It is passing rare up here when there is no snow and the temperatures are warm enough to get out in the field. Typically at this time of year, the ground is covered in a thick white blanket that won't be pulled back until late March or early April, but the El Niño effect has kept our winter well above seasonal, but that is due to flip shorty as Winter is Coming (back), and likely with a walloping of snow. The last two weekends have seen me digging locally, and at a spot east of Toronto. The local Devonian material was not all that generous, and the Ordovician material out east just marginally more so despite all the expense and time spent. Nevertheless, any fieldwork in February is a win onto itself. I'll start with the non-trilobitic items first, or at least the ones I bothered to take home. The Ordovician material (Bobcaygeon and Verulam Formations) was nowhere near as productive as my site visits in the past. Just about all the usual trilobites were present, but nearly all strictly as fragmentary. On the upper left is a crinoid (I have not checked the genus and species in the literature yet), and it looks "murky" as I had to slather it in glue to prevent it flaking off. To the right is a Pleurocystites that may or may not have all its plates, but does seem to have both anterior projections with one of them buried. Most likely a Carabocrinus judging by the shape. Not a prize specimen, but it fell loose from a slab. This is likely Ceraurus plattinensis that was perched atop a rubbly layer of Chondrites. It came right off the slab, and it is uncertain if the pygidium is there or tucked somewhere. In the image on the upper left, a glance to the upper right shows another cheirurid partially buried. I did indeed collect the complete right genal spine that I will be gluing back on, and possibly gluing the entire specimen back in place on the slab. The bottom row shows the specimen in both dorsal and ventral aspects, with the ventral side clearly showing the hypostome. Another double in the lumpy-bumpy Chondrites layer, more cheirurids, and I'll need to look closer to assign these as Gabriceraurus dentatus, Ceraurus globulobatis, or a mix of both. The devil is in the ornamentation details, as well as cephalic widths. The uppermost specimen is in pretty rough shape, while the bottom one may be buried enough to be salvaged. I will still look to preparing them both as a double on a plate is nice. This cheirurid was the second chum on the same plate as the C. plattinensis that kicked things off. It may be buried or weathered away -- only prep will say. On the right is a complete prone Flexicalymene senaria, which are not terribly exciting, but it rests in a slightly tilted fashion (a common orientation in this material for the prones of the species) on a very thin flake.
I have some other pieces I took home for closer examination, but they are entirely speculative at this point. Many other fossils were encountered and left in the field on account of my not needing heavy nautiloids or endless bryozoans and brachiopods. It was not very generous or forgiving material, either; some heartbreakers occurred during attempts to extract them without power tools. Saturday was a balmy, sunny day, whereas Sunday saw a precipitous drop to a cloudy just-a-notch-over-freezing day. Still, I can at least say I got out and did it. Does this count as the season starter? Not quite. This was anomalous, and I only count a season opener when there is going to be consistency in the weather that has winter firmly behind it. Comments are closed.
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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