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Exploring the Queenston Formation along the Red Hill Creek


JUAN EMMANUEL

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Today I managed to explore and observe an exposure of the Queenston formation up close here in Hamilton, Ontario. I chose a site along the Red Hill Valley Expressway that was easy to access and get down to for a close look. The creek is right next to the highway. I have always passed by this exposure and anticipated the day I'll be able to observe it.

The Queenston formation is the last Ordovician formation in south-western Ontario before the rocks hit the Silurian age. The Queenston is what overlains the Georgian Bay formation, the formation I use to hunt in frequently in Toronto, Ontario.

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This is Red Hill Creek as it passes by next to the Highway.

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The shale is mostly red but there are bluish layers that ran horizontally in certain parts of the strata. I checked out the blue shales and found no fossils or anything recognizable in any way that I might find in the Georgian Bay formation. 

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Exposure under the highway.

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A slab of blue shale with my slippers for scale.

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Close up of the shale. Notice how the layer turns from red to blue.

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Up close of a shale slab. I cant recognize anything in these bluish shales. 

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Though I am disappointed at the fact that the formation is unfossiliferous, I find that the formation has a charm that is mysterious and beautiful. One can wonder what happened to all the fauna that used to exist in the layers that preceded the Queenston formation. Everything was fossiliferous then out of nowhere life winked out just like that. The red shales remind me so much of the terrestrial emptiness of some place alien and barren.

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Nice little report, Is this a aquatic or terrestrial formation? Just curious.

The cyclical nature is also intresting, reminds me of a big roadcut near me called sideling hill, it has a repetitive cycle of shale, sandstone/conglomerate and coally shale.

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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5 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Nice little report, Is this a aquatic or terrestrial formation? Just curious.

The cyclical nature is also intresting, reminds me of a big roadcut near me called sideling hill, it has a repetitive cycle of shale, sandstone/conglomerate and coally shale.

Apparently from what I red it's suppose to be a terrestrial delta (?) that got filled in with the ocean occasionally flooding the area.

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Just now, JUAN EMMANUEL said:

Apparently from what I red it's suppose to be a terrestrial delta (?) that got filled in with the ocean occasionally flooding the area.

Hence the clay layers. Cool, thanks for the info!

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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Just now, WhodamanHD said:

Hence the clay layers. Cool, thanks for the info!

I believe there is a similar formation in Maryland called the Juniata formation which is of the same age and has the same red shales. 

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8 hours ago, JUAN EMMANUEL said:

I believe there is a similar formation in Maryland called the Juniata formation which is of the same age and has the same red shales. 

Yeah a few like that, there was also one in West Virginia I remember an paper about that was similar. Funny how history repeats itself, in different locations and layers!

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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I have driven by there and thought that I should check it out someday. Thanks for saving me the time and effort.....

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That looks to be a very pretty place - too bad it doesn't have any fossils :(

 

I hope that you find a nice little hunting spot soon - I'd love to see what you can find out in the Hamilton area!

 

Monica

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