Silurian-age ironstone concretion containing an in-situ strophomenid brachiopod (confirmed by a Canadian University Professor) on the “right foot” and a small in-situ piece of a crinoid genera on the mirror impression “left toe”. Random matrix of other marine life. “Footprint”, although it looks like a Mazon Creek Essexella asherae, is likely just a concretion.
I welcome all opinions though as some armchair geologists are sure it’s a soft-bodied organism, but a “ghost” fossil from the Niagara Escarpment of a soft bodied organism is almost impossible. But, I’m fairly sure my property would have been in a calm Silurian lagoon and the fact that the brachiopod is in-situ (and mirror imaged in fossil) is proof that the area that formed this fossil matrix may have been calmer than the open water. The porous rock beds below my property may have caused unusual sedimentary processes in the lagoon that would not have been possible in the open water sea.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/369907515
I broke it open a few weeks ago while doing yard work on my property. On the Niagara Escarpment (UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve).
