A Plucked, Glacially Polished, Flat Outcrop of March (Theresa) Formation Rock East of Perth

 [Rewritten and Corrected  October 19, 2021.  I originally visited this outcrop in September, 2020.  I visited the outcrop again on October 18, 2021.   A more thorough examination of the outcrop has convinced me that the plucked texture records deformed stromatolites and biofilms.]

Below are photographs of a flat, glacially polished, flat outcrop exhibiting a plucked, curved texture.  The outcrop is about four kilometers due east of Perth, Ontario.  The rock has been mapped by Wilson and  Dugas (1961) of the Geological Survey of Canada (Map 1089A) and by Williams and Wolf (1984) of the Ontario Geological Survey (Map P2724) as the March Formation interbedded quartz sandstone, sandy dolostone and dolomite.   The March Formation of Ontario is equivalent to the Theresa Formation of Quebec and New York.   

The top surface of the outcrop is badly weathered sandstone.  The plucked texture is about a half inch (1 1/2 centimeters)  deep.  The ruler in the photographs is a meter stick (recording cm and inches).  The underlying beds, which can be observed about 50 meters to the north of the flat outcrop, are comprised of at least ten meters of sandstone and sandy dolostone–undoubtedly the March (Theresa) formation.

 

 

In my September, 2020 posting I suggested three possible origins for the plucked texture:

- trace fossils formed by deposit feeders;

-the trace fossil  Furchenstein, which Othenio Abel (1935) had figured in his text ‘Vorzeitliche Lebensspuren’

- deformed stromatolites or biofilms much like outcrops in Nepean sandstone in Kanata.

My recent (October, 2021) examination of the outcrop has convinced me that the plucked texture records deformed stromatolites and biofilms.  I will include further photographs of the outcrop in a posting in October, 2021.

 The closest looking named trace fossils I could find were Ophiomorpha irregulaire,  Megagrapton submontanum, and Megagrapton submontanum (See López Cabrer  &  Oliver, 2015, figures 3b, 4a, 5, 6 and 2c;  Mourad et al., 2020, figures 4E, 4F; and  Uchman , 1998, figures 104, 105), but none were bang on. 9.

Here is Othenio Abel’s drawing of Furchenstein.

‘Furchenstein’ translates into English as ‘grooved stone’ or ‘furrowed stone.’  Abel noted that his drawing was about 1/8 natural size. When enlarged eight times the grooves  would be about the same size as I observed.   Abel’s  specimen was collected from the alpine lake near Mondsee in the Austrian Alps.   In the text of ‘Vorzeitliche Lebensspuren’ Othenio Abel comments (p. 371-372)  that the ‘Furchenstein’ shown in Figure 309 is typical of flysch sandstones of the Austrian Alpine lake district.    He explains the texture by strong algae growth which decomposes the surface of the sandstone and by insects and other animals eating feeding channels in the sandstone. The current view of Furchenstein  is that the furrows result from Cyanobacteria eating into the rock, which may be assisted by some species of boring mushrooms, and that grazing animals such as snails or some larvae may further hollow out the furrows (see Müller-Stoll, 1986, Whitton  and Mateo, 2012, and German Wikipedia under ‘Furchenstein’).  
        

Trace Fossils Observed in Loose Slabs to the North of the Plucked Outcrop

Below of two photographs of a loose slab of underlying March Formation rock (a sandstone to sandy dolomite) exhibiting a more convincing trace fossil (simple, mostly straight or almost straight, some slightly curved, flattened cylindrical, subhorizontal, about 2 to 5 mm in width, 2 to 3 cm in length, unbranched, some overlapping, in places a chaotic mess; likely made by a deposit feeder; somewhat like Planolites beverlyensis [see figure 14 G in Erickson and Bjerstedt, 1993]   or the burrowing pattern of the trace fossils Arthrophycus linearis or minimus but lacking features of those traces). 

The numbers on the rulers in the above two photographs record inches on top and centimeters below.

Below is a photograph of another loose slab from the same location, exhibiting circular structures, that is perhaps a bed sole exhibiting the trace fossil Bergaueria,  or perhaps a bed top exhibiting the trace fossil Monocraterion. 

 

Christopher Brett
Ottawa

References and Suggested Reading

Abel, Othenio, 1935,
Vorzeitliche Lebensspuren.  Jena: Gustav Fischer, 644 pages

Anonymous, 2020 

Furchenstein, German Wikipedia  https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furchenstein

Bjerstedt, T. W., and J. M. Erickson, 1989
Trace fossils and bioturbation in peritidal facies of the Potsdam-Theresa Formations (Cambrian–Ordovician, northwest Adirondacks): Palaios, v. 4, p. 203–224, doi:10.2307/3514770.     https://www.jstor.org/stable/3514770

Brett, Christopher, 2015
In 1924 a report of Stromatolites in Nepean Sandstone by Dr. Morley E. Wilson of the Geological Survey of Canada, and Other Reports of Stromatolites and Biofilms in the Potsdam,
Blog posting dated November 4, 2015
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2015/11/in-1924-report-of-stromatolites-in.html

Erickson,  J.  Mark, 1993 
 Cambro-ordovician stratigraphy, sedimentation, and ichnobiology of the St. Lawrence  lowlands  - frontenac arch to the Champlain Valley  of New York, Field trip A3 
https://ottohmuller.com/nysga2ge/Files/1993/NYSGA 1993 A3 (1) - CAMBRO-ORDOVICIAN STRATIGRAPHY, SEDIMENTATION, AND ICHNOBIOLOGY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE LOWLANDS - FRONTENAC ARCH TO THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY OF NEW YORK.pdf

Erickson,  J. M. and Bjerstedt, T. W.,   1993
Trace Fossils and Stratigraphy in the Potsdam and Theresa Formations of the St. Lawrence Lowland, New York.     In  Field Trip Guidebook (pp.A3 1-21)Edition: 65th Annual Meeting Chapter: A3Publisher: New York State Geological Association 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306145931_Trace_Fossils_and_Stratigraphy_in_the_Potsdam_and_Theresa_Formations_of_the_St_Lawrence_Lowland_New_York

López Cabrer, María I. & Eduardo B. Oliver, 2015
Ophiomorpha irregulaire and associated trace fossils from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina: Palaeogeographical and ethological signifi cance. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology
29 (1), 33-44.

Mourad, Belaid ; Cherif Amine , Olev Vinn, Mohammed Nadir Naimi, 2020
First record of trace fossils from the Oxfordian Argiles rouges de Kheneg Formation (Tiaret, northwestern Algeria).   Geologia Croatica 73(2):85-94

Müller-Stoll,  Wolfgang R. , 1986
Der Cyanophyceen-Bewuchs der Furchenoder Hirnsteine des Bodensees. [The cyanophycean growth on the furrows or brain stones of Lake Constance]  Carolinea  44:51–60
https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Carolinea_44_0051-0060.pdf

Selleck, Bruce Warren, 1985
Paleoenvironments and Petrography of the Potsdam Sandstone, Theresa Formation and Ogdensburg Dolomite (u. Camb.-l. Ord.) of the Southwestern St. Lawrence Valley, New York
https://www.nysga-online.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/NYSGA-1978-A6-Paleoenvironments-of-the-Potsdam-Sandstone-and-Theresa-Formation-of-the-Southwestern-St.-Lawrence-Lowlands.pdf

Stigall, Alycia L., 2020
Chondrites, in  Atlas of Ordovician Life - Exploring the fauna of the Cincinnati region,
http://www.ordovicianatlas.org/atlas/ichnofossils/chondrites/

Uchman, A. (1998): Taxonomy and ethology of flysch trace fossils: revision of the
Marian Ksi.zkiewicz collection and studies of complementary material.. Ann Soc
Geol Polon, 68,105.218.

Whitton, Brian A. and Pilar Mateo, 2012
Rivulariaceae .  Chapter 22 (pp.561-591 ) in book: B.A. Whitton (ed.), Ecology of Cyanobacteria II: Their Diversity in Space and Time.   Springer Science+Business Media B.V. , 760 pages   DOI: 10.13140/2.1.2976.3361

Wilson, Morley E. and  Dugas, Jean,  1961,
Map 1089A, Geology, Perth, Lanark and Leeds Counties, Ontario, Geological Survey of Canada; Geology by Morley E. Wilson, 1930 and Jean Dugas, 1949; Descriptive notes by Jean Dugas.
https://doi.org/10.4095/107951

Williams, D.A., 1991
Paleozoic Geology of the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland, Southern Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 5770, 292 pages; March Formation at 48-57.
http://www.geologyontario.mndmf.gov.on.ca/mndmaccess/mndm_dir.asp?type=pub&id=OFR5770

Williams, D. A. And Wolf, R.R., 1984
Paleozoic Geology of the Perth Area, Southern Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey, Map P. 2724, Geological Series– Preliminary Map. Scale 1:50,000.  Geology 1982
http://www.geologyontario.mndmf.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/P2724/P2724.pdf

Found in Ordovician Oxford Formation Rocks of Eastern Ontario

 This week I made two stops to look at the Oxford Formation outcrops on Iveson Drive, Ottawa (including the stop mentioned in my last blog posting) and picked up a number of loose specimens.

Below are photographs of a specimen showing three linked stromatolites.  The stromatolites are much smaller than the ones pictured in my last blog posting.  The specimen was found among the pieces of rubble in a  ditch beside Iveson Drive about ten meters west of the outcrop on the south side of Iveson Drive.  The silver ruler is 6 inches (15.2 cm) long.

Below is a photograph of a specimen showing soft sediment deformation, likely a precursor to a ball-and-pillow structure.  (The numbers on the ruler are in centimeters.)

 

Below is a photograph of a specimen of oolitic packstone. (The  numbers on the ruler record centimeters.)

Below are two photographs of various specimens containing trace fossils, most of which appear to be bedding parallel burrows or resting traces.

Below is a photograph  of a slab bearing a linear trace with dimples adjacent the linear trace, which is arguably the trace fossil Protichnites Owen, 1852.

 

For the  photo the top numbers record inches, while the upside down number record centimeters.

Mud cracks were also noted on a few specimens, and syneresis  cracks (also known as subaqueous shrinkage cracks) on others.

Christopher Brett
Ottawa

Stromatolites in the Ordovician Oxford Formation, Eastern Ontario

 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
 

 

 

Dave Forsyth’s Photographs of Aspidella from the Richmond Quarry, Lanark County

 I have previously mentioned Dave Forsyth in four of my earlier postings (November 29, 2013; January 29, 2014; August 27, 2015; September 22, 2016).  Dave is a retired geophysicist who has been interested in the rocks of eastern Ontario at least since 1968 when he authored a Bachelor’s thesis with the title “Studies in the Potsdam”.   Dave spent his career with the Earth Physics Branch and the Geological Survey of Canada, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa .   Since his retirement Dave has co-authored at least three geological field trip guides on the rocks of eastern Ontario, and has been active leading geological field trips for the Macnamara Field Naturalists’ Club, Arnprior, the Niagara Peninsula Geological Society and The Grenville Land Stewardship Council.  

Last year I mentioned in numerous blog postings (Brett, 2019a-f) that I had found the Ediacaran fossil Aspidella and Ediacaran rocks at Tackaberry’s active quarry on Highway 7 about five kilometers (three miles)  north of Perth, Lanark County, Ontario.   Last year I sent the information to Dave and he replied that a number of years ago he had seen similar structures at an abandoned quarry close to Tackaberry’s active quarry, had photographed them, and would look through his collection of photographs for photos that he had taken at that time.   This year Dave sent to me photographs from his 2008 visit to the Richmond quarry, which is located about one and a half kilometers to the west of Tackaberry’s active quarry.  Below are three of the photos that Dave sent to me.

Dave Forsyth retains ownership of the copyright in the photos.  They cannot be reproduced without his consent and credit being given to him as the photographer and owner of copyright in the photos.

I believe that the concentric features that Dave photographed are the Ediacaran fossil Aspidella.    The third photo also shows many obscure markings, a few of  which I have marked with  neon pink boxes around the features.   Some appear to be stalks, fronds, and the trace fossil Helminthopsis.  Other obscure forms might be algae or an Ediacaran fossil such as Kimberella.

Below is a map showing the location of Tackaberry’s active quarry (red square) and the abandoned Richmond quarry (blue square).    The map is based primarily on extracts from Ontario Geological Survey’s Maps P. 2724 and P. 2725 by Williams and Wolf (1984a, b).  It also contains changes based on Wilson, Liberty  and Reinhardt’s (1972) map.

 The two quarries are located about six kilometers directly north of Perth in Drummond North Elmsley Township.  The quarries are  located in an irregular shaped area of flat lying sedimentary rocks covering approximately 140 square kilometers that I have previously designated the “Drummond Sequence”  that has  been mapped by the Ontario Geological Survey (Williams and Wolf, 1984a, b): and by the Geological Survey of Canada (Wilson and Dugas, 1961; Wilson, Liberty,  and Reinhardt, 1972) as  Ordovician March Formation rocks (interbedded quartz sandstone, dolostone and sandy dolostone).  Finding the Ediacaran fossil Aspidella at the two quarries strongly suggests that the underlying rocks are of Ediacaran age.

The Drummond Sequence falls within the old Drummond Township (now Drummond North Elmsley Township).    On Map P2725 Williams and Wolf (1984a) have mapped the March formation (and hence, the Drummond Sequence) as extending northwest into the old Lanark Township (now the Township of Lanark Highlands).  Their mapping contradicts earlier mapping by Wilson, Liberty  and Reinhardt (1972) who mapped Nepean sandstone, and Precambrian marble, amphibolite and gneiss in that part of  old Lanark Township where Williams and Wolf (1984a) have mapped the March formation.  I have preferred Wilson, Liberty  and Reinhardt’s (1972) map and have shown their rock units in the northwest corner of the attached map.  Interestingly, Wilson and Dugas (1961) mapped a small area of Nepean sandstone ( 2 miles by 1/4 mile) not shown by Williams and Wolf (1984a, b) that falls  within the Drummond Sequence.

Williams and Wolf (1984a, b) show  the block that is the Drummond Sequence as bounded by faults that separate it on the west from Cambrian Nepean Formation Sandstone, on the southeast from March Formation,  on the Northeast from Cambrian Nepean Formation Sandstone, on the north and northwest from plutonic and metamorphic rocks of the Grenville Province of the Precambrian Shield.   As I have preferred Wilson, Liberty  and Reinhardt’s (1972) map, the Drummond Sequence is not bounded in the northwest by faults mapped by  Williams and Wolf (1984a) .  Intriguingly, Easton (2017) shows an additional  geophysically defined fault trending southwest- northeast that falls just north of the two quarries.   See Easton’s  (2017)  Figures 18.3. A) and B).

The rocks at the top of the Drummond Sequence have been mapped as the Ordovician March Formation by both the Ontario Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada.  I found no body fossils in these rocks, but found trace fossils suggesting that the rocks are Ordovician (or Cambrian) in age (see photos Sam_0180,  Sam_182 and Sam_0525 shown on my September 13, 2013  blog posting).   The trace fossils are similar to ones found by others in March (Theresa) Formation rocks in New York State.   At Tackaberry’s active quarry the March Formation beds are at most a few meters thick..   

At Tackaberry's active quarry, in the  rocks that are mapped as the March Formation, is a meter thick  layer of rock coloured pink and buff and showing Liesegang banding and rings (Brett, 2012a, first five photographs) likely caused by diagenetic processes involving the circulation of subsurface waters.    The altered rock can be found in outcrops along Highway 7 just north of Perth where the rocks weather grey but the pink colour and the chemical banding in the rocks can still be seen.  Below that layer are tens of meters of flat lying, thin siltstone and sandstone beds bearing Ediacaran fossils (mainly Aspidella) and showing ripple marks (Brett 2019b) and microbial mat textures (Brett2012b, Brett2019c).  Minor carbonate beds are present.   At the base of the quarry are thick sandstone beds that exhibit polygonal cracking (Brett2019c, ninth photo), and which have not yielded any fossils.

For ease of future reference I will define the ‘Drummond Formation’ as that part of the Drummond Sequence that consists of interbedded Ediacaran quartz sandstone, siltstone and minor carbonate rock.   The quartz sandstones and siltstones are thinly to thickly bedded, fine grained, and well sorted. The sandstones and siltstones are coloured light grey, dark grey, brown, buff and reddish brown.   Ripple marks and microbial mat textures are common. Liesegang banding is present in a layer close to the top of the sequence.  Aspidella and other Ediacaran fossils are present.

 Dr. Easton of the Ontario Geological Survey mapped the Precambrian geology of the Perth and Carleton Place areas over the last five years.   He has a map in preparation -- Precambrian geology of the Perth area; Ontario Geological Survey, Preliminary Map P.3818 -- that will hopefully shed some light on the faults and rocks of the Drummond Sequence.     Dr. Easton (2018) noted that  “Most of the major faults shown on the Paleozoic geology map of Williams and Wolf (1984[b]) located solely in Precambrian rocks present in the western half of the Carleton Place map area could not be validated by geology or geophysics.”  The Carleton Place map area covers the northern half of the Drummond Sequence.

Christopher Brett
Ottawa, Ontario


REFERENCES and SUGGESTED READING

Brett, C.P., 2012a
Mud cracks, Liesegang bands and Liesegang rings, and possible Soft-Sediment Deformation Structures in Sedimentary Rocks of Lanark County, Ontario in an Area Mapped as March Formation. Blog posting, 19 October 2012
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2012/10/

Brett, C.P., 2012b
From Trails, to Mud Cracks to Evidence of Microbial Mats: Different Theories For Curved Lines in the troughs of ripple marks in Sandstone.  Blog Posting 5 November 2012
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2012/11/from-trails-to-mud-cracks-to-evidence.html

Brett, C. P., 2019a
Concentric Structures in the Sedimentary Rocks of Lanark County, Ontario that are identical to the Ediacaran Holdfast Aspidella.  Blog posting dated  8 March 2019 -
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2019/03/holdfasts-in-lower-ordovician-march.html

Brett, C. P., 2019b
 Fossil Ripple Marks in Rocks Near Perth Ontario. Blog posting dated 17 March 2019,

Brett, C. P., 2019c
Possible Fossil Microbial Mat Structures in Rocks Near Perth, Ontario.  Blog posting dated 28 March 2019.

Brett, C. P., 2019d
A Selection of Fossils from the ‘March Formation’ in Lanark County, Ontario - A Correction.  Blog posting dated  24 March 2019
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-selection-of-fossils-from-march.html

Brett, C. P., 2019e
If the Ediacaran discoid holdfast Aspidella, why not Ediacaran Stalks, Spindles and Fronds in Lanark County?   Blog posting dated   29 March 2019
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2019/03/if-ediacaran-discoid-holdfast-aspidella.html

Brett, C. P., 2019f - Tubular Structures in the Ediacaran Drummond Sequence in Lanark County, Ontario.  Blog posting dated  22 October 2019   http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2019/

Easton, R. M., 2015
Project Unit 15-014. Precambrian and Paleozoic Geology of the Perth Area, Grenville Province, in Summary of Field Work and Other Activities, 2015. Ontario Geological Survey, OFR 6313
at pages 18-1 to 18- 13   

Easton, R.M. 2016. Precambrian and Paleozoic geology of the Perth area, Grenville Province; in Summary of Field Work and Other Activities, 2016, Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 6323, p.17-1 to 17-13.

Easton, R.M., 2017
Precambrian and Paleozoic Geology of the Carleton Place Area, Grenville Province.  Project SO-17-001, Chapter 18 in Ontario Geological Survey 2017. Summary of Field Work and Other Activities, 2017; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 6333, 408p.

Easton, R. M. 2018
Precambrian Geology and Mineral Potential of the Carleton Place Area, Grenville Province . Chapter 14. Project SO-17-001. In Ontario Geological Survey 2018. Summary of Field Work and Other Activities, 2018; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 6350, 426p.

Easton, R.M., 2020 [in press].
 Precambrian geology of the Perth area; Ontario Geological Survey, Preliminary Map P.3818, scale 1:50 000.

Williams, D.A., and Wolf, R.R., 1984a
Paleozoic Geology of the Perth Area, Southern Ontario; Ontario; Geological Survey, Map P. 2724, Geological Series-Preliminary Map, scale 1:50 000. Geology 1982.
http://www.geologyontario.mndmf.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/P2724/P2724.pdf

Williams, D.A., and Wolf, R.R.,  1984b
Paleozoic Geology of the Carleton Place Area, Southern Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey, Map P. 2725, Geological Series-Preliminary Map, scale 1:50 000. Geology 1982.

Wilson, A. E., Liberty, B. A., and Reinhardt, 1972,
Geology Carleton Place, Ontario.  Map 1362, Geological Survey of Canada. Scale 1:50,000
Paleozoic geology by A. E. Wilson, 1946.  Paleozoic compilation by B. A. Liberty, 1963, with changes and additions by E. W. Reinhardt, 1972.  Precambrian geology and compilation by E. W. Reinhardt, 1963, 1969, 1972

Wilson, M E; Dugas, J., 1961
Geological Survey of Canada, "A" Series Map 1089A, 1961, 1 sheet; https://doi.org/10.4095/107951 

 FIELD TRIP GUIDES, ETC., CO-AUTHORED BY DAVE FORSYTH

Donaldson,  Al, Forsyth, Dave,  Findlay, Chris  and Bud Andress, 2010
Fall geology/ecology boat tour - St Lawrence River  1000 Islands.  October 17, 2010.
http://www.frontenacarchbiosphere.ca/explore/fab-education/geology/st-lawrence-river-thousand-islands-geology-boat-tour

Forsyth, D.A. and Forsyth, M.E. 2013a
Madawaska to Macnamara Trail and Macnamara Trail Geotours. Macnamara Field Naturalists Club.    www.mfnc.ca
https://mfnc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/arnpriorgeotour.pdf

Forsyth, D.A. and Forsyth, M.E.,  2013b
A  geology primer for the Morris Island Conservation Area..  Macnamara Field Naturalists Club.
https://mfnc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/morrisislandconversationarea_geology.pdf

Forsyth, D.A. and Forsyth, M.E., 2011,
Pillars in the Park, GAC/AGC - MAC/AMC - SEG - SGA  Joint Annual Meeting, Ottawa 2011, Abstracts Volume 34, at page 66
https://gac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2011_Ottawa2011AbstractsVolume.pdf

Forsyth, D.A., 2011
Evidence and Hypothesis – How the Sandstone Cylinders Formed
GAC/AGC - MAC/AMC - SEG - SGA  Joint Annual Meeting, Ottawa 2011, Abstracts Volume 34, at pages 66-67
https://gac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2011_Ottawa2011AbstractsVolume.pdf

Dr. Easton’s Sandstone Outcrop at Gillies Corners, Lanark County - Part 2

 I dropped over to look at Dr. Easton’s outcrop this week.  Below are two photographs (347 and 351) of the rounded, nodular pseudomorphs of evaporite minerals.  The nodules originally could have been any of gypsum, anhydrite, halite, barite, phosphate.

Below is a better photograph of Dr. Easton’s outcrop (356) showing the March formation at the top and the underlying Nepean formation.    

In addition below is a photograph (366) of a piece of the fine grained  buff sandstone that is arguably wind blown (aeolian erg) sandstone.  I wetted the sample so that the layering is visible.  The numbers on the blue ruler record centimeters.  

 

Another Outcrop on Malcolms Way

I also looked at an outcrop that is about 150 meters to the east along Malcolms Way.  Below are two photographs (359 and 362) showing the darker March formation on top and the underlying Nepean formation.  The  silver ruler is a meter stick with inches and centimeters numbered.

Christopher Brett
Ottawa

Addendum (September 15, 2020):  Another interpretation of the outcrops is that all of the rock is March (Theresa) formation.  This is because interbedded with typical March sandy dolomites and dolomites one finds beds of  siliceous sandstone identical to Nepean sandstone.   This can be seen in outcrops of the March (Theresa) formation at the outskirts of Smith Falls heading north on Highway 15. 

Interestingly, Keith’s map 1946-9 of the distribution of Potsdam sandstone in Eastern Ontario (which was in part based on mapping by Morley E. Wilson and by Alice E. Wilson)  shows an area of Potsdam sandstone where “Calcareous and argillaceous sandstone predominate”extending to Gilles Corners.  Some areas on Keith’s map where “Calcareous and argillaceous sandstone predominate” are now mapped as Potsdam Group sandstone and some as the March formation. 

SUGGESTED READING -  SABKHA NODULES

Bréhéret, Jean-Gabriel and Brumsack, Hans-J., 2000
Barite concretions as evidence of pauses in sedimentation in the Marnes Bleues Formation of the Vocontian Basin (SE France).  Sedimentary Geology 130(3):205-228  February 2000  
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0037-0738(99)00112-8
 
Butrenchuk, S., 1996
Phosphate Deposits  in British Columbia.  British Columbia  Geological Survey Branch., Bulletin 98, 136 pages
http://cmscontent.nrs.gov.bc.ca/geoscience/PublicationCatalogue/Bulletin/BCGS_B098.pdf
 
Fryberger, Steven G.; Abdulkader M. Al-Sari; Thomas J. Clisham, 1983 

Eolian Dune, Interdune, Sand Sheet, and Siliciclastic Sabkha Sediments of an Offshore Prograding Sand Sea, Dhahran Area, Saudi Arabia
AAPG Bulletin (1983) 67 (2): 280–312.
https://doi.org/10.1306/03B5ACFF-16D1-11D7-8645000102C1865D
 
Garden,U.R.; S.C.Guscott, S.D.Burley , K.A. Foxford, J. J. Walsh and J. Marshall, 2001
An exhumed palaeo-hydrocarbon migration fairway in a faulted carrier system, Entrada Sandstone of SE Utah.  Geofluids (2001)1, 195 -213
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1468-8123.2001.00018.x

Ge, Y.,  C. L. Pederson, S. W. Lokier, J. P. Traas, G. Nehrke, R. D. Neuser, K. E. Goetschl,
A, Immenhauser,  2020
Late Holocene to Recent aragonite-cemented transgressive lag deposits in the Abu Dhabi lagoon and intertidal sabkha.  Sedimentalogy, Volume67, Issue 5, Pages 2426-2454
https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12707

Keith, M. L.,1946
Sandstone as a  source of silica sands in southeastern Ontario; Ontario Dept. Mines, Vol.55, pt.5, 36p. (published 1949). Accompanied by Map 1946-9, scale l inch to 2  miles

McMackin, Matthew and William Godwin, 2016
Sabkha, in Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology (pp.1-2),Editors: P.  T. Bobrowsky, B. Marker
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_26
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-12127-7_248-1

West, Ian M., Y. A. Ali; M. E. Hilmy, 1979
Primary gypsum nodules in a modern sabkha on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt.
Geology (1979) 7 (7): 354–358.
https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1979)7<354:PGNIAM>2.0.CO;2

Zhou, X.,  D. Chen, S. Dong, Y. Zhang,  Z. Guo, H.Wei, H.Yue, 2015
Diagenetic barite deposits in the Yurtus Formation in Tarim Basin, NW China: Implications for barium and sulfur cycling in the earliest Cambrian. Precambrian Research  Volume 263, July 2015, Pages 79-87 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2015.03.006 See Figure 3.

 

Dr. Easton’s Sandstone Outcrop at Gillies Corners, Lanark County

Over the past five years Dr. Michael Easton of the Ontario Geological Survey has been mapping the Precambrian rocks of Eastern Ontario.  This is Dr. Easton's 2017 report of a previously unreported outcrop of Nepean Formation sandstone in Lanark County:    
 
“The northeastern boundary of the geophysical anomaly may also be fault bounded because a  previously undocumented inlier of Nepean Formation rocks occurs at Gillies Corners (UTM 413795E 4984105N), 4.3 km southwest of Frankto[w]n, immediately south of the northwestern boundary of the geophysical anomaly (see Figure 18.3A).   This sudden appearance of a stratigraphically lower unit in an area underlain by rocks of the stratigraphically higher March Formation, suggests that if a fault is present, it is down-dropped to the north.”

Dr. Easton’s location UTM 413795E 4984105N  converts to Latitude : 45.005155 deg, or 45 deg 0 min 18.558 sec.  Longitude: -76.093858 deg, or -76 deg 5 min 37.889 sec.   Plugging 45.005155, -76.093858 into Google will show the location of the outcrop.

In June I took County Road 10 when I was driving back to Ottawa from Perth, and stopped at Gillies Corners to look at Dr. Easton's outcrop of Nepean Formation sandstone.    [While the road is mapped as Perth Road, as Drummond Concession 2 and as County Road 10, most in Perth call it the Franktown Road.   Those living in Franktown call it the Perth Road.  I have yet to meet anyone in Perth who calls it County Road 10, but it is identified as such by those from Ottawa and on Google Maps.]

The sandstone outcrops on both sides of Malcolms Way,  with the best outcrops about 100 meters east of Gillies Corners Side Road.   The better outcrop, on the north side of Malcolms Way,  is about  30 yards long and 5 feet high and is flat lying, fresh sandstone.   Most of the outcrop is Nepean formation white to buff sandstone.   There are additional smaller, badly weathered,  outcrops to the east along Malcolms Way.

Four photographs of the best outcrop are provided below [331, 339, 340, 341] :

The ruler in the photographs is a meter stick, with inches and centimeters marked.

The second photograph shows a layer of dark rock at the top, which is likely March formation (or younger Oxford formation), with an uncomformity between the underlying Nepean Formation sandstone and the overlying March Formation.   (The weathered dark rock also outcrops further east along Malcolms Way.)

 In earlier blog postings I mentioned that Dave Lowe (2016 )  has recognized six siliciclastic paleoenvironments in the Potsdam Group sandstones:  a) braided fluvial,  b) ephemeral fluvial, c) aeolian erg, d) coastal sabkha, e) tide-dominated marine and  f) open-coast tidal flat.   Interestingly, the Nepean formation sandstone at this location displays at least two and possibly three different facies.

A layer that extends over much of the length of the outcrop that is full of rounded, nodular pseudomorphs of evaporite minerals,  is Dave Lowe’s coastal sabkha facies.  See the second and third photos.  My third photo compares well with Dave Lowe’s (2016) photo 3.8A which he describes as “Impressions of sparry, nodular radiating mineral aggregates from Kanata, ON (locality 14),” which is behind Kanata’s Walmart.

At the top of the Nepean formation sandstone at this outcrop is a layer with vertical burrowing (second and fourth photo’s).  I had originally thought this to be Dave Lowe’s marine facies, but it is more likely burrowing in the sabkha facies sediments.

Most of the lower two thirds of the outcrop is a fine grained, white to buff sandstone that is arguably wind blown (aeolian erg) sandstone.

 Williams and Wolf’s (1984) Map P.2725 puts Gillies Corners in the March Formation,  and placed the fault bounded boundary between the Nepean and March at about four kilometers west of Gillies Corners.  Below is a map compiled from   Williams and Wolf’s (1984) Maps P.2725 and P.2724 upon which I have plotted the location of Dr. Easton’s outcrop with a red square.

Wilson, Liberty, and Reinhardt’s (1972) geologic map covers the  area north of where I have written ‘GILLIES CORNERS’ on my map.  They also mapped Gillies Corners as falling within the March Formation and show the boundary between the Nepean and March at about four kilometers west of Gillies Corners.  Interestingly, they also plot a small area of Nepean Sandstone (about a kilometer long and 200 meters wide)  about five kilometers north of Dr. Easton’s outcrop, along Line Road 6 where it  intersects  Gillies Corners Side Road.  I’ve marked this small area on the map with a blue oval shape.

 Curiously, an additional outcrop of Nepean sandstone appeared on Wilson,, Liberty and Reinhard’s (1964) preliminary  Map 7-1964, that did not appear on the finished map.  This was a small area along Gillies Corners Side Road about three kilometers north-northwest of Dr. Easton’s outcrop.  Intriguingly, Reinhardt, who was the last to edit the Paleozoic compilation, was an expert on Precambrian rocks rather than Paleozoic rocks.

Jean Dugas, for his 1952 doctoral thesis, mapped the geology of the Perth map area, which included the area south of Gillies Corners.  GSC Map 1089A by Wilson and Dugas (1961) replicates a map that is part of his thesis.  Dr. Morley Wilson is credited as the first author as part of the map-area had been surveyed in 1930 by Dr. Morley  Wilson, who mapped most of Palaeozoic area on the eastern part of the sheet.  Wilson and Dugas’ map shows a number of areas of Nepean sandstone that do not appear on Williams and Wolf’s (1984) Maps P.2725 and P2724.  For example, their map 1089A shows small occurrences of Nepean sandstone 4 km southwest of Gillies Corners, 4 km south of Gillies Corners, and 3 km east-southeast of Gillies Corners.  The largest of these is 1.5 miles long and 1/4 mile wide and cuts across County Road 10 just west of Cockburn Creek.

It has been over seventy years since Dr. Alice E. Wilson mapped the Paleozoic geology north of Gillies Corners and ninety years since Dr. Morley E. Wilson  mapped the Paleozoic geology south of Gillies Corners, and some outcrops that they found are now difficult to find.  What would have been farmland when they mapped the area is now overgrown with brush and trees.   Other outcrops are obscured by housing developments.

I brought Dr. Easton’s outcrop to the attention of  two geologists who have worked on the Nepean Formation and March Formation and sent them the photos.   One commented “The disconformable contact with the March/Theresa  is very interesting — we generally only see that kind of a relationship in association with a fault.”   The other noted that “A disconformable contact at the “Nepean-March” ... formation boundary has been a contentious issue over the years.”

The outcrop is worth a visit if you are interested in the Nepean Formation of the Potsdam Group.

Recent Comments on Potsdam sandstone

Below I’ve provided a few of the more recent commentaries on Potsdam sandstone.  Landing et al. (2019), Lowe et al. (2019) and Brink et al. (2019) have contradictory views.   

I’ve also included two papers by Bernius who reported on core from the GSC’s Borehole Geophysics Test Area at Bell’s Corners, Ottawa. His papers have been overlooked   What is particularly interesting is that the core contains a 50 cm thick shale layer in the Nepean Formation.   Bernius also found that the upper contact of the Nepean formation with the March Formation is a disconformity. 

Christopher Brett
Ottawa

Addendum (September 15, 2020): Another interpretation of the outcrop is that all of the rock is March (Theresa) formation.  This is because interbedded with typical March sandy dolomites and dolomites one finds beds of  siliceous sandstone identical to Nepean sandstone.   This can be seen in outcrops of the March (Theresa) formation at the outskirts of Smith Falls heading north on Highway 15. 

Interestingly, Keith’s map 1946-9 of the distribution of Potsdam sandstone in Eastern Ontario (which was in part based on mapping by Morley E. Wilson and by Alice E. Wilson)  shows an area of Potsdam sandstone where “Calcareous and argillaceous sandstone predominate”extending to Gilles Corners.  Some areas on Keith’s map where “Calcareous and argillaceous sandstone predominate” are now mapped as Potsdam Group sandstone and some as the March formation. 

Keith, M. L.,1946
Sandstone as a  source of silica sands in southeastern Ontario; Ontario Dept. Mines, Vol.55, pt.5, 36p. (published 1949). Accompanied by Map 1946-9, scale l inch to 2  miles


++++++++++++
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READING

Bernius, G. R., 1981,
Boreholes Near Ottawa for the Development and Testing of Borehole Logging Equipment - A preliminary Report GSC Paper 81-1C, p. 51-53
 
Bernius, G. R., 1996,
Borehole Geophysical Logs from the GSC Borehole Geophysics test site at Bell’s Corners, Nepean, Ontario, GSC Open File 3157, 38 pages, doi:10.4095/207617 (pdf  6427 KB)

Brett, C. P.,  2016
Gypsum Pseudomorphs that formed in the Sabkha Environment of the Potsdam Group.   Blog posting December 1, 2016
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2016/12/gypsum-pseudomorphs-that-formed-in.html

Brett, C. P., 2017
Why has hardly anyone referred to core from the GSC’s Borehole Geophysics Test Area at Bell’s Corners, Ottawa, when the core contains a 50 cm thick shale layer in the Nepean Formation and the core straddles the boundary between the Nepean Formation and the overlying March Formation?”      Blog posting dated May 22, 2017
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2017/05/

Brink R, Mehrtens C, Maguire H, 2019
Sedimentology and petrography of a lower Cambrian transgressive sequence: Altona Formation (Potsdam Group) in northeastern New York.  Bulletin of Geosciences, 94, 369-388
http://www.geology.cz/bulletin/contents/art1728

Dix, G.R., Salad Hersi, O., and Nowlan, G.S., 2004,
The Potsdam–Beekmantown Group unconformity, Nepean Formation type section (Ottawa, Ontario): a cryptic sequence boundary, not a conformable transition: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 41, no. 8, p. 897–902,  https:// doi .org /10 .1139 /e04 -040 .

Dugas, Jean, 1952,
 Geology of the Perth map area, Lanark and Leeds Counties, Ontario; Ph. D., McGill, 189 pages, four  maps.  
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/QMM/TC-QMM-124004.pdf
https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/t435gh12d

Easton, Michael, 2017
Precambrian and Paleozoic Geology of the Carleton Place Area, Grenville Province,  pages 18-1 to 18-18 In Summary of Field Work and Other Activities 2017, Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 6333,
http://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmaccess/mndm_dir.asp?type=pub&id=ofr6333

Landing, E., Salad Hersi, O.,  Amati, L., Westrop, S.R., Franzi, D.A., 2019
Early Paleozoic rifting and reactivation of a passive-margin rift: Insights from detrital zircon provenance signatures of the Potsdam Group, Ottawa graben: Comment. GSA Bulletin; March/April 2019; v. 131; no. 3/4; p. 695–698; https://doi.org/10.1130/B35104.1; published online 25 January 2019.

Lowe, David G., 2016
Lower Ordovician Potsdam Group in the Ottawa Embayment and Provenance of the Cambrian – Lower. Ordovician Potsdam Group in the Ottawa. Embayment and Quebec Basin. David G. Lowe. Doctoral Thesis submitted to the University of Ottawa
https://ruor.uottawa.ca/
http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35303
http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-261

Lowe, David G, and R.W.C. Arnott, 2016
 Composition and Architecture of Braided and Sheetflood-Dominated Ephemeral Fluvial Strata In the Cambrian–Ordovician Potsdam Group: A Case Example of the Morphodynamics of Early Phanerozoic Fluvial Systems and Climate Change
Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 86, i. 6, p. 587-612, Published in June 2016, doi:10.2110/jsr.2016.39  

Lowe, D.G., Arnott, R.W.C., Chiarenzelli, J.R., and Rainbird, R.H., 2018,
Early Paleozoic rifting and reactivation of a passive-margin rift: Insights from detrital zircon provenance signatures of the Potsdam Group, Ottawa graben: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 130, no. 7/8, p. 1377–1396, https:// doi .org /10.1130 /B31749 .1 .

Lowe, D.G., Arnott, R.W.C., Chiarenzelli, J.R., and Rainbird, R.H., 2019,
Early Paleozoic rifting and reactivation of a passive-margin rift: Insights from detrital zircon provenance signatures of the Potsdam Group, Ottawa graben: Reply. Geological Society of America Bulletin, March/April 2019, v. 131, no. 3/4, pages 699-703; published online January 25, 2019.  https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article/131/3-4/699/568492/Early-Paleozoic-rifting-and-reactivation-of-a

Lowe, David G.;  Arnott, R.W.C.; Nowlan, G.; McCracken, A.D., 2017
Lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic framework  of the  Cambrian-Ordovician Potsdam Group and correlations  across Early Paleozoic southern Laurentia.  Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences  2017, 54(5): 550-585, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2016-0151

Williams, D.A., and Wolf, R.R.,  1984a
Paleozoic Geology of the Carleton Place Area, Southern Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey, Map P. 2725, Geological Series-Preliminary Map, scale 1:50 000. Geology 1982.

Williams, D.A., and Wolf, R.R., 1984b
Paleozoic Geology of the Perth Area, Southern Ontario; Ontario; Geological Survey, Map P. 2724, Geological Series-Preliminary Map, scale 1:50 000. Geology 1982.

Wilson, Alice E., Liberty, B. A., and Reinhardt, E.W., 1964,
Geology Carleton Place, Ontario.  Map 7-1964, Preliminary Series, Geological Survey of Canada. Scale 1:50,000 Paleozoic geology by A. E. Wilson, 1946.  Paleozoic compilation by B. A. Liberty, 1963. Precambrian geology and compilation by E. W. Reinhardt, 1963.

Wilson, Alice E., Liberty, B. A., and Reinhardt, E.W.,  1972,
Geology Carleton Place, Ontario.  Map 1362, Geological Survey of Canada. Scale 1:50,000
Paleozoic geology by A. E. Wilson, 1946.  Paleozoic compilation by B. A. Liberty, 1963, with changes and additions by E. W. Reinhardt, 1972.  Precambrian geology and compilation by E. W. Reinhardt, 1963, 1969, 1972

Wilson, Morley E. and  Dugas, Jean,  1961,
Map 1089A, Geology, Perth, Lanark and Leeds Counties, Ontario, Geological Survey of Canada; Geology by Morley E. Wilson, 1930 and Jean Dugas, 1949; Descriptive notes by Jean Dugas.
https://doi.org/10.4095/107951

 

Ontario needs legislation requiring an annual report to the legislature on PPE held in Ontario’s stockpile

These are the important facts.

In 2007   Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) developed a comprehensive, detailed Ontario Health Plan for an Influenza Pandemic (OHPIP).   This required that all  health care settings and providers  maintain a four-week stockpile of personal protective equipment and other critical supplies.  The province undertook to develop and maintain a four-week a stockpile of personal protective equipment for the entire health system; and a system for purchasing, storing and distributing supplies.  This would ensure business continuity for the first wave of the pandemic which was estimated to be approximately 8 weeks.

That plan was put into effect and communicated to hospitals and other stakeholders, including Toronto Public Health.  Further, in 2007 Ontario bought supplies for the stockpile.   A number of hospitals and Toronto public health also stockpiled supplies.  When H1N1 struck in 2009 supplies from Ontario’s stockpile were distributed. 

In 2013 Ontario Health Plan for an Influenza Pandemic was updated.  It still required that all  health care settings and providers  maintain a four-week stockpile of personal protective equipment and other critical supplies, and that the province would maintain a four-week a stockpile of personal protective equipment for the entire health system, to cover  the first 8 weeks of the pandemic.   Further, the plan is still in force and on Ontario’s web site.

In December, 2017  Ontario’s auditor general  reported  that  80 percent of Ontario's stockpile had expired, noting that  “The ministry informed us that its budget for these supplies only allowed for storage and not the management of them.”     The Auditor General recommended that the Provincial Emergency Management Office work with ministries to ensure that they plan for and enter into all relevant agreements and plans for any resources that may be needed during an emergency.

In December, 2019   the Auditor General for Ontario reported that it had conducted a follow up audit on its recommendations from 2017.   Sadly, the Ministry was aiming for March, 2021 to have plans in place to deal with goods and services that might be needed in an emergency.

Comments:
Manitoba, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and PEI also had pandemic plans requiring stockpiles, which they also failed to keep up-to-date. 

On May 06, 2020 the Manitoba NDP introduced Bill 213, the Personal Protective Equipment Reporting Act. The bill would require the Manitoba government to table a report each year setting out the number of items of PPE purchased during the year and the number of items held in inventory at the end of the year.     See:   https://web2.gov.mb.ca/bills/42-2/pdf/b213.pdf
https://www.mbndp.ca/ppe_stockpile

I believe that it makes sense for Ontario to introduce a  bill requiring Public Health Ontario to report annually on the PPE held in Ontario’s stockpile, and to have a system in place to ensure that the stockpile does not contain expired goods.

Here is a first draft of the bill:

WHEREAS having stockpiles of personal protective equipment prevents shortages of that equipment when it is needed;

WHEREAS since 2007 Ontario has had a  detailed Ontario Health Plan for an Influenza Pandemic (OHPIP) which has required that all  health care settings and providers  maintain a four-week stockpile of personal protective equipment and other critical supplies, and the province undertook to develop and maintain a four-week a stockpile of personal protective equipment for the entire health system, to ensure continuity for the first wave of the pandemic which was estimated to be approximately 8 weeks;

WHEREAS the pandemic caused by the communicable disease known as COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for personal protective equipment to prevent and control infection and has demonstrated the failure of Public Health Ontario to maintain Ontario’s stockpile of personal protective equipment;

AND WHEREAS it is in the public interest that everyone in Ontario is aware of the inventory of personal protective equipment held by health authorities;

THEREFORE HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, enacts as follows:

 1. For each calendar  year Public Health Ontario and  the minister must prepare a report that sets out, with respect to Ontario’s stockpile of personal protective equipment,
(A) the number of items of personal protective equipment that are purchased during the year;
(B) the number of items that are held in inventory at the end of the year.;
(C) the number of items distributed to the health system during that year;
(D) the number and locations of Ontario’s warehouses storing the stockpile;
(E) the number of items that were disposed of during the year because they had expired;
(F) the number of items in inventory that are within a year of their expiry date;
(G) a plan to distribute to the health system items that are within a year of their expiry date and a plan to replace those items in the stockpile;
(H)    a brief report on whether the supplies in inventory are sufficient to last four weeks in the event of a pandemic;
(I) the cost to acquire  personal protective equipment that are purchased during the year;
(J) the cost to warehouse the stockpile for the year.

2.  The report must include the number of items of the following types of personal protective equipment:
(a) surgical masks;
(b) filtration masks (N95 and higher filtration rate masks);
(c) protective gowns;
(d) face shields;
(e) eye protection;
(f) examination and sterile gloves;
(g) any other type of personal protective equipment, as prescribed by regulation under this Act.

3.  Within two months after the end of each calendar year, the minister must table a copy of the report in the Assembly and make it available to the public

3.  The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing an item as a type of
personal protective equipment for the purpose of  clause 2(g).

4.  This Act comes into force on the day it receives royal assent.

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It is worth noting that many of the products in the stockpile, if properly managed, and distributed before they expire, do not cost a province that much more than the cost of storage.  This is because Ontario is going to spend the money to buy the products for the hospitals .  For example, the stockpile will contain a one month supply of surgical masks.  Hospitals in a Ontario go through a month’s supply of surgical masks each month.   Ontario will pay for the surgical masks  that the hospitals use whether they are shipped direct to the hospital, or are shipped from storage in the stockpile to the hospitals, and there is no additional cost other than storage, and cost for shipping once per year

Managing a stockpile to ensure that it does not contain expired goods is not rocket science, but does require planning and effort.  Chen et al. (2017) describe how Taiwan maintains a minimum stockpile for the surge demand of PPE in the early stage of a pandemic.  Taiwan  deals with expiration problems of the stockpiled goods by having the oldest stock in the central government stockpile regularly replaced and replenished with the same amount of new and qualified products, ensuring  availability and the maintenance of the stockpiles. Previously,  Taiwan had adopted a traditional way to stockpile PPE in central inventory, with large purchases and then storage until use.  To solve the issue of low consumption and having a mostly out-of-date PPE stockpile in the central health authority during non-epidemic periods, while maintaining the minimum stockpile,   Taiwan developed a replacement model for PPE stockpile management.

Christopher Brett
Perth and Ottawa, Ontario

Reference
Chen YJ, Chiang PJ, Cheng YH, Huang CW, Kao HY, Chang CK, Huang HM, Liu PY,
Wang JH, Chih YC, Chou SM, Yang CH, Chen CH, 2017
Stockpile Model of Personal Protective Equipment in Taiwan.
Health Security, 28 Feb 2017, 15(2):170-174. DOI: 10.1089/hs.2016.0103
https://europepmc.org/article/pmc/pmc5404251