Keenan's Blogiddy Blog

Friday August 16th 2013 at the Gesner Institute Society Annual General Meeting in Parrsboro, the Atlantic Geoscience Society represented by John Calder, presented both Eldon George and Don Reid with the Laing Ferguson Distinguished Service Award. This award is in recognition of their incredible contribution to the scientific community and public. Don Reid (left), John Calder (center), Eldon George (right) Don Reid is known as the 'Keeper of the Cliffs'. He's been passionate about fossils for a very long time, and knows the Joggins cliffs like the back of his hand. Eldon George was also very passionate about fossils at a very young age. Owner of the Parrsboro Rock and Mineral Shop and Museum, he's also made some incredible finds throughout the years, such as the world's smallest dinosaur tracks. My sincere congratulations to two incredible individuals who have made amazing discoveries and contributions, inspiring many people along their paths to pursu...

Field work is going on right now at the site where Canada's oldest dinosaurs were found, near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. For a period of about 10 days, Dr. Tim Fedak and his team of students and volunteers are hoping to make some discoveries to add to the region's rich fossil history. One of the target areas where the team is concentrating  their effort to find an elusive dinosaur bone bed Dr. Fedak is among a number of people that had made important discoveries and unearth information on what went on during its ancient past in the Parrsboro area. Wasson's bluff has seen some of Canada's oldest dinosaur skeletons come out of these sandstones, tracing back all the way to the 1970s and beyond. Two Islands, viewed from across the dig site Prosauropods, early plant eating dinosaurs from the Triassic Period, fish, giant crocodiles, and some of the earliest mammal-like reptile remains have been found in the past, and the search continues to try to unveil more so to fill i...

I had planned to head back to Cape Breton in the Summer of 2013. I set aside a few days during my first week of vacation in July to head back over there. I decided to go during the week, leaving on a Tuesday to avoid the weekend touristic rush. My plans were to spend some time looking at rock, but to also do the touristy thing and visit some of the local interests, such as the French Fortress of Louisbourg. From Moncton to Sydney is a bit over 5 hours of driving by car. After a few stops along the way, I arrived at the hotel at about mid afternoon. I booked my room that I had reserved in advance, dropped my stuff, and jetted out to the beach for a little afternoon stroll to check out some rocks before turning in for the night. Point Aconi, Cape Breton I headed out to a spot I had already gone last year to check for rocks. Point Aconi is well known for its Carboniferous fossils, having coal seams cross that area, leading to economy based on that product, with several mines tappi...

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 wa...