![Geological Survey of Canada Geological Survey of Canada](/web/20061103055630im_/http://www.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/esst_images/gsc_e.jpeg) Natural Resources Canada > Earth Sciences Sector > Geological Survey of Canada > Past lives: Chronicles of Canadian Paleontology
Past lives: Chronicles of Canadian Paleontology Titanites -- Canada's biggest ammonite
Like pilgrims to Mecca, two generations of Jurassic paleontologists
have been drawn to the mountains east of Fernie, B.C. to pay homage to "Titanites",
the biggest ammonite in Canada
![GSC paleontologist Terry Poulton at "Titanites" near Fernie, B.C. GSC paleontologist Terry Poulton at "Titanites" near Fernie, B.C.](/web/20061103055630im_/http://www.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/paleochron/images/biga08.jpg) GSC paleontologist Terry Poulton at "Titanites" near Fernie, B.C. |
In July 1947 geologist Chuck Newmarch and a small field crew working
for the British Columbia Geological Survey were busy mapping coal seams in
the shales, siltstones and sandstones exposed above Coal Creek in the
Rocky Mountains just east of Fernie in the south-east corner of British
Columbia. Fossils are few and far between in these rocks and it was not
clear which part of these coal measures is Jurassic and which Cretaceous.
So, Newmarch was astonished when [??a student reported a fossil truck
tire??] , on reaching a massive sandstone bed, he literally stepped into a
giant ribbed depression the size of a tractor tire. He was no
paleontologist, but when he saw the coiled nature of the depression he
realized that he was looking at the imprint of an ammonite, but one of
truly heroic proportions. The fossil measured almost 1.5 metres across --
by far, the biggest complete ammonite ever found in Canada.
After the field season Newmarch told the Geological Survey of Canada of
his discovery and, a few years later, Hans Frebold of that organization
became the first of a succession of Canadian Jurassic
paleontologists to hike up to the giant. Frebold later described the
ammonite and gave it a name -- Titanites occidentalis but, because
of its size, locality, and the nature of preservation, he was unable to
follow through with one of the requirements when any new species is named
-- that is, the type specimen, or holotype, must be deposited in a museum.
The specimen could not be removed from the sandstone creek bottom, but
over the years, different latex molds have been made -- each mold made of
this ammonite requires about 20 liters of liquid latex.
The generic name Titanites was coined by the English
paleontologist S.S. Buckman for large ammonites found in Jurassic rocks of
Dorset. In the nineteenth century these ammonites were so common in the
vicinity of Portland that they were used to edge garden beds. The
"Portland giants", however, have diameters less than half that
of the Fernie behemoth. Because he thought they must belong to the same
group, Frebold concluded that the English and Canadian ammonites
were the same age, that is latest Jurassic -- a time interval with
few diagnostic ammonites in western Canada.
The name might fit, but the identification of the Fernie giant as Titanites
is probably wrong. Although it is poorly preserved, fine ribbing can be
seen on the first-formed coils, but this is abruptly replaced by coarse
ribbing on the last coil. Such difference in ribbing is unknown in Titanites
from Dorset. Titanites has been denigrated as a "garbage can
genus" of vaguely similar ammonites that have little in common, aside
from their size. Canadian paleontologists, however, continue to use the
name Titanites (sprinkled liberally with quotation or question
marks) for the Fernie giant simply because there is, at present, no
alternative.
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