Fossils! Shallow Bay 3

After we ate our picnic lunch, we headed back down to the shoreline and made our way around the headland. To someone from Lambton County, which is flat, this was a challenging part of the hike for me. We had to walk on the rocky edges, sometimes holding on to the vertical rock face. I was grateful for good knees, strong quads and my good hiking boots!

But the challenging hike was worth it! For what awaited us, only accessible at lower tides, were fossils!!

These fossils date back to the Ordovician period. That is the period before the Cambrian, which is known for the explosion of complex life. If you want to read up on the Ordovician Gastropods from this area, you can read an article here.

It was powerful to view these fossils far above our heads, embedded in the rock. It's an encounter with deep time. Here are some more pics:

 In addition to fossils, we saw other patterns in the rocks which were interesting. Burrowing sponges bore into limestone, leaving holes. Sometimes the rocks resemble sponges themselves! These are recent markings and not fossils:

There were also rocks that had unusual patterns in them that some people mistake for runes. These are perfectly natural markings that result from a process that occurs in rocks that have different types of rock in them. One type, the limestone, is soft and the other rock is harder. Sadly, I can't remember what the process is, exactly, but the result is this fascinating patterning on the rock. Geologists who are reading this, please feel free to explain in the comments:

Here are some pics of the landscape in the area where these fascinating fossils and geological patterns are  situated:

This hike was not easy for a flatlander like myself. This pic doesn't quite show how steep the climb was, but you might get the idea. Thanks, Michael and Anne for taking photos of me struggling with the landscape. It's honest and a good reminder of an amazing day!