rejd Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Decided to take a trip out to Canyon Creek today to look for belemnite and ammonite. The weather wasn't looking too good but I took my chances. I got to the parking lot on canyon creek road at about 10 and it only took me about 30 minutes to walk up the road to the collecting location. Once there I started finding belemnite right away. There were so many I could have collected 1000's of them, but I only brought home a handful. I then started looking for ammonite but could not find any. After looking for about 45 minutes I decided to see what was up stream. After about a 10 min walk I found another outcrop of shale. This is where I started to find som nice ammonite impressions. you can find Harpocera http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpoceras and Dactylioceras http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dactylioceras. I also found a couple of small clams, I beleive they are Inoceramus. The shale here is extrememly fragile and there were some that I could not cellect as they would simply disintegrate. Next time I go back I plan on bringing some consolidant to try and make them a bit more stable. There are lots of impressions here and I look forward to going back. The geology of the area Fernie formation, Jurassic. Poker chip shale (Toarcian in age) and Highwood Member (Bajocian in age). Black Shale of the Poker Chip Shales outcrop along the Canyon Creek at water level. Approx 10M above the Poker Chip Shale are the Basal beds of the Highwood Member. These shales are yellow-grey, phophatic, llimonitic and belemnite rich. A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 I went out to the garage to see how the shale was drying out and noticed some of them had split on there own. To my suprise I found this little beauty where one piec had split. It's about an inch wide. A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 I went out to the garage to see how the shale was drying out and noticed some of them had split on there own. To my suprise I found this little beauty where one piec had split. It's about an inch wide. Very nice! Sometimes luck is on our side. I enjoyed seeing the images especially the site image. I remember one time I had collected a large fish tail from the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas. It was a Ichthyodectes ctenodon. I left it outside on my back porch with a towel on it. The specimen was about 6 vertebrae and both fail fins articulated in a large block of Niobrara Chalk. I placed a towel over it to "protect" it. During the night it either rained lightly or dewed heavily. I came out the next morning to a soaking wet towel. The chalk around the specimen had melted away a bit and the entire vert string and tail simply came out in my hand, all in one piece. I now have it on my wall in a riker mount. I guess it is better to be lucky than good sometimes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 Thats pretty cool vertman. Would love to see what that looks like. It looks like I have a couple of other pieces that are starting to split as well. Let's hope there are some surpirsed inside! A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Really enjoy the photos and description. The way the shale split is neato...nice to have both impressions. Curious. When you were at the parking lot were people riding their bikes up the gravel road at the gate closure in to Moose Mountain ( direction of the ice caves, Ing's Mine ). I haven't heard anything about that area since the June floods. I need to get my 'fix' collecting something in the Banff Formation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 Really enjoy the photos and description. The way the shale split is neato...nice to have both impressions. Curious. When you were at the parking lot were people riding their bikes up the gravel road at the gate closure in to Moose Mountain ( direction of the ice caves, Ing's Mine ). I haven't heard anything about that area since the June floods. I need to get my 'fix' collecting something in the Banff Formation. Thanks Northstar, it was a great trip. Yes, on my way back there were 3 people riding their mountain bikes up the road just as I got back to the parking lot. There was a fair bit of debris in the creek as well the bridge crossing the river on hwy 66 was partly washed out. A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Thanks for that info. Re your photo of where the the bridge crosses, etc. I've poked around some of those seemingly sterile shale strata and found just hints of fossils...clam imprints. There's a chance with all the undercuts, stuff washed down that there could be a motherlode where some fossils were exposed but 'who knows'.? I suppose the anticipation is almost as good as actually finding fossils. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 You make a good point. I was wondering the same. Any idea what the age and formation is in that area of the river? A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa dino Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 You make a good point. I was wondering the same. Any idea what the age and formation is in that area of the river? Look through the information I gave you, the geo map should help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Looks like a good spot, Rej! I think some of those ammos look like Stephanoceras.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 I think some of those ammos look like Stephanoceras.. These are my first ammonites so I really don't know too much about them other than what I read in a report on the area. Are you merely suggesting that they look like Stephanoceras or do you believe that the ID is incorrect? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks! A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I'm not sure of any of the IDs but the one with partial ribs in between the complete ones (if you know what I mean) I would ID as Stephanoceras. Dactylioceras is a Lower Jur. genus, and the Steph is a Mid Jur genus. You say you have Toarcian and Bajocian.. I guess you are finding the Stephs in the Bajocian and the Dacts in the Toarcian? That would work strat-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Thats pretty cool vertman. Would love to see what that looks like. It looks like I have a couple of other pieces that are starting to split as well. Let's hope there are some surpirsed inside! Here is the Ichthyodectes ctenodon fish tail I mentioned in the story above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 Here is the Ichthyodectes ctenodon fish tail I mentioned in the story above. WOW!!! That is superb. A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 I'm not sure of any of the IDs but the one with partial ribs in between the complete ones (if you know what I mean) I would ID as Stephanoceras. Dactylioceras is a Lower Jur. genus, and the Steph is a Mid Jur genus. You say you have Toarcian and Bajocian.. I guess you are finding the Stephs in the Bajocian and the Dacts in the Toarcian? That would work strat-wise. hmmm, I see what you mean but all the ammo's I found were in the Poker chip shale which is Toarcian. All the above pics were basically taken at the same lvl give or take a coule of feet in height. A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 WOW!!! That is superb. Thanks! But I am really lucky I did not disintegrate it with the wet towel thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Hi Rejd, nice finds and shots of the area! Looks like a very productive outing. Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Well that throws a monkeywrench into my IDs then... I have no idea. Maybe it is in fact the Bajocian section misID'd as the Toarcian??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 It's hard to ID an ammonite without looking at the minutia of the suture patterns. Otherwise what we are doing is looking at a list of species found in a particular formation and assuming the list is complete and the specimenit is one of them. It also assumes that we are looking at the same few inches or feet of strata. Toarcian ammonites were quite diverse and evolved quickly. The Jurassic ammonite biostratigraphy in parts of France is quite incredible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejd Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 Well that throws a monkeywrench into my IDs then... I have no idea. Maybe it is in fact the Bajocian section misID'd as the Toarcian??? That I cannot say for sure. I got my information from an APS field trip guide so I am assuming is it labeld correctly. A fossil hunter needs sharp eyes and a keen search image, a mental template that subconsciously evaluates everything he sees in his search for telltale clues. -Richard E. Leakey http://prehistoricalberta.lefora.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now