2021 IN REVIEW
1 Timothy 6
20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed unto thee, and avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called,
21 Which while some profess, they have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee, Amen.
1599 Geneva Bible
"When out fossil hunting, it is very easy to forget that rather than telling you how the creatures lived, the remains you find indicate only where they became fossilized.",  Richard E. Leakey (1946)
 Another wild ride around the sun as COVID restrictions continue in 2021. Who knows where it will end, but it does seem like the end times are unfolding before our very eyes! We will start with the most recent event and work backwards. Enjoy another short year-end newsletter! Marc and Martin
DECEMBER
COVID restrictions in 2021 keep easing and tightening but I did manage to get in a small museum tour with a Springvale Baptist Church men's Bible study group which I am a part of. Getting out to church is at times difficult, but I am sure glad to be a part of this group!
Now that we have moved to a larger property, I was able to set up my fossil prepping system again after a 5 year interlude. Here is a Ceraurus Trilobite that was collected in 2019 going through the prepping system.
Ceraurus trilobite as found at St. Marys Quarry in Bowmanville in 2019
An air scribe was used to chip away at the surrounding rock to reveal more of the trilobite. The air scribe is basically a mini jack hammer. 
Now on to the air eraser. Abrasive material shoots through the gun to remove more of the surrounding rock off of the trilobite and clean it up. This photo was taken through the glass cover of a sand blasting cabinet. 
Not a perfect specimen but it did clean up nicely. For more on fossil preparation, visit FOSSIL PREPARATION
NOVEMBER
Great new museum acquisitions added in November through Creation Truth Ministries (Vance Nelson)
There is ample evidence that man and dinosaur lived together. Here is a reproduction of a petroglyph discovered in ​1879 in the Havasupai Canyon in Arizona, along with other animal figures.
 www.creationtruthministries.org
Reproduction of a carving on a Hindu temple in Cambodia which was completed in 1186 A.D. More evidence that man and dinosaur co-existed!  
​www.creationtruthministries.org
Does calcite in the form of stalactites really take thousands of years to form? This calcite was formed in a metal pipe in just several decades! The pipes were removed under the streets of a town called Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. Evolutionary slow processes are nothing more than a pipe dream!
​  https://www.untoldsecretsofplanetearth.com
OCTOBER
After more than 2 years another museum exhibit is completed. A 1927 Clear Vision gas pump! Evidence for a quick burial of plant and animal matter is all around us in the form of petroleum products! For the full restoration, visit the RESTORATION PROJECTS page!
SEPTEMBER
In September I finally got back to Thicksons Point in Whitby, down by Lake Ontario, to collect fossils in the Whitby Oil Shale. We had some out-of-town visitors for the summer, so I took them along. Here is a view of the Lake Ontario shoreline with the Point in the background.
We parked at Thicksons Point and found a safe place to clamber down the steep embankment.
​It was great to get a whiff again of that addictive oil smell as we cracked open the rocks. After a few collecting tips my visitors were quickly finding some fossils. Here is an orthocone fossil. See the cone shaped shell?
​Dean and Peter splitting shale on a granite boulder.
​Dean found some nice stuff here. An orthocone and several glabella (nose area) from a Triarthrus trilobite.
Peter pointing to a couple of finds.
This orthocone is beautifully pyritized. Along with the presence of oil, both are indicators of a quick burial.
I was a happy camper because this was the first time I found a complete trilobite in this area! The slab split apart as I pulled it out of the clay.
Trilobite 1 close up.
​On the way back one more hit of the hammer revealed the largest orthocone of the day.
The complete trilobite: it cleaned up not badly, after a vinegar soak for about 4 hours.
​Peter cracking open some glacial till rocks. The black ones are a telltale sign that they are oil shale. There is actually no true Whitby Oil Shale Formation exposure here, but there are plenty of glacially distributed rocks broken off from that formation' to give us lots of fossil collecting action!
​Also found early on were some crinoid stems.
​Close up. Notice the pyritization! (bronze colouration)
Another orthocone and ...
... a tail or Pygitium of the trilobite Psuedogygites latimarginatus.
Positive and negative impression of the same orthocone.
​There were 2 on one slab, actually. Can you find them?  One complete and one nearly complete. Both the Psuedogygites trilobite. (Fossil right side, cast left side.)
​Trilobite 2: I'll soak the slab in vinegar to clean it up a bit as calcite has seeped into this split.
Close up. All in all, it was a successful fossil collecting excursion.
Like this fossil site? We've added it as an alternative collecting site on the page, 7 ONTARIO GEOLOGICAL WONDERS. Click the link and scroll down to to Wonder Number 3, The oil shales of the Whitby Formation.
AUGUST
About twice a year I go on a CCFMS (Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies) dig, but this time they asked me to participate in an exploratory dig at Queenston Quarry. It was organized by the London Gem, Mineral & Fossil Society and led by Ashley Pollock. It was exploratory because CCFMS wanted to see if it was feasible to run regular trips to the site. I was honoured to be asked to be a part of it.
Arrival at the parking lot at Queenston Quarry. This quarry is semi-active the rest of the quarry is on a rehabilitation plan.
Collecting in the Rochester Shale. These shales can yield some amazing marine fossils, but sadly the fossiliferous part of this formation is deep into the quarry floor.
As is typical, these upper formations produce some amazing mineral crystallization. Here are dolomite crystals.
The guys are on to something here!
Dolomite crystals in vugs (cavities).
​Sorry, I can't get enough of these crystals.
​​Ashley took home an interesting mineral shaped in small little balls. Mineral to be determined.
Peter found the first really good fossil ...
Off we go to the north half of the quarry, where much of the rehabilitation is taking place. Here mostly the Lockport Formation is exposed. Formation names have nothing to do with evolution, but are customarily associated with where the formation was first studied or where large outcrops exist.
​Scanning the boulders, hoping your eye will catch something glistening.
​Peter found a nice, clean specimen ...
​With a bit of effort, Aidan's mineral was removed from a boulder ...
We all headed in our cars to the southern half of the quarry. It cuts through the Lockport, Decew, and Rochester Formations. A formation is a recognizable layer of rock that differs from the upper and lower rocks.
​Up in the Lockport and Decew Formations
​Some interesting gypsum nodules.
​Fossils are scarce, but here is a rather large coral.
​Notable is the amount of stylolites found here. At first glance they look like fossilized wood, but they are actually thought to have been created by earthquakes while the sediment was still soft. Great evidence of the earth's catastrophic past.
​Checking out the specimens so far.
Closeup of Ashley's find. Most minerals were in hard dolostone, so including this one, they had to be cut out with a concrete saw.
... a partial cephalopod (Orthocone).
A large vug with celestite crystals above the coin.  Again, anything in the hard dolostone will have to be cut or sledged out ... the latter risking damage to the specimen. However, a sledge hammer can open up new pockets of crystals that were hidden by the rock.
​A beautiful cluster of celestite crystals, reminiscent of the Dundas (Lafarge) Quarry days, which used to yield countless crystals.
​Taking a pause for show and tell time.
​... a dolomite crystal cluster.
​... an amazing celetite crystal! At the end of the day I think the consensus was that this site wasn't feasible for a regular CCFMS trip because of the lack of fossils, and the sparse minerals. It is not kid friendly because of the very hard rock, so at best a trip could be arranged for adults who are beginner and novice collectors. Despite the disappointment, it was a great day to get outdoors and see other collectors and old friends again!
2022 TOURS AND FOSSIL TRIPS
We are taking bookings for 2022 museum tours and fossil trips. COVID restrictions may alter capacities.
Book your group for a 2022 museum tour. More details @ MUSEUM TOUR
Book your group for a 2022 fossil trip or get on a list for the next public trip. More info @ FOSSIL TRIPS