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Upper Beds Discovering The area atop the low (above the lower fossil beds) is the upper fossil beds. Here at the Falls of the you will find a greater variety of fossils. They tend to be smaller and some require State Park closer examination. These fossil-bearing Alan Goldstein, Interpretive Naturalist layers are exposed most of the year. They are usually underwater during mid-winter This brochure has been created to help you to late-. Look for that are find fossils at the Falls of the Ohio using typically smaller than the those in the lower photos from the fossil beds. Remember - fossil beds. Shells called are collecting fossils from the Falls is against very abundant, both in the orange-brown Federal and State Law! However, we do layer and in the highest limestone layers at tail: Crassiproteus have piles near the parking lot where the edge of the on the riverbank. Fan you can dig, find and keep specimens. -like bryozoans that resemble delicate lace columns and disks may be observed. The individual animals The fossil beds are made of limestone, a that make up these colonies require at least type of sedimentary . This limestone 10x magnification to be seen. Portions of was formed beneath a shallow inland sea. the columns of (sea lilies) can be Over millions of years, composed found in this layer. Some look like of fossil skeletons large and small were washers, other like threaded bolts. These compressed from a sandy or muddy sea floor are the remains of animals, not plants. The to hard rock as the weight of overlying original creature can best be described as was added. Only in the last 12,000 an upside-down starfish on a stem. Look years has the exposed the rock at the carefully and you might find a giant snail Falls of the Ohio. up to four inches in diameter. The remnants of , animals that scurried along the : Megastrophia Snail: Turbinopsis The fossil beds can be divided into “lower” sea floor like crabs or lobster today, may be Also small horn corals and and “upper” layers. The lower fossil beds found, but are fairly rare. brachiopods in the Brevispirifer zone. are underwater for much of the year. They are exposed sporadically in the summer References Cited through early winter, and are almost always exposed in September and October. These Davis, W.J., 1887. Kentucky Fossil Corals. are the large flat areas on both the Indiana Kentucky Geological Survey. Greene, G.K., 1898 – 1904. Contributions to and Kentucky side of the . Indiana Paleontology, vol. 1. (Privately published.) Nettleroth, H., 1889. Kentucky Fossil Shells. Kentucky Geological Survey.

03-18-19 version Fenestrate “Lace” Bryozoan “Pipe Organ” : Eridophyllum Lower Fossil Beds (Coral Zone)

The “claim to fame” of the lower fossil beds is that it is possible to walk over a single layer on the ancient ocean floor for several acres. This could be compared to walking on a dry ocean bottom today. That is very unusual. This layer is dominated by colonial corals, horn corals and called stromatoporoids. The uniform texture of the rock in the giant coral and colonies cause them to erode at a different rate than the surrounding limestone resulting in low mounds. Where corals occur as thousands of “Pipe Organ” Coral: Acinophyllum tiny “fingers” in the limestone, splash water on them and they will “jump out” showing exquisite detail. These illustrations in this “Wasp Nest” Coral: Pleurodictyum brochure will help you recognize certain kinds of fossil corals. There are over 100 species of coral in the lower fossil beds. To Honeycomb Coral: Favosites keep things simple, this brochure uses These are the most common colonial common names when they are available. corals on the fossil beds.

Prismatophyllum: Colonial Rugose Coral

“Tube” Coral: Aulocystis

Horn coral: Cystiphylloides Stromatoporoid sponge with holes from Horn Coral: Siphonophrentis (we call it a Getting fossils wet shows much more embedded horn corals. These look like “tusk coral”) with many other corals in the detail! petrified cow pies on the lower fossil beds. coral zone Branching Coral: Thamnopora