Vancouver Island explorations: Muir Creek Beach Fossils

Marji preparing us for the field. Chris is on her left

Wednesday June 15th was an interesting and fun filled Day. Volunteers for the fossil animation cart were taken on a Royal BC Museum field trip to Muir Creek beach in Sooke. The trip was arranged by Chris O'Conner and led by Marji Johns. Its purpose was to prepare us for our new volunteer roles starting in July. Chris is the sponsor for this project.

We had barely set foot on the beach when a woman walking her dog pointed out Orcas swimming within viewing distance (and I paid to see whales in Tofino and here it was for free!)

Marji was patient in explaining what we were seeing on the beach and teaching us how to look at what is today and what it might be in another million years. One example is how the wave patterns on the shore get fossilized as shown in the pictures below.

Wave ripples tomorrow

Wave ripples today

There were many highlights including how the fossils are found in the cliff face (it was like looking at nature's own hieroglyphics); seeing fallen limestone gently chiseled to reveal 25 million year old beach fossils; seeing how similar the beach fossils are to our present day shells. It was also exciting to be shown a fault line, small sand-filled burrows, the different layers of rock formations and the process of protecting the fossil samples for transportation to the Museum.