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Mimico Creek graptolite (maybe) and ichnofossil


Monica

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Hello all!

 

I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon today in the warm-but-not-too-hot sunshine at Mimico Creek in Toronto, ON (Georgian Bay Formation, Upper Ordovician), and I have a couple of things that I'd like you to have a look at:

 

Picture #1: A view of Mimico Creek

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Pictures #2 and #3: A bivalve and a possible graptolite - what do you think?

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Pictures #4 and #5: An ichnofossil - do you think it could be Cruziana, or is it something else?

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Thanks so much for your help!!!

 

Monica

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Bivalve, yes, i'm pretty sure it is, the graptolite, not so sure. 

The ichnofossil looks more like a burrow of some kind to me. 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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I would vote yes on the grapto, but just barely I think I see the theca on one side. 

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Okay - I've taken a few more pictures of the possible graptolite - please let me know if you think it is one or not (if it is, it'll be the first one I've found in my area :fingerscrossed:)

 

Rock #1 - view A

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Rock #1 - view B

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Rock #1 - view C

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Rock #1 - view D

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It seems to show thecae, most clearly in the first photo of the new set where it looks uniserial. Then it looks biserial if anything in the others...

Would it stand being wetted? A photograph taken with the specimen just under water (in a container) might be clearer, it helps iron out the rough surface texture.

 

Don't do it if it might disintegrate though!

 

There are some other graptolite possibles in there too.

Tarquin

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Hi @TqB!

 

Here are some pictures of the specimen submerged in water - I don't know if they're any more helpful than the first set of pictures - what do you think?

 

Thanks so much!

 

Monica

 

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Hey Monica, Nice burrow. Im of no help with the others unfortunately. Intrigued by that little triangular piece just above the bivalve that has an extra level of black luster to it. Especially like the shots of the geology...looks like there are all kinds of strata to spend time looking thru...

 

Regards, Chris 

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I still don't see graptolite here, i'm afraid, fragment of broken shell for me. 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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19 minutes ago, Plantguy said:

Hey Monica, Nice burrow. Im of no help with the others unfortunately. Intrigued by that little triangular piece just above the bivalve that has an extra level of black luster to it. Especially like the shots of the geology...looks like there are all kinds of strata to spend time looking thru...

 

Regards, Chris 

 

Hi Chris!

 

I'm not sure about that fragment - it looks to me like a bryozoan fragment, but it's a lot shinier than I normally see, so perhaps it's shell-related?  Re: the geology - there are many large slabs of rock in that little area I frequent - some of them have fossils in them while others don't, so sometimes I come away with nice specimens and at other times I come away mostly empty-handed.  The wall of rock is pretty fragile - I've found a couple of shell imprints in there, but they crumble as soon as I extract them, so I mainly stick to checking out the pieces of rock already lying on the ground or try splitting some of the big slabs.

 

Thanks for chiming in!

 

Monica

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24 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I still don't see graptolite here, i'm afraid, fragment of broken shell for me. 

 

If it's not a graptolite, then no worries - I'm sure I'll eventually find one...!!!

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Just now, Monica said:

 

If it's not a graptolite, then no worries - I'm sure I'll eventually find one...!!!

I'm sure you will. :)

And I'm often wrong. 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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Hi @Monica! Thanks for the extra photos -  they're showing a bit extra here and there but it's probably more the direction of the light in different pics, too many fine grain reflections.

 

I might be suffering from pareidolia but I am seeing probable graptolites here, albeit not very well preserved. 

The main one and one next to it are suggestively V-shaped and the bits to the left of the shell on the last photo are decidedly Y-shaped (including the shiny one @Plantguy mentioned), so perhaps something like Dicranograptus/Dicellograptus/Didymograptus. So possibly quite a bit of graptolitic debris - scan the photos and you'll pick up other bits.

 

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These look promising too, on the lower right of your penultimate photo:

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Tarquin

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