Page 24 - BRIGHTON_BEACON_SM20

We Wuz

What?

Brighton area fossils
including clockwise from
the top left a cephalopod
brachiopod a segment of a
gastropod and the shadow
of another cephalopod. Left:
Brighton area construction
site with excavated
sedimentary rock pile.

A History of Brighton,
Part One
If you’re in eastern
Northumberland, you
are over top of some of
the oldest rocks in Ontario,
barring the Canadian Shield
to the North. Brighton’s
prehistory is most easily
appreciated ‘down’ in Presquile
along its rocky southern
shoreline, which exposes
the sedimentary limestone
that was laid down during
the Middle Ordovician period,
some 460 to 470 million years
ago. At that time, Canada, as
part of the North American
tectonic plate, was roughly
situated along the equator
and the world was much
warmer. The sea level was also
much higher and there wasn’t
anywhere near enough oxygen
By Phillip M. Kinzinger for humans to breath.

22 The Brighton Beacon