The Ellisville Potsdam Sandstone Quarry Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christopher Brett
Perth, Ontario

References and Suggestions For Further Reading on Climactichnites

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Metcalfe Geoheritage Park in Almonte, Lanark County; and Geoheritage Day 2016

This posting covers a few of the ways that our Geoheritage is promoted in Eastern Ontario.

The Metcalfe Geoheritage Park in Almonte, Lanark County

 

The Metcalfe Geoheritage Park in Almonte is Canada’s first municipal geoheritage park.   On September 24th I attended the official re-opening and rededication of the park, which in the past year has undergone a transformation, including the movement of the specimens,  the construction of a short walking trail, the building of concrete slabs on which to display the specimens, and the addition of signage.

The park displays over twenty large specimens of local rocks: sedimentary rocks of Ordovician age, as well as local igneous and metamorphic rocks of Precambrian age.   The following are photographs my two favourite specimens that are on display:

The first photograph shows desiccation cracks in sandstone, and provides evidence of microbial mats (otherwise such large shrinkage cracks would not be preserved in sandstone).   This specimen was discovered during the construction of the Almonte hydro electric generating station that is within a hundred meters of the park.   The second  shows stromatolites in local limestone.

In addition to the rocks on permanent display, the park incorporates space for two guest rocks.  Presently the two guest rocks on display are a specimen of Gowganada Conglomerate from the Elliot Lake Area and a specimen of Mica Schist.

Two brochures are available at the site: first, a coloured brochure with photographs and descriptions of all of the specimens; second, a black and white brochure with descriptions of the two guest rocks.   In the near future visitors will be able to use their mobile phones to digitally link each specimen with a website that will provide information on the specimen, as the Association of Professional Geologists Education Foundation is funding a project for a QR code system to link QR code signage for each specimen to web pages with content on each specimen.

The park is located in a beautiful setting beside the Mississippi River in Almonte within easy walking distance of a number of restaurants, and is worth a visit.   Ample parking and benches are provided.

Geoheritage Day - Sunday, October 16, 2016 - 10 am to 3 pm

Each year volunteers from the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University and the Ottawa-Gatineau Geoheritage Committee act as hosts at a number of sites throughout the National Capital Region (both in Ottawa, Ontario and in Quebec) where people can go to admire outcrops and learn about the geology of the site.  This year’s Geoheritage Day takes place on Sunday, October 16th.    These are the sites they are hosting this year:

    Champlain Bridge Stromatolites, Gatineau
    Champlain Lookout, Gatineau Park
    Hogs Back Park, Ottawa
    South March Highlands Hike, Kanata (Starts at 10 a.m.)
    Cardinal Creek Karst, Orleans
    Mer Bleue Bog, Orleans
    Pinhey Sand Dunes, Nepean
    The Haycock Iron Mine, Cantley, Quebec
    Carleton University Earth Sciences Sample Preparation Laboratory

Details and a map can be obtained at the following web page.

http://www.earthsci.carleton.ca/outreach/explore-geoheritage-day

Murphys Point Bike Loop: A Geological Interpretation,   by Bradley S. Wilson

My November 6, 2013 blog posting reviewed this brochure.   A pdf copy of the brochure can be downloaded from:

http://sgraycomm.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/murphys-point-bike-loop-aug5-13-final-download-small.pdf

Introduction to the Geodiversity of Perth: A Self-Guided Tour of Rocks on Display at the Crystal Palace, Tay Basin, Perth, Ontario, by Dr. J Allan Donaldson

This brochure can  be downloaded in pdf format from the Stephanie Gray’s web site at:

https://sgraycomm.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/perth-geohistory-booklet-sept20-small.pdf

Christopher Brett
Perth, Ontario

Suggested Readings

Anonymous
Ottawa Gatineau Geoheritage
www.ottawagatineaugeoheritage.ca/

Anonymous
The Almonte Geoheritage Project
https://luc-lafreniere-kec0.squarespace.com/s/Almonte-geoheritage-project.pdf

J. Allan Donaldson, 2009
Geoheritage 2. Examples of Geoeducation, Geoconservation and Geo-rescue Projects in Ontario
Geoscience Canada - Journal of The Geological Association of Canada, Volume 36, Number 3
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/gc/article/view/12590/13466

J. Allan Donaldson, 2012
The Ottawa-Gatineau Geoheritage Committee Enters its Second Decade.  GAC-MAC Joint Annual Meeting, St. John’s 2012, Abstracts Volume 35, pages 35-36
www.mineralogicalassociation.ca/doc/StJohns2012_GAC-MAC_Abstracts.pdf

Eighty-one feet of Dark Grey Paleozoic Shale was Logged under the Potsdam by Bruce A. Liberty in Core from a Hole Drilled at Knowlton Lake, Ontario and reported in a Geological Survey of Canada Paper published in 1971

I expect that many  people reading the title of this posting, if they have a working knowledge of the sedimentary rocks of Eastern Ontario, will read the title at least twice, and will ask themselves the following three questions:

 - How can there be Paleozoic shale under the Potsdam given that the Potsdam Group is considered to be the oldest sedimentary series in Eastern Ontario? 
 - If Liberty reported shale under the Potsdam, why hasn’t anyone followed up on it?   
 - How does this shale formation tie in with Dalrymple, Narbonne and Smith’s  1985 paper  “Eolian action and the distribution of Cambrian shales in North America” (Geology, 13, 607–610)?

I have to admit that I can’t presently answer those questions and may not have an answer until 2018.   Below I’ve provided the source for the title, a summary of my investigations,  what I hope to find, and why it will take to 2018.

The title to this posting is derived from statements in  the following paper and in the legend to the following map.
   
Liberty, B. A, 1971.  Paleozoic geology of Wolfe Island, Bath, Sydenham and Gananoque map areas, Ontario.  Geological Survey of Canada  Paper 70-35, 1971, ; 12 pages (4 sheets), doi:10.4095/102360

Liberty, B. A, 1970 ,  Geology Sydenham Ontario, Map 17-1970,  Geological Survey of Canada , Preliminary Series, to accompany Paper 70-35. Geology by B. A. Liberty, 1961, 1964, 1966
       
Liberty devotes the first paragraph at page 2 of his paper to the Potsdam Formation, and concludes with the following three sentences:

“At least 70 feet of the formation occur in outcrop in the area and a boring at Knowlton Lake indicates a total thickness there of 149 feet. An additional 81 feet of dark grey Paleozoic shale was logged, by the writer, at the base of the formation in the first Dominion Observatory boring
at Knowlton Lake.  This unit is separated as a lower member at this one location only.”

I thought at first that Liberty’s  reference to “81 feet of dark grey Paleozoic shale” at the base of the Potsdam must have been a mistake, but on his accompanying  Map 17-1970 Liberty has the  legend:

“2  POTSDAM SANDSTONE: red, white, grey and yellow, evenly textured, fine-grained sandstone, and siltstone: in Knowlton Lake area this formation includes 81 feet of underlying dark grey shale as lower member (not included above).”   [my emphasis]

One of my initial thoughts was that someone else must have noted Liberty’s statements and commented on the underlying shale.   While I found that a number of authors reference Liberty’s paper,  I’ve been unable to find a reference to the shale.   For example, when Carson (1981a, 1981b) re-mapped this area for the Ontario Geological Survey he referenced Liberty’s earlier work, but doesn’t mention the shale.  Carson (1981a)  mentions that “Geological mapping of the Kingston area involved the reexamination of three map-areas previously mapped by B.A. Liberty for the Geological Survey of Canada (Liberty1971)” and that “Although no fossils have been recovered from the Potsdam formation, it is considered to be of Cambrian age (Liberty 1971)” , but doesn’t mention the shale.   Carson (1981b)  mentions that “Liberty (1971) estimated a total thickness in excess of 21 m” for the Potsdam Formation,  but doesn’t mention the shale.

Carson, D.M., 1981a: No. S13 Paleozoic Geology of the Kingston  Area, Southern Ontario; in  Ontario Geological Survey Miscellaneous Paper 100, Summary of Field Work, 1981, pages 134-136

Carson, D.M., 1981b: Paleozoic Geology of the Tichborne-Sydenham  Area, Southern Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey Preliminary Map P. 2413, Geological Series. Scale 1:50000. Geology 1980.

Sanford and Arnott (2010, GSC Bulletin 597, page 14)  mention that Liberty (1971) “established the presence of a large number of sandstone outliers, which were identified as a single unit, the Potsdam Formation” but again fail to mention Liberty’s description of the shale.

I knew from prior research that Liberty had been an authority on the Paleozoic rocks of Ontario.   (Liberty authored or co-authored over fifty  papers and maps for the Geological Survey of Canada on the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of Ontario that were published over a period from about 1950 to 1973.)   As he had a wealth of knowledge on the Paleozoic rocks of Ontario,  I thought it unlikely that he could have mistaken, for example, Precambrian shale for Paleozoic shale.   I could have looked briefly at the core and assumed black shale to be Paleozoic,  but Liberty logged the core and made that decision.  Accordingly, why did he think the shale was Paleozoic in age?   The answer to that question has to be found in the core and in his notes from when he logged the core.

I expect everyone reading this posting is asking themselves the question  “Where would one look for the core from the Dominion Observatory boring at Knowlton Lake and for Liberty’s notes when he logged the core?”   I expect that there are many others like me who grew up in Ottawa knowing that the Dominion Observatory was on Carling Avenue in Ottawa, that geophysicists had been associated with the observatory, and that those geophyicists later worked for various sections of Energy Mines and Resources, now Natural Resources Canada, and worked with the geologists at the Geological Survey of Canada, also now Natural Resources Canada, and would check first with the Natural Resources Canada.   

As a first stab at finding the core I looked on GEOSCAN, Natural Resources Canada’s online database of Geological Survey of Canada publications.   I did locate  "A user's guide to core-storage facilities in Canada ', Geological Survey of Canada Paper 84-23, 1985  doi:10.4095/120217 " but it wasn't much help, other than for telling me that the Ontario Geological Survey had core from Eastern Ontario stored at Tweed.

I then sent an email to a contact at the Geological Survey of Canada/Natural Resources Canada  and was told that they didn’t have the core or Liberty’s notes. 

Next I sent an email to the District Geologist at the Ontario Geological Survey  in Tweed and was told they didn’t have the core.

Partly in desperation, I sent emails to two geologists (both retired, but still active) that I knew had worked for Energy Mines and Resources or the Geological Survey of Canada at the same time as Liberty.  The first, a geophysicist, replied that he had no idea where the core would be, that  after the  GSC,  Bruce Liberty was at Brock University and  Guelph,  that I might look there for his records, but that many records had been tossed out on various reorganizations.   The second, a geologist, also had no knowledge of the core, but noted “Instead of older Paleozoic, perhaps it is an unrecognized unit of post-Grenville Proterozoic strata, or maybe a thick patch of regolith developed on Grenville? I've seen shale-like regolith of unknown thickness below Potsdam SS elsewhere.”

I also sent an email to Mark Badham,  the curator of the Miller Museum at Queen's, asking if he had any knowledge of the core.  He assumed that I was talking about three drill holes drilled by the Dominion Observatory at the Holleford Crater and sent me the following  paper by Brian St. John. 

Brian E. St. John, 1968
Paleolacustrine arenites in the Holleford meteorite Crater, Ontario.   Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 5, 935-943   www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e68-090
   
Mark also told me that Queen’s has  select pieces of the core from the three drill holes, mostly from  the sediment layers in the crater. 

I'd forgotten how close the Holleford crater was to Knowlton Lake, but suspect that Brian St. John's work does not explain Liberty finding shale below the Potsdam.  Brian St. John comments on three holes drilled  within the boundary of the crater.  None of these intersected Potsdam sandstone.  The drill hole I'm looking for  would be outside the crater, but only a half mile due south of Diamond Drill Hole 3 on Brian St. John's Figure 1, and on the southwest shore of Knowlton Lake. 

Brian St. John reported that the Holleford Crater is filled by sedimentary rocks which he divided into seven lithic units.  The top two units, his Units 6 and 7,  he correlated with the Rideau formation and the Pamela formation that outcrop in Eastern Ontario.   He  included a basal “explosion breccia” which he designated unit 1, overlain by unit 2, a thin breccia layer, both related to the meteor impact.   His units 3, 4 and 5 are:

Unit 3: calcareous shales and argillaceous limestones and sandstones, which contain a small quantity of carbonaceous matter, “which imparts a black colour to most of the unit”,
Unit 4: gray calcareous quartz arenite, and
Unit 5: white calcareous quartz arenite.   

It is only St. John’s unit 3 that sounds remotely like Liberty’s “ 81 feet of dark grey Paleozoic shale.”   While I suspect that St. John’s unit 3 is not Liberty’s shale, if Liberty’s shale is the same shale that St. John reported then it answers a question St. John posed in his paper as to  whether the crater is pre-Potsdam or post-Potsdam.
   
I was subsequently contacted by my source at the GSC/NRC.  She had done some more sleuthing and  told me that “The core might be stored at our Tunney’s Pasture collections facility but I’m afraid that the collections are closed for the next many months as we are moving out of the building.  If [another person at the GSC/NRC] is not able to help out with information, I’m afraid you will have to wait until the collection is reopened in 2018.  There is no one from collections who can look this up at this time.”   Accordingly, it appears that my search will be placed on hold until 2018.

In 2018 it will be interesting to see if the core stored at Tunney’s Pasture is the core from the three holes drilled within the Holleford Crater, or from the hole I’m looking for that was drilled at the edge of Knowlton Lake.  If the core can be located, is Liberty’s “dark grey Paleozoic shale” actually Paleozoic shale, or is it  Precambrian shale or  Precambrian regolith?  If it is shale, does it correlate with the shale within the Holleford Crater?  If it is a new formation that is older than the Potsdam what secrets will it yield? 

What is interesting about Liberty’s report from 1971 is how much has changed.   In 1971 when Liberty logged 81 feet of dark grey Paleozoic shale he did so before geologists recognized the  Ediacaran/Vendian period, before geologists were interested in Ediacaran/Vendian fossils, and  before geologists were interested in small shelly fossils.  What prompted Liberty  to identify the core as being Paleozoic shale?  Did he see find small shelled fossils?

The core in the possession of Queen’s, particularly the carbonaceous material, might also be worth a fresh look with modern techniques.   In 1968 when Brian St. John looked at the sedimentary rocks in the Holleford crater he did so before the Queen’s Geology Department had a scanning electron microscope.   I can remember using the electron microscope in the Geology Department at Queen’s.   I had to modify the software every time I went on the machine, and then had to take my results over to campus mainframe computer to get the results of my analysis.  Today when results are available instantaneously, it would be a shame not to re-analyze St. John’s core.

Christopher Brett
Perth, Ontario

Below is an extract from Liberty's map 17-1970.  On the map I’ve used red squares to show the locations of the three Dominion Observatory drill holes within the Holleford meteorite crater that were described by Brian St. John.  I’ve shown in acquamarine where Potsdam sandstone outcrops at the southwest corner of Knowlton Lake, and where I believe Dr. Bruce A. Liberty reported the Dominion Observatory drill hole where he logged “ 81 feet of dark grey Paleozoic shale” at the base of the Potsdam.  Liberty's Unit 1 is Precambrian; Unit 2, Potsdam Formation; Unit 3, Shadow Lake Formation; Unit 4, Gull River Formation, Member A; Unit 5, Gull River Formation, Member B.

Frothed Sandstone and Cylindrical Structures Found in Potsdam Sandstone

If you  love coffee and in the past decade have visited Perth, Ontario you have undoubtedly stopped at Coutts Coffee at Code’s Mill (corner of Herriott and Wilson Streets).  Coutts Coffee roasts their own coffee beans and consistently provides an excellent cup of coffee.   I’ve particularly liked going for coffee because two types of Potsdam sandstone were used in the construction of Code’s Mill, and in the construction of  Mr. Code’s house which is to be found directly across Herriott Street from Code’s Mill, and on my walk over I pass the Royal Bank building which is also made of Potsdam sandstone.   “Perth stone”, a distinctive purple-banded sandstone from the Hughes Quarry in Lanark County, was used as an accent stone in the construction of all three buildings.   (See my blog posting from Monday, December 17, 2012 for a description of the Hughes Quarry.)   There are also interesting structures in the March/Theresa flagstones used as the floor of the atrium at Code’s Mill.  It is worth the price of a cup of coffee just to admire the various stones.

This summer Coutts Coffee opened a new location on Gore Street East in Perth beside the Tay River.  It will be closing the outlet in Code’s Mill in December.   Code’s Mill incorporates five buildings built from 1842 and 1932, with the three-storey building facing onto Herriott Street having been built in 1903.   Interestingly, the new location is also in an historic building made of Potsdam sandstone.  It was constructed about 1845 for the then Sheriff of Bathurst District (the predecessor of Lanark County).

At the new location it is a stone that was used in the construction of an original fireplace that will be of most interest to geologists.  Below are two photos of that stone.

The photos show what I believe to be cross-sections of cylindrical structures and frothed sandstone (under the ruler).   I believe that the frothed sandstone was injected/frothed by water flowing through the sandstone.   The stone is clearer than the photos and is worth a look, as you sip your coffee.

An Occurrence 4.5 kilometers south of Elgin (2 miles north of Brier Hill)

In my blog posting from  August 27, 2015 I mentioned an occurrence 4.5 kilometers south of Elgin that shows numerous cylindrical structures and provided photographs of a number of small structures from that location.   Subsequently I determined that this location was first mentioned by Dr. Wynne-Edwards (1967, GSC Memoir 346, at page 120):

“Vertical cylindrical concretions resembling tree trunks, the best examples of which are exposed in a 30-foot cliff beside the road west of Lower Beverley Lake 2 miles north of Brier Hill, occur in the lower parts of the formation and cut across the bedding. Most of the concretions there taper out downward and are about a foot in diameter, but the mould of a much larger one was left in the cliff face as a cylindrical indentation more than 6 feet wide. Hawley and Hart (1934) attributed these concretions to the upward flow of water and the consequent development of tubular bodies of quicksand that disrupted the bedding in the as yet unconsolidated sand.”

This is the same occurrence that  I described, because 4.5 kilometers south of Elgin is  2 miles north of Brier Hill.

I revisited the occurrence last August with Dr. Donaldson and took the following pictures:

In the first photograph the angular holes that have weathered out of the sandstone could represent casts of gypsum.  The photo could also show multiple stages of dewatering, as the smaller cylinder cuts into the larger cylinder.  The last two photos are interesting because they show frothed sandstone and conglomerate around the edges of the cylinder.   The conglomerate is not present in the rock surrounding the cylinders and  must have been pushed up from below or pulled down from above  (there is a conglomerate a little higher in the stratigraphic column).

The Elgin/Brier Hill occurrence is worth a visit as there are over 200 small structures with a diameter 2 to 6 inches, a number a foot in diameter, plus a number as big or bigger than those at the Hughes quarry in Pittsburgh Township near Kingston Mills.   I have to admit that I have not yet seen the largest ones: Dr. Dave Forsyth was good enough to send me a photo of them. 

The number of cylindrical structures at the Elgin/Brier Hill occurrence rivals the number of cylindrical structures found at Victoria Island and described in the following paper: 
Mathieu, J., Turner, E.C., and Rainbird, R. H., 2013
Sedimentary architecture of a deeply karsted Precambrian-Cambrian unconformity, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories; Geological Survey of Canada, Current Research 2013-1, 15 p.
  

Cylindrical Structures and Sand Injectites

      
I’ve noted that cylindrical structures in Potsdam sandstone have features in common with sandstone injectites that  form by the flow of a mobilized sand slurry through fractures in
overlying rock.   Interestingly, most sedimentary injectite systems are explained by elevated pore fluid pressure combined with a catastrophic triggering mechanism, likely seismic shaking.  An article that I found helpful is:

Sherry, T. J., C. D. Rowe, J. D. Kirkpatrick, and E. E. Brodsky (2012), Emplacement and dewatering of the world’s largest exposed sand injectite complex, Geochemistry Geophysics  Geosystems, Volume 13, No. 1, 17 pages,  Q08008, doi:10.1029/2012GC004157.  

The article is worth reading because their figured laminae look like the bands that we in Eastern Ontario see in our cylindrical structures, and the authors provide a compelling explanation for the formation of the laminae.

Sherry, Rowe, Kirkpatrick, and  Brodsky  report that the injectite complex in California contains granular textures that record processes of sand slurry flow, multiple pore fluids, and dewatering after emplacement.    They suggest that compaction of the injectite deposit and pore fluid escape caused spaced compaction bands and dewatering pipes which created  laminae.   They describe alternating 6 mm thick laminae of iron oxide-cemented and uncemented sand and mention that the laminae are always locally parallel and consistent in thickness.    They suggest that during sand emplacement, the system must have transitioned from a flowing to geometrically locked grain geometry.  They suggest that iron oxide, precipitated from fresh pore water at a later stage, is preferentially concentrated in alternating laminae, that iron oxide cement occurs in the laminae with slightly higher apparent aspect ratio (consistent with stronger shape lineation). They suggest this reflects a difference in the permeability of the laminae, caused by and preserved from the initial orientation of the sand grains, that affected late stage groundwater flow.   

It would be an interesting exercise to look as closely at the orientation of the sand grains, and cement in Eastern Ontario’s cylindrical sandstone structures, as Sherry, Rowe, Kirkpatrick, and  Brodsky looked at the orientation of grains and cement in the sand injectite complex that they studied.


I’ve previously written about cylindrical structures and below  provide the dates and titles of my blog posts.

Christopher Brett
Perth, Ontario


January 29, 2014  - Cylindrical Structures in Potsdam Group Sandstone in Eastern Ontario
August 27, 2015 - Cylindrical Structures in Potsdam Group Sandstone in Eastern Ontario - Part 2
September 28,  2015 - A Map Showing the Location of Cylindrical and Conical Structures in Potsdam (Group) Sandstone of Ontario and New York
October 22, 2015  - Soft-Sediment Deformation (Seismites) in Nepean Sandstone Close to the Rideau Lake Fault - Cylindrical structures in Sandstone: A Type of Soft-Sediment Deformation Sometimes Linked to Seismic Activity
December 23,  2015 Dewatering Structures, Biofilm Structures, Glacial Striae and Chatter Marks in Potsdam Sandstone near Newboro, Eastern Ontario

Mark your calendars for a Guided Quarry Tour on September 10, 2016 - Second Notice

Below is an advertisement from the September 1st edition of the Perth Courier for the tour of OMYA’s Tatlock quarry on September 10th from 10 am to 2pm, rain or shine.  

As noted in my July 5th blog posting, the Tatlock quarry is located about 30 km north of Perth up Highway 511, turning right on McIlraith Road.  There is more than ample parking available in the fields opposite the quarry entrance.

Christopher Brett
Perth

What’s New in Potsdam Sandstone?

Actually, quite a lot.   For those with a keen interest in the Potsdam sandstone of Eastern Ontario, Quebec and Northern New York State, the following articles, abstracts and field trip guides are worth a look.  They are arranged from the most recent dating back to 2010.

The first article is instructive, as it explains how to recognize the differences between braided fluvial strata and ephemeral fluvial strata that are found in the Potsdam Group Sandstones, but you will want to read it numerous times.   (I did.)   Interestingly, the abstract for the first article mentions: “Two fluvial facies associations, braided and ephemeral fluvial, are recognized in strata of the Cambrian–Ordovician Potsdam Group in the Ottawa Embayment and Quebec Basin in northeastern North America.   ... [I]n the upper part of the Potsdam two regional ephemeral fluvial units are interstratified with two braided fluvial units, providing evidence for shifts in regional climate. ... These changes are correlated with documented Late Cambrian to Earliest Ordovician global climate fluctuations, with semiarid conditions and related ephemeral fluvial systems corresponding to global cooling events at ca. 491 and 487 Ma.”   

What I found most useful in Lowe and Arnott’s (2016a) article are the figures and the summary of the Potsdam Group which “is now recognized as a group comprising three formations that range in age from uppermost Lower Cambrian to Lower Ordovician. The oldest is the Altona Formation, which consists of arkose, siltstone, mudstone, and dolostone and records a marine transgression during the Early to Middle Cambrian in the Quebec Basin . The marine Altona Formation is overlain by the Middle Cambrian Ausable Formation, made up of braided fluvial arkose and conglomerate that are thickest in the eastern Ottawa Embayment and Quebec Basin, and overlain by redbed eolian quartz arenites present mainly in the southwestern part of the Ottawa Embayment.  An unconformity, in places angular, separates the Ausable Formation from the overlying Upper Cambrian–Lower Ordovician Keeseville Formation   The Keeseville Formation consists of quartz arenites and minor conglomerate of fluvial, eolian, marginal marine, and shallow marine origin. The contact between the Potsdam Group and overlying Theresa Formation is defined by a change from marine siliciclastic to mixed siliciclastic–carbonate strata associated with the epeiric Sauk transgression.  Age and contact relationships indicate that this contact is locally an erosional discontinuity but elsewhere conformable, ” [citations omitted].    That summary should be compared with their Figure 3, a regional correlation of cross-sections from three locations showing interstratified ephemeral units, braided fluvial units and the marginal to fully marine units, and with the cross-sections in Lowe,  Arnott, and Sanford (2013) and in Lowe (2014). 

Lowe (2014) reports that “new biostratigraphic analyses from this study (Nowlan, 2013) indicate that an interval stratigraphically below the uppermost Potsdam Group (the Riviere Aux Outardes Mb of the Covey Hill Fm) is Lowermost Ordovician (Early Tremadocian) (Figure 3). We therefore consider the uppermost Potsdam in the western Ottawa Embayment to be of Lower Ordovician age”.  Lowe (2014) also notes that “Existing and new ages of the basal Theresa Formation indicate that the switch from pure siliciclastic (Potsdam) to mixed siliciclastic-carbonate (Theresa) was diachronous, younging from the southwest to the northeast”.

In Ontario, from about 1982, we had been dividing the Potsdam Group into (a) a lower Covey Hill formation (feldspathic sandstone and conglomerate);  and  (b) an upper Nepean Formation (fluvial gravels and sandstone; eolian sandstone; and shallow marine facies sandstone).    Sanford and Arnott (2010) added numerous refinements, including noting the presence of a regional uncomformity within the Potsdam Group separating the underlying Covey Hill (Ontario and Quebec)/Ausable (New York) from the overlying Nepean (Ontario)/Keeseville (New York)/Cairnside (Quebec), and  subdividing the Covey Hill into four units – the Jericho/Altona, overlain by the Hannawa Falls, Chippewa Bay and Edwardsville members.

David Lowe (2014)  uses allostratigraphy (correlation of unconformity-bound units) to subdivide and correlate the  Potsdam Group and has proposed lithostratigraphic revisions.  He proposes (starting at the oldest, and using mostly his words):

Allomember 1: Altona Formation: uppermost Early Cambrian to Middle Cambrian: only recognized in  the Quebec basin... It consists of wave/stormdominated marine shoreface/shelf deposits.

Allomember 2:  Ausable Formation (proposed revision): Middle to lower Upper Cambrian:
consists of fluvial arkose that reach a thickness of ~600 m along the axis of the Oka-Beauharnois Arch and is exposed as outliers elsewhere (the Covey Hill Member, proposed) and of red bed aeolian quartz arenites (Hannawa Falls Member, proposed),   

Allomember 3: Chippewa Bay and Riviere Aux Outardes Members of the Keeseville Formation
(proposed revision): Upper Cambrian to Lowermost Ordovician: consists of widespread but thin quartz arenites and quartz cobble-boulder conglomerates of fluvial origin (Chippewa Bay Member, proposed) overlain in the northern Ottawa Embayment by marine sandstones with local mudstone and carbonate interbeds (Riviere Aux Outardes Member, proposed). The fluvial Chippewa Bay member of allomember 3 makes up the thickest part of the Potsdam [in upper NY State], and consists of braided perennial   and ephemeral   depositional facies associations.

Allomember 4:  Nepean Member of Keeseville Formation (proposed): Lower Ordovician: consists of basal  terrestrial and overlying marginal marine and tide-dominated shallow marine quartz arenite that forms the uppermost Potsdam. Allomember 4 is locally conformably but abruptly overlain   or unconformably overlain  by the mixed carbonate and siliciclastic Theresa Formation.  [T]he switch from pure siliciclastic (Potsdam) to mixed siliciclastic-carbonate (Theresa) was diachronous,  younging from the southwest to the northeast.

Jaret (2015) reports on U-Pb ages of zircons from the Potsdam at Alexandria Bay, NY, which yielded concordant ages of two populations: 1100 Ma and 2500 Ma.  Only the first can be Grenville sourced.   Allaz, Selleck, Williams and Jercinovic (2013) dated monazite from the Potsdam Formation, New York and reported that “Monazite core ages yield Proterozoic ages between 1.17 and 0.90 Ga (Shawinigan and Ottawan orogeny). Monazite overgrowth and xenotime ages indicate four to five major overgrowth events between ca. 500 Ma (shortly after the time of deposition) and ca. 200 Ma.”

Christopher Brett
Perth, Ontario

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David G. Lowe, R.W.C. Arnott, 2016a
 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  

David G. Lowe and Bill Arnott, 2016b
Paleotopographic Controls on Fluvial Architecture of Pre-Vegetated Braided Fluvial Strata in a Basal Cambrian-Ordovician Sandstone: Potsdam Group of the Ottawa Embayment and Quebec Basin; Abstract with program, Article #90259, AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22, 2016 
www.searchanddiscovery.com/abstracts/html/2016/90259ace/abstracts/2382851.html

Tadeusz Bartek Splawinski,  J Patterson,  M Kwiatkowski, 2016
The late Cambrian interface of sea and land: paleoecology and paleoenvironment of the Upper Cairnside Formation, Potsdam Group, near Beauharnois, Quebec, Canada. Northeastern Geoscience, Volume 34,  pages 13 – 22 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304952493_

David G. Lowe and Bill Arnott,  2015a
Supercritical strata in Lower Paleozoic fluvial rocks: a super critical link to upper flow regime processes and preservation in nature.   EGU General Assembly 2015, held 12-17 April, 2015 in Vienna, Austria. id.7279
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-7279.pdf

David G. Lowe and Bill Arnott,  2015b
Supercritical strata in Lower Paleozoic fluvial rocks: a super critical link to upper flow regime processes and preservation in nature.   Dirt Talk, Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, April 10, 2015
http://www.dal.ca/faculty/science/earth-sciences/news-events/events/2015/04/10/dirt_talk___david_lowe.html

David Lowe, Charlotte Mehrtens  and Ryan Brink, 2015
Sedimentology and Stratigraphy of the Cambrian Potsdam Group (Altona, Ausable and. Keeseville Formations), Northeastern New York. Field Trip, New York State Geological Association, 87th Annual Meeting, State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY, 12–13 September 2015

Ryan A Brink,  2015
Sedimentologic Comparison Of The Late/lower Early Middle Cambrian Altona Formation And The Lower Cambrian Monkton Formation; M.Sc. Thesis, University of Vermont, 134 p.
http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/370
http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1369&context=graddis

Mángano, M.G. and Buatois, L.A., 2015,
The trace-fossil record of tidal flats through the Phanerozoic:  Evolutionary innovations and faunal turnover, in McIlroy, D., ed., ICHNOLOGY: Papers from ICHNIA III: Geological Association of Canada, Miscellaneous Publication 9, p. 157-177 at 159-161, Figure 7 and 171.

Steven Jaret, 2015
Provenance of the Potsdam Sandstone from laser ablation U-Pb ages of detrital Zircons. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 47, No. 3, p.80    
https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2015NE/webprogram/Paper252725.html

MacNaughton, R.B., Hagadorn, J.W., Lacelle, M., and Groulx, P., 2014
The perils of Protichnites: The checkered history of an iconic ichnotaxon.
Alberta Palæontological Society, Paleo 2014, Annual  Symposium,  Abstracts  and  Short   Papers, Mount  Royal University, Calgary,  Alberta,   p.  34.  http://www.academia.edu/8412586/The_perils_of_Protichnites_the_checkered_history_of_an_iconic_ichnogenus_ABSTRACT_  

MacNaughton,  R.B.,  and  Hagadorn,  J.W., 2014
The perils of Protichnites:  Revisiting the earliest-named arthropod trackways.
GAC-MAC Joint Annual Meeting, Fredericton, 2014, Abstracts, Volume 37, page 170
http://www.mineralogicalassociation.ca/doc/AbstractVolume2014Final.pdf

David G. Lowe and Bill Arnott, 2014a
Variations in Braided Fluvial Styles Related to Topography and Climate in the Cambrian-Ordovician Potsdam Group, Ottawa Embayment and Quebec Basin
AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Houston, TX, April 8, 2014
http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/pdfz/documents/2014/51004lowe/ndx_lowe.pdf.html
http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/abstracts/html/2014/90189ace/abstracts/1840976.html

David G. Lowe and Bill Arnott, 2014b
Coeval Tectonism and Epeiric Transgression on the Early Paleozoic Laurentian Platform Recorded by Strata of the Potsdam Group in the Northwestern Ottawa Embayment
 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Houston, TX, April 7, 2014
http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/abstracts/html/2014/90189ace/abstracts/1840946.html

David G. Lowe, 2014
Stratigraphy and Terrestrial to Shallow Marine Environments the Potsdam Group in the Southwestern Ottawa Embayment ; New York State Geological Association 86th Annual Meeting,  Field Trip B-4,  183
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280924108_

Sören Jensen,  Luis A. Buatois  and M. Gabriela Mángano , 2013,
Testing for palaeogeographical patterns in the distribution of Cambrian trace fossils, Chapter 5 in  Early Palaeozoic Biogeography and Palaeogeography, Geological Society, London, Memoirs 2013, volume 38, p. 45-58
doi: 10.1144/M38.5

Seamus Magnus, Dave Lowe, Jamie Cutts, and Travis McCarron, 2013,
OCGC Field Trip – September 27th to 29th 2013
earthsci.carleton.ca/sites/default/files/Field%20Guide%202013.pdf

Julien Allaz, Bruce Selleck, Michael L. Williams, Michael J. Jercinovic 2013
Microprobe analysis and dating of monazite from the Potsdam Formation, New York: A progressive record of chemical reaction and fluid interaction.  American Mineralogist, 98 (7) 1106-1119     http://dx.doi.org/10.2138/am.2013.4304

Lowe, David G., Arnott, R.W.C., Chiarenzelli, Jeffrey R.,  and Sanford, B.V., 2013
Cratonic arch activity and basin dissection in early Paleozoic southeast Laurentia recorded by pre- and syn-transgressive strata of the Potsdam Group.  The Geological Society of America, 125th Annual Meeting,  Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 45, No. 7, p. 475, Paper 195-1
https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2013AM/webprogram/Paper232272.html

David G. Lowe,  Robert W. C. Arnott, and Bruce V. Sanford, 2013,
Before the Great North American Carbonate Bank: A Complex Cambrian-Lower Ordovician Transgressive History Recorded in Siliciclastic Strata of the Potsdam Group, Southeast Laurentia
 Adapted from extended abstract prepared in conjunction with oral presentation at AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 19 -22, 2013
http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/pdfz/documents/2013/50859lowe/ndx_lowe.pdf.html

Mario Lacelle, James W. Hagadorn and Pierre Groulx, 2012
Prolific Potsdam Protichnites: Giant euhycarcinoid trackways from Beauharnois, Québec
Canadian Paleontology Conference, University of Toronto 2012,  Proceedings No. 10: 43.
www.mpe-fossiles.org/resources/Lacelle_etal_2012.pdf

James W. Hagadorn, Mario Lacelle, and Pierre Groulx, 2012
Mirabel's ancient surfers: Insights from Cambrian trace fossils and sedimentology of the Potsdam Group, Québec;  Canadian Paleontology Conference, University of Toronto 2012, Abstract Volume, page 37
http://www.mpe-fossiles.org/resources/Hagadorn_etal_2012.pdf

D.  Lowe and R.W.C. Arnott, 2012
The Potsdam Group in New York State, Ontario and Quebec: stratigraphic relationships and character of continental and shallow marine sedimentation in a tectonically active continental basin.  GAC-MAC Joint Annual Meeting, Volume 35, pages 80-81

James W. Hagadorn, Joseph H. Collette,  and Edward S. Belt, 2011
Eolian-aquatic deposits and faunas of the Middle Cambrian Potsdam Group
Palaios 26(5):314-334  May 2011
DOI: 10.2307/25835633

Anonymous, 2010
[Attributed to Selleck, B., Arnott,  R.W.C. and Sanford, B. V.]   Potsdam Formation Field Excursion, July 22-25, 2010, Thousand Island Region and St. Lawrence Lowlands.  Colgate University.
www.colgate.edu/.../Field%20trip%20Information%20July%2022%202010.pdf

Bruce V. Sanford and Robert W.C. Arnott, 2010
Stratigraphic and structural framework of the Potsdam Group in eastern Ontario, western Quebec, and northern New York State.  Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 597, 85 pages
publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2010 /nrcan/M42-597

Mark your calendars for a Guided Quarry Tour on September 10, 2016

One of Lanark County’s claims to fame is the high quality maple syrup that is produced at the maple sugar bushes that are located throughout Lanark County.  Each year Perth celebrates with a Festival of the Maples held the last Saturday in April.   (This year was the 40th annual Festival of the Maples.)   I’d swear that half the county attends.  At this year’s Maple Fest I noted that one of the booths selling maple syrup was operated by Tom Lalonde & Family Farm  and manned by Tom  and his wife.   Those with an interest in geology in Lanark County will know that Tom is a geologist who is the Quarry Manager at OMYA’s Tatlock marble quarry.   My wife and I stopped to buy some maple syrup and maple butter and while there I told Tom that both my wife and I had really enjoyed the tour of OMYA’s marble quarry last fall. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that OMYA will be hosting another tour this year on Saturday, September 10th.   Mark your calendars for an enjoyable tour.
                           
Last year OMYA provided buses (thankfully, not school buses) to transport visitors around and down into the quarry.  In addition it provided a refreshment tent with cold drinks, burgers and hotdogs available.   The refreshment tent also served to provide a history of the quarry told through posters mounted on the inside walls of the tent.

OMYA is a world leader in the production of calcium carbonate which it mines from quarries located throughout the world.   In Lanark County it operates a quarry at Tatlock which is said to be the largest calcium carbonate mine in Canada and to produce the purest calcium carbonate in the world.  OMYA mines and crushes the calcium carbonate at the Tatlock quarry and processes the product at its plant west of Perth along Highway 7.   OMYA’s calcium carbonate products have many applications including being used in paints, plastics, construction materials,  paper and packaging materials.

The Tatlock quarry is about 900 meters long, 400 meters wide and 110 meters deep.  It is located about 30 km north of Perth up Highway 511, turning right on McIlraith Road.  There is more than ample parking available in the fields opposite the quarry entrance.  A Google satellite view of the quarry can be obtained  by typing   45.145370, -76.497971 into the Google search engine and searching under MAPS, and switching to SatelliteView, or by going to:

  http://wikimapia.org/95877/Tatlock-Quarry-OMYA

Last year the guided bus tour of the Tatlock quarry was advertised for Saturday September 12th, 2015 from 10am til 2pm,  rain or shine.   I expect the tour will operate over similar hours this year.   Below are two photographs that I took last year while on the tour.  In the first photo, at the bottom of the quarry, is a bus for scale.

Christopher Brett
Perth, Ontario

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Update:   On August 22, 2016 I phoned OMYA in Perth and confirmed that the quarry tour is still scheduled for September 10th.  I was told that advertisements for the tour will appear in the local papers over the next two weeks.