For over one hundred and seventy five years fossils have been reported from concretions in the Leda clay deposits at Green’s Creek, principally at the mouth of Green’s Creek where it flows into the Ottawa River, but also up to three kilometers eastward along the banks of the Ottawa River, along the creek and along tributary streams flowing into Green’s Creek. The first reported fossil was the entire skeleton of a fossil fish, and it is fossil fish that are the most heralded and widely known, but Green’s Creek is more than just a source of fossil fish, it has produced fossils of vertebrates, invertebrates, trees, shrubs and plants. It has been said of Green’s Creek by C.R. Harington (1983), a paleontologist with the National Museum of Natural Sciences, that “Of all fossil localities in Canada, none preserves a better record of life as it was about 10,000 years ago than that at Green’s Creek.”
The Leda clay, a marine clay, locally as thick as 200 feet, was deposited in the Champlain Sea which formed when the glaciers withdrew north of the St. Lawrence Lowland and admitted water from the Atlantic Ocean. The sea existed for about two thousand years and covered the lower Ottawa River valley, much of Eastern Ontario, the St. Lawrence River valley, and modern Lake Champlain. While most people think of the Leda clay as a homogeneous unit, geologists who study it tend to break it down into at least three units. Gadd’s (1986) breakdown consists of 1) regularly laminated varves comprising fine silt and silty clay, with colours of shades of grey; 2) massive to vaguely stratified silt and silty clay ranging from dark gray to reddish gray, the most fossilferous facies; and 3) rhythmically to cyclically texture and colour banded of the silt-clay range , locally with sand layers near or at the top. The units are stacked on top of one another with unit 1 being at the bottom.
The whole of Green’s Creek falls in Ottawa’s Greenbelt and is protected federal land. Bike and walking paths maintained by the National Capital Commission parallel the creek and the Ottawa River. In addition, residents of Blackburn Hamlet, which adjoins the creek, have cut paths through the woods, fields and marsh adjacent to the creek. Everyone that walks along Green’s Creek will note the stratified bluish-gray clay lining the banks of the creek. If you look closely you will note that some beds contain calcareous concretions, some round, some sausage shaped, many kidney shaped, most two or three times as long as broad, and most being of a size that can easily be picked up, averaging about 10 to 13 cm in their longest dimension. They are set free from the clay by the erosion of the banks of the creek and the river, and at one time (before the National Capital Commission reinforced the shoreline of the Ottawa River) were plentiful at the mouth of Green’s Creek in the spring. A museum curator that I know has commented that by reinforcing the shoreline the N.C.C. destroyed a world class collecting site, and it is hard to argue with that assessment.
Not all of the concretions in the Leda clay contain fossils, and not all of the clay contains concretions. The bed of clay that has produced the most fossils is at the highwater mark of the Ottawa River. Most concretions from other layers are destitute of fossil remains. I can personally attest to that statement. Thirty-five years ago I looked at concretions along one of the tributary streams, but found no fossils in any of them.
The most abundant fossil fish are a species of capeling, still found in the lower St. Lawrence, and sculpin. The Perth Museum has a concretion with a fossil fish from Green’s Creek on display. (It had two, but one walked.) Other fossil fish include the lump-sucker, stickleback, lake trout, and smelt. Rare impressions of feathers, bones of birds and ducks, flying insects, tiny crustaceans, starfish, and worms have been reported. The bones of a young seal were reported and figured by Leidy (1856) while the teeth and jawbone of a seal were reported and figured by Dawson (1893). One concretion contained the skull and forelimb of an American Marten, a land mammal; another, a chipmunk.
Concretions have been found that enclose fragments of wood, leaves of trees, seeds of plants, portions of marine plants, grasses, sedges, mosses, and algae. Among the trees are the sugar maple, alder, birch and poplar. An analysis of the flora shows that a third or more are wholly aquatic, and therefore deposited in place, a third are a land plants, drifted in by tributary rivers, and the rest represent semi-aquatic and marsh plants from adjacent land areas. The vegetation is identical to that now found in the Ottawa region, suggesting similar climatic conditions.
Besides the small shell Leda arctica (now Yoldia arctica), a marine mollusc, from which the clay gets its name, other marine and freshwater shells have been found. Greenbelt land south of Blackburn Hamlet and north of Mud Creek (which flows into Green’s Creek), exhibits intermittent sand deposits on top of the clay. These sand deposits also contain fossil shells.
Early Reports of Fossils in Concretions From Green’s Creek
Sir Charles Lyell, an English geologist, is credited with being the first to report on fossils in concretions from Green’s Creek. Lyell visited North America in 1841-42 and in his book summarizing his visit (1845, at pages 126-127) mentioned “Mr. Logan obtained near Bytown concretions of clay similar to those called fairy stones, which occur without fossils in the clay at Albany, New York, and at Burlington, Vermont, and in Massachusetts, as described by Professor Hitchcock. In the centre of one of these nodules was the entire skeleton of a fossil fish, allied to, if not identical with, that named Mallotus villosus [ a capelin] by Professor Agassiz, which now lives in the Greenland seas, and is also found fossil in Greenland.” While “near Bytown” includes Green’s Creek, and Green’s Creek is the site that has produced the most fossil capelin in concretions, capelin have been found in concretions in clay in other areas around Ottawa. The ‘Mr. Logan’ that Sir Charles Lyell referred to is William Logan, the founder and first director of the Geological Survey of Canada.
I tried to determine the how Logan obtained the concretions from ‘near Bytown’ but was unable to do so. The most likely source would have been members of The Royal Engineers stationed in Montreal who mapped the Ottawa River and were involved with the construction of Ottawa River Canals and the Rideau Canal, other members of the Natural History Society of Montreal (e.g. Dr. A.F. Holmes), or fossil and mineral collectors such as Andrew Dickson of Pakenham, Dr. Van Cortlandt of Bytown , Dr. James Wilson of Perth, or Reverend Andrew Bell. Both Dickson and Van Cortlandt had collections of fossils from Green’s Creek: – see Dawson, 1859; Dawson, 1868; Ami, 1887. Reverend Andrew Bell had a large collection of fossils, including plants found in the Leda clay at Green’s Creek, that he bequeathed to Queens, which Dawson, 1868, 1893 reports that he looked at. Logan was friends with each of Dr. Holmes, Dr. Wilson, Dr. Van Cortlandt, Andrew Dickson and Reverend Bell.
Harrington (1883) reports that Sir William Logan met Sir Charles Lyell in 1841 when by chance both were in New York City. The following day William Logan wrote to his brother James, telling him of Lyell's intended visit to Canada, stating "Lyell will be in Montreal some time in the spring, and if you in your leisure walks will make a collection of all the organic remains you can for him, you will not only be serving him, but also cause of geology. ... The shells in the clay should also be collected, and you should endeavour to ascertain as nearly as possible the height of each locality above the level of the water in the harbour." Harrington does not mention Logan sending concretions to Lyell.
In the Geological Survey of Canada’s Annual report for 1843, Logan describes the geology of the lands abutting the Ottawa River from Montreal to Bytown, and this appears to be based on personal observation, but he does not mention the clay or concretions at Green’s Creek. In 1845 Logan traversed and mapped the upper Ottawa, starting at Bytown. In the Geological Survey of Canada’s Annual report of progress for the year 1845-46, Logan describes the ‘Tertiary [now Quaternary] Deposits’ along the valley of the Ottawa River, noting that “Along the whole valley of the Ottawa, clays, sands, gravels and boulders are met with in many parts.” He mentions that “At the mouth of the Gatineau, near Bytown, not only marine shells have been obtained, but, in a nodule of indurated clay found in the deposit there, Mr. McNab, of the Crown Lands Office, some years ago, procured a perfect specimen (now in my possession) of Mallotus villosus, or common capeling, a small fish, which still frequents the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in vast numbers.” He does not mention the concretions from Green’s Creek.
The first report by the Geological Survey of Canada on the concretions in Green’s Creek was made by Alexander Murray (1852, pages 76-77), who reported: “but clays occur higher on the Ottawa, in the vicinity of By town, at the mouth of the Gatineau on the north, and of "Green's Creek" on the south side, which in addition to marine shells, of the species Saxicava rugosa, yield in the latter named locality two species of fish, the Mallotus villosus or common capeling, and Cyclopterus lumpus or lump-sucker, both of which are still inhabitants of northern seas; the capeling still frequents the Gulf of St. Lawrence in great numbers, and the lump-sucker, the northern coasts of Scotland and America. Their fossil representatives are always enclosed in nodules of indurated clay of reniform shapes, and they appear to occupy a bed nearly on a level with the water of the Ottawa, ...; the same sort of nodules frequently enclose fragments of wood, leaves of trees, and portions of marine plants; among the last is one of the species of littoral algae still found near the coasts of arctic seas.”
Where to Find Photographs of Specimens from Green’s Creek
Wagner (1984) contains photographs of concretions bearing fossils from Green’s Creek, namely two of fossil fish (figures 25 and 26), the impression of a feather (figure 33A) and a leaf (figure 33B). Harington (1983) included photographs of concretions containing a Capelin, a sucker, a Marchfly, a feather impression, the skull and front leg of an American Marten, a twig, and the tail region of a lake trout. Kindle (1923, Plate 8, Figures 1 and 2) has an exceptionally clear photo of opposite sides of a concretion showing the skull and other parts of the skeleton of a marten, collected from the Ottawa River below Greens Creek. McAllister et al. (1981) contains photographs of two fossil fish (a lake cisco and a rainbow smelt) from Green’s Creek. Champagne et al. (1979) contains photographs of a fossil deepwater sculpin in a nodule from Green’s Creek. Dawson (1893; pages 266, 268b) contains sketches of a fossil fish (the sculpin pictured above) in a concretion and of the jawbone of a seal in a concretion. Dawson (1869) contains lithographs of concretions from Green’s Creek containing leaves and one containing a piece of wood. Gadd (1980) contains photographs of a concretion containing a capelin, a concretion containing the imprint of a feather and a concretion containing a piece of Willow wood, all from Green’s Creek. Leidy (1856) figured a concretion found by Billings that contained the bones of a young seal. Below are one of Dawson’s lithographs and Leidy’s lithograph:
A spectacular photograph of both parts of a nodule with a fossil fish from Green’s Greek is on the Geological Survey of Canada’s web site at http://www.science.gc.ca/eic/site/063.nsf/eng/97214.html
The Museum of Nature’s Collection
For over fifty years the Canadian Museum of Nature (the Victoria Memorial Museum at Metcalfe and McLeod Streets, Ottawa) has had on display a few fossils from Green’s Creek, including feather impressions and (if I recall correctly) the American Marten. The museum provides the ability to search its collections online at http://collections.nature.ca/en/Search/Index
A search for ‘Green’s Creek’ in the Paleobiology Collection reveals over 1,600 specimens, including over 700 specimens of Mallotus villosus, a capelin. Notably one specimen of Mallotus villosus from Green’s Creek was collected by William Logan and A. Dickson, presumably the Andrew Dickson who founded Pakenham, Ontario.
The Redpath Museum at McGill in Montreal also has a collection of fossils from Green’s Creek.
Concretion Formation
Various theories have been advanced as to how the concretions at Green’s Creek were formed and why the concretions from Green’s Creek contain fossils but many parts of the Leda clay are devoid of concretions containing fossils. A number of authors have commented on the topic. A few are mentioned below.
Logan (1863) commented “About the mouth of Green's Creek, in Gloucester, a bed in the clay, near high-water mark, abounds in nodular masses, which are strewn along the shore of the Ottawa for two miles to the eastward. These seem to have been formed by a process of concretion around various organic remains, which are found on breaking open the nodules.”
Coleman (1901), when discussing concretions from Green’s Creek, suggested that “Similar clay higher up and farther inland seems to be without them, perhaps not containing lime enough to form them.”
Johnston (1917) and Kindle (1923) suggested that the concretions were related to streams cutting the clay as few concretions are found in areas where there are no streams. Johnston commented: “It is generally held that calcareous clay concretions, such as those found in the marine clay, are formed only in the zone of cementation, above the general permanent level of the ground water, and this appears to be borne out by the mode of occurrence of the concretions in this area. Hence it is probable that the concretions were formed after the complete withdrawal of the marine waters and largely during the time since the establishment of the present drainage. The marked oscillations of ground water level in the vicinity of the streams, especially in the lower portion of the Ottawa river owing to the rise and fall of the river, would greatly favour concretionary action and would explain the apparent absence of' the concretions in the clays at some distance from the river courses where the oscillations of ground water level would not be pronounced."
Kindle (1923) suggested that the difference in temperature between Green’s Creek and the Ottawa River waters favoured the development of concretions, commenting that “These changes of temperature will be transmitted to the ground-waters permeating the clays of the river bank and result in frequent and abrupt changes in the lime-solvent powers of these waters by affecting their CO2 content through increasing or lowering the temperature. Changes of this character, it is believed, would stimulate the development of concretions.”
Kindle (1923) also suggested that a factor favorable to the formation of these concretions is the diurnal change of temperature of river banks denuded of forests and exposed to the full glare of the sun resulting in the “relatively rapid movement of ground-water toward the exposed section as a result of evaporation and a consequent large transfer of the soluble materials required for the growth of concretions.”
Gadd (1971) found hard, circular, carbonate concretions at the faces of stream-cut banks in Champlain Sea clay along the St. Lawrence river valley, and concretions with a “malleable, putty-like consistency” about 30 inches in from the faces of stream banks. Gadd (1971) suggested that the induration of carbonate concretions was “related to proximity to the exposure face of the stream-cut banks” and “that evaporation of groundwater at the exposed face of the varved deposits causes crystallization of the carbonates and final hardening of the concretions.”
Yoshida et al. (2018) studied carbonate concretions from three locations in Japan, some containing well preserved fossils. They reviewed the generalized conditions of spherical calcium carbonate concretion formation and concluded that concretions form by reactions between HCO3 - and Ca2+ ions as concretions grow outwards, with carbon supplied by the organic source within the concretion and Ca2+ in the surrounding seawater-derived pore-water. They suggest that concretions “continue to grow until there is no more carbon of organic origin remaining within the concretion.” They envisage a reaction front at the margin of the concretion characterized by rapid precipitation of CaCO3 due to super saturation and a pH increase at the cementation front. They suggest that “This front is developed in any kind of carbonate-rich spherical concretion formed syn-genetically during burial of marine sediments with organic carbon sources in the concretions.”
Assuming that organic decomposition furnished the carbon in the form of HCO3 - while the groundwater furnished the Ca2+ to make the calcium carbonate concretions, then the pH and ions in the water would have been important factors, and Johnston’s (1917) and Kindle’s (1923) suggestion that the formation of concretions was related to streams cutting the clay might have been a factor if the streams were higher in Ca2+ or contributed to the adjacent groundwater having a different pH than the groundwater where there were no streams.
A problem with applying Yoshida et al. (2018) study to the Green’s Creek concretions is that there doesn’t appear to be enough organic carbon in many of the concretions (e.g., a concretion containing a leaf) to generate the volume of carbonate in the concretion. In addition Gadd’s (1980) report on his examination of numerous concretions does not support Yoshida et al.’s (2018) suggestion. In 1961 Nelson R. Gadd of the Geological Survey of Canada made a collection of about 700 concretions from a 30 meter section along the Ottawa River at Green’s Creek. He split and examined the concretions. He reported (1980) that “the largest number of concretions consisted solely of cemented sediment. Fewer than sixty concretions (<10%) had nuclei. Among the nuclei such things as pebbles and mudballs, including till, sand lenses, etc. were common, leaving only about thirty of the concretions that contained organic remains as nuclei. These remains included single marine mollusc shells and groups of typical Champlain Sea shells.... one contained the cast of a feather ... [one] contained a piece of wood large enough for radiocarbon dating.”
Gadd (1962a, b) proposed that the Champlain Sea clay was deposited in two phases: the original deeper deposit in a brackish or marine environment; the second major deposition or reworking in fresher water, with the freshwater clay outcropping along Green’s Creek from about Montreal Road to the Ottawa River and along the banks of the Ottawa River (and the marine clay outcropping in the bed of Green’s Creek south of Montreal Road). Gadd (1980) suggested that the “Occurrence of complete skeletons of fish and other vertebrates in concretions is related to chemically induced carbonate cementation during early stages of putrefaction of soft-bodied animals. This could preserve skeletal remains through several cycles of erosion. Therefore some concretions carry fossil remains that may be allochtonous to the sediment in which they now occur. “
Christopher Brett
Ottawa, Ontario
Added February 1, 2021: In 1987 The Geological Survey of Canada branch of Energy Mines and Resources published a brochure with the title ‘Surficial Geology and the Ice Age in the National Capital Region’ which on one side contained a geologic map of the Surficial and Terrain Features of Ottawa-Hull (extracted from GSC Map 1425A), and on the other side contained a synopsis of the Pleistocene Glaciation and the glacial sediments in the National Capital Region. It also included photographs of five Pleistocene fossils found in glacial sands and clay, plus fossils in three clay nodules from Green’s Creek, plus a separate photograph of a nodule from Green’s Creek and a photograph of the 1971 Castleman landslide in Leda Clay. The page of fossils is reproduced below in accordance with the permission granted to reproduce Government of Canada works by Natural Resources Canada. The reproduction has not been produced in affiliation with, or with the endorsement of the Government of Canada.
Fossil 3 is a barnacle.
Fossils 2, 4, 5, and 6 are Pelecypods (clams) with the most famous being 2 Saxicava (now Hiatella arctica) and 6 Leda arctica (now Yoldia arctica).
Fossils 2, 3, 4, 5 were collected in sandpits near the Ottawa airport.
Fossils 1, 7, 8 are concretions from Green’s Creek. Photograph 1 shows a concretion containing Mallotus villosus, a capelin; 7, a leaf; 8, a feather.
The fossil Hiatella arctica is so common that early investigators of Quaternary geology (including Dawson, Logan, Ami, Coleman, Johnston) used the former species name Saxicava rugosa to designate Champlain Sea sand and gravel as Saxicava sand. The shell Leda arctica (now Yoldia arctica) was common in the clay. Those marine shells in 'Saxicava Sand' and 'Leda Clay' indicate a sub-arctic climate.
References and Suggested Reading
Ami, H. M., 1878
The great ice age and subsequent formation at Ottawa, Ontario.
Ottawa Naturalist, Volume 1, 65-74 and 81-88
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/15579#page/89/mode/1up
Ami, H. M., 1897
Contribution to the Paleonology of the post-pliocene deposits of the Ottawa Valley. Ottawa Naturalist 11, 20-26
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/94746#page/26/mode/1up
Ami, H. M., 1902
List of fossils to accompany report of Dr. R. W. Ells on the City of Ottawa map. Pages 51G-56G In Ells, R W, Geological Survey of Canada, Annual Report (n.s.) Volume 12 (1899), part G, 77 pages https://doi.org/10.4095/294885 (Open Access)
Billings, E., 1857
On the Tertiary Rocks of Canada, with some account of their Fossils.
The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist. Volume: v.1, 321- 346
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Brett, Christopher P., 2013
Glacial Erratics and Eskers in the Township of Lanark Highlands, Lanark County, Ontario
Blog Posting dated Thursday, 18 April 2013
Brett, Christopher P., 2014a
Andrew Dickson, a Founder of Pakenham, Sheriff of Bathurst District, and Geologist, Blog posting dated Thursday, 22 May 2014
Brett, Christopher P., 2014b
Lake Iroquois and the Glaciofluvial Deltaic Deposit at Joes Lake, Lanark Highlands, Ontario.
Blog posting dated Wednesday, 17 September 2014.
Brett, Christopher P., 2015a
Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt, M.D., (1805-1875) of Bytown and Ottawa, Surgeon, Field Naturalist, Museum Curator and Amateur Geologist. Blog posting dated Tuesday, 17 March 2015
Brett, Christopher P., 2015b
Hunting for Whales in Eastern Ontario. Blog posting dated Friday, 24 April 2015
Brett, Christopher P., 2016
Fluvio-glacial Sculpted Forms in Outcrops Near Newboro, Eastern Ontario. Blog posting dated
Tuesday, 26 January 2016
Brett, Christopher P., 2018
A Glacial Sand and Clay Deposit in the Basement of St. Paul's United Church on Gore Street in Perth, Ontario. Blog posting dated Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Brett, Christopher P., 2020
Diplocraterion in Dodds and Erwin’s Glacially Polished Sandstone Parking Lot, Lanark County .
Blog Posting dated Friday, 13 November 2020
Champagne, Donald E; C. R. Harington; Don E. McAllister 1979
Deepwater sculpin, Myoxocephalus thompsoni (Girard) from a Pleistocene nodule, Green Creek, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 16 (8): 1621–1628.
https://doi.org/10.1139/e79-147
Coleman, A.P.,. 1901
Sea Beaches of Eastern Ontario, Ontario Bureau of Mines, 10, 215-227
http://www.geologyontario.mndmf.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/ARV10/ARV10.pdf
Coleman, A.P.,. 1922
Glacial and Post-glacial Lakes in Ontario. University of Toronto Studies, Publications of the Ontario Fisheries Research Laboratory, No. 10
http://www.harkness.ca/PDFs/OFRL%20Publications/Journal10.pdf
Dawson, J. W., 1857
On the Newer Pliocene and Post Pliocene Deposits of the Vicinity of Montreal, with notices of
fossils recently discovered in them. Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, vol. 2, no. 6, p. 401-426 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109318#page/507/mode/1up
Dawson, J. W., 1859
Additional Notes on the Post-Pliocene Deposits of the St. Lawrence Valley; Canadian Naturalist and Geologist. Volume IV, Article III, at pages 36 and 37
Dawson, J. W., 1869
The evidence of fossil plants as to the climate of the post-pliocene period in Canada. Canadian Naturalist, New Series, volume 3, 69-76
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Dawson, J. W. , 1871
The post-Pliocene geology of Canada, Canadian Naturalist, (n.s.), vol. 6, p. 116-187, 241-259, 369-416.
Dawson. J.W. , 1878
Note on a fossil seal from the Leda clay of the Ottawa Valley. Canadian Naturalist, New Series, 8 , 340-341, Read before the Natural History Society, Oct. 29, 1877.
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Dawson. J.W. , 1893
The Canadian ice age. Montreal, William V. Dawson. 301 pages
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Surficial Geology of the Ottawa Area. Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Paper 62-16, 4 p.
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Surficial Geology of the Ottawa Area. Map 16-1962, to Accompany Paper 62-16. Preliminary Series. Geological Survey of Canada,
Gadd, N. R. , 1971
Pleistocene geology of the central St. Lawrence Lowland, Ottawa, Geol. Survey of Canada , Memoir 359.
Gadd, Nelson R. 1980
Maximum age for a concretion at Green Creek, Ontario .
Géographie physique et Quaternaire, volume 34 (2), 229–238.
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Gadd, Nelson R. 1986
Lithofacies of the Leda Clay in the Ottawa Basin of the Champlain Sea. Geological Survey of Canada. Paper 85-21. 44 pages.
Harrington, Bernard J., 1883
Life of Sir William E. Logan. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 432 pages.
Harrington, C.R., 1972
The Champlain sea and its Vertebrate Fauna. Part I. The History and Environment of the Champlain Sea. Trail and Landscape, volume 5, No. 5, 137-141 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/268023#page/19/mode/1up
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Note on Fossil Animal Transmitted by Mr. Billings; Notice of the remains of a species of Seal, from the Post-pliocene deposit of the Ottawa River. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Vol 8, pages 62 and 90-91
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Plate III at : https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/18246#page/539/mode/1up
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