The Ellisville Potsdam Sandstone Quarry Revisited

A week ago Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the second day of the Niagara Peninsula Geological Society Field Trip to Eastern Ontario and revisiting the Potsdam sandstone quarry at Ellisville.
                       
On Saturday they had visited the Frontenac Lead Mine and the Canadian Wollastonite Quarry, and as I understand it  had an enjoyable time, despite the rain.

On Sunday we had great weather and I believe that everyone found something of interest.

Below are two specimens that were discovered when I was with the person who found the specimen.

Peter Lee found and collected the cylindrical structure shown in the following two photographs .

The first photo shows a top view while the second shows the top and a cross-section.   While the cylindrical structure was found in a loose slab, I believe that the top of the slab represents the true top as the slab was quite large.   The concentration of hematite at the edge of the cylindrical structure and the fact that the hematite staining shows that banding in the surrounding rock goes only so far into the structure, are both interesting features.   

Below is a photograph of a Climactichnites wilsoni trail that was collected by Paul Musiol of Kingston.

Paul spotted the specimen when I was standing next to him (and we were discussing whether a large slab displayed a Protichnites trackway).   I told Paul that it was Climactichnites and that finding a Climactichnites specimen in Eastern Ontario is important because it rarely occurs.  In Eastern Ontario only the Glen Quarry near Perth and a small quarry near Battersea have yielded specimens of Climactichnites.

The type locality for Climactichnites wilsoni is the Glen quarry, which is located a mile north of Perth, Ontario.   However, the only specimens collected from that (now abandoned and flooded) quarry were collected  from 1859 to 1882  by Dr. James Wilson  of Perth and by Mr. Richardson of  the Geological Survey of Canada.   Those specimens can be found in the collections of the Matheson House Museum in Perth, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Redpath Museum in Montreal, the Geological Survey of Canada and the National Museum of Scotland.     Other specimens of Climactichnites  have been collected well over two decades ago from  a small (now abandoned and flooded) quarry near Battersea, Ontario and can be seen on display at the Miller Museum at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.
              
The Climactichnites wilsoni trackway that Paul found is also important because most specimens of this trace fossil are quite a bit larger.   Getty and Hagadorn (2005) wrote a paper on Small Climactichnites Trackways and reported on small trackways 2 to 3 cm wide.  In a later paper Getty and Hagadorn (2009) reported on 304 Climactichnites wilsoni trackways, noting most trails are 2 to 18 cm wide with the smallest trail being 0.8 cm wide.  Paul’s specimen is among the smallest reported.

The Ellisville quarry displays at least three facies of the Potsdam Group.  The cylindrical structure was found in the Hannawa Falls Formation.  The specimen of Climactichnites wilsoni was found in the Nepean Member of the Keeseville Formation.

While I was on the field trip Ashley Pollock of the Niagara Peninsula Geological Society (“NPGS”) mentioned that they will likely repeat the field trip next year, but earlier than October.    Those wanting to attend should check the NPGS web site at www.ccfms.ca/clubs/NPGS/  And should consider joining the NPGS:   Family Membership is $20  while Individual Membership is $15.   The NPGS is an affiliated member of the Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies (“CCFMS”).   In the past NPGS field trips have been open to other clubs that are members of the CCFMS.

Christopher Brett
Perth, Ontario

References and Suggestions For Further Reading on Climactichnites

Yochelson, Ellis L., and Mikhail A. Fedonkin, 1993
Paleobiology of Climactichnites, an Enigmatic Late Cambrian Fossil. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, number 74, 74 pages, frontispiece, 58 figures.

Patrick Ryan Getty and James W. Hagadorn, 2005
Small Climactichnites Trackways: Their Abundance and Implications for Trackmaker Physiology, 2005 Salt Lake City Annual Meeting (October 16-19, 2005), Paper No. 219-16

Patrick Ryan Getty, James Whitey Hagadorn, 2008
Reinterpretation of Climactichnites Logan 1860 to Include Subsurface Burrows, and Erection of Musculopodus for Resting Traces of the Trailmaker, Journal of Paleontology, November 2008
82 (6), 1161-1172 ;      DOI: 10.1666/08-004.1

Patrick R. Getty and James W. Hagadorn, 2009
Palaeobiology of the Climactichnites Tracemaker,  Palaeontology, Vol. 52, Part 4, 2009, pp. 753–778

My Blog Postings from:
Thursday, 31 January 2013
On the trail of Climactichnites wilsoni - Part 1: Specimens Collected from a Quarry near Perth, Ontario

Monday, 11 February 2013
On the trail of Climactichnites wilsoni - Part 2: References to the Quarry Near Perth in the Scientific Literature, and the Geologic Mapping of Lot 6

Monday, 6 May 2013
On the trail of Climactichnites wilsoni - Part 3: A quarry about a mile from Perth as the town existed in 1859

Tuesday, 21 July 2015
Reports of the Trace Fossil Climactichnites found in Central Texas

Thursday, 16 July 2015
Burrows or Not Burrows - Part 2