Chazy Reef – Part 3

The Fisk Quarry Preserve

Pre-dawn light pulled me to the quarry. I had seen it briefly the day before so I knew the payoff would be worth the effort. I knew that strange and interesting sights awaited. I was not disappointed.

The long dormant quarry, at that hour of the day, had a captivating feel to it – beautiful yet slightly post apocalyptic. Maybe it had something to do with the uncovered remains of 450 million year old life. Maybe it had something to do with the two hundred years worth of human effort engaged in cutting and carting off, piece by piece, as much of this ancient reef as they could carry. Or maybe in the end it had something to do with the way in which the earth reclaims it – now as a wetlands.

A word about the Fisk Quarry. The site, first quarried by the French in 1666, was one of a handful of quarries active throughout the Nineteenth Century on Isle La Motte. Its unique and highly regarded stone found its way into sites such as Radio City, the National Gallery and Vermont’s State House. All this quarried stone, part of the bedrock, “…was actually the fossil remnants of an ancient reef. A Harvard geologist in 1924 called it ‘the oldest coral reef in the world.'”

Gastropods in the bedrock are, at least to me, endlessly fascinating. Set against the other markings on the face of the bedrock, they constantly reminded me of spiral galaxies. Squint a little as you view some of these gastropod images and you might think you are looking at images from the Hubble Telescope!

Perhaps the most amazing fossils to be found at the Fisk Quarry are stromatoporoids. An extinct ancestor of the sponge, it was one of the builders of the Chazy Reef.

Looking like an ever expanding cabbage, the stromatoporoids seen in the quarry walls are at least several feet in diameter. One has to wonder what else might be hidden in those walls!

The close-up below, coupled with the gastropods, shows the strangeness and diversity of life 450 million years ago. And given what we now know about the atmospheric conditions that existed at the time, one could only assume a landscape worthy of an Isaac Asimov or Ray Bradbury treatment!

The wetlands, created by time and abandonment, seem to be a fine place to end this final installment of the Chazy Reef story – for now. I look forward to many more visits in the future – if not for the unforgettable fossils to be found then most certainly for the sweeping beauty and the soulful caress of tranquility found there as well.

One last note – The Isle La Motte Preservation Trust (ILMPT), founded and organized by local citizens concerned about local heritage and the world around them, were able to save sites of worldwide significance through determination and hard work. They deserve your support. I’d bet that if you look a little closer to home you might very well find similarly well intentioned groups who could use a little of your help.

Visit Chazy Reef and Isle La Motte – a fine destination any time if year.

Next week – Ausable Chasm!

Subscribe at my homepage https://artandfossils.wordpress.com

Thank you as always for visiting. More images at www.artmurphy.com

Thanks again for the visit.

Chazy Reef – Part 1

What started as a brief getaway turned into a trip full of surprises that I wish to share today. We decided to point the car in the general direction of nearby Vermont with only one destination – and that only for a few hours of exploring and shooting. From there the plan was no plan – just wherever whim might take us. A google search for “Vermont fossils” yielded the name “Chazy Reef,” a site unfamiliar to me but worth checking out. And, after a couple of emails back and forth, we were set for a guided tour.

According to Charlotte Merhtens, Ph.D. and geologist at the University of Vermont, “The Chazy Fossil Reef is significant as the oldest known occurrence of a biologically diverse fossil reef, the earliest appearance of fossil coral in a reef environment, and the first documented example of the principle of ecological faunal succession (the process of change in an ecosystem over time.”) The reef itself takes up approximately the lower third of Isle La Motte, which sits in the northernmost section of Lake Champlain. It reaches back in time to the Ordovician Period, roughly 450 to 480 million years ago.

Equally fascinating to me is the story of the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust and its founder and president, Ms Linda Fitch, the indefatigable (and charming) driving force behind it. Linda, one of the 500 residents of this island wonderland, was moved to action back in the 90’s when the sound of a jackhammer signaled the revival of quarrying operations at the old Fisk Quarry, threatening the tranquility of the island but more importantly threatening this storehouse of important information about earliest life on this planet. After years of legal battles, Ms Fitch and her friends and neighbors established the Trust. According to their website: “It was founded in 1998 by citizens who wanted to preserve the historic Fisk Quarry, site of an ancient 480 million year old fossil reef known to scientists as the Chazy Reef. Since then, thanks to partnerships with the Preservation Trust of Vermont and with the Lake Champlain Land Trust,  ILMPT has now acquired over 100 acres of the fossil reef on Isle La Motte. This land is now protected in two preserves: the Fisk Quarry Preserve and the Goodsell Ridge Preserve.”

The lead image is one of many fossils (in this case a gastropod) found in the exposed bedrock. Many more to come in the next installment after I wade through the ample shooting I was afforded. Until then I’d like to share some of the island with you.

Upon completion of my shooting, as we prepared to depart to points unknown, Ms Fitch told us that one of her guest cottages was available if we cared to stay. The stone cottage, built in the 1700s(?), had all the charm one could wish for. Of course we stayed.

And the view out the front door was priceless.

A short walk from the cottage led to the old Fisk Quarry…

…site of some of the strangest fossils I’ve ever seen – stromatoporoids – reef builders that look like giant cabbages. That’s them – looking from afar like whitewashed graffiti (close-ups to come).

Equally amazing is the old Fisk Farm, visited by Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 and now Ms Fitch’s home, a compound that includes the aforementioned cottage, main house, barn and assorted outbuildings.

The refurbished barn acts as an art gallery, a performance space touting a pair of baby grand pianos (with an appropriate Summer schedule of world class musical events). Across from the barn is the Tea Room, site of Sunday gatherings throughout the Summer.

So what looks like a sleepy island retreat is in fact a focal point of interesting current activity, historical anecdotes, and profound scientific value. And with Ms Fitch’s ever optimistic bent and boundless energy, the future holds enormous promise.

I’ll have more on this trip in future posts. Until then,I’ll leave you with a few random pics from the visit, including a smile goodbye from Isle La Mott!

Thank you as always for visiting. More images at www.artmurphy.com

Subscribe to this blog at my homepage https://artandfossils.wordpress.com

A Balancing Act

I never know where the day will lead me when I first wake up. Even most scheduled events can change depending on anything from the shifting plans of others, my mood, the weather, etc. So I generally try to roll with it. And rather than attempting to bend it all around to my “scheduled” target of events, which can often lead to that frustrating experience of the “round peg in a square hole,” I try to see where the day wants to take me. Giving in to it, I have found, can be far more productive (and satisfying).

Such was the case yesterday. I got to my studio early and immediately sat down at the computer and went to work. Much of the past week has been spent there thanks to sporadic rain – just enough to make a hike to my favorite sites a rather dicey proposition. Wet rocks, often covered with a slimy precursor to moss, do not make for sound footing. But then, despite the pleasure I gain from my work on the computer, too much of that does not make for sound mental footing!

As I sunk into a funk equal to the overcast skies the sun popped out. And I realized that salvation was at hand – the thought of spending a few hours exploring, getting dirty, and swinging a hammer – that was the solution. And that was how the day proceeded. Today’s images are the result of yesterday’s foray. Nothing earth-shattering perhaps. The fossils I found are types I have come across many times before. Still, though, these new ones are new to me. They each break out of their rocks in different ways, presenting different visual possibilities. Like portraits in a way, each fossil tells a slightly different and unique story. And the most mundane can often relate the most interesting tales.

Thank you as always for visiting. More images at www.artmurphy.com

Subscribe to this blog at my homepage https://artandfossils.wordpress.com

Large and Small

Usually, when I am out hiking and hunting for fossils, I am walking stream beds (often dry), quarries (always precarious at the rims), or hillsides (all too easy to slide down uncontrollably). Safe footing is often a problem. Seldom am I on level ground and so concerns about loose rocks underfoot and equilibrium issues in general dictate a slow and methodical pace. In fact, peering down all the time, looking for anomalous rock patterns, can be almost meditative. The end result, aside from all the cool and interesting fossils I find, is that while I might walk a rather small area I examine it rather closely.

So for a change of pace Cindy and I took a short trip across the river (the Hudson, that is) on Sunday to visit Art/Omi near the town of Ghent, N.Y. For those not familiar, the sculpture park at Omi is set on sixty acres of beautiful, rolling countryside with farmland, wetlands, and wooded areas and contains roughly eighty large scale works. I tend to think of Omi as a somewhat scaled down and more personal alternative to Storm King (an hour to the south).

This week’s blog then is about the two views – macro/micro, long view/short view, large and small – each rich with ample aesthetic value and information to ponder, each the result of awareness of one’s surroundings, and each with a nod to the wonder and beauty of nature and those beings who inhabit it – whether they be artists or 400 million year old former denizens leaving their marks.

First, to Kaaterskill Creek – A bit muddy and slippery but plenty to find.

And now, back to Art/Omi – It’s a great place to visit year round, be it for a picnic in the Summer or cross-country skiing in the Winter – all taking place amongst the work of artists of international renown.

Even in the midst of broad and expansive beauty it seems I can always find room for a couple of closer views.

Thank you as always for visiting. More images at www.artmurphy.com

Subscribe to this blog at my homepage  https://artandfossils.wordpress.com

A Wealth of Fossils

I’ll start and finish this post with images from my ongoing Devonian Drawer series. These two as well as today’s other images all stem from my exploration of the hill behind my cabin studio. It’s where I was introduced to fossils five years ago.

The hill runs a quarter mile in a north/south direction and probably stands between 200 and 250 feet tall. I sometimes wonder if it is not so much a hill as it is a big pile of rocks! The next image shows the angle of the hill as well as the scattered rocks in the foreground.

What I first discovered that amazed me so was that every other rock I would pick up seemed to have fossils in it. Most of the rocks are small. The fossils, for the most past are weathered (aside, of course, from the occasional one I would break out of its dense matrix). My enthusiasm over such “fossil wealth” was such that each new find would move me up the hill, little by little, until I would find myself in a most untenable position. Climbing up the hill, feeling like Spiderman, was the easy part. Climbing down, arms loaded with rocks, always proved to be a challenge – one that became more and more difficult (at times rather harrowing as well). And with my desire to always check out the next rock to catch my eye, the inevitable climb proved too hard to resist – and too hard on my back, legs, and general equilibrium.

All of that led to my abandoning the hill in favor of more level sites, with generally more articulated fossils. Between that and my opportunities to photograph from museum collections, I kept away from that original site of my earliest discoveries, until recently, that is.

I’ll write more about it next week – about  “The Emperor” – the oldest and most stately tree back there. It fell – a delayed effect from Hurricane Irene. For now I’ll just point to the opening image. Two brachiopods from the hill accompanied by a small root retrieved from the base of the tree. And I’ll also point to the final image. A mix of small fossils from the hill juxtaposed against an old glass bowl discovered at the tree’s base. (The ground back there heaves up more than just fossils.) And in between those are images of fossils found on my most recent climb.

Commonplace they might be – but awash in character! I hope you enjoy them until next week when I revisit “The Emperor” and the surrounding local history. Spring is looking great here in the Northeast. Try to go for a hike. It’s great for the body, mind, and soul!

Thank you as always for visiting. More images at www.artmurphy.com

Subscribe to this blog at my homepage  https://artandfossils.wordpress.com

Down at the Creek

Kaaterskill Creek passes within a couple of hundred yards of my studio. After dropping down from the eastern escarpment of the Catskill Mountains, it joins with Catskill Creek on its way to the Hudson River. Thanks to the omnipresent rock formations and outcroppings, indeed rock floor just about everywhere, there are nearby stretches that contain varying amounts of fossils. A great destination on a sunny early Spring day.

The opening image is that of “tentaculites“, conical, ribbed fossils that are poorly understood for a variety of reasons. This was my first find on Tuesday’s hike – not a bad way to begin. The image itself reminds me of some insignia patch that Tom Corbett or Tom Swift might have worn!

A funny thing happens every time I walk this one stretch of creek. It takes only a moment to find something to engage me visually. And once engaged, the opportunities cascade onward well past any original plans. So, on that particular afternoon I found more fossils, including a wonderful piece of ripple rock with a well placed trace fossil crown!

In such a beautiful location, it’s easy to be so focused on finding fossils that you can miss everything else – and there is always so much more. On that day I spent time with the “natural” assemblages still in place from Hurricane Irene.

And, last but not least, there are the rocks. They are so hard to ignore (even without any fossils attached). Let your mind wander with the thoughts they might evoke.
It was a very good day down on the creek.

One final note: Last week I mentioned the Interview and spread in the Spring, 2012 issue of Kaatskill Life Magazine. Many friends from outside the area wrote that they were unable to see the article, given the limited web presence of the magazine online. So I have posted the interview and selected images from the article, all of which can be found at Kaatskill Life Article.

Thank you as always for visiting. More images at www.artmurphy.com

Subscribe to this blog at my homepage  https://artandfossils.wordpress.com

The Last Snowflakes

The other day saw an unexpected snow shower here in Catskill that lasted only a few minutes – a violent start and a quick ending. Seems appropriate that this be the last snow of a relatively snowless winter. That shower has now been replaced by strong signs of Spring. The other day, while hiking through the woods, I stopped in my tracks as I struggled to identify a low sound off in the distance. Not an unfamiliar sound – just one I hadn’t heard for a while. Slowly but surely the sound increased until it seemed to surround me. I looked up and saw formations of geese flying north filling half of the sky! What a sight to behold.

Scientists can tell us all the whys and wherefores regarding this natural event. (Everything related to animal migration is truly fascinating to me.) But, regardless of how much or little one understands the process, one can’t help but be awed by this display of nature and the seasonal clock it keeps.

I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.  ~Henry David Thoreau

This whole fossil “thing” that has, for some time now, captured my attention is somewhat similar. Geologists and paleontologists have done amazing work over the years explaining early life, its origins and progressions through seemingly incomprehensive time frames. I study the subject and often struggle to understand the scientific underpinnings. And when the “light” turns on and I get it – well, that’s a wonderful moment for me. But it’s nothing compared to the sensation I feel when I crack open a rock and expose remains of life forms that lived almost four hundred million years ago! The whole experience bypasses the brain and seems to go to my very core – much like being witness to Spring migration!

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.            Albert Einstein

Writers far more adept than me have waxed on about the beauty and wonder of Spring. If you can’t find time for such reading at least try to take a walk in the woods. Leave the phone behind and allow yourself a brief moment with nature. It never disappoints.

                              The poetry of the earth is never dead.                                      John Keats

The good weather has allowed me to spend more time photographing new found fossils. Today I’ll focus on some of the small ones – small but beautiful nonetheless. They are deserving of a moment in the spotlight, especially after being hidden for so long.

Thank you for the visit. More images at www.artmurphy.com

Subscribe to this blog at my homepage  https://artandfossils.wordpress.com

Catskill Quarry in Autumn

One of my favorite places locally, especially this time of year, is a seldom used quarry just on the other side of the ridge from my studio. One section of it in particular is rife with fossils – cephalopods, gastropods, and lots of brachiopods. There are so many to be found that my greatest difficulty usually is trying to keep my bag light enough to hike out. And once again that proved to be so a few days ago when I ventured in there after a long absence.

I have learned the hard way that summertime gets a bit tricky when climbing around on tall rock piles. Hornets seem to like the underside of larger broken rocks and find them to be safely undisturbed – a great place for a home. And I’d think that’s a pretty safe bet for them to make. After all, who or what would want to be climbing around on loose rock? Ha! Too many times I unsuspectedly overturned a rock to find an angry horde of hornets all too willing to strike back at an accidental “assailant”! Fighting them off is far too hazardous to willingly wish for. So no quarry visits in the summer. Snow covers everything in winter. Spring is too wet. And that leaves Autumn.

Coincidentally, Autumn just seems like the very best time to hike up in there. The picture above is the view out to the west. From the ridgetop you look out at the eastern escarpment of the Catskill Mountains. And directly below the quarry (out of frame) is a beaver pond nestled at the base of the next ridge. Then, of course, there are the colors of autumn. While they may vary somewhat from year to year they are always beautiful and a true joy to behold.

So here is where it really comes out – the truth about this “fossil hunting” business. What better way to spend time then be alone on a ridgetop surrounded by a multicolored forest on a crisp sunny day. Getting to crack rocks in this big playpen, uncovering marine animal fossils from further back in time than I can comprehend all amounts to icing on the cake! And while it’s extremely unlikely that I’ll ever find anything of earth-shattering importance for the scientific community I find objects of visual and sculptural wonder at every turn.

Here are some of them from this last trip:

And on a final note I would like to wish a happy and joyous 84th birthday to my dear sweet Mother, Mrs. Hilda Veronica Gaudioso Murphy. I’m working on a fossil bouquet for you!

As always, you can subscribe to this blog at my homepage  https://artandfossils.wordpress.com

Thank you for the visit. More images at www.artmurphy.com