Fossils

Fossil Collection One

By Corey Lablans

Created a set up to photograph minerals and fossils. Decided I would photograph a few and here they are.

 Fossil Crab (Longusorbis Cuniculosus) - Oyster Bay Formation, Shelter Point, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

 Crocodile Egg - Bouxwiller, France

  Crocodile Egg - Bouxwiller, France

 

 Ammonite - Madagascar

 

  Ammonite - Madagascar

  Brachiopod - Millhaven, Ontario

Crinoid Calyx - Millhaven, Ontario

 Crinoid Pieces - Amherst Island, Ontario

 Ceraurus (Trilobita) - Prince Edward County, Ontario

 Ceraurus (Trilobita) - Prince Edward County, Ontario

Cobalt Mine Tour

Cobalt Mine Tour

Photos by Corey Lablans

The Colonial Mine was in operation from 1907 to 1937 and produced 1.25 million ounces of silver. The local mining museum offers tours of the Right-of-Way Mine and underground tours of the Colonial Mine. For more information check out: http://www.cobalt.ca/index.php/historic-cobalt/colonial-adit-tour

Right-of-Way Mine

Inside of the Right-of-Way head frame. Left photo: elevator that would have been lowered down into the mine. Middle photo: the wooden structure of the head frame. Right photo: the track system used to move the carts on the upper level of the head frame.

Inside the Colonial Mine during the underground tour.

Cobalt Silver Mines

Cobalt Silver Mines

Photos by Corey Lablans

For thousands of years the vast mineral wealth of Northern Ontario lay underground undiscovered.

Mother Nature gave up some of those riches with the discovery of silver in Cobalt by two railway tie contractors - James McKinley and Ernest Darragh. They followed their dreams of gold all the way to the California gold fields only to come back empty-handed. Their luck was about to change. In August of 1903, while under contract during the construction of the newly formed Temiskaming & Northern Ontario (T. & N.O.) Railway at Long Lake, they found the "glittering rocks" of men's dreams.

"They had learned to test nuggets by biting them with their teeth. When they tested the 'glittering rocks' they knew they had found native silver." - Yankee Takeover of Cobalt, John Murphy

Read more: http://www.historiccobalt.ca/index.php/en/history

Cobalt Water Tower

McKinley-Darragh Mill Site

McKinley-Darragh Mill Site

 Left and Center Photo: Silver Summit Mine / Right photo: Nipissing 96 Mine

More Cobalt History Links: 

http://www.cobalthistoricalsociety.ca/Silver%20Trail.html
http://www.historiccobalt.ca/index.php/en/historic-cobalt-corporation

Display

Fossil and Mineral Display
By Corey Lablans

A fossil and mineral distributor once told me, "your lighting should reflect the minerals you have on display." I'm not a museum and I don't have a lot of money to create a several thousand dollar lighting display, nor do I have the room. Keeping this in mind, I have tried to make the most of what I can. 

On Kijiji I came across someone selling two display cases. After buying them, I kept my eyes open for lighting and eventually came across these disc lights at Canadian Tire. The displays ended up costing approximately $70 to put together, buying everything new would have been around $200, not too bad.

Apophylite & Stilbite on Druzy Quartz (India), Hematite Coated Quartz (China), Calcite (China), Irradiated Smokey Quartz (Arkansas), Dog Tooth Calcite (Illinois), Calcite (Indiana) and Flourite (Namibia). 

Left: Quartz (China) Centre: Twin Feldspar Crystal (Bear Lake Diggings, Tory Hill, Ontario) Right: Dog Tooth Calcite (Iverhurion, Ontario)

Cephalopod Castin (Westbrook Quarry, Kingston, ON) Bryazoan (Amherst Island, ON), Two Ammonites (Madagascar), Horn Coral (Millhaven, ON), Fossilized Fish (Unkonw), Brachiopod (Amherst Island, ON), Fossilized Fern & Wood, and various Crinoids (Millhaven and Amherst Island).

Apatite (Ontario), Feldspar Crystals (Ontario), Titanite (Ontario), Hemimorphite (Mexico), Herkimer Diamonds (New York)

Silver (Ontario), Copper (Ontario), Pyrite (Ontario & Nunavut), Molybdenite (Ontario) and Hexagonite (New York)

There are a few particular displays I would like to create once I get another display cabinet. One of them would be an entire Calcite Display such as the one at the Miller Museum; an Elements Display, still need Gold, Lithium, Lead and others; and finally an Apatite Display (Have apatite from four different locations, with various colour, just need more room to display them.)

Lost Mine

Lost Mine

By Corey Lablans

 Sonya places a stack of sticks along the vein face to prevent damage of the feldspar crystals once the micro blaster fractures the face.

 

Alfred blows out the dust from the whole that he had drilled (centre and right) to place the charge for the micro blaster. In order to have it detonate properly the whole must be dry and dust free (Left).  

 

Alfred places in the charge for the micro blaster (Centre). The goal is to create a fracture line behind the vein face in order to chisel off the face and preserve the beautiful feldspar crystals (Left). The right photo shows the mud after the rain.  

A series of colourful raincoats and ponchos scatter the Lost Mine digging area on Sunday, as they look for apatite, titanite and feldspar crystals. There are other minerals to be found but those are the common ones. 

 A twin feldspar crystal sits on top of a vein of calcite. The task for the day for two were to remove the face of the vein to get the crystals and remove this beautiful specimen; it was achieved.

It’s the Indiana Jones of the natural world. Venture into semi-remote areas and find nature’s treasures. This past weekend various geological clubs ventured into the Lost Mine near Eganville, approximately two and half hours from Kingston.

I have been up to the Bancroft area five times this year, seeking out nature’s beauty in the form of rose quartz, titanite, feldspar, apatite and others. This was my first time visiting the Lost Mine.

What draws many collectors to this local are the numerous veins of calcite, which can contain nice specimens of apatite and titanite. Unlike the Bear Lake Diggings, where the apatite is brittle, at the Lost Mine they are solid, keeping them beautifully in shape. Another common crystal found at this location are the feldspar crystals, which line the vein walls. Although they are common, finding a beautiful display quality sample can take some time and a lot of work to remove.

Alfred and Sonya, spent a good chunk of four hours working on a vein wall containing some really nice specimens. After cleaning the top of the vein and its side, they moved to the micro blaster to help fracture behind the crystals and remove the face. A beautiful three-foot specimen was removed, containing some really well formed double terminated ends.

The entrance to the main Tyendinaga Caverns and Caves. To the right leads to the main cavern while to the left (in the photo) is a very tight passageway that carries on about 70 feet and then drops. Further in the cave, is another passage way that visitors are permitted to explore.

Tyendinaga Caverns and Caves

By Corey Lablans

If you are an individuals interested in exploring earth's greater depths, living in the Kingston doesn't provide you many opportunities. If you head towards Peterborough you will come across Warsaw conservation area, an area well known for recreational caving with their many unguided caves. It is a fun place if you want to squeeze through cracks and push yourself, finding out how claustrophobic you are. The only issue is that it is a good 1.5 hour drive to reach the conservation area.

Closer to Kingston is Hell Holes just north of Napanee. If you like going deep and exploring, it isn't the place to go, as the cave their is one ladder that leads to a small cave. The most interesting aspect of Hells Holes is the grotto, very beautiful. 

Today I explored another location just a bit further from Hell Holes, the Tyendinaga Caverns and Caves. I wasn't sure what to expect, as many of the caves/caverns around this area are usually not that large. The tour guide was well informed, explaining about karst topography, glaciation and sink wholes, and how they are all important in forming or destroying caves. If you are interested in learning about karst topography check out this link: http://paddleasia.com/karst-topography.htm it has some good visuals near the bottom of the site. Karst topography is important, it is the product of chemical weathering, as the limestone is dissolved by rain water, leading to the production of such caverns.

As the tour guide explained, many of the caves were crushed during weight of the last glaciation, the the larger cavern at Tyendinaga Caverns is an example of one that survived. If you explore Warsaw caves, those caves are likely the aftermath of such larger caverns collapsing, meaning that you are crawling thorough the openings left behind in the rubble.

If you want something very fascinating to explore and to see something not to common around the area, I would explore the Tyendinaga Caverns and Caves. For more information check out their website: http://tyendinagacaves.blogspot.ca/

Drapery or flowstone line the walls of the main cavern at Tyendiaga Cavern and Caves. Calcite has percipitated out of solution along the wall faces to create these formations.

 Cave mushrooms, popcorn or coral, depending on who is explaining these formations are present along the walls.

 Looking into the narrow passageway in the cavern in which visitors can explore. Doesn't go to far back but still fun to squeeze your way through.

 Looking back to the main cavern after walking through a narrow passageway in which visitors can explore. 

One can see how large the main cavern is, as three individuals stand throughout the cavern. On a hot day like these past days it is a really comfortable place to be with average temperature around 10 degrees Celsius.

Corey Lablans Photography

www.coreylablans.com