoid bits is that they take up little space, and do not add any significant weight to the collecting bag/bucket!

[Kane]

Thanks, gents! I'd have to say the trip was not "spectacular," but it was not a complete skunk, either!

 

I will end off here with a few micro-pictures to show some of the detail for those who want to peek at the sutures of the Goniatites, growth lines on the young Platyceras, bumps on the fish scale, and a closeup of some of the spiky crinoid ossicles.

[ynot]

[Peat Burns]

Great report and finds.  Love that Devonian stuff.  Thanks for sharing

[TqB]

Sumptuous material. I'd take the bumpy bryozoan, budding coral and spiky crinoids - great photos. 

[Fossildude19]

Great report and pictures, Kane!

Love me them Tornoceras!  

[Ludwigia]

Hey, Kane! You should have swum down to the southside exposure. You were already wet enough . Love those goniatites!

[JUAN EMMANUEL]

Thanks for sharing your finds. That progression of goniatites size is quite something.

The heck with too much rain, the flood waters this summer are taking too long to disappear, around 2 or 3 days minimum.

[Kane]

Thanks, all!  

12 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Hey, Kane! You should have swum down to the southside exposure. You were already wet enough . Love those goniatites!

Ha ha, indeed! Still hoping to get on that side, perhaps in the fall. I was definitely thinking of you when I was finding the goniatites and sad these ones didn't present themselves for your time here.

3 hours ago, JUAN EMMANUEL said:

Thanks for sharing your finds. That progression of goniatites size is quite something.

The heck with too much rain, the flood waters this summer are taking too long to disappear, around 2 or 3 days minimum.

Yeah, we are certainly having a super soaker summer. I haven't seen river levels this high at this time of year in a very long time. 

[FossilDAWG]

If the river is high enough it might give the Arkona Shale along the river exposures a good scouring.  The last few times I have stopped by Arkona (admittedly it has been a few years) the Arkona Shale was largely covered by talus from the coral beds.

 

Don

[Kane]

5 minutes ago, FossilDAWG said:

If the river is high enough it might give the Arkona Shale along the river exposures a good scouring.  The last few times I have stopped by Arkona (admittedly it has been a few years) the Arkona Shale was largely covered by talus from the coral beds.

 

Don

It is high, but not quite high enough to do a good wash-out . Along the north side, there is a fairly high and talus-free exposure of Arkona, but it is also the kind that has bloomed and baked hard. Also, it is that last 5-7 foot interval before the HH coral beds, and it is fairly blank judging by what isn't eroding out. Spot-chopping with the mattock along it has produced more blankness than one is accustomed to - if that's possible. What is probably needed is for the south pit to be dug down a good 10 feet, as there have been some great crinoid crowns and starfish found at the base. 

 

But the HH member is worthy of its own appreciation, too. Despite having to soldier through an obscene amount of coral, there are some fairly plump trilobites and interesting mixtures of brachs and gastros, if not sometimes longer stretches of crinoid. There is also a layer in the HH that goes under-appreciated by some, or that it just requires too much hard work with sledges, and that would be the very dense, erosion-resistant, largely crinoidal layer. In there, I have encountered monster-sized brachs, trilos (only pieces, but very large), and robust Platyceras. But, just as the Arkona does not have any obvious splitting planes (as one tries to locate rich lenses instead), the dense layer of the HH simply splits where it splits pending force applied (and sometimes just shatters or crumbles to dust and fragments). Crinoid stems in those can sometimes be quite long, which offers up hope that there could also be crowns. 

 

The HH member also seems to be my default layers when I'm getting skunked on the Widder above and the Arkona below, as I'm pretty much guaranteed to find something to take home.

 

But perhaps with a bit of luck and time, you'll find yourself back at Arkona some day.  

[RJB]

Hey kane, I can see that you will always have room for more fossils.  Those fossils are small!!!   In not sure I could find some of those with my eyesight?  But I use to LOVE fossil hunting in the rain!!!

 

RB

[Northern Sharks]

What, no blastoids???? I love hunting in the HH and usually get rewarded with a blastoid or 2. Granted, you only had 2 hours in less than favorable conditions. I'm hoping to get down there once more before I lead a field trip there in September.

[taj]

Hey what a nice report !

I'm somewhat confused though , from reading different stories here , . Is HH access free of limited to members of geology clubs and/or on organised tours ?

[Darktooth]

Nice report and finds, Kane!

[Kane]

On 7/24/2017 at 9:10 AM, Northern Sharks said:

What, no blastoids???? I love hunting in the HH and usually get rewarded with a blastoid or 2. Granted, you only had 2 hours in less than favorable conditions. I'm hoping to get down there once more before I lead a field trip there in September.

I never seem to find blastoids, but maybe on account of not looking for them. I know you are pretty lucky in getting them fairly regularly when you visit. But if I find more than one (just to have one) on some future outing, consider them yours. Would be great to collect with you, so just PM me when you're thinking of coming down. If you haven't toured up-river, I'd be happy to share that exposure.

On 7/24/2017 at 0:17 PM, taj said:

Hey what a nice report !

I'm somewhat confused though , from reading different stories here , . Is HH access free of limited to members of geology clubs and/or on organised tours ?

The site is "technically" no trespassing. However, the owner knows people come to collect. There's been virtually no activity there in years, and a lot of people go in there to ATV, fish, or walk their dogs. In such cases, a "do no harm" principle is in effect. That is, don't litter, cause structural damage, be a nuisance, etc. Also, observe and respect the posted no trespassing signs of the neighbours. We've done very well in the past several years because of that respect. You may be thinking of the provincial park up the river called Rock Glen. There, more stringent rules apply. But at the HH site, observing basic rules of respect allows us to continue collecting there.

On 7/24/2017 at 8:30 AM, RJB said:

Hey kane, I can see that you will always have room for more fossils.  Those fossils are small!!!   In not sure I could find some of those with my eyesight?  But I use to LOVE fossil hunting in the rain!!!

 

RB

They can be purty tiny here, for sure! A good pair of eyes is needed at this joint. No enormous crabs or ammonites here in the mid Devonian, but no less beautiful for being tiny things!

[Jeffrey P]

Congratulations Kane. Those are some amazing finds! The goniatites would have a special place in my heart. Love the preservation, though everything looks cool. Love to join you someday when you visit there.

[taj]

Thanks Kane ! Can now start scheduling a visit !

[Malcolmt]

Still hoping to get down there in the fall