2018 NEWSLETTER
That all men may know His work. Job 37:7b NKJV
Scripture on the Rotunda (entrance) ceiling at the ROM, Royal Ontario Museum
Scripture on the Rotunda (entrance) ceiling at the ROM, Royal Ontario Museum
2018 was a busy year for the museum, starting with some March research and ending with a visit to Ontario from John Mackay the Creation Guy in November. Lots of quarry digs, research, tours and fossil trips in between. We start with the end of the year and move backwards. Enjoy!
November 2018 Visit to Ontario from John Mackay the Creation Guy
The snow came early this year but although John comes from a part of Australia where there is no winter, he seemed to have acclimatized quite well here in Canada. Of course with the early snow we had to cancel the fossil trips because it would be way too cumbersome to try to clear the snow with leaf blowers just to get to the fossils!
Nevertheless we did manage to scramble together an alternative indoor fossil trip on a Saturday with a great day of teaching and touring the museum at Goodwood Baptist Church
Off to Norland Ontario on Sunday for some preaching and teaching. We had some good feedback from the service:
Dear John Mackay: I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to share God’s Word. We were filled with the knowledge on how creation was truly by God. Thanks for sharing again at Pioneer. May God Bless your ministry. Sincerely, Les Noble A nice find. An almost complete Bathyurus Trilobite.
This quarry cuts through the Gull River Formation
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Touring the museum
John with supporters who travelled all the way from Simcoe, Ontario (a 3 hour drive)
Taking a little time out at a local quarry. The snow had melted just enough to be able to look for any fossils that may be lurking around.
My second ever selfie turned out not so bad!
A large order for gravel came in so the crushers and conveyors are lined up and ready
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Below: a few shots of some of the churches visited by John this November
Homeschool day at Bethel Canadian Reformed Church in Richmond Hill
Praise the Lord, the ministry vehicle got us through the GTA part of John's Canadian tour! Next, off to the Owen Sound area, then Saskatchewan and the last stop, Alberta.
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It was a great day for the kids and some good feedback from parents.
"John MacKay's talks were very informative, inspiring, and engaging for the kids and adults". |
October Quarry Research
Quarry research is important not only to gather better museum specimens but it also helps one to realize again that in the real world you don't find evidence for evolution, rather everything points to creation and past catastrophic flooding!
Parked and ready to start the day
A weathered crinoid stem. Crinoids are sea creatures called echinoderms. They are categorized with star fish. Crinoids are known as a living fossil because they still exist in the seas today. They produced after their own kind! What you see in God's world lines up with what you read in God's word!
Here's a record-sized mound bryozoan. Bryozoans are colonial creatures similar to coral. This one is headed for the museum.
Why is Malcolm a happy camper?
Another record breaker for the museum. A large brachiopod shell!
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The best areas are where there was a recent blast
Malcolm found a crinoid with a visible stem and arms. It will need some further delicate prepping
Cool growth rings on the flip side of a mound bryozoan
Because he found an amazing and rare cystoid! Also categorized in with the echinoderms
Time to trim off the fossils and pack it up
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September 2018 Museum Birthday Tour
Thanks for prayers the September 8, 2018 museum (birthday) tour and fossil hunt went well without a hitch. A museum birthday tour is when folks celebrate a birthday right at the museum! I couldn't have done it without my partner in crime, Marc Kenyon. Here are some photos of the event, Enjoy seeing the blessings.
OPENING INTRO
TOUR AND SELF TOUR
BIRTHDAY PARTY
COLLECTING AND SAFETY LESSON
FOSSIL HUNT
This time we had a mix of Whitby Shale and Gull River Formation Limestone from Norland available,
resulting in a wider range of different fossils found.
This time we had a mix of Whitby Shale and Gull River Formation Limestone from Norland available,
resulting in a wider range of different fossils found.
Lots of great fossils were collected today and all were able to take them home. No evidence for evolution was found... only a quick burial could have produced these fossils and this oil!
July Quarry Research
I'm very fortunate to collect with some of the greats in fossil identification. These guys are mostly into collecting bugs (trilobites) and this quarry has several varieties including a fairly rare Bathyurus trilobite.
Arriving at a quarry in Kawartha Lakes where the Gull River Formation is exposed. Although mostly invertebrate marine fossils are found here, this Middle Ordovician rock can also contain vertebrates (animals with backbones).
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/48471/ID321.pdf;sequence=2 David checking the dark grey trilobite seam
Kevin B removing some large slabs
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Kevin B, Kevin K and rock hound Shiloh checking out the rocks
So far just trilobite tails have been found
Getting closer. Half of a trilobite
Almost there! Kevin K found some of these 3/4 complete Bathyurus trilobites.
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A great find by Kevin B. This is a Cephalopod or straight coned Nautiloid. Note the lines. These are preserved decorative markings. Great evidence for rapid burial.
June 2018 Fossil Trip and Tour
Fossil Trip and Tour With Immanuel Seventh Day Adventist Church
First stop: Norland Quarry
Lunch time in Norland
On to site 2. Near Fenelon Falls.
Back at Goodwood for the museum tour
Group photo
Hi Martin, Marc,
Thank you both for such a wonderful day ... and the pics.
We learnt so much about fossils and the children were very engaged. This is a
great initiative for those seeking evidence for creation.
God bless your efforts.
Jennifer
May 2018 St. Marys Quarry
St. Mary's Quarry May 27, 2018, with CCFMS
It was perfect weather for fossil hunting and some collectors found some great stuff
Peter came with a cross section of a Potsdam sandstone pillar from an earlier Kingston field trip that he is loaning out to the museum. This is a very significant piece because sandstone pillars can only form if the surrounding sediment or sand is still soft. No place for millions of years of slow accumulation.
This is a huge multi-level quarry with large machinery. A little bit intimidating.
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Peter and sandstone pillar.
For full report on sandstone pillars click on FALL 2015 NEWSLETTER Then scroll down to TRACKWAYS FIELD TRIP Stop 1: This time around I followed the seasoned trilobite collectors right to the middle levels of the Lindsay Formation. Many different trilobites can be found here.
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Malcolm found the first complete Isotelus trilobite and proceeded to cut it out
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Afterwards I found a very nice complete Isotelus albeit just a cast. Serious bug collectors would destroy this one just to get the intact eyes that are left in the negative impression and use them for a similar sized positive usually found without the eyes.
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Not a bad lingula specimen. The matrix was crumbling so I managed to pop the lingula out.
So far some good finds! Now down to the Verulam Formation in the lower benches.
Up to the top bench, my favorite, the Whitby Shale (Upper Ordovician)
A great day of collecting. End of the day photo of Malcolm, Peter, Martin, Marc and Kevin
Victoria Day Museum Tour and Fossil Hunt May 21, 2018
Opening: introduction to fossils
Q and A time
Part 3: the fossil hunt. But first a safety lesson and tips on how to collect.
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Yuk, what a stink! Passing around a beaker containing crude oil. Folks learned with their nose that crude oil is the remains of dead plants and animals. You could call crude oil "Liquid Fossils"!
Part 2: a museum tour and then a self tour
And the hunt is on!
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The day was magnificent!! Thank you so much. I turned down 30 more people who tried to sign up for this trip so I feel badly doing that. So I would like to organize another trip but I cannot do that in the summer. I could do that in the fall sometime.
Thank you so much for such a wonderful day.
From us all,
The Ng Family
Creation Research Canada Booth at
the KWCHEA Kitchener/Waterloo Christian
Home Educators’ Conference Saturday, April 7, 2018 and
The OCHEC Ontario Christian Home Educators Connection Conference
held at Redeemer University College in Ancaster on May 4, and 5, 2018
This year Marc and I did some museum promotion by attending 2 homeschooling conferences. We had some good feedback.
Dr. Gary Chiang (right) came down from his office at Redeemer University (where the conference was held) to join us and converse with the crowd for a while. Gary recently joined the museum advisory board and is a good supporter of the ministry.
March 2018 Balls Falls
I got an early start this year to try to finish off the formations board that's displayed in the museum. The formations board is a display board with a stuck-on sample of rock from each layer of stone or "formation" that's present here in Ontario. An area where I know I could find at least 3 specimens was at Balls Falls near Jordan, Ontario.
A sample needed was from the Irondequoit Limestone which was easily accessible at the middle falls between lower and upper Balls Falls
My wife Salome walking down the gorge to the river. This is a good place in summer to take a camera.
Amazing worm burrows slabs littered at the base of the Grimsby Formation
Back at the museum. After trimming and washing the specimens it was time to glue them onto the board along with their captions. The tape was there to hold them into place until the epoxy dried.
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Just starting down the gorge to the river was an outcrop of the Reynales Formation. Specimen number 2 collected.
Next stop, the Grimsby Sandstone. Here I had no trouble finding a good specimen as the formation is very fossiliferous
After walking down the gorge to the river we were rewarded by an amazing view of the lower falls
The Cataract Group of formations is now complete!
Looking good! Please pray as there are 3 more formations to go. Of course the hardest ones to get to are always last! I hope to complete the board in 2019.
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