For the past few years Catherine Béland Otis of the Ontario Geological Survey has been mapping the Paleozoic rocks of Eastern Ontario. A paper by Catherine Béland Otis (2018) summarized her 2018 field work in the Ottawa area and included a photograph of “Stromatolites in the Oxford (Beauharnois) Formation (UTM 459832E 5013215N; southeast corner of the Ottawa map area).”
On September 2, 2020 I visited the outcrop and the took the photographs that follow.
The stromatolites are the concave down circular structures and are most often laterally linked to adjacent stromatolites. The ruler in the photographs is a meter stick. The stromatolites are in rock that is dolomite. When fresh the dolomite is a dark grey. It weathers buff to light grey. Lower down in the sequence are thin dolomite beds with shaley parting layers. The shaley layers are black. I found a few bedding parallel trace fossils in the shaley layers. Below is a photograph of the thin layers. To the right of the 33 cm mark on the ruler are some rounded structures that are arguably ball-and-pillow structures representing soft sediment deformation.
The Oxford (Beauharnois) Formation outcrops at this location on both sides of Iveson Drive at the second intersection with Loney Crescent (assuming you take the entrance to Iveson off 8th Line Road). Numerous stromatolite domes can be seen in outcrops on both sides of Iveson Drive. Plugging 45.271285,-75.512069 into Google will show the location.
Stromatolites have been reported in the Oxford formation of Ontario by numerous authors. They were reported by Logan (1852, 1863) who called them concretions and by Morley Wilson (1924) and Alice Wilson (1945) who both called them Cryptozoon. Bernstein (1992) includes a photograph (figure 9.f) of an outcrop with the caption “Geologist stands on exhumed, large domal stromatolites similar to those described by Logan (1852, 1863) ...).” Morley Wilson (1924, Plates VII, VIII) and Alice Wilson (1945, plate II B) both included photographs of the stromatolites in the Oxford formation in Ontario. Morley Wilson’s photographs were of outcrops near Arnprior, while Alice Wilson’s photograph was taken of an outcrop in Osgoode Township, Ontario
When the Ontario Geological Survey mapped the Paleozoic rocks of Eastern Ontario in the early 1980's (e.g., Wolf, Williams, Rae (1984) Map P. 2724 -Ottawa Area) it mapped the Potsdam Group rocks as the Covey Hill Formation and the Nepean Formation. It mapped the overlying Beekmantown age rocks as two formations, following Alice E. Wilson (1938a, b; 1946), by placing the lower interbedded quartz sandstone, sandy dolostone and dolostone in the March Formation and the upper dolostone in the Oxford Formation. What the OGS called the March Formation is known in Quebec and in New York State as the Theresa formation, and many are calling on Ontario to adopt the name Theresa formation as that term was in use before Alice E. Wilson named the March Formation. Further, prior to Wilson naming the Oxford Formation, geologists in Quebec had been using the terms Beauharnois formation and Carillon Formation for similar rocks. In some recent publications the term Oxford Formation has been replaced with (the lower) Beauharnois formation and (the upper) Carillon Formation when describing Ontario rocks. See Bernstein (1992) and Salad-Hersi, Lavoie and Nowlan (2003) for a detailed description of the naming issue. Béland Otis (2018)’s Figure 22.2 is a diagram comparing the nomenclature in use by the OGS since the early 1980's with the nomenclature proposed in recent publications.
Bernstein’s (1992) Figure 2, entitled “Generalized lithostratigraphy of the Beekmantown Group in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, Quebec and Ontario” shows the location of domal and columnar stromatolites in the Beauharnois formation and Carillon Formation. Williams (1991) noted that “stromatolites and algal lamination are common” in the Oxford Formation in Eastern Ontario and reports stromatolites in three of his measured sections of Oxford Formation rocks (Highway 401 roadcut; Prescott; Highway 16 roadcut, Groveton; roadcut, Harwood Plains, Kanata). Donaldson and Chiarenzelli’s (2004b) Field Trip Guide has a stop at Fitzroy Provincial Park, Ontario to look at the stromatolites in the Oxford formation, and include a photograph of the laterally linked stromatolites in the Ottawa River at Fitzroy Provincial Park. They also included a stop at Almonte, Ontario to look at the stromatolites in the Oxford formation ( likely Carillon Formation, see Dix and Al Rodhan, 2006, outcrop location No. 7) in the Mississippi River. Keddy (2010 ) mentions the stromatolites in the Mississippi River at the bridge in Appleton, where the rocks are likely in the Carillon Formation (see Dix and Al Rodhan, 2006, outcrop location No. 8). Salad-Hersi, Lavoie, and Nowlan (2003) include a photograph of “Stromatolites of laterally linked hemispheroids (LLH-type) evolving into vertically stacking hemispheroids (SH-type)” in the Ogdensburg Member, Beauharnois Formation in Quebec.
Stromatolites between one and three metres in diameter in the March Formation can also be seen in the bed of the Jock River at Franktown Road, adjacent the Riverbend Golf Course (Billings, 1975). The riverbed at this location is a Provincially Significant Earth Science ANSI protected site (Muncaster, 2009) because of the stromatolites. [On September 11th I drove to where the Franktown Road crosses the Jock River. Even though the river level was quite low the stromatolites were not visible as the river bed was covered in green and brown slime. There is a flat outcrop adjacent to the river but it is private land.]
The stromatolites at both Almonte and Appleton are often underwater and not visible (and have been when I’ve tried to look at them). The ones in the Ottawa River at Fitzroy Provincial Park are often visible, but are dangerous to look at if the river is high.
Recently Nehza and Dix (2012) described the stromatolites of the Carillon Formation and in the younger Pamelia Formation, but their article is not open access.
Husinec and Donaldson (2014) feature a photograph (figure 15) of stromatolites in the Theresa formation of New York State. They mention that in Upper New York the “Theresa Formation is unconformably overlain by the Ogdensburg dolomite. ... . The Ogdensburg Dolomite is best preserved in local quarries, where it commonly contains stromatolites (Kerans, 1977; Selleck, 1984; Van Diver, 1976) formed in upper intertidal to supratidal setting (Kerans, 1977).”
Christopher Brett
Ottawa
REFERENCE AND SUGGESTED READING
Bernstien, L, 1992,
A revised lithostratigraphy of the Lower-Middle Ordovician Beekmantown Group, St. Lawrence Lowlands, Quebec and Ontario, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 29, 2677-2694 (1992)
https://doi.org/10.1139/e92-212
Brett, Christopher P., 2016
When Stromatolites Were called Concretions, Devil’s Pots, Snow-shoe Tracks and Cannon Balls. Blog posting Thursday, 17 March 2016
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2016/03/when-stromatolites-were-called.html
Dix, G.R., and Molgat, Marianne P.,1998
Character of the Middle Ordovician Sauk–Tippecanoe sequence boundary in the Ottawa Embayment (eastern Ontario): possible evidence for platform-interior, Taconic tectonism. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 35 (6): 603–619.
https://doi.org/10.1139/e98-017
Dix G.R., and Al Rodhan Z. 2006.
A new geological framework for the Middle Ordovician Carillon Formation (uppermost Beekmantown Group, Ottawa Embayment): onset of Taconic foreland deposition and tectonism within the Laurentian platform interior. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 43(9): 1367-1387
https://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/e06-030#.X0wHfrj6iE8
Donaldson, J. A., and Chiarenzelli, J. R., 2004a,
Stromatolites and associated biogenic structures in Cambrian and Ordovician strata in and near Ottawa, Ontario: New York State Geological Association, 76th Annual Meeting, Fieldtrip Guidebook, SUNY, Potsdam, New York, Trip F-1, p. 1–20.
https://ottohmuller.com/nysga2ge/Files/2004/NYSGA%202004%20F1%20-%20Stromatolites%20And%20Associated%20Biogenic%20Structures%20In%20Cambrian%20And%20Ordovician%20Strata%20In%20And%20Near%20Ottawa,%20Ontario.pdf
Donaldson, J. Allan and Chiarenzelli, Jeffrey R., 2004b,
Precambrian Basement and Cambrian-Ordovician Strata , as Displayed in Three Provincial Parks of Canada, 76th Annual Meeting, Field Trip Guidebook, New York State Geological Association, 283 pages, at pages 63-78.
https://www.nysga-online.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/NYSGA-2004-A1-Precambrian-Basement-And-Cambrian-Ordovician-Strata-As-Displayed-In-Three-Provincial-Parks-Of-Canada.pdf
Globensky, Yvon, 1982
Région de Lachute, Rapport Géologique 200, Quebec, Ministère de l'énergie et des Ressources
http://gq.mines.gouv.qc.ca/documents/examine/RG200/RG200.pdf
Husinec, Antun and J Allan Donaldson, 2014
Lower Paleozoic Sedimentary Succession of the St. Lawrence River Valley, New York and Ontario, in : Geology of the Northwestern Adirondacks and St. Lawrence River Valley (pp.1-28) 86th NEGSA Annual Meeting Field Guidebook, Chapter: A-1. Publisher: New York State Geological Association
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327513499_Lower_Paleozoic_Sedimentary_Succession_of_the_St_Lawrence_River_Valley_New_York_and_Ontario
Keddy, Cathy, 2010
Triple S Geotur 2010 [An account of a MVFN field trip led by Dr. Allan Donaldson. The stromatolites at the bridge in Appleton were under water.] https://mvfn.ca/triple-s-geotur-2010/
https://mvfn.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Triple-S-Geotour-2010.pdf
Logan, W. E., 1852,
Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for the Year 1851-52, at page 19.
Logan, W. E., 1863,
Geology of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress from its Commencement to 1863, 983 pages, at pages 112-113
Muncaster Environmental Planning Inc., 2009 (Herein, Muncaster, 2009)
Environmental impact statement and tree conservation report. Proposed residential development and golf course relocation. Part of lots 7 and 8, Concession iv Geographic Township of Goulbourn, City of Ottawa, Riverbend Golf Course
http://webcast.ottawa.ca/plan/All_Image%20Referencing_Subdivision_Image%20Reference_Environmental_Impact_Statement_and_Tree_Conservation_Report_D07-16-09-0025.PDF
Nehza, Odette and George R. Dix, 2012
Stratigraphic restriction of stromatolites in a Middle and Upper Ordovician foreland-platform succession (Ottawa Embayment, eastern Ontario).
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2012, 49(10): 1177-1199, https://doi.org/10.1139/e2012-048
Otis, C. Béland 2018
Paleozoic Geology of Eastern Ontario: Ottawa Area, Project SO-18-006, pages 22-1 to 22-10, in Ontario Geological Survey Summary of Field Work and Other Activities, 2018 (OFR 6350) http://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmaccess/mndm_dir.asp?type=pub&id=ofr6350
Salad-Hersi, O; Lavoie, D; Nowlan, G S 2003
Reappraisal of the Beekmantown Group sedimentology and stratigraphy, Montréal area, southwestern Quebec: Implications for understanding the depositional evolution of the Lower-Middle Ordovician Laurentian passive margin of eastern Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 40, 2, 2003 p. 149-176, https://doi.org/10.1139/e02-077
https://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e02-077
Williams, D.A., 1991
Paleozoic Geology of the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland, Southern Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 5770, 292p.
http://www.geologyontario.mndmf.gov.on.ca/mndmaccess/mndm_dir.asp?type=pub&id=OFR5770
Wilson, Alice E., 1938a
Ottawa Sheet, (East Half) , Carleton and Hull Counties, Ontario and Quebec, Geological Survey of Canada, Map 413A, Scale 1 inch to 1 mile, Geology by A. E. Wilson, 1935
https://doi.org/10.4095/107511
Wilson, Alice E., 1938b
Ottawa Sheet, (West Half) , Carleton and Hull Counties, Ontario and Quebec, Geological Survey of Canada, Map 414A, Scale 1 inch to 1 mile, Geology by A. E. Wilson, 1935
https://doi.org/10.4095/107545
Wilson, Alice E., 1946,
Geology of the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland, Ontario and Quebec, Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 241, 66 pages. Plate II B, page 45. Photo No. 81893, Lot 15, Con. viii, Osgoode Township, Ontario
https://doi.org/10.4095/101632 (Open Access)
Wilson, Morley E., 1924,
Arnprior-Quyon and Maniwaki Areas, Ontario and Quebec, Geological Survey of Canada,
Plates VII, VIII, Memoir 136, 163 pages.
https://doi.org/10.4095/100837 (Open Access)
Wolf, R.R., Williams, D.A., Rae, A.M., 1984
Paleozoic Geology of the Ottawa Area, Southern Ontario. Ontario Geological Survey
Map P2716 Geological Series - Preliminary Map. Scale 1:50,000 Geology 1982
http://www.geologyontario.mndmf.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/P2716//P2716.pdf
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