The Creation Research Museum of Ontario
Like us on
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
  • VIRTUAL TOUR
  • TOURS
  • 7 ONTARIO GEOLOGICAL WONDERS
  • SUPPORTERS
  • 2022 IN REVIEW
  • FOSSIL TRIPS
    • QUARRY DIGS
  • KIDS FOSSIL ID
    • ADVANCED FOSSIL ID
  • RECENT NEWSLETTERS
    • 2021 IN REVIEW
    • 2020 IN REVIEW
    • 2019 IN REVIEW
    • 2018 NEWSLETTER
    • PAST NEWSLETTERS >
      • FALL 2015 NEWSLETTER
      • FALL 2014 NEWSLETTER
      • WINTER 2014 NEWSLETTER
      • NEWSLETTER FALL 2013
      • EUROPE 2012
      • NEWSLETTER FALL 2011
      • NEWSLETTER SPRING 2011
      • *NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2010 NOVA SCOTIA
      • *NEWSLETTER AUG. 2010 CALGARY
  • SHOP
    • LINKS
    • FREEBIES
  • RECENT EVENTS
    • OPEN HOUSE 2020
    • 2019 HOMESCHOOLING CONFERENCE BOOTH
    • 2018 TOUR WITH JOHN MACKAY
    • PAST EVENTS >
      • 2017 TOUR
      • 2017 QUARRY DIG
      • CREATION WEEKEND 2017
      • FALL 2016 FOSSIL TRIPS
      • SPRING 2014 EVENTS
      • OPEN HOUSE 2014
      • CREATION WEEKEND SPRING 2013
      • NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM FEB. 18, 2012
      • EXHIBITION 2012
      • OPEN HOUSE 2011
      • OPEN HOUSE 2010
  • RESEARCH
    • FOSSIL PREPARATION
    • MOBILE DISPLAYS
    • RESTORATION PROJECTS
    • FOSSIL COLLECTING TIPS
  • LOCATION
    • REDEEMER
    • MEDIA
2022 IN REVIEW
Picture
Photo: In the middle of a round about, Holder, Switzerland.
JOB 12
7 
“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; 
And the fish of the sea will explain to you.
9 Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?
After a few difficult years of Covid (and having 2 immediate family members receiving cancer treatment through it all), restrictions have lifted and we are getting inquires for tours and fossil trips again. Enjoy this year's adventures! Martin and Marc.

APRIL
SMALL TOUR
Picture
Above Left: A good start to the year was a small museum tour with some teens and Timothy Hartley. Timothy has a small creation ministry based in Barrie Ont. and it was great to bounce ideas off of each other throughout the tour. Here is a link to his website:  https://thebiblejourney.ca/ 
Picture
Picture
Above: This new wall display was set up just in time for the tour. Just 2 examples out of many that man and dinosaurs actually co-existed!
Left: This display also set up just in time. Rapid formation of calcite inside a metal pipe!
​A little more info on these new displays are found in the 2021 newsletter.

MAY
SWITZERLAND
Picture
 We had a great time in Switzerland this spring visiting relatives and I managed to take some time to do some fossil collecting. One area I wanted to go to for sure was in the Canton Aargau where the Jurassic rocks are exposed. The best place for that is always in a quarry so we headed over to the old Schümel Quarry, now a nature reserve in the town of Holder.
Picture
Picture
Daniel on the old Schümel Quarry road.
An interpretive plaque showing the fossils that can be found and the rocks that are exposed.
Picture
The rocks here are Middle to Late Jurassic but interestingly the sedimentary layers are almost running vertical! This part of the world had experienced some serious up-lift.
Picture
Daniel with almost vertical layers in the background.
Picture
A plate of coral or bryozoans. This site reminded me of the Ontario Hungry Hollow site where the fossils are just falling out of the embankment. 
Picture
Part of the haul of invertebrate fossils. 
Picture
Martin standing vertical just to show how tilted the Jurassic rocks are behind him.
Picture
The fossils were plentiful. Here is an ammonite section.
Picture
Watching over us as we collect!
Picture
On to the second Klopfplatz (literally knock place) in the town of Frick! Unlike here in Ontario where fossil sites are being shut down, in Europe there are designated areas for the public to collect fossils thus keeping the next generation interested and engaged. 
Picture
At Klopfplatz Frick with lots of interested students in the background.
Picture
A possible fossilized branch (top of hammer) and a faint outline of an ammonite (right of hammer).

JULY
COLLECTORS FOSSIL TRIP
Every year I try to arrange a field trip just for seasoned fossil collectors where I myself can concentrate on searching for museum upgrades and collect new and different specimens. The guys are hoping again to catch that elusive complete Bathyurus trilobite specimen.
Picture
This Kawartha Lakes Quarry exposes the Gull River Formation.
Picture
The darker softer limestone seam containing the trilobites is situated about a third of the way up the quarry wall.
Picture
Kevin, David and Malcolm back to do some serious searching!
Picture
Fascinating pyrite crystals occur in the harder lighter rock above the trilobite layer. 
Picture
This year the blasts left lots of the desired rock to collect from.
Picture
Also several corals can be found there.
Picture
A ripple slab indicating this place was under water.
Picture
A small orthocone, an extinct squid like creature with a straight cone.
Picture
Now the trilobites pieces are showing up.
Picture
Here's a 3/4 complete Bathyurus trilobite.
Picture
And a Isotelus trilobite probably complete underneath the rock. 
Picture
Someone coming to pay us a visit, wondering what the excitement is all about.
Picture
Close-up of Isotelus trilobite.
Picture
Yes this is a real country quarry where we have to share the place even with the local cattle. Malcolm sacrificed some of his lunch for the hungry guy!
Picture
A nice Pelecypod (shell) mass mortality plate. A mortality plate is a whole group of organisms (usually the same kind) that have been washed into one area and then fossilized. Mortality plates are a common occurrence in the rocks of Ontario. The textbook type of slow random burial is just not found in the rocks.
By the end of the day some great museum upgrades were found and lots of fossil giveaways for museum functions.

JULY
GOODWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH VBS
Every year Goodwood Baptist Church (where the museum is housed) has a week of VBS and on the last day calls me in to run a fossil trip. Oil shale slabs loaded with trilobites are brought in from the Craigleith area for kids to crack open.
Picture
It was a really nice day for an outside fossil hunt.
Picture
Picture
Here is a good split revealing some trilobite tails.
Another common find are orthocones, a squid like creature with a coned shell.
Picture
After kids found a good fossil they were able to match it up on the fossil id. sheets.
Picture
Gabby and Stephanie had the find of the day...
Picture
...A complete trilobite fossil. Positive and negative impression!
​This also made it very simple for each girl to take home part of the specimen!
Picture
When splitting open the shale the kids smelt oil. Oil is just converted plant and animal matter. The trilobites and other organisms must have been buried quickly or there wouldn't be any oil, or any fossils for that matter! 
Picture
Sometimes two are needed to get a good split but watch those fingers! 
Picture
Identifying the fossil finds!
Picture
Here's a great find too. A trilobite tail and an orthocone all on one slab!
Picture
Conclusion: The kids learned today that these rocks were formed quickly due to the presence of oil. The only organisms found were extinct, as in the trilobites, or they were still here today, as in the shells found, called living fossils!

SEPTEMBER
NIAGARA REGION FIELD TRIP
Picture
Photo: Melissa walking up the steps from the Niagara Whirlpool.
After a few years of the Niagara Region field trip program collecting dust we were finally able to use it with a local homeschooling group. This program consists of 2 stops, The Niagara Glen and The Niagara Whirlpool, all part of the Niagara Gorge system. I had forgotten how difficult the trails were, or perhaps I am just getting older or, a combination of the two!
Picture
Walking past the limestone undercut on the Cliffside Trail at the Niagara Glen.
Picture
We had to search for it a bit but we finally found the best geological feature of The Glen, a giant pothole!
Picture
Picture
Potholes are formed as torrential waters along with rocks and gravel swirl and grind a hole into the limestone, some even several meters deep! Slow processes cannot form these features and indicate a catastrophic past, in this case, The Ice Age.
After lunch we headed down to the second site, the Niagara Whirlpool.
Picture
A shot of the churning whirlpool with Whirlpool point (USA) in the background. 
Picture
The Whirlpool is a popular spot for fishermen but we were off to fish for fossils.
Picture
Adara found some really nice (Ice Age) fossil leaves. Not surprising as this whirlpool area is part of the old gorge that was filled is with debris from the Ice Age.
Picture
Close-up of fossilized leaves (Ice Age material).
Picture
An amazing calcite bloom which is not really a flower at all but just calcite or dolomite mimicking one. Calcite blooms are quite common in the nearby Queenston Quarry.
Picture
Huge ripple slabs can be also found in this area. To be preserved, ripple slabs have to be buried quickly.
Picture
James found what is called a vug (cavity).
Picture
Close-up of the vug which is filled with pretty dolomite crystals.
Picture
Between a rock and a hard place!
A group shot amongst fallen boulders forming part of the Niagara Glen.
 
Conclusion:
All in all it was a great "although rigorous" trip. We found some great fossils and minerals and saw lots of evidence for a catastrophic past. Because of the pothole features, the Niagara Gorge is now thought to be much younger than previously estimated. How much younger? Click the link to 7 ONTARIO GEOLOGICAL WONDERS and scroll down to number 7, "The Niagara Gorge" ​to find out.

SEPTEMBER
KAWARTHA LAKES FOSSIL TRIP
Back to our Kawartha Lakes Quarry where because of our July trip, I knew the place would just be loaded with fossil specimens. This homeschooling group was not disappointed.
Picture
Part of the cliff wall after a blast.
Picture
There was plenty of safe collecting areas this year.
Picture
A Bathyurus trilobite but typically found are just the tail and mid section. 
Picture
Bathyurus trilobite mid-section.
Picture
Bathyurus trilobite tail and mid-section.
Picture
...a partial and compressed orthocone.
Picture
Shining in the sun were these attractive pyrite occurrences. 
Picture
Folks were able to take home the fossils that they found!
Picture
Joshua has a great find here...
Picture
Orthocones (an extinct squid like creature with a straight shell) can be found here with colour banding on the shell. Here is a rare occurrence where the colour banding had slipped off the orthocone shell and had scattered around the area. This creature must have been buried rapidly to preserve even the colour banding!
A 360 degree view of the quarry.
Picture
The hard to find heads of the Bathyurus trilobite.
Picture
There was no shortage of Bathyurus bits.
Picture
 Near the end of the quarry dig Svyat and Ludmila found the best fossil of the day. A Bathyurus trilobite that is probably complete underneath the rock.
Picture
After lunch in Norland we went South of highway #35 to a road cut at Powles Corners.
Picture
Close-up of Bathyurus trilobite.
Picture
This cut reveals a very fossiliferous Verulam Formation with a mixture of limestone and clay beds.
Picture
Not only are great organism fossils found here but also fossil trackways, trails created by the organisms. 
Picture
Here are several types of trackways, smooth and straight, and also zipper like.
Picture
Barukh found a slab containing gastropods (snails).
Picture
This is also indicative of a quick burial to be able to preserve these trackways.
Picture
Gastropods are a living fossil because they are still here, living today. Noteworthy with this slab is that most of the gastropods are lined up indicating a directional flow of water.
CONCLUSION
Everything found today lines up with what we read in the bible. 1) There appears to have been a flood, as in the flood of Noah's day. 2) Creatures really do produce after their own kind, as in the gastropods and shells found, called living fossils.  What's the flip side to living fossils? It's the fossils found that are extinct today, such as trilobites and orthocones. We are loosing species instead of gaining them which is the opposite of evolution. Creatures no matter where they are found in the geological column show signs of being intelligently designed! There is really no such thing as a simple creature!

NOVEMBER
JAMAICA MISSIONS TRIP
Every year Springvale Baptist Church hosts a trip to Teen Challenge, an addictions rehabilitation program in Jamaica. This year 20 guys came down to help with counseling and to help frame up a new multi-use facility. I was able to attend for the first time this year.
Picture
With the concrete floor poured just the day before we were able to start with the framing.
Picture
Some of the construction crew.
Picture
Sometimes we has to improvise due to a lack of tools.
Picture
The rock in the area is Tertiary and there was plenty of white limestone on hand to check for fossils. This piece has fossil shells in it (a living fossil) and no matter how old evolutionists say these rocks are.... sea shells turned into sea shells! 

DECEMBER
NEW MUSEUM ACQUISITION 
Picture
Some more artifacts purchased from Vance Nelson (Creation Truth Ministries). This one, a fossilized (permineralized) felt hat from the mineral springs of Karlovy Vary Czech Republic. After 14 days it's as hard as a rock. Things do not need millions of years to fossilize! Check out more of Vance's artifacts by following these links!
http://www.creationtruthministries.org/storenews.html    https://www.untoldsecretsofplanetearth.com/store/#/

Picture
Some of the fossils from this year's collecting are saved for the preparation phase. Check out what's been prepped this year by clicking the button.
FOSSIL PREP

2023 TOURS AND FOSSIL TRIPS
Picture
Book your group for a 2023 museum tour. More details @ MUSEUM TOUR
Picture

Book your group for a 2023 fossil trip or get on a list for the next public trip. More info @ FOSSIL TRIPS
New! Like us on Facebook!


(HOME) (LOCATION) (QUARRY DIGS) (TOURS) (FOSSIL TRIPS) (ABOUT US) (VIRTUAL TOUR)
(7 ONTARIO GEOLOGICAL WONDERS) (FOSSIL PREPARATION) (KIDS FOSSIL ID)
(LINKS)
 (MEDIA) 
(RESEARCH) (RESTORATION PROJECTS) (SUPPORTERS) (SHOP) 
(ADVANCED FOSSIL ID)
 (2020 IN REVIEW) (2021 IN REVIEW) (2022 IN REVIEW)