On October 15, we travelled to several different locations near Pakenham where we discovered an amazing variety of well-preserved fossils from the Ordovician Period, under the very capable leadership of Dave Forsyth. Dave provided us with a handout so that we could learn to identify the fossils we were finding. After the morning of fossil hunting we had a well-deserved lunch at the Centennial Restaurant in Pakenham before we headed out to three more places in the afternoon.

Dave Forsyth getting the group started at our first site

Telsing and Elan with his finds


Several different fossils, cephalopods and corals

Cephalopod

Siphuncle structure in a cephalopod

Coral

Snail-like gastropod


Very well preserved receptaculities

Maureen checking rocks on the alvar

Several fossils, including some crinoid stems, “algal” mats

Cephalopod showing siphuncle

Cathy checking the shore of the Mississippi

Under the Pakenham bridge

Horn coral

Looking for coral fossils in the road cut.

Luna holds a live specimen!