Formosa Reef (M. Devonian)

[Ludwigia]

3 hours ago, Kane said:

 

As we only explored a small yet highly productive area of a few metres, there is still a great deal to explore (the cut runs long and high on both sides of the road). In order to do it justice, next time I'm thinking of getting motel room and making it a multi-day dig -- hopefully with some field comrades to share the site with. 

You can count me in next time I'm over Looks very interesting. Thanks for the detailed report!

[Shamalama]

Neat roadcut there Kane. Congrats on being where History happened. I like the Calcite crystals that are frequently found on and in the fossils.

[FossilNerd]

Nice finds and report! Very cool to know that you are in the exact spot that was the basis for published work! 
 

I really like the curved nautiloid; and a field trip post by Kane wouldn’t be complete without a few decent trilobites. The second picture of Crassiproetus looks to have some nice detail to it.  

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very nice and useful. 

Love the photographs of this classic locality and the animals that came to watch you work.

I had just downloaded Fagerstrom a half hour before reading this, as I now have a dozen pieces of this stuff myself thanks to the marvelous @Monica

You probably know by now, but most of those nautiloids would seem to be Exocyrtoceras minutum. However, some of those specimens of yours are out of this world. 

I also have a lot of brachs to id, so I'm very, very happy! 

[Kane]

4 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Very nice and useful. 

Love the photographs of this classic locality and the animals that came to watch you work.

I had just downloaded Fagerstrom a half hour before reading this, as I now have a dozen pieces of this stuff myself thanks to the marvelous @Monica

You probably know by now, but most of those nautiloids would seem to be Exocyrtoceras minutum. However, some of those specimens of yours are out of this world. 

I also have a lot of brachs to id, so I'm very, very happy! 

Thanks, Adam!

Sadly, I only made it out there once this year, having focused a bit more on the Appalachian basin variant of the Amherstburg Fm, which has a vastly different lithology and faunal association (and more lichids, which thrills me to bits!).

[MattJ]

This is weird.. I live in Amherstburg, across the street from the Detroit River, Less than 5km from Anderdon. Too bad I would have to dig over 300 feet to get to a reef here. My first vacation is over, but I know were the second one will be. A fall color trip combined with checking all 6 sites mentioned in the secret document. Remind me not to drink the water in Walkerton !!

[Kane]

On 7/17/2021 at 8:48 PM, MattJ said:

This is weird.. I live in Amherstburg, across the street from the Detroit River, Less than 5km from Anderdon. Too bad I would have to dig over 300 feet to get to a reef here. My first vacation is over, but I know were the second one will be. A fall color trip combined with checking all 6 sites mentioned in the secret document. Remind me not to drink the water in Walkerton !!

Ironically, the water system in Walkerton is likely among the very best in Ontario after that crisis.  

 

I think you'll find the Amherstburg Fm on the Appalachian basin side to be very different faunally and lithologically (just noticed I said that above already -- I must be getting old  ). My own pile, sourced from around Ingersoll, contains a trilobite fauna that overlaps with the Formosa in some ways, but with some very surprising differences. Outcrop access is virtually nil (I suspect you have the same issue with a lot of glacial overburden as we do here in London). 

 

The Formosa bioherms are quite distinct, and you are guaranteed to find quite a lot of fossils. Have fun there if you go! It's definitely worth the stop.