Trace fossils have been reported from the Potsdam Group sandstones of Quebec, Ontario and New York State for over one hundred and seventy years, some from rocks considered littoral, some from eolian dunes, and some from rocks deposited in shallow marine waters. The most famous trace fossils are undoubtedly the trackway Protichnites and the trail Climactichnites, both of which were brought to the attention of the scientific world by W. E. Logan of the Geological Survey of Canada. It is interesting to note the change in thinking surrounding trace fossils through time. Initially, the textures in the rock (e.g. wind ripples, wave ripples) were used to identify the facies of deposition of the trace fossils. After about 1970 the trace fossils in combination with the textures were used to identify the facies.
For the purposes of this blog posting I am assuming that the reader is aware that the upper Potsdam is now called the Keeseville formation in New York State, called the Cairnside formation in Quebec and called the Nepean (or Keeseville) formation in Ontario. I am also assuming that the reader is aware that at one time the Potsdam Group included what is now called the Theresa Formation in New York State and Quebec, and is called the March formation or Theresa formation in Ontario. The Theresa/March includes many of the same trace fossils as are found in the Keeseville - Cairnside - Nepean formation. I have edited many of the early reports on trace fossils in the Potsdam by deleting references to rocks that would now be the Theresa - March formation.
I have tried to keep the reports in chronological order, but fail miserably to do this is a few places as I have tried to group reports under subheadings. I have not listed all references to Skolithos.
Protichnites
W. E. Logan reported on the trace fossil Protichnites from Lower Canada in papers written in 1851 and 1852 and read before the Geological Society of London, in various annual reports of the Geological Survey, and in his book the Geology of Canada published in 1863. In a paper also read before the Geological Society of London, Professor Owen (1852) described and named six of Logan’s tracks:
1. Protichnites septem-notatus
2. Protichnites octo-notatus
3. Protichnites latus
4. Protichnites multinotatus
5. Protichnites lineatus
6. Protichnites alternans
The plates of the named tracks that accompanied Owen’s (1852) paper are shown below.
Owen (1852) also included a lithograph showing part of a 12 and ½ foot specimen that Logan had brought to London.
The tracks at Beauharnois, Quebec were originally reported in 1847 in an article in the Montreal Gazette written by Mr. Robert Abraham, Editor of the Montreal Gazette, who compared them to the track of a tortoise. Owen (1851) was of the view that “the foot-prints accord best with those of the Chelonian reptiles ... [and] that the species was a fresh-water or estuary tortoise rather than a land-tortoise.” Owen (1852) had changed his mind and commented that “I have now the conviction that they were not made by a Chelonian reptile, nor by any vertebrated animal. ... [T]he creatures which have left these tracks and impressions on the most ancient of known seashores belonged to an articulate and probably crustaceous genus, ... and it is evident that the animal of the Potsdam sandstone moved directly forwards ... and not sideways” . Logan (1863) noted that in view of the “various differences in the tracks, Professor Owen has given separate specific provisional names to several of them, not for the purpose of indicating a positive specific difference in the animals which have impressed them, but for the convenience of reference.”
Logan (1851) first reported tracks from a quarry on the left bank of the river St. Louis, at the village of Beauharnois, Lower Canada. Logan (1852) reported five new localities for tracks: (i) in the field of Mr. Henault, a half mile west of the quarry in which the first impressions were discovered; (ii) two and a half miles further west at the mouth of the Beauharnois Canal; (iii) in the vicinity of Point Cavagnol (about 15 miles west of the first locality); (iv) on the Island of St. Généviève in the St. Lawrence River, south of Montreal Island (about 7 miles north of the village of Beauharnois); and (v) on the Riviere du Nord, at Lachute, in the Seignory of Argenteuil (about 35 miles north east of the first locality). Five of Logan’s named tracks came from Mr. Henault’s field. The sixth, Protichnites multinotatus, came from the quarry on the St. Louis River at the village of Beauharnois.
Subsequent to giving his talks in London, Logan provided other localities where Protichnites tracks were found:
- St. Ann, Presqu'ile, and St. Elizabeth, Quebec (Logan, 1860)
- at Perth, Ontario in association with Climactichites (Logan, 1860);
- in Lansdowne and Bastard township, Ontario (Logan, 1852b, page 10)
- about a mile N. W. of Cuthbert's mills on the Chicot in an exposure of fine grained white sandstone (Logan, 1863, page 93);
- on a peninsula on the north side of the Ottawa River, about seven miles below the mouth of the Petite Nation, (Logan, 1863, page 94);
- in the vicinity of Pointe du Grand Detroit in Vaudreuil, Quebec twelve miles west of the locality at the Beauharnois canal (Logan, 1863; Murray, 1852);.
First Report of Diplichnites
Murray (1852, page 67) provides a description of the tracks from near Pointe du Grand Detroit, Quebec noting they are “similar to the tracks occurring at Beauharnois, ... [However,t]he groove in the middle between the footprints on each side, so frequently seen at Beauharnois, occurs only in one of the smaller trails.” The majority of Murray’s tracks from Pointe du Grand Detroit would likely now be identified as Diplichnites. Pointe du Grand Detroit is now known as Quarry Point and falls in Hudson, Quebec.
Skolithos: Worm Burrows
The trace fossil Skolithos has been widely reported from the Potsdam sandstone in New York state, Quebec and Ontario. Hall (1847, page 2, Plate 1) reported on the first occurrences of Scolithus linearis from the Potsdam sandstone, noting occurrences in the valley of Lake Champlain and in the eastern part of New York. Haldeman (1840) had given it the name Skolithos linearus: James Hall (1847) modified the spelling to Scolithus linearis, changing the spelling from the Greek (Skolithos) to the Latin (Scolithus). Both Haldeman and Hall considered Skolithos to be a plant–a Fucoid.
William E. Logan (1852a ) was the first person to suggest that Skolithos was a worm hole. Logan (1852, at page 200) commented that the Potsdam sandstones of Beauharnois county were “abundantly marked over considerable surfaces by what the geologists of New York have called Scolithus linearis, which consists, where the rock is weathered, of straight, vertical, cylindrical holes, of about an eighth of an inch in diameter, descending several inches, and, where the rock is unweathered, of corresponding solid cylinders, composed apparently of grains of sand, cemented by a slightly calcareous matrix, more or less tinged with peroxide of iron. Mr. Hall and other American geologists include them among the Fucoids of the rock, but they appear to me more like Worm-holes.”
Logan (1852, 1863) included a measured section from Beauharnois with 23
identifiable sandstone beds (each from two inches to five feet in
thickness), two bearing tracks and eleven bearing Scolithus.
Climactichnites and Littoral Sandstone
W.E. Logan (1860) reported on and named the trace fossil Climactichnites wilsoni, based on specimens collected near Perth, Ontario, suggesting that it was likely the trail of a mollusc. Below are two photographs of the type specimen of Climactichnites wilsoni from Perth, Ontario that is in the collection of the Geological Survey of Canada. The slab is a sole marking. Both photographs are from the collection of the Geological Survey of Canada. The first photograph has T.C. Weston as a scale and was taken in 1880 by J. B. Tyrrell before the specimen was broken on being taken down from the wall for the move of the GSC from Montreal to Ottawa. The second photograph shows the specimen as it exists today. The second photograph was taken by B. J. Botte in about 1960.
Interestingly, it was in his paper naming Climactichnites wilsoni that Logan (1860) reported that on thinning a large specimen bearing Protichnites tracks from Beauharnois, “it was ascertained that the surface on which the traces were impressed must have been subject to the ebb and flow of a tide. The surface on which the tracks are impressed and the one immediately beneath, shew ripple-mark ; the next in succession which is about an eighth of an inch below, shews wind-mark, in a number of sharp and straight parallel ridges from two to four inches long and an eighth or a quarter of an inch wide. These characterize a considerable surface, and are precisely similar to the marks so familiar to every person who has examined blown sand. The surface must thus have been alternately wet and dry, and the organic remains of the formation being marine, we have thus pretty clear evidence of a tide. ... [Accordingly] The crustacean which impressed the tracks at Beauharnois must have been a litoral animal...”
Logan (1852) had earlier commented that at Beauharnois “The ripple marks, which occur on surfaces so close in succession among the track-beds, run in different direction on each surface, as if they had been caused not by a current in deep water, running in one general direction, but by a tide ebbing and flowing... On one surface was observed the natural edge or termination of the ripple-ridges, with a track coming up to it and then ceasing, as if the wave had reached no farther, and one part of the surface had been dry while the water, operating on another close by, had obliterated the track in producing the ripple-mark”.
Intriguingly, both Logan’s identification of wind ripples and his comment that the Potsdam sandstones at Beauharnois are littoral sandstones were referred to in papers published for over forty years, but then disappeared from the literature for a number of decades.
W.E. Logan (1860) also reported Protichnites tracks from Perth and suggested that Climactichnites trails were in the same sandstone as at Beauharnois. (A Protichnites track is on the giant slab shown above.)
Billings (1865) named a new species of Scolithus Canadensis from the Potsdam, differentiating it from Scolithus linearis .
Marsh: Protichnites loganus - now Diplichnites
In 1869 Prof. O. C. Marsh described and figured a trackway from Potsdam sandstone on the western shore of Lake Champlain a short distance north of the village of Port Kent, New York, naming it Protichnites loganus, which was much smaller than most Protichnites tracks that Logan had reported from Canada and lacked a median groove. Marsh described the tracks as follows: “The impressions obtained ...were in two portions, on the same surface, ... [and were] a series of footprints, about six feet in length, consisting of two parallel rows of impressions, separated from each other by a space of about one and three fourth inches, and having an extreme width between their outer edges of two and a half inches.” Today the track would be called Diplichnites rather than Protichnites. Below is an extract from the plate that accompanied
Plaster Casts of Protichnites
The Protichnites tracks and Climactichnites trails were viewed as important finds. By 1882 Queen’s University’s museum in Kingston, Ontario had on display casts of Protichnites found at Beuharnois that had been donated by the Geological Survey, Ottawa. By 1882 the Redpath Museum in Montreal also had on display specimens of Climactichnites and Protichnites from Perth and casts presented by the Geological Survey. In 1884 and 1907 Laval university reported that it had on display a collection of plaster moulds of prints of Protichnites from the Potsdam sandstone given by the Geological Survey of Canada. Similarly, Amherst College of Massachusetts Plaster had casts of Protichnites donated by William Logan. As well, in 1888 Walcott attended at the Geological Survey’s Museum in Ottawa to take casts of the Protichnites specimens for the Smithsonian.
The plaster casts of Logan’ specimens of Protichnites at Amherst College were reported on by MacNaughton and Hagadorn (2006) and Hoxie (2005).
The Protichnites tracks were also visited on outings by both the Natural History Society of Montreal and the Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club (See Ami, 1892, 1893, 1899).
First Report From Ausable Chasm
In 1883, Mr. W. F. Ferrier reported tracks on the Potsdam sandstone at Rainbow Falls, Ausable Chasm in Essex County, New York. One track consisted of “two narrow furrows about a quarter of an inch apart, with a rim of punctiform impressions about an inch distant at either side. ... Another is a trail about an inch in width, marked with transverse furrows and ridges, perfectly simple, and without any median ridge.”
While Ferrier’s tracks were found in sandstone, it is possible that ‘Potsdam sandstone’ of Ferrier might be Theresa sandstone as he noticed the gastropod “Ophileta (probably O. compacta, Salter)” in some beds, and because in 1891 the Potsdam included what we know call the Theresa. That said, David Lowe has told me that he found gastropods in outcrops of Nepean/Keeseville sandstone a few kilometers east of Perth, Ontario; Liberty (1971) reported Ophileta compacta from Potsdam sandstone near Kingston, Ontario; Wolf and Dalrymple (1985, p.115) report rare fragments of gastropods in the Potsdam; and Hagadorn and Belt (2008) reported finding traces in the Potsdam sandstones of the Au Sable Chasm similar to those reported by Ferrier.
Ontario and Quebec (1888-1914) - Mainly By Ells and Ami
Numerous papers and reports issued by paleontologists and geologists (primarily associated with the Geological Survey of Canada) in the period from 1888 to 1914 include reports of Scolithos, Protichnites and Climactichnites in the Potsdam sandstones of Eastern Ontario and Quebec, including:
- Ami and Sowter (1888) reported collecting specimens of Scolithus Canadensis, Billings and Scolithus linearis, Hall from the Potsdam formation on an excursion to Buckingham, Quebec, with Mr. Ami opining “that that the main difference existing between these two species lies principally in the preservation, S. Canadensis B, occurring as hollow tubes or burrows, whilst Hall's species is found as casts of the interior of the burrow or hole. ... In comparing the form S. linearis, Hall with the species recorded from the Potsdam formation of L'anse au Loup, Que. (See Pol. Foss. Billings, Vol. 1, P. 2), they are found to be exactly similar and cannot be differentiated.”
- Marcou (1889) reported that “near St. Cuthbert [, Quebec, the Potsdam sandstone] is seen to be represented by a white sandstone, as at Keeseville, containing marks of Protichnites”.
- Dawson (1890) figured two slabs of Potsdam sandstone collected near Perth, Ontario that had been collected by Mr. James Richardson in about 1882. The large slab bears both Climactichnites and Protichnites and was, and still is, on display at the Peter Redpath Museum in Montreal. Below is the plate from Dawson’s paper. The large slab is about seven feet ( over 2 meters) high. The large slab represents the bed sole, while the small slab on Dawson’s plate is from the bed surface.
Below is a photograph of the actual specimen taken at the Redpath Museum.
Dawson (1890) also figured the upper surface and a sectional view of a slab of Potsdam sandstone from Perth, Ontario showing Scolithus, and commented that Scolithus is very abundant in the Potsdam of St. Anne's on the Island of Montreal.
- Ami (1893) reported that on a geological excursion to Montebello he had observed on the Presqu'ile north of Squirrel Island “an interesting exposure of the Potsdam terrane, showing rippled-marks in abundance, besides the tracks and trails of marine animals (Protichnites septemnotatus, Owen)” noting that the “exposure of the Potsdam presents a bold bluff of from ten to twenty-five feet front in height.”
- Ami, (1894) commented “The higher beds of the [Potsdam] formation in the Ottawa Valley are finer grained, and have the grains of quartz in the sandstone less coherent, and the beds them-
selves are less massive and reduced in thickness, often presenting the well known tracks of Protichnites as at Montebello, Papineauville and above that again, eight miles below the mouth of the South Indian River.”
- Ells (1895), when discussing the Potsdam formation of Quebec and eastern Ontario, commented that “in fact the whole of the sandstone formation proper, is entirely destitute of organic remains in so far as yet known, with the exception of the peculiar marking called scolithus concerning the origin of which nothing has yet been definitely ascertained, and certain tracks or impressions regarded as produced by some species of crustacean, the remains of which have, however, never as yet been found in the rock mass. In the upper portion the scolithus markings are rather better defined.”
- Ami (1896) commented that “The characteristic fossils of the Potsdam formation in the Ottawa Palaeozoic Basin comprise the following tracks or trails of marine organisms : — Climactichnites Wilsoni, Logan, Protichnites octo-notatus, Owen, P. lineatus, Owen, Scolithus Canadensis, Billings.”
- Ami (1901), from a quarry in Potsdam sandstone, between Papineauville and Montebello, along the Ottawa river, reported both Protichnites lineatus, Owen, or a closely allied form, and Protichnites septem-notatus, Owen, while in an accompanying report Ells (1901) noted “the peculiar fossil known a Scolithus” while Ami (1902) noted that many of the surfaces show “ripple marks and other phenomena of wind and wave action.”
-Ells (1902) reported Scolithus in an outcrop of Potsdam sandstone in March Township while mapping the City of Ottawa and vicinity stating that “the sandstones are filled with Scolithos markings which are the only fossils yet recognized in this part of the formation in this district.”
(The sandstones in this district were the ones that became Alice Wilson’s ‘Nepean Formation’.)
- Ells (1903),when reporting on the Kingston, Ontario district, mentions (a) for the Potsdam sandstone at Gildersleeve's quarry that “ No fossils are found in the sandy beds, with the exception of Scolithus markings”; and (b) “About the village of Battersea ... The sandstones are frequently penetrated by cylindrical markings which are probably the Scolithus linearis of Hall”. (Gildersleeve’s quarry is now known as the Hughes quarry and is famous for the cylindrical forms now generally considered to be water expulsion features. Interestingly, the sandstone at the Hughes quarry is mainly eolian.)
- Woodworth (1903, page 966) reported that “Small partly effaced trails of Climactichnites were seen on the glaciated surface of the Potsdam sandstone in the road gutter on top of Covey hill, in [Quebec,] Canada, about two miles west of the Covey Hill postoffice. ”
- Ami (1904) provided a list of fossils from the Potsdam sandstones in the Perth area of Eastern Ontario, noting the specimens of (A) “1. Protichnites, sp. A form allied to P, septem-notatus Owen. 2. Climactichnites Wilsoni, Logan” collected by Sir W. E. Logan and Dr. James Wilson from near Perth; (B) “1. Fucoids, 2. Scolithus Canadensis, Billings, 3. Lingula acuminata” from the Township of Bastard, north of Beverly, Ontario; and Scolithus Morrini, Dawson from Perth, Ontario.
Walcott (1914 at pages 259 - 277), collected specimens of Protichnites (plates 46 and 47) and Climactichnites from Rogier’s farm just west of the town of Beauharnois, including a very large, three ton, slab of Climactichnites (with Protichnites) a photograph of which is the frontispiece to Yochelson and Fedonkin’s (1993) paper.
Walcott (1914) included two plates, 46 and 47, of trifid footprints on either side of a median furrow on two slabs of Potsdam sandstone from Beauharnois, Quebec. Walcott identified the trail as Protichnites septemnotatus Owen. Below are Walcott’s plates 46 and 47:
Early Reports of Climactichnites and Protichnites from New York State
Others have reported on Climactichnites and Protichnites trackways from the Potsdam sandstone.
- Walcott (1891, page 344) reported Protichnites in a section at Keeseville, in Au Sable Chasm, New York State,
- Hall (1889) reported Protichnites trails from Port Henry, New York . (Port Henry of about 40 miles south of Port Kent.)
- Van Ingen (1902, page 539) reported finding Climactichnites wilsoni in sandstone at the top of the Birmingham fall at the head of the Ausable chasm in the Keeseville (Lake Champlain) region of New York State and reported (1902, page 544) “numerous irregular, unidentified worm borings and trails" .
- Woodworth (1903, Plates A and B) and Clarke (1905) reported on Climactichnites from Bidwell's Crossing in Mooers township, Clinton County, New York, where the Climactichnites trails show terminal oval impressions and the trail lacked the medial furrow of Logan’s specimens. Woodworth suggested that the trail had been created by the flexible muscular foot of a crawling mollusk. Clarke reported on collecting a large slab (30 feet long by 10 feet wide) from Bidwell’s Crossing, Mooers township. Below is an extract from Clarke’s (1905) plate showing the terminal oval impressions on the large slab from Bidwell’s Crossing, Mooers township.
- Clarke (1903, p. 539) reported Climactichnites in Potsdam sandstone in the Keeseville region, in the Ausable Chasm between Devil’s Oven and Alice Falls and “numerous unidentified worm borings and trails.”
- Cushing et al. (1908), in their report on the Geology of the Thousand Islands Region, mentioned that “With the exception of the long trails of an unknown animal, to which have been found in the sandstone 1 mile west of Theresa, no fossils have been found in the formation”, citing Woodworth’s (1902) report of Climactichnites.
- Chadwick (1920) in his report on the Paleozoic rocks of the Canton Quadrangle, New York State mentions that “Just south of the white ledge [on the south bank of the Grass river] lies a large rectangular block that shows a few sinuous worm trails, the only fossil seen in the ‘Potsdam’ rocks of our area.” [Based on his map this is 4 miles south of Canton]
- Walcott (1914) reported that he collected in the Ausable Chasm from near the type locality where Marsh had collected Protichnites loganus and found “several slabs of the sandstone with many tracks on them. Some of these have a median trail or furrow ... . That some series of tracks are without the median trail indicates that the animal that made the tracks kept well up from the sand, while others that may have been heavier or weaker touched and dragged some portion of the median dorsal surface or the caudal furca along on the sand.” While Walcott identified the specimens as Protichnites loganus in the text accompanying plates 48 and 49, it is clear that this is not the Protichnites loganus of Marsh. Here is one of Walcott’s plates showing part of one slab that he collected from the Ausable Chasm. At least six trackways, all with a median groove, are present.
- Fisher (1956) reported on the geology of the Lake Champlain area and commented that the Potsdam has yielded the “enigmatic Climactichnites, probably an arthropod trail” but did not otherwise comment on the trace fossils in the Potsdam.
Comments on the Origin of Climactichnites and Protichnites
Clarke and Ruedmann (1912) suggested Eurypterida as possible tracemakers for Climactichnites traces in New York State, noting that Packard (1908) had also suggested this.
Grabau (1913, page 1091) commented “At the end of a peculiar trail on the Potsdam sandstone of New York, known as Climactichnites, Woodworth has discovered an oval impression which he considers to have been made by the animal in resting. This may possibly represent the collapsed burrow.”
Burling (1917) looked at Protichnites (Figure 1) and Climactichnites (Figures 4, 5) trails from the Potsdam sandstones of Ontario and New York, and concluded that “That Protichnites was made by a short, low-lying, and more or less heavy set, approximately 12-legged crab-like animal, and
that Climactichnites was made by the snail-like creep of a flexible slug-like animal which was frequently stranded at low tide, but was able to swim in the waters of the full tide.”
In 1925 Othenio Abel (an Austrian Paleontologist) visited North America and examined the large slab of Potsdam sandstone bearing Climactichnites from Bidwell's Crossing, Clinton County, New York [see: Abel 1926, pages 382-383, Figure 244; Abel, 1935, pages 244-249, Figures 214, 215]. Abel (1935) concluded [my translation] “However, there can hardly be any serious doubt that the oval impressions, which can be observed either alone or at one end of a track on the large plate of Bidwell’s Crossing, must be regarded as the footprints of large gastropods. ...The oval footplate impression, which represents the respective end of the tracks, as can be seen on the large sandstone slab of Bidwell’s Crossing, corresponds exactly to the extent of the footplate...It is easy to imagine that the Climactichnites trail originates from a shell-less gastropod.”
Interestingly, Abel (1935, page 252) proposed that a Silurian Protichnites trackway from Norway was made by an Eurypterid, relying on a Norwegian paper by Johan Kiaer (1924).
Reports from Quebec (1944 - 2016)
Clark (1944) for the Potsdam in Quebec reported that “The sandstone is, on the whole, a `barren' rock. The giant trails Climactichnites and Protichnites are to be seen in a dozen localities. The smaller burrow, Scolithus, is present in probably half the exposures. Actual remains are restricted to small brachiopods, of which only Lingulella acuminata has been reported from Quebec.” ... “The sands of the Potsdam formation were the playthings of the waves and currents of the Upper Cambrian sea. The ever-present cross-bedding indicates not only the mobility of the sand grains but the vacillation of the waters. Possibly the tides ebbed and flowed over a wide off-shore platform, where one day's deposit of sand could be shifted from its resting place to another on the following day. Exceptionally high tides would build up bars, behind which orderly sedimentation could go on unimpeded by tidal fluctuations. And, too, in such sheltered lagoons, the organisms responsible for Climactichnites, Protichnites, and Scolithus could pursue their lives and leave behind them a permanent record of their existence.”
Clark and Usher (1948) reported abundant Climactichnites trails at a quarry in Potsdam sandstone at Melocheville, which is about 3 km to the west of the original quarry at Beauharnois where Abraham (1847, 1851) and Logan (1852, 1853) had observed Protichnites and west of where Walcott had collected Climactichnites and Protichnites specimens. However, Clark (1972) reported that the quarry floor was “covered by stockpiles of crushed stone” while Yochelson and Fedonkin (1993) comment that “the floor is now covered with debris and part of the quarry has been refilled with slag from a nearby aluminum reduction operation.”
In a thirty year period dating from 1952 the Province of Quebec’s geology branch mapped the Potsdam Group (and other Paleozoic) rocks in Quebec and reported on its trace fossils:
- Clark (1952, 1972a) reported the trace fossils Scolithos, Climactichnites and Protichnites in the Potsdam in the Montreal region, commenting that “Protichnites can be seen on Dowker Island. Skolishos is common throughout. ... On the sandstone flats immediately below the Buisson Point dam both Climactichnites and Protichnites have been reported (Clark 1963, pp. 99-101).”
- Clark (1966) reported the trace fossils Climactichnites wilsoni, Protichnites, Arenicolites, Scolithus and Gyrichnites in the Cairnside formation of the Potsdam Group in the Chateauguay region;
- Globensky (1981) reported Arenicolites (Figures 13,14) in the Cairnside formation in Huntingdon,Quebec;
- Globensky (1986) reported Arenicolites (Figures 77, 78, 103, 111), Scolithos (Figures 79), Climactichnites wilsoni (Figure 119), and Protichnites in the Cairnside formation of the Potsdam Group in the region of Saint-Chrysotome and Lachine;
- Globensky (1982a) reported Protichnites (figure 10) and Climactichnites (figure 9) in the Cairnside formation in Lachute, Quebec;
-Globensky (1982) reported poorly preserved Skolithos sp. (figure 14) for the Cairnside formation in Vaudreuil, Quebec; while
-Globensky (1987) reported Arenicolites (Plate 2-C and -D), Scolithos, Climactichnites wilsoni (Plate 1-A and -B), Protichnites octonotatus (Plate 2-A), Gordia (Plate 2-B) and Palaeophycus in the Cairnside formation of the Potsdam Group in Basses Terres du Saint-Laurent.
Yochelson and Fedonkin (1993) state that “Globensky (1987, pl. 1) reported and illustrated several large trails of Climactichnites on outcrops about 45 km west-northwest of Montreal, Quebec, approximately 2 km north from the village of St. Hermas . We were able to examine those specimens, and found another nearby bedding plane, no more than a meter different in stratigraphic level, upon which were additional examples; Protichnites is also abundant at this locality.”
Salad Hersi and Lavoie (2000b) for Cairnside formation sandstone south of Montreal, Quebec report “vertical (Skolithos sp.) burrows (Fig. 4C) , ? Climatichnitessp. trace fossils . ... Some beds show pervasive biogenic reworking of the sediment, producing a densely packed burrow network similar to the Ophiomorpha ichnofabric of Bottjer and Droser (1994)”
Hoxie (2005) reported on Protichnites trackways near Melochville, Quebec at Les Carrieres Ducharmes and La Carriere Sud-Ouest, two active Potsdam sandstone quarries, and provided a photomozaic (Figure 9A) of a surface from Les Carrieres Ducharme covered with exceptionally long Protichnites tracks.
Hofmann and Chartier (2006) in a geological field trip guidebook for the Montreal area have stops at Melocheville, Pointe-Du-Boisson and the Beuaharnois Locks to look at Climactichnites, Protichnites, Arenicolites, Skolithos, Palaeophycus in Cairnside orthoquarztites.
Lacelle, Groulx and Racicot (2009) in a geologic field trip guide describe a number of localities of Potsdam sandstone at Melocheville (Beauharnois), Québec which display the trace fossils Arenicolites, Climactichnites, Cruziana, cf. Didymaulichnus, Diplichnites, Gordia, Palaeophycus, Phycodes, Planolites, Protichites, Rusophycus, Skolithos, cf. Teichichnus,
Collette and Hagadorn (2010) and Collette, Hagadorn, and Lacelle (2010) reported on a large slab of Potsdam sandstone which contained 28 well-preserved specimens of an euthycarcinoid which they named Mictomerus melochevillensis preserved along with their trace fossils, cf. Didymaulichnus traces – gently curved, meandering, or arcuate, weakly bilobate surface furrows, peserved in convex hyporelief . The slab was collected at Melocheville, Quebec (now part of the city of Beauharnois) . They suggest that the slab represents stranding of arthropods by high water as the tide receded or a storm surge.
Hagadorn, Lacelle, and Groulx (2012) reported on Climactichnites, Diplichnites and Protichnites trackways; small, bed-parallel furrows, cf. Archaeonassa; and shallow bed-penetrating non-spreiten cf. Teichichnus burrows (all figured); in sands “consistent with deposition in emergent to extremely shallow sandy marine settings” in the upper Potsdam Group sandstone at Mirabel, Quebec. They concluded that “ that large euthycarcinoid arthropods, soft-footed molluscs, and perhaps other animals inhabited the intermittently emergent sand flats of southern Quebec”.
Lacelle, Hagadorn and Groulx (2012b) reported Protichnites, Climactichnites, Archaeonassa, Arenicolites, Didymaulichnus, Diplichnites, Gordia, Musculopodus, Nenoxites-Scalarituba, Phycodes and cf. Teichichnus traces in the Cambrian Keeseville Formation (Potsdam Group) at Beauharnois, Quebec, and suggested that the trace “fossils were produced in shallow marine to intermittently emergent sand-dominated coastal environments.”
Splawinski, Patterson and Kwiatkowski (2016) reported Diplichnites trackways (figure 7A), “Phycodes (Figure 7 C, D) traces show horizontal feeding burrows with broom-like branches radiating from the central burrow” and “Unidentified horizontal burrows (Figure 7 E, F)”, in the Cairnside formation of the Potsdam sandstone at Beauharnois, Québec, noting that they found “sedimentary structures and trace fossils indicative of supratidal, intertidal, and shallow-marine lithofacies.”
Back to Ontario
Keith (1946) when describing the Potsdam sandstones of Frontenac, Leeds, and Lanark counties, Ontario, mentions that “Many of the calcareous beds [of the Potsdam sandstone] are filled with
fossil-worm burrows about 2 mm. in diameter; these have a nearly vertical attitude and are probably Scolithus linearis. Calcareous sandstones of the overlying March formation have a blue-grey colour, weather to brown, and contain predominant dolomite rather than calcite.” In a section of Potsdam sandstone from the Newboro area he reports “The sandstone exposed here is mostly a white quartzitic variety, except for a 12-inch "scolithus" bed near the top of the section.” He also reports a 2.4 foot layer of “Buff-weathering sandstone with vertical worm-burrow casts”in Potsdam sandstone south of Lyndhurst.
Intriguingly, Alice E. Wilson’s (1946) only mentions of trace fossils in her description of the Nepean formation are the sentences (at page 12 and 16) “There are also a number of tracks, some having a width of 3 to 4 inches, made presumably by some animal. ... As indicated previously, the fossils are limited to the tracks of some unknown creatures and to a linguloid form, Lingulella acuminata. Most of the tracks occur near Beauharnois, Quebec. One, near Perth, Ontario, and a very few from New York are also cited.” Wilson (1937) in an unpublished report on the Paleozoic rocks of the Ottawa area, when discussing the Nepean sandstone, mentions that “basal layers, exposed at one locality only, are from one to two feet in thickness, very closely cemented, almost quartzitic in their denseness, and riddled in places with the peculiar perforations generally called Scolithus canadensis.” Wilson (1956) in her field trip guide to the Ottawa District includes as Plate 1, Figure 1 a photograph she described as “Scolithus canadensis (Billings), supposed to be a worm boring, occurring in some places in the Nepean sandstone”, and in the text of her guide notes that “The Nepean sandstone ... is riddled with these burrows in some places.” She directs one to an outcrop south of Eagleson’s Corners (west of Ottawa) for “Nepean sandstone outcrops filled with these ‘worm’ holes.”
Wynne-Edwards (1967, page 121) when describing the Nepean sandstone formation of the Westport, Ontario area notes that “vertical tubular structures, 1/8 to 1/4 inch in diameter and about 1 inch long, which occur at several horizons in dolomitic layers in the sandstone, are believed to represent worm burrows or tubes built by phoronids, and are referred to as Scolithus.”
Lewis (1971) postulated that “Cairnside seas in Quebec and Ontario were probably very shallow. Structures and textures are compatible with beach and tidal environments. Tidal influence, originally inferred by Logan (1860, p. 208 ), is indicated in places by herringbone cross bedding and various tracks and trails (Logan 1860; Burling 1917; Clark and Usher 1948). The presence of Skolithos (Clark 1966) in this quartz sandstone may also be indicative; such associations have previously been found in transitional (nonmarine to marine) and littoral sequences”. [Some references omitted]
Greggs and Bond (1972) reported for the Nepean sandstones of Eastern Ontario that “The dominant expression of organic activity is the bioturbation developed in many of the beds. At some horizons, excellent burrows of Skolithos sp. and Diplocraterion sp . are preserved (Fig. 2). Skolithos sp. is the more abundant, expressed as infilled burrows ~2 cm long and 2-4 mm in diameter. This form becomes most abundant near the top of the Nepean Formation, and throughout seems to be virtually restricted to the upper few inches of each sandstone bed. In some of the thinner beds, evidence is available for several phases of burrowing activity; only the most recent of these burrows are moderately well-formed. The less abundant burrow form, Diplocraterion sp., demonstrates apparently exclusively, the protrusive Spreite form; the absence of retrusive Spreite would seem to suggest that sedimentation was discontinuous and that the supply of sediment and the hydrodynamical intensity were variable ... The restriction of burrowing activity to the upper few inches of sandstone beds suggests rapid deposition of sand, followed by a lull in sedimentation which permitted widespread colonization and development of the burrowing organisms.”
Bond and Greggs (1973) looked at the Nepean Formation of the Potsdam Group west and north of Brockville, Ontario and reported that “The upper beds of the Nepean show well developed burrowing and bioturbation; in some beds, excellent Diplocraterion sp. burrows are preserved.”
Greggs and Gorman (1976) assigned the Nepean sandstones of the 1000 Islands region a shallow water deposition environment and reported that “The bioturbation of many of the sandstone beds is generally so extensive as to obliterate individual burrows, but at some horizons excellent burrows of Skolithos sp. and Diplocraterion sp., are preserved. (Plate 3) Skolithos sp. is the more abundant, and is expressed as infilled burrows approximately 2 cm long and 2-3 mm in diameter. These burrows become much more common near the top of the formation.”
Wolf and Dalrymple (1984, 1985) divided the Potsdam Group in the Kingston-Brockville-
Big Rideau Lake area of Eastern Ontario into various facies. In an eolian facies characterized by sandstone with very large-scale crossbeds they reported Protichnites. In a tide-dominated marine facies characterized by alternating crossbedded and bioturbated sandstone they reported (A) discrete vertical burrows (Skolithos, Diplocraterion, Arencolites and Monocraterion) in the crossbedded part, and (B) in the bioturbated portion “Where discrete burrows can be identified, they are primarily horizontal types (Palaeophycus, Phycodes, and Teichichnus), except in a small number of pipe-rock beds situated near the top of the formation which contain abundant Arenicolites.” In a storm-dominated, shallow marine facies “characterized by repeated, parallel sided beds with thicknesses from a few centimetres to approximately 0.2 m.” they reported that “Both Diplocraterion, and Bergaueria burrows are present within this interval, and horizontal Treptichnus traces have been seen on the bases of some beds.” For a cross-bedded, braided fluvial, deposit they reported sporadic Skolithos burrows.
Harding and Risk’s (1986) electron microprobe scans across Skolithos burrows collected from the Nepean Formation near Kingston, Ontario revealed a zone of concentrations of iron, aluminum, copper and nickel at the burrow margins.
Bjerstedt and Erickson (1989) identified an interesting burrow in Nepean sandstone at Browns Bay Provincial Park, which is west of Brockville, Ontario. They reported that the outcrop “contains abundant large escape burrows identical to those illustrated by Frey and Pemberton (1984, Fig. 2G).” [Added Aug. 7, 2021:] I was able to purchase a copy of Frey and Pemberton’s paper. Their figure 2G shows a V shaped trace fossil, and is not at all similar to a large burrow reported by Lowe (2016) from the Keeseville/Cairnside at Gatineau, Quebec.
Williams (1991, OFR5770) provides numerous measured sections of Paleozoic rocks for outcrops and quarries in Eastern Ontario, and for three of the sections (Hughes Quarry, North Elmsley, Lanark County; Forfar quarry, Township of Rideau Lakes; Philipsville roadcut) identifies beds where he observed Skolithos burrows in the Nepean Formation quartz sandstone.
Yochelson and Fedonkin (1991, 1993) describe a Climactichnites trail from near Battersea, Ontario, specimens of which are on display at the Miller Museum in Kingston, Ontario. The trails are outlined in dark purple, in contrast to the light tan sandstone matrix. Below is a photograph of the slab on display in the Miller Museum. The trails are about 5 inches (12 1/2 cm) wide.
MacNaughton, Cole, Dalrymple, Braddy, Briggs and Lukie (2002) reported arthropod trackways in an eolian dune facies of Potsdam sandstone at a quarry 20 km northeast of Kingston, Ontario, probably in a marginal-marine setting. They reported three morphological types of tracks: (1) a repeated series of 7 or 8 circular to tapered tracks with a medial impression; (2) trackways with no series structure , with a medial impression; (3) two parallel rows of tracks with no series structure and no medial impression. They suggested that types (1) and (2) are similar to Protichnites while type (3) is comparable to Diplichnites, and that the trackways were made by arthropods with at least eight walking legs, with at least some of the tracemakers possessing a telson (tail spine), possibly euthycarcinoids. Prophetically, Dr. MacNaughton noted that the same rocks occur in Northern New York and that examination of those rocks might yield discoveries of tracks (Broad, 2002).
Sanford and Arnott (2010) reported “a variety of vertical and commonly large trace fossils, including Arenicolites, Skolithos and Rosselia” from the Cairnside (Nepean) formation sandstone in Lac Beauchamp Park in Gatineau, Quebec, suggesting that the strata “were deposited in a high-energy, marine influenced, possibly tidally influenced sedimentary environment. They included a photograph of a Protichnites track from the eolian sandstone at the Sloan Quarry north of Kingston, Ontario (Figure 48) – the quarry where MacNaughton et al. (2002) reported Protichnites.
In blog postings dated July 9 and August 12, 2013 I reported finding Protichnites and Diplichnites traces in the Nepean (Keeseville) formation at the Ellisville Potsdam Sandstone Quarry. In my October 31, 2016 and September 14, 2017 blog posting I reported on Climactichites traces found at that quarry. Below are photographs of three slabs of Protichnites and a Climactichnites specimen from Ellisville.
New York State (1971 to the Present)
Trace Fossil have been reported from the Potsdam Sandstone of northwest New York by numerous authors in the latter half of the twentieth century and into this century (Including field trip guides by Kirchgasser and Theokritoff, 1971; VanDiver, 1976; Selleck, 1978, 1984, 2008; Erickson, 1993. Erickson and Bjerstdt, 1993, Erickson. Connett, and Fetterman, 1993, Dawson, 2002, Lowe, 2014 ; and articles by Bjerstedt and Erickson 1989; Hagadorn and Belt , 2008; Hagadorn, Collette and Belt, 2011 ). In the interest of brevity I won’t refer to all of them.
Kirchgasser and Theokritoff (1971) included a stop at Chippewa Bay to look at the “Vertical U- shaped organismal burrows (Diplocraterion?)” in Potsdam sandstone (figure 8) made by a suspension feeder. VanDiver (1976, page 64) has a stop at the Chippewa Bay outcrop where in the Potsdam sandstone he describes “Vertical, U-shaped organismal (probably worm) burrows near the base of the section”. Selleck (1978, 1989) reported Diplocriterion YoYo in the Potsdam at Chippewa Bay in a tide dominated environment, made by a wormlike filter feeding organism.
Bjerstedt and Erickson (1989) studied the Potsdam sandstone in the St. Lawrence Lowlands on
the northwest edge of the Adirondack Massif on both U.S. and Canadian sides of the St. Lawrence River, focusing on the Chippewa Bay exposure in New York State. They reported
“The intertidal habitats preserved in the upper Potsdam and Nepean Formations contain a Skolithos Ichnofacies of low-level suspension feeders dominated by Diplocraterion. D. parallelum is abundant, whereas D. helmerseni is rare. Escape burrows resembling Monocraterion are very common in one thick upper Potsdam bed . At the Chippewa Bay exposure, Skolithos forms only a minor component in the Potsdam Skolithos Ichnofacies, ... Elsewhere, shallow Skolithos and Monocraterion burrows (-3 to -6 cm) occur at most locations exposing the upper Potsdam in the Thousand Island region, but Skolithos generally does not occur with Diplocraterion. At Chippewa Bay, medium to thick beds of clean quartz sandstone containing abundant D. parallelum ... They are, however, entirely restricted to the upper 6 m of the Potsdam. High population densities of D. parallelum in single thickbedded sandstones are exposed at the unit 1 location. These beds approach "pipe-rock" burrow density , and indicate periods of relative substrate immobility, and probable diastems.” [citations and references to figures omitted]
Yochelson and Fedonkin (1993) reviewed all published occurrences of Climactichnites, visited most of them, noted a few new ones, provided details of older occurrences in Potsdam sandstones,and included photographs of many of them (including slabs from Perth and Battersea, Ontario; Port Henry, Mooers and Keeseville, New York State; Beauharnois, Rogier's Farm, and St. Hermas, Quebec). For example:
- “In New York, at the Minna Anthony Common Nature Center on Wellesley Island (11), near Alexandria Bay, a slab bearing Climactichnites is part of a "geological wall" just outside the
building. Apparently it was collected from a site on the island”
- “we were able to examine a large number of specimens exposed on one bedding plane at Au Sable Chasm, Keeseville, a locality reported by Van Ingen”.
Selleck’s (1993) field trip guide has stops to look at the sandy tidal flat environment of the upper Potsdam and the u-shaped burrow Diplocraterion in southwestern St. Lawrence Valley of upper New York State.
Erickson, Connett and Fetterman (1993) report an unusual bedding plane exposure of the Potsdam Sandstone near Champlain, New York, that “displays cross-strata and asymmetrical ripple marks that are indicative of complex tidal settings associated with am inlet or gut between large sand bodies or barrier bars. Associated with these high energy deposits are the trace fossils Diplocraterion( ?) sp . and Phycodes(?) sp. which colonized the cross-stratified deposits after deposition.” They also report an area displaying a densely burrowed bed “which shows Planolites beverlyensis , Phycodes sp., Teichichrms(?) sp., and possible Skolithos sp.”
Dawson’s (2002) field trip guide has stops to look (A) trace fossils in Keeseville Sandstone at the Clinton Farm Supply, Champlain, and (b) Climactichnites trails, Protichnites trackways and other traces in Keeseville sandstone at the Gaston Preserve of the Adirondack Nature Conservancy, New York State.
Burton-Kelly (2005) and Burton-Kelly and Erickson (2010) provided an analysis of three trackways of Protichnites Owen, 1852, from the Potsdam Sandstone on a single bedding-plane exposure of flat-lying, thinly bedded, fine-grained Potsdam Sandstone in Clinton County, New York displaying “at least eleven distinctive trackways of multi-legged nelson-bearing individuals”. (The site is part of the Galway Pine Barrens Reserve of the Adirondack Nature Conservancy.) They conclude that the animal that made the tracks was “an invertebrate animal with seven pairs of walking legs, with the possibility of additional limbs held out of contact with the substrate.” The trackways “are assigned to Protichnites septemnotatus based on their comparison with Owen’s original description.” Earlier Erickson (2004) had reported this bedding-plane exposure and suggested one trackway was made by a male and another by a female, with the interaction between the trackways interpreted as evidence of mating behavior.
Landing et al. (2007) provide a stratigraphic column of rocks in the Ausable Chasm, noting the trace fossils, and for the upper Potsdam report that “Trace fossils at this site are dominated by horizontally-oriented forms, such as the probable mollusk trails Aulichnites and Climactichnites, the arthropod trackways Diplichnites and Protichnites, and a burrow compared to Teichichnus. A few shallow, vertically oriented trace fossils, such as Arenicolites and Skolithos, are present. Many of the best exposures of the large traces are immediately below the spillway or on bedding planes... An exceptional specimen of Protichnites ... was collected about 100-200 m lower in the section ..., and is remarkable because it is not an undertrack, yet preserves the delicate bifid nelson impressions of the trackmaker.” Landing et al. (2007) also have stops to look at Phycoids (figure 14) and Arencolites or Diplocraterion. As well, Landing et al. (2007) also report that at the Galway Pine Barrens in New York State “The Keeseville Member at this location (Figure 12) is composed of thinly bedded, light gray, medium- to fine-grained quartz arenite. ... . Arthropod trackways (predominantly Diplichnites and Protichnites at Stop 3.8A), as well as the probable mollusk trackways Climactichnites and Plagiogmus (Stop 3.8B), are well preserved on some bedding surfaces (Figure 13).”
Selleck (2008) in a field trip guide on the Potsdam Formation, Southern Lake Champlain Valley, New York noted that “Horizontal burrows (Rusophycos, Teichichnus) and vertical burrows (Diplocraterion, Skolithos) are present” in the upper stratified unit and that “The upper Potsdam Formation (=Keeseville Member) in the study area were deposited in shallow marine
shoreface, foreshore, offshore subtidal shelf and tidal flat settings.” He also noted that “The large trace fossil Climactichnites has been described from quarried slabs of the Potsdam Formation from Port Henry, New York. Although no specimens have been observed in place, older quarries in the Port Henry area are within the upper stratified unit of the Potsdam, and the slabs bearing Climactichnites at Port Henry most closely resemble the upper stratified unit.”
Hagadorn and Belt (2008) looked at the Potsdam sandstone in the Ausable Chasm, New York and reported Arenicolites, Skolithos - Monocraterion (figure 4C) and trackways that include Climactichnites (figure 4A), Diplichnites (figure 4F) , cf. Plagiogmus, Protichnites (figure 4G), cf. Teichichnus (figures 4B, 4E), a bilobate trail Aulichnites (figure 4H), unilobate trails similar to Neonereites uniserialis, Phanolites (figure 10C1, D), concluding that the trace fossil assemblages are consistent with a mixed Cruziana-Skolithos ichnofacies. They also reported body fossils consisting of scyphomedusae impressions, and noted that “Diplocraterion- and Skolithos-piperock facies... are common only in the top strata of Potsdam sandstone near the base of the burrow-riddled Theresa (Bjeerstedt and Erickson, 1989; Selleck, 1993) or where mud is present.”
Getty and Hagadorn (2008, 2009) examined field and museum specimens of Climactichnites, concluded that it is restricted to shallow tide- and wave-influenced marine facies of the strata, restrict Climactichnites wilsoni to a surface trace, resurrect Climactichnites youngi as a burrowing trace (which lacks lateral ridges) , and erect Musculopodus to encompass body traces of the trailmaker, concluding that “Annelids and molluscs are the most likely candidates to have produced Climactichnites.”. Musculopodus is the ovoid body impression discussed by Woodworth (1903), Clarke (1905), Abel (1935) and others. Getty and Hagadorn (2008) also give field localities for Climactichnites including Hammond, New York and Réserve Ecologique, du Pin-Ridge, Quebec.
Hagadorn, Collette and Belt (2011) reported and figured various trace fossils found in interfingering eolian to brackish-marine sequence of the Potsdam sandstone in upper New York State (two in the Burke area – the Rainbow and Adirondack Quarries – and two in the Potsdam
area at Hannawa Falls that include a section downriver from the spillway and a section at the Parmeter Quarry). They found (A) several distinct kinds of arthropod trackways, including Diplichnites, Protichnites and unusual Diplopodichnus-like trackway, on eolian dunes, and (B) Arenicolites (U-shaped burrows) in a subaqueous Potsdam facies. Collette and Hagadorn (2010) remarked that “Eolian arthropod trackways from the Potsdam of Ontario and New York show no evidence of body impressions other than intermittent drag marks interpreted as having been made by a nelson. Sediment push-up mounds located posterior to limb imprints preclude an undertrack origin for these trackways; thus, the limbs of the tracemakers must have been both robust enough and long enough to have held these fairly large arthropods off the surface as they were climbing dune faces.”
David Lowe’s (2014) field trip guide covers select outcrops of Keeseville sandstone in the St. Lawrence valley of upper New York State. It does not cover the aeolian erg and tidedominated
marine facies described from previous work in the Potsdam by Bjerstedt and Erickson (1989)
Selleck (1993) and Hagadorn et al (2011). Instead it focuses on Keeseville sandstone outcrops exhibiting ephemeral fluvial and perennial (braided) fluvial facies structures. Dave notes that braided fluvial deposits are recognized in part by a “lack of trace fossils” and “by a dominance of coarse-grained trough cross-stratified sandstone, locally with tractional conglomerates, as well as the presence of lateral, downstream and upstream accreting architectural elements and channel elements.” He mentions no trace fossils in ephemeral fluvial or perennial (braided) fluvial facies structures.
David Lowe’s Doctoral Thesis
David Lowe’s (2016) doctoral thesis involved looking at the sedimentology, stratigraphic evolution and provenance of the Cambrian – Lower Ordovician Potsdam Group in the Ottawa Embayment and Quebec Basin. He recognized: six siliciclastic paleoenvironments: (a) braided fluvial, (b) ephemeral fluvial, c ) aeolian, (d) coastal sabkha, (e) tide-dominated marine and (f) open-coast tidal flat. He also made reports of, and observations on, trace fossils. Here are a few of his comments:
- “[I]t was notable that Protichnites, Diplichnites and Climactichnites most commonly occur on bedding planes of coastal sabkha strata (e.g., localities 190, 207, 210, 295) and in coastal plain ephemeral fluvial strata, which based on stratigraphic correlation may have been perhaps ~5 – 50 km from a coeval coastline or intertidal zone (e.g., localities 148, 152, 200 – 203). However, comparatively rare but seemingly larger Protichnites and Diplichnites were also present in aeolian and ephemeral fluvial strata farther removed from any possible nearby coastal environment (likely ~ 50 km or more; e.g. localities 27, 28, 68, 166).”
- He reported and figured a unique and enigmatic trace fossil from the Keeseville formation at an outcrop in a park near Lac Beauchamp in Gatineau, Quebec which displays large-scale compound dunes, a high energy setting. The “Traces are elliptical tube-shaped features that are 2 – 17 cm wide and at least ~10 – 60 cm long with massive fills and mm-thick lining. Individual burrows are commonly curved and variably angled, ranging from essentially vertical to horizontal ...Most burrows also show variations in morphology along their length from elliptical to circular” ... [T]hese burrows occur as solitary forms or are clustered . Clustered burrows commonly cross-cut one-another and commonly merge into a single large composite burrow (Figs 3.13a, 3.14). Typically burrows increase in width from the base the top of large-scale compound cosets, and many burrows in the lower part of a coset are truncated by downcurrent migrating dune sets. ... [T]he diameter of the burrows (~2 – 17 cm) suggest that the trace maker was relatively large, and variations in burrow shape and bending and coiling of the burrow suggest it had the ability to conform to different shapes, and thus was likely a soft-bodied organism (rather than an arthropod, for example) and probably a large polychaete worm,” Here are Dave’s drawings of the burrows, which are provided with Dave’s permission.
- Dave’s table 3.1 summarizes the lithofacies associations and gives a brief overview of the trace fossils associated with each facies.
- In his discussion of his facies FA5 – Bioturbated cross-stratified sandstone– Dave mentions that “A sparse to moderate intensity (BI of 1 – 3) assemblage of relatively small (~1 – 3 mm diameter and ~0.5 – 3.5 cm long) Skolithos, Arenicolites, Phycodes and/or rare Fugichnia traces commonly occur near the base of medium-scale compound cosets (Fig. 3.10), whereas a moderate to high intensity (BI of 2 – 4) assemblage of robust (~1.5 – 4 cm wide and ~3 – 22 cm long) protrusive Diplocraterion and/or Monocraterion usually occurs at the tops (Fig. 3.11c).”
Further Comments
A number of authors have looked at animals moving from the water to the land during the Cambrian and Ordovician periods and have used Protichnites and Climactichnites trace fossils to construct their models (including Dunlop et al. 2013, Mcnamara, 2014, Mángano and Buatois, 2004 Jennsen, Buatois and Mángano, 2013, Buatois and Mángano, 2011, Mángano and Buatois, 2015, Krapovickas et al., 2016). They have looked at Protichnites trackways when looking at animal incursions into coastal dune fields and have looked at Climactichnites trails and Protichnites tracks on tidal flats.
Numerous authors have recognized that the eolian facies of the Potsdam where MacNaughton et al. (2002) and where Hagadorn et al. (2011) reported Protichnites is a different facies than the littoral facies of the Potsdam where Logan (1851, 1852, 1863) and Walcott (1891, 1914) reported Protichnites. It is also worth noting that the eolian facies at those locations is older than the littoral facies, probably by at least a million years and perhaps by tens of millions of years, as the eolian Hannawa Falls Formation where MacNaughton et al. (2002) and Hagadorn et al. (2011) reported Protichnites is unconformably overlain by the Keeseville- Nepean Formation of Logan’s Protichnites. The unconformity is expressed in most places as an erosional disconformity, but locally as an angular unconformity (See Lowe, 2016; Sanford and Arnott, 2010).) The difference in facies and the difference in age may account for why the tracks look quite different.
Unfortunately the only body fossils found thus far in the Potsdam are the euthycarcinoid Mictomerus melochevillensis, a few trilobites, gastropods, molluscs and brachiopods. None represent the animals that likely made the Protichnites or Diplichnites traces.
Almost all Protichnites and Diplichnties tracks in Potsdam sandstone are comprised of series of circular punctuate marks, or straight or crescent marks. Walcott (1914) included two plates of trifid footprints. Burton-Kelly (2005) reported “Some individual tracks appear to be bifid or trifid in form.” A few of the footprints on Logan’s specimens of Protichnites Septemnotatus and Protichnites Alternans are arguably bifid and trifid in form. The only trifid footprints that I have seen in Eastern Ontario were in a thin shale layer in sandstone in Leeds County, and it was not clear whether the outcrop was Nepean or March Formation.
Keighley and Pickerill (1998) attempted to introduce some order into the discussion of Protichnites and Diplichnites trackways, while both Hoxie (2005) and Burton-Kelly (2007) analysed the variability in Protichnites morphology and took a restricted view of what it should encompass . In contrast to Owen (1852, 1860) whose Protichnites encompassed much variation, Burton-Kelly (2007) defined Protichnites as “a trackway possessing the following characteristics: paired imprints across the midline, medial structure (groove(s) or ridge(s)), and a countable (i.e., generally unchanging) number of tracks in each repeating trackset” and didn’t include all of Owen’s variations. Burton-Kelly (2007) proposed that his tighter redefinition of Protichnites would not cover three of the species Owen described as P. multinotatus, P. lineatus, and P. alternans. He proposed that these ichnofossils would be better placed under other genera.
[Added May, 2023:] Rose, Harris and Milner (2021) suggest that Protichnites traces “comprise thick, often segmented medial impressions (sometimes absent except on trackway turns) flanked by oppositely arranged, subcircular to ellipsoidal to irregularly shaped tracks with varying orientations to the trackway axis” following Burton-Kelly & Erickson, 2010.
[Added May, 2023] Braddy, Gass and Gass (2022) commented on the Logan’s trackways from Beauharnois, Quebec and MacNaughton et al. (2002)’s trackways from Ontario: “Some of the oldest trackways on land are from the Late Cambrian (500Ma) of Ontario, Canada. Trackways up to 13 cm wide with repeated patterns up to 11 tracks (Diplichnites) and similar trackways with a central tail drag (Protichnites) were found in ancient windblown (aeolian) dune deposits. ... Similar trackways from Cambrian tidal flats in Quebec, Canada discovered in the mid-nineteenth century... These trackways were clearly made by an arthropod with at least 11 pairs of similar walking legs and a tail-spine. ... They were eventually attributed to euthycarcinoids, the ancestors (stem-group) of the myriapods, based on a shared similar ‘pre-oral cavity’, resembling a 30-cm-long woodlouse with a tail spine, but their body fossils are missing in these strata. ... The trackways from Ontario, which were probably made by euthycarcinoids, show that they lunged awkwardly in-phase across the dunes, suggesting that they were not fully land-going.”
Logan’s Specimens of Protichnites Were Found
It is worth noting that Logan’s original specimens of Protichnites were located in the collection of Canada’s National Museum of Nature and await re-examination (see MacNaughton, Brett, Coyne and Shepherd, 2017). The lithographs that appeared in Owen’s (1852) paper show only parts of the trackways. Below is a photograph of Logan’s original specimen of Protichnites octo-notatus with a copy of the lithograph from Owen’s (1852) paper, as photographed at the Canadian Museum of Nature's Research and Collections facility in 2014. The blue ruler is 12 inches long. The silver ruler is a meter stick.
The Glen Quarry That Was the Source for the First Specimens of Climactichnites Was Likely Found in 2013
The type locality for Climactichnites wilsoni is a small quarry about a mile from the town of Perth, Ontario as it existed in 1859. The original specimens were located by Dr. James Wilson of Perth who sent them to William Logan at the Geological Survey of Canada in Montreal. In December, 1859 Logan sent James Richardson to Perth where he quarried a specimen of about seventy-six square feet that is shown in the second and third photographs of this posting. In 1881 the Geological Survey of Canada and its rock, mineral and fossil collections were moved to Ottawa. In 1882 James Richardson returned to Perth and collected the large specimen of Climactichnites featured in Dawson’s (1890) paper that is on display at the Redpath Museum in Montreal and is shown above. Other specimens from the quarry near Perth are in the collections of the Perth Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum, and were presumably collected by Dr. James Wilson.
Yochelson and Fedonkin (1993) reported that they had visited Perth and that the quarry “cannot be located with any certainty and might now be covered by buildings.” Others have tried to find the quarry. I believe that I located the quarry where James Richardson collected the first specimens of Climactichnites that were described by W. E. Logan. See my following blog postings.
On the trail of Climactichnites wilsoni - Part 1: Specimens Collected from a Quarry near Perth, Ontario. Blog Posting dated January 31 2013. http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2013/01/
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. Blog posting dated February 11, 2013 http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2013/02/
On the trail of Climactichnites wilsoni - Part 3: A quarry about a mile from Perth as the town existed in 1859. Blog posting dated May 6, 2013. http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2013/05/on-trail-of-climactichnites-wilsoni.html
Christopher Brett
Ottawa
Addendum (April, 2023): I have added the part dealing with finding the type quarry for Climactichnites near Perth.
Selected References and Suggested Reading
There were a number of references that I could not locate or could not
access the libraries where they can be found because of COVID-19
restrictions. These are indicated below by ‘[not available]’.
Abel, Othenio, 1926
Amerikafahrt : Eindrücke, Beobachtungen und Studien eines Naturforschers auf einer Reise nach Nordamerika und Westindien. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena 462 p., mit 273 Fotos
Othenio Abel, 1935
Vorzeitliche Lebensspuren. Jena: Verlag von Gustav Fischer. 644 pages. Mit 530 Abbildungen im text. Climactichnites at pages 242-247
Abraham, Robert, 1847
Montreal Gazette [not available]
Abraham, Robert, 1851
Tracks of a Chelonian Reptile in the Lower Silurian formation, at Beauharnois. The British American Medical & Physical Journal, Volume 7, No. 5, pages 195-200
https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_05181_17/6?r=0&s=1
Ami, Henry M., 1893
Additional notes on the geology and palaeontology of Ottawa and its environs. The Ottawa Naturalist, Volume 6, Pages 73-78
Ami, Henry M., 1894
Notes on the geology and paleontology of the Rockland Quarries and vicinity, in the county of Russell, Ontario, Canada. The Ottawa Naturalist, Volume 7, 138- 143
Ami, Henri M., 1896
Notes on some of the Fossil Organic Remains comprised in the Geological Formations and Outliers of the Ottawa Palaeozoic basin. Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., 2nd ser., Vol. II sec. 4, pp.151 -158 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/40727#page/991/mode/1up
Ami, Henry M., 1901
Lists of fossils obtained from the several formations Along the Ottawa River pertaining to the Report on Sheet no. 121, Quebec and Ontario (Grenville Sheet). In Report on the geology of Argenteuil, Ottawa and part of Pontiac counties, province of Quebec, and portions of Carleton, Russell and Prescott counties, province of Ontario, By R. W. Ells. Geological Survey of Canada Report 739
Ami, Henry M., 1904
Preliminary list of fossil organic remains from the Potsdam-Utica and Pleistocene Formations Comprised within the Perth Sheet (No. 119) in Eastern Ontario. Pages 80-89, Appendix to Report on the Geology of a Portion of Eastern Ontario by R. W. Ells, Geological Survey of Canada Annual Report 14, Part J,
Ami, Henry M. And Sowter, T. E. W., 1888
Report of the geological branch - To the Council of the Ottawa Field Naturalists Club. The Ottawa Naturalist, Volume 1, 93-97
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/15579#page/104/mode/1up
Billings, Elkanah, 1865
Palæozoic Fossils, Volume 1. Geological Survey of Canada; Montreal: Dawson brothers. 426 pages https://archive.org/details/cu31924003872862 Scolithus Canadensis p. 96
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, 4:203–224.
Bernstein 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
Bond, I.J., and Greggs, R.G., 1973,
Revision of the March Formation (Tremadocian) in southeastern Ontario, Canadian Journal of Earth Science, v. 10, p. 1140-1155.
https://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/e73-098#.X3aKZbj6iE8
Braddy. Simon, Kenneth Gass, Todd C. Gass, 2022 Fossils of Blackberry Hill, Wisconsin, USA: the first animals on land, 500 Ma . Geology Today 38(1):25-31 DOI:10.1111/gto.12379
Brand,Uwe and Brian R. Rust, 2011
The age and upper boundary of the Nepean Formation in its type section near Ottawa, Ontario
February 2011Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 14(9):2002-2006
DOI: 10.1139/e77-171
Brett, Christopher P., 2013a
A New Occurrence of Protichnites in Potsdam Group Sandstone near Kingston, Ontario
Blog posting dated Tuesday, 9 July 2013
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2013/07/
Brett, Christopher P., 2013b
The Trace Fossil Diplichnites – A New Occurrence in Eastern Ontario
Blog posting dated 12 August 2013
Brett, Christopher P., 2013c
Abraham, Logan and Owen: The Discovery of the First Protichnites trackways – Part 1
Blog posting dated 29 August 2013
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2013/08/
Brett, Christopher P., 2017
Abraham, Logan and Owen: The Discovery of the First Protichnites trackways – Part 2
blog posting dated September 4, 2017
http://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2017/09/abraham-logan-and-owen-discovery-of.html
Braddy, S. J., 2004,
Ichnological evidence for the arthropod invasion of land, in Webby, B.D., Mangano, M.G., and Buatois, L.A., eds., Trace fossils in evolutionary palaeoecology: Fossils and Strata Special Issue, v. 51, p. 136–140
Buatois, Luis A. And Gabriela Mangano, 2011
The Trace-fossil Record of Organism-Matground Interactions in Space and Time. Pages 15-28 SEPM Special Publication No. 1001
Burling, Lancaster D. , 1917
Protichites and Climactichnites: A Critical Study of Some Cambrian Trails. American Journal of Science. Series 4, Vol. 44 pages 396-398
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Burton-Kelly, Matthew E., 2005
An analysis of multiple trackways of Protichnites Owen, 1852, from the Potsdam Sandstone (late Cambrian), St. Lawrence Valley, NY. A Bachelors Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of Geology of St. Lawrence University. 71 pages
Burton-Kelly, Matthew E., 2007
Analysis of variability in Protichnites morphology and a standardized method of identification
Conference: Ichnological Applications to Sedimentological and Sequence Stratigraphic Problems, SEPM Research Conference, May 20 - 26, 2007, Price, Utah, USAAt: Price, Utah, USA
Burton-Kelly, M. E, and J Mark Erickson, 2010
A New Occurrences of Protichnites Owen, 1852, in the Late Cambrian Potsdam Sandstone of the St. Lawrence Lowlands. The Open Paleontology Journal, https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOPALOJ-3-1
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Clark, T.H., 1947
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River; Que. Dept. Mines, P.R. 204,
Clark, T.H., 1952
Montreal area, Laval and Lachine Maps Areas. Quebec Geological Report 46
Clark, T. H., 1963
Field Trip 10- Breccia localities. In: T. H. Clark (editor) Guide Book. Geological Association of Canada, 16th Annual Meeting, Montreal, pp. 95-104 [ not available]
Clark, T.H., 1966
Chateauguay Area; Quebec Department of Natural Resources, Geological Report 122, 63p.
Clark, T. H.. 1972
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Clark, T. H. 1972a,
Stratigraphy and structure of the St. Lawrence Lowland of Quebec; 24th International Geological Congress, Field Excursion C52 Guidebook, 82p [Not Available]
Clark, T. H. and Stearn, C.W. , 1963
Ordovician stratigraphy of the St. Lawrence Lowlands: Geological Association of Canada, 16th Annual Meeting, Guide Book pp 39-52 [Not available]
Clark, T. H. and Usher, J. L. 1948.
The sense of Climactichnites. American Journal of Science, 246, 251–253.
Clarke, J. M., 1903
Report of the State Paleontologist, New York Museum Bulletin 5, 55th Annual Report
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Clarke, J. M., 1905
Fossil Trails at Bidwell’s Crossing. Bulletin New York State Museum, No. 80, page 18-20, pl. 3
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Clarke, John M. and R. Ruedmann, 1912
The Eurypterida of New York. – New York State Museum, Memoir 14, Albany, 1912, Vol. 1, p 85-86, Footnote.
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Collette, J.H. and Hagadorn, J.W., 2010
Three-dimensionally preserved arthropods from Cambrian Lagerstatten of Quebec and Wisconsin
J. Paleont., 84(4), 2010, pp. 646–667
Collette, J.H., Hagadorn, J.W., and Lacelle, M.A., 2010,
Dead in their tracks: Cambrian arthropods and their traces from intertidal sandstones of Quebec and Wisconsin: Palaios, 475–486. cf. Didymaulichnus traces
Conway Morris, S. , 1977
Fossil Priapulid Worms. The Palaeontological Association, Special Papers in Palaeontology, 20: 95 pages plus 65 pages of plates
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Cushing, H. P. 1908.
Lower portion of the Paleozoic section in northwestern New York. Geological Society of America Bulletin 19: 155-176
Cushing, H. P., H. L. Fairchild, R. Rudemann and C. H. Smyth, 1910,
Geology of the Thousand Islands Region (Alexandria Bay, Cape Vincent, Clayton, Grindstone and Theresa Quadrangles): N.Y. St. Mus. Bull., No. 145, 177 p.
Dawson, James C., 2002
Early paleozoic continental shelf to basin transition rocks: Selected classic localities in the lake champlain valley of New York State. New York State Geological Association field trip A3
Dawson, J. W., 1883
Impressions on Potsdam sandstone. Science, vol. 1, 1883, p. 177.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/97767#page/193/mode/1up
Dawson, J. W., 1890
On burrows and tracks of invertebrate animals in Paleozoic rocks, and other markings. Geological Survey of London Quarterly Journal, 46:595–617.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/112396#page/693/mode/1up
Dix, G.R., Salad Hersi, O., Molgat, M., and Arnott, R.W.C. 1997:
Lithostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy of the Lower Paleozoic succession in the Ottawa Valley; Field Trip A2 Guidebook, Geological Association of Canada–Mineralogical Association of Canada, Joint Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Ontario, 48 p. [not available]
Dzik, Jerzy, 2005
Behavioral and Anatomical Unity of the Earliest Burrowing Animals and the Cause of the "Cambrian Explosion" Paleobiology Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 503-521
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Ells, R. W. 1895
The Potsdam and Calciferous formations of Quebec and eastern Ontario: Royal
Soc. Can. Proc. Trans., 12, IV, 21-30, 1895.
Ells, R. W., 1901
Report on the geology of Argenteuil, Ottawa and part of Pontiac counties, province of Quebec, and portions of Carleton, Russell and Prescott counties, province of Ontario, Geological Survey of Canada Report 739 https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100300823
Ells, R. W., 1902
Report on the geology and natural resources of the area included in the map of the City of Ottawa and vicinity, Geological Survey of Canada, Annual Report (new Series), Volume XII,
The Potsdam at the contact is tilted and dips S. 50'' E. <15̊-20\ In the vicinity the sandstones
are filled with Scolithos markings which are the only fossils yet recognized in this part of the formation in this district https://doi.org/10.4095/294885
Ells, R. W., 1903
Notes on some interesting contacts in the Kingston district. Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., 2nd ser., Vol. IX, sec. 4, pp. 97-108, 1903.
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Ells, R. W., 1907
Report on the geology and natural resources of the area included in the northwest quarter-sheet, number 122, of the Ontario and Quebec series comprising portions of the counties of Pontiac, Carleton and Renfrew, Geological Survey of Canada Report 977
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Erickson, J.M., 1993
Cambro-Ordovician Stratigraphy, Sedimentation, and Ichnobiology of the St. Lawrence
Lowlands-Frontenac Arch to the Champlain Valley of New York. Trip A-3( I). New York Geological Association Field Trip Guidebook, pages 68 - 95.
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Earliest evidence of invertebrate sexual behavior, or a tidal flat traffic jam in the Potsdam Fm, (Late Cambrian)? Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 36(5):66.
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Traces Fossils and Stratigraphy in the Potsdam and Theresa Formations of the St. Lawrence Lowland;~New York. Trip A-3(2). New York State Geological Association Field Trip Guidebook, pages 97 - 119. 1 .
Erickson , Mark; Peter Connett and Andrew R. Fetterman, 1993
TRIP A3(4) Distribution of trace fossils preserved in high energy Deposits of the Potsdam Sandstone, Champlain, New York . New York State Geological Association,
Ferrier, Walter F., 1883
Notes on a fossil track from the Potsdam sandstone of northern Now York State. Canadian Naturalist and Quarterly Journal of Science, new series, vol. 10, pp. 466, 467.
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Frey, R.W., and Pemberton S,. G., 1984,
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Getty, Patrick Ryan and James W. Hagadorn, 2008
Reinterpretation of Climactichnites Logan 1860 to include Subsurface burrows, and erection of Musculopodus for Resting traces of the trailmaker. J. Paleontology., 82(6), 2008, pp. 1161–1172
Getty, Patrick Ryan and James W. Hagadorn, 2009
Palaeobiology of the Climactichnites trackmaker. Palaeontology, Volume: 52, Part: 4 Publication Date: July 2009 Pages 753 – 778. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2009.00875.x
Globensky, Y. 1981
Region de Huntingdon; Ministere de L'Energie et des Ressources, Service des Leves
Geologiques, Rapport Geologique 198. 53p.
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Globensky, Y. 1982a
Région de Lachute, Rapport Géologique 200, Quebec, Ministère de l'énergie et des Ressources
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Globensky, Y. 1982b
Region de Vaudreuil; Ministere de L'Energie et des Ressources, Service des Levés Géologiques,
Rapport Geologique 199. 59p.
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Greggs, R.G. and Bond, Ivor J., 1972
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Greggs, R.G. and Gorman, W.A. 1976
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Stranded in upstate New York: Cambrian medusae from the Potsdam Sandstone. Palaios, 23:424–441.
Hagadorn, James W., Joseph H. Collette, and Edward S. Belt, 2011
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Hagadorn, James W., Lacelle, Mario, 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
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Report of the Director for 1888. Annual Report of the New York State Museum of Natural History, 42:17-34. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/148536#page/15/mode/1up
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Hoxie, Charles T. , 2005
Late Cambrian Arthropod Trackways in Subaerially Exposed Environments: Incentives to Simplify a Problematic Ichnogenus. Thesis, Bachelor of Arts, Department of Geology of Amherst College, 89 pages
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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
Kirchgasser, W. and G. Theokritoff, 1971, PreCambrian and Lower Paleozoic Stratigraphy, Northwest St. Lawrence and Northern Jefferson Counties, New York: In Geological Studies of the Northwest Adirondack Region, Field Trip Guidebook, 43rd Ann. Mtg., NY.S.G.A., p. b-l-b-24. http://www.nysga-online.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/1971_bookmarked.pdf
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Lacelle, Mario, J. W. Hagadorn and Pierre Groulx, 2012b
Prolific Potsdam Protichnites: Giant trackways, trails, and Paleoenvironments from Beauharnois, of the Cambrian Keeseville Formation (Potsdam Group), Beauharnois, Quebec
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Qualitative Petrographic Interpretation of Potsdam Sandstone (Cambrian), Southwestern Quebec
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On the Occurrence of a Track and Foot-prints of an Animal in the Potsdam Sandstone of Lower Canada: Geological Society of London Quarterly Journal, v. 7, p. 247–250.
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On the Foot-prints occurring in the Potsdam Sandstone of Canada. Geological Society of London Quarterly Journal, v. 8, p. 199-213
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Logan, W. E., 1860
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Lowe, D.G. 2014.
Stratigraphy and Terrestrial to Shallow Marine Environments of the Potsdam Group in the Southwestern Ottawa Embayment. In Geology of the Northwestern Adirondacks and St. Lawrence River Valley, New York State Geological Association 86th annual meeting guidebook, pp. 183–203
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Doctoral Thesis, University of Ottawa,
http://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/handle/10393/35303
David G. Lowe, R.W.C. Arnott, Godfrey S. Nowlan, A.D. McCracken, 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
Lowe, David, Ryan Brink and Charlotte J. Mehrtens, 2015
Sedimentology and Stratigraphy of the Cambrian-Ordovician Potsdam Group (Altona, Ausable and Keeseville Formations), Northwestern NY (Field Trip D-2). New York State Geological Association 87th annual meeting at Plattsburgh, NY
Landing, Ed., David A. Franzi , James W. Hagadorn, Stephen R. Westrop, Bjorn Kroger , and James C. Dawson, 2007
Cambrian of East Laurentia: Field Workshop in Eastern New York and Western Vermont. In Ediacaran-Ordovician of East Laurentia— S. W. Ford memorial volume. New York State Bulletin 510
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MacNaughton, R. W., Brett, C. P., Coyne, M. And Shepherd, K., 2017
Sir William Logan and the Adventure of the Ancient Amphibious Arthropod. Abstract with Program, Canadian Paleontological Conference, Calgary, Alberta
MacNaughton, R. B., J. M. Cole, R. W. Dalrymple, S. J. Braddy, D. E.G. Briggs, and T. D. Lukie. 2002.
First steps on land: Arthropod trackways in Cambrian-Ordovician eolian sandstone, southeastern Ontario, Canada. Geology, 30:391–394.
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MacNaughton R.B. and Hagadorn J.W., 2006 Report on plaster casts of arthropod-produced trace fossils (Protichnites) figured in W.E. Logan’s Geology of Canada (1863), and recently copied from material in the Amherst College Museum of Natural History, Amherst, MA. Geological Survey of Canada, Report 001-RBM-2006,
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
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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_
Malz, H. 1968.
Climactichnites—die Kreichspur einer noch unbekannten kambrischen Tieres. Natur und Museum, 98:369-373. [not available]
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