Fossil Park Earthcache EarthCache
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You are going to have fun! We promise.
Please understand the open/close times. The available times for
visiting this earthcache are quite limited.
Guess what? You are going to find a fossil. Your very own fossil.
To treasure and keep forever.
..Oh yeah. Almost forgot about the identifying part. Yep, you are
also going to need to tell us the name of the fossil that you
found.
When you go on this adventure, you will need to haul a few things
along with you. Little things. A brush. Some water. Something that
can hold fossils. An empty egg carton is great for this.
Welcome to Fossil Park!
.
The posted coordinates take you to the entrance of Fossil Park. For
this adventure, there is no long hike involved, no treading white
water rapids, no dog sleds are involved, no scaling of treacherous
cliffs. This is a drive up and park the car adventure.
Fossil Park provides a safe environment where amateur and
professional fossil hunters can search for fossils. The rock that
you will be hunting in is known as Silica Shale. Silica shale was
formed in the Devonian period of Earth's history and is what is
left of the shallow sea that covered this part of North America. So
you will be uncovering 375 million-year-old sea life!
The shale is transported to the park so you do not have to dig into
solid rock. In fact, hammers, picks, chisels, and similar items are
prohibited. All you need is the aforementioned brush and water to
unearth and clean your fossils. Don't forget the egg carton to hold
your fossils (after you have finished eating the eggs
).
Some Of The Fossils You May Find...
Trilobites - Trilobites are special. They look like scary
monster bugs from Mars (see background image). They can be found
just about anywhere, but the silica shale is known for them. These
phacops rana used their large eyes to watch for food and
predators while cruising the bottoms of deeper water. Most finds
will only be pieces of these critters, but if you are lucky, you
may find a whole "bug"!
Brachiopods - Brachs and other shelled animals are the most
common finds in the park. These creatures didn't chase after their
food, instead they filtered it from the water around them. The
paraspirifer bownockeri is a common find.
Bryozoans - Bryozoans are often called "moss animals". These
creatures filtered their food from the surrounding sea by waving
soft tentacles through the water. Fossil fragments of bryozoans
often look like a piece of linen cloth.
Horn Coral - These coral, also known as rugose
corals, lived a solitary life on the sea floor. They spent their
days filtering food from the warm, salty water. Look for small, ice
cream cone-shaped pieces in the shale. Mmm, ice cream...
Aulopora - This type of coral lived with a group of the same
type of coral, and is otherwise known as a colonial coral. Like
horn coral, they were filter feeders, and with other forms of
colonial corals, formed the backbone of the coral reefs present
during the Devonian period.
Crinoids - These fossils, often called sea lilies, are
common at Fossil Park. However, finding an intact crinoid is very
rare. Look for small "cheerio" shaped pieces in the shale. These
"cheerios" are actually pieces of the crinoid's stem. Mmm,
cheerios...
Logistics Information (How To Get There,
Etc.)...
Dates And Hours - Limited. Plan carefully. Annually, the
park opens Memorial Day Weekend, and then closes for the year on
the third weekend in October. Kind of like a public swimming pool.
The park is open only during the weekend days, Saturday 10am to 6pm
and Sunday 11am to 6pm. That may change soon, but right now, that's
the way it is.
Cost - Free. No admission is charged.
Driving Directions - From I-75, head west on I-475 to US-23.
Then head south on US-23 to US-20 (W Central Avenue). Head west on
US-20 until you reach Centennial Road. Go north on Centennial Road,
past Sylvania and past Brint. After you pass Brint, look for the
park entrance on your left. When you see Jo-Jo's Pizza on the
right, look across the street from the pizza joint for a dirt road.
That dirt road leads you to Fossil Park. If you reach
Sylvania-Metamoria, you've gone too far.
Dirt - Uh, that's what you are going to be playing in -
dirt. So you probably are going to get dirty. Wear your old/playing
clothes.
Porcelain - Currently Port-a-Jons.
Food - Across the street. Pizza and everything else you
would expect to be available in a spot that is within a populated
area, commercially zoned, and reaching out for the consumer
dollar.
Handicapped Accessibility - Fossil Park has ADA
handicapped-accessible provisions, including ramps and an
ADA-compliant dig area.
Restrictions - No tools such as hammers, picks, and the like
are allowed. And leave Pookie at home. No pets allowed!
Accolades - The Ohio Parks and Recreation Association named
Fossil Park as one of it's top two parks in Ohio in 2001. Also,
Hanson Aggregates Midwest received one of the two statewide
Reclamation Awards for its community reuse project with Fossil
Park. Hanson has nominated Fossil Park for the national Reclamation
Award.
LOGGING REQUIREMENTS: In
order to claim this Earthcache as a find, you must complete the
folowing tasks.
1 - First, you must visit the location and find a fossil. It should
not be difficult. That is what everybody is doing there.
2 - Next, we want a fairly close-up photo of your fossil, alongside
your GPSr, posted with your find log. The image should contain both
the fossil and the GPSr, as close as you can get without making a
blurry image.
3 - Next, We want a photo of you at the location, posted with your
find log. Compose it so that the fossil area is in the background
of the image. The photo on this page is a good perspective.
4 - Finally, you need to identify your fossil by name. Send us an
email with the name of your fossil. We also want to see the name of
it in your on-line find log, so that everyone can learn. You can
use the English name, or the Latin name, or both.
If you are having trouble determining the name of your fossil,
there are several things you can do. You can strike up a
conversation with one of the people you see there at the site. They
might know, and you might make a new friend. You can also learn
from on-line resources. Here is one that may be useful to
you.
Click here!
Logs not accompanied by email within a reasonable amount of time
will be deleted per Earthcache rules. We don't like doing that. So
please be careful to get done what you need to get done.
References:
Olander
Park website
Camp, Mark J. 2006 Roadside Geology of Ohio. Missoula,
Montana: Mountain Press Publishing Company
Many thanks go out to Erika Buri, Naturalist for Olander Parks, who
approved and assisted with this Earthcache!
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)