Trammel Fossil Park

This is Josh, and I'm back for my second blog update.  Sorry that there was no new stuff on my blog through the summer.  Now that the school year is up and going, I will try to make an article every other week.  This entry will be talking about fossils.

Ohio's state fossil is the trilobite.  Ethan and I found one at Trammel Fossil Park, in Sharonville.  It wasn't the highest quality trilobite, like something you'd see on EBay for $1,000, but it was a suitable addition to my collection.  I picked and chiseled it out...and then it shattered!  So, I had to get all the bits of the broken trilobite and put it in a bag. 

Look at the photo on the right of the screen - the largest pieces in the picture are the broken trilobite.  The other smaller, stick-like things in the picture are crinoids or parts of other sea plants.

When a plant or animal dies, if they are to become a fossil, they get buried by sediment.  The imprint made by that dead plant or animal remains - that's the fossil.  The type of rock that the fossil shapes is going to be the same rock that you find your fossil in.  For example, the grey sticks in the left photo were imprinted in limestone and the dull, brown sticks were imprinted in shale.  The branched sticks in the separate pile are both limestone and shale.

I also found little, tiny brachiopods (shell fossils).  They are quite common, but it's a big pain finding one that isn't covered by rock.  Then again, I found nearly 100 of them!  It took a long time.  I put them all into a glass jar (see picture - on the right).

The next rock (on the left) is absolutely worthless, but it is a cool example of the sediment layering at Trammel Fossil Park.  The thin, brown layer on top is shale; the bottom, thicker layer is limestone.  These are the same rocks that appeared on the crinoid sticks in the other photo.

My last rock is also a fossil, but I didn't find it at the fossil park.  I did find it in Sharonville, though, on another day.  It wasn't very interesting at all when I found it.  When you put a fossil into a mild acid (such as white vinegar), it dissolves some of the surrounding sediment and preserves the fossil.  That's what I did with this rock, and it makes the fossil stand out a lot more (picture below).