Field Work (Norton, New Brunswick)

Last month (end of June 2013) I tagged along one of Matt's field work expeditions for the New Brunswick Museum to Norton, in Southern New Brunswick. In a quarry on one of his field work duties a few days earlier, he discovered in a section of the area tiny arthropod tracks. The weather had mentioned rain, heavy at times. Boy they were not kidding. We were granted permission to access and work in the quarry, so we (Matt, his friend Amanda, and myself) took that opportunity to drive down and get down and dirty. We were later joined by a fourth member that day.

Note: To work on/extract fossils in situ (diretly in the cliff/rock face) in New Brunswick requires permission from the province (from Natural Resources, usually in a form of a permit)

Undisclosed quarry

Getting there we encountered some heavy rain at times in short periods of time, so it made the terrain at the site quite muddy and tough to walk through. We would have had better access to the target area, but work was done in that spot recently and mounds of muddy soil was pushed right up, blocking the road. If there was anything heavy to lift and carry, it would have to be done through bootsucking mud.

Work area

We put our gear onto some plywood sheet to keep some of it dry and out of the way. Out attempt to install some type of tarp for shelter failed, but we didn't want to spend too much time worrying about keeping dry and keep on working.

Layers of track bearing shale

As we worked on peeling away shale layer by layer, we collected samples for study while jutting down all the necessary stratigraphic data for future reference. As the work went on, we realized how significant this area was and how it should be subjected to future study.

Amanda and Matt at work

The tracks that we came upon were numerous and very well detailed. We had set a specific strata as target and trying to get to it by peeling the layers, but it took us longer to get to it when the layers getting there were also bearing tracks.

Diplichnites (arthropod trackways)


We ended up reaching our target layers of rock, and just in time. As soon as we were done, torrential rain started beating on us, leaving us soaked and drenched. We packed our gear as quickly as we could and tailed back home.

Work is ongoing and data is still being collected and processed for further study.

- Keenan


Disclaimer: In New Brunswick under the 'Heritage Conservation Act', fossils discovered must not be destroyed or removed from sites where they are found without a permit. It is every one's civic duty to report any finds to the New Brunswick Museum (https://www.nbm-mnb.ca/). This encourages the contribution these finds could make to science not just in the province, but on the global stage. You must also seek permission if you are to enter private land.
Location: Norton, NB, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Martin Head (Southern New Brunswick)

Image
There's a place, called Martin Head, located just West of Fundy Park that people having been going to for a very long time. I've been talking to people and every time I mention camping sites, people would ask me: "Have you gone to Martin Head yet?". As it turned out I hadn't, so thus became an item that went up in my 'To do' list. Martin Head is a mash up of very old and not as old rocks. The 'island' which goes by the name Martin Head is made up mostly of Cambrian rocks, or even older. The basalts are mixed with some sedimentary rocks of about the same age, and some mineral deposits (I couldn't find which type of minerals occurred). The section between the island and the beach which includes some sections of the cliffs are of younger age, dating close to the Late Triassic. Click here for information about the fossilized Sand Dunes of Martin Head. These are mostly buff or reddish sandstones. There is a small section that juts out fr...
Read more

Amethyst Cove (Blomidon, Nova Scotia)

Image
This past Summer I talked to people about collecting local minerals to add to my collection, and several people mentionned Amethyst Cove. Amethyst Cove is a section of Blomidon Provincial Park, near Canning, Nova Scotia. This location is quite difficult to get at as the options to get there are slim. You can access Amethyst Cove either by boat (preferably from Parrsboro at high tide), by walking around Cape Split or from White Water (which could take half a day or more, making it quite fucking impossible), or by repelling down a cliff 300 to 400 feet high, by shaky ropes. I talked to Matt about going to Amethyst Cove someday and didn't think that I would have made it this year. Matt offered to take me there. He was very familiar with the area as he has gone there several time. We picked September 24th to go down. I left Moncton at around 6:30AM and made my way to Halifax to pick up Matt and his buddy Chris. From there we proceeded to drive North towards Wolfville on the 101. (1...
Read more

Rock Hunting in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada)

Image
Me and my buddy Matt went for a trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia this past Saturday (November 26th, 2011) to snoop around the city and try to collect rocks and minerals. Why snoop around a big city for minerals? Halifax lies on top of a granitic pluton, a mass of magma located under the surface which has slowly cooled. The batholith intrusion was exposed over a long period of time, over several million years. The granite that you see on most road cuts leading in and out of the city was part of that feature. With igneous rock comes the chance to find interesting crystals. The area is known for its quartz (smoky), feldspar (K-feldspar), tourmaline, pyrite (fool's gold), and gold among other things. When we arrived in Halifax, we had driven by some road cuts that had yielded several minerals. We parked the car close-by so that we could go take a look before going for a bite to eat. We took some of our gear and headed out to check the outcrops. The granite contained fine to bigg...
Read more