![Map of USA VA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Map_of_USA_VA.svg)
Paleontology in Virginia refers to
paleontological
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...
research occurring within or conducted by people from the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. The geologic column in Virginia spans from the
Cambrian to the
Quaternary. During the early part of the
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
, Virginia was covered by a warm shallow sea. This sea would come to be inhabited by creatures like
brachiopod
Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...
s,
bryozoans,
coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...
s, and
nautiloid
Nautiloids are a group of marine cephalopods (Mollusca) which originated in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living ''Nautilus'' and '' Allonautilus''. Fossil nautiloids are diverse and speciose, with over 2,500 recorded specie ...
s. The state was briefly out of the sea during the
Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya.
T ...
, but by the
Silurian it was once again submerged. During this second period of inundation the state was home to brachiopods, trilobites and entire
reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...
systems. During the mid-to-late
Carboniferous the state gradually became a swampy environment.
During the
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...
, the state was covered vegetated by
horsetail
''Equisetum'' (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds.
''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass ...
s and trees.
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
s roamed the area, leaving behind both bones and
footprints
Footprints are the impressions or images left behind by a person walking or running. Hoofprints and pawprints are those left by animals with hooves or paws rather than feet, while "shoeprints" is the specific term for prints made by shoes. The ...
. Many fishes from local lakes were preserved during the
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...
. Virginia was covered by seawater again during the
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
, when
belemnites and corals inhabited the state. Sea levels rose and fell during the
Cenozoic. Local marine invertebrates,
shark
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...
s, and
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...
s were preserved. During the
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
, Virginia was home to
mastodon
A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...
s. During the late 18th century,
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
directed his scholarly attention to local fossils. Dinosaur tracks were discovered at
Oak Hill in the 1920s. The
scallop ''
Chesapecten jeffersonius'' is the Virginia
state fossil.
Prehistory
Paleozoic
No Precambrian fossils are known from Virginia.
The
geologic column in Virginia begins at the
Cambrian and spans to the
Quaternary.
Although present, the state's Cambrian rocks preserve very few
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s and no documented individual deposit has proven a fertile collecting ground.
The state was covered by a warm shallow sea at the time.
At least 17 species of
nautiloid
Nautiloids are a group of marine cephalopods (Mollusca) which originated in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living ''Nautilus'' and '' Allonautilus''. Fossil nautiloids are diverse and speciose, with over 2,500 recorded specie ...
across 10 genera were preserved in one unit from the transition between the Cambrian and
Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya.
T ...
in Virginia. Many of these were similar to their contemporaries in neighboring states.
Graptolites
Graptolites are a group of colonial animals, members of the subclass Graptolithina within the class Pterobranchia. These filter-feeding organisms are known chiefly from fossils found from the Middle Cambrian ( Miaolingian, Wuliuan) through th ...
were preserved in deposits that have since become Virginia's Ordovician
shales.
Such remains were left behind in
Augusta County
Augusta County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The second-largest county of Virginia by total area, it completely surrounds the independent cities of Staunton and Waynesboro. Its count ...
.
Other Ordovician life of Virginia included the
brachiopod
Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...
s,
bryozoans,
coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...
s,
echinoderm
An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the s ...
s, and
sponge
Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...
s that were preserved in
Scott County.
The state remained submerged during the early part of the Ordovician until the Taconic uplift raised the region during the later part of that same period.
The state was submerged by the sea once more during the ensuing Silurian period.
Silurian brachiopods were preserved in the
Gate City area at
Big Moccasin Gap.
During the Devonian, the state was the site of mountain building once again.
Devonian brachiopods were preserved in
Bull Pasture Mountain,
Frederick County, and
Shenandoah County. Those preserved in Shenandoah County were often unusually large.
Coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...
s were preserved at Bull Pasture Mountain.
Bryozoans were preserved at Bull Pasture Mountain and
Peters Hill.
Crinoid
Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, which are ...
s were preserved in what is now Frederick County.
Ostracod
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typi ...
s were preserved in what is now Frederick County.
Trilobite
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the ...
s were preserved in what is now Frederick County. A diverse fossil
reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...
in a
Clifton Forge
Clifton Forge is a town in Alleghany County, Virginia, United States which is part of the greater Roanoke Region. The population was 3,555 at the 2020 census. The Jackson River flows through the town, which as a result was once known as J ...
cemetery. Shenandoah county also preserved a wide variety of ancient life in addition to its big brachiopods.
Mississippian algae were preserved in the region south of
Gate City.
Mississippian brachiopods were preserved in the region south of Gate City
and in
Washington County.
Mississippian corals were preserved in the region south of Gate City
Mississippian crinoids were preserved in the region south of Gate City
Mississippian
gastropods
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. The ...
were preserved in the region south of Gate City
Mississippian ostracods were preserved in
Bland County.
Mississippian pelecypods were preserved in Bland and Washington Counties.
Virginia was
swampy from the
Late Mississippian on through the
Pennsylvanian. The rich flora of this interval left behind abundant fossils in the sedimentary rocks that were then just being deposited.
Plants from this period were fossilized in
Montgomery,
Alleghany,
Wise,
Dickenson, and
Buchanan counties.
The sea then began to withdraw from the state.
Mesozoic
![Grallator](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Grallator.jpg)
During the Triassic, central Virginia was a rift basin.
Brachiopods were still present in Virginia during the
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...
.
On land, the early Mesozoic plants of Virginia included ''
Equisetales
Equisetales is an order of subclass Equisetidae with only one living family, Equisetaceae
Equisetaceae, sometimes called the horsetail family, is the only extant family of the order Equisetales, with one surviving genus, ''Equisetum'', which ...
'',
gymnosperms, ''
Cycadeles'',
cycads
Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody ( ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male o ...
, and
conifers. This flora is almost identical to that from contemporary deposits in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
.
Massive ''
Araucarioxylon
''Araucarioxylon arizonicum'' is an extinct species of conifer that is the state fossil of Arizona. The species is known from massive tree trunks that weather out of the Chinle Formation in desert badlands of northern Arizona and adjacent New Mex ...
'' were also present.
Dinosaurs lived in Virginia and left behind so many tracks at what is now the Culpeper Stone Quarry of
Stevensburg that it has been compared to a
ballroom. Another fossil site of similar age, the Solite Quarry, straddles the border between Virginia and North Carolina. A variety of other kinds of animal like
crocodilians
Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period (Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...
,
phytosaurs
Phytosaurs (Φυτόσαυροι in greek) are an extinct group of large, mostly semiaquatic Late Triassic archosauriform reptiles. Phytosaurs belong to the order Phytosauria. Phytosauria and Phytosauridae are often considered to be equivalen ...
, and
lizard-like creatures left footprints there.
The Solite Quarry is most famous for its fossil
insects
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...
. This is the only place on earth where complete well-preserved
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...
insects are known from. The oldest known examples of many living groups have been found here. Insects of the Solite Quarry include
staphylinid
The rove beetles are a family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra (wing covers) that typically leave more than half of their abdominal segments exposed. With roughly 63,000 species in thousands of genera, the ...
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
s,
caddisflies
The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the ...
,
belostomatids, and
thrips
Thrips (order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are ...
. Fossil insects are common at other places in Virginia as well. Small specimens were often preserved associated with unusually high concentrations of
conchostracans.
At
Leaksville Junction, near the border with North Carolina,
dinosaur footprints have been discovered in the
Late Triassic
The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch of the Triassic Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch and followed by the Early Jurassic Epoch. ...
Cow Branch Formation. These may be the oldest dinosaur tracks in the eastern United States. The
theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
ichnogenus
An ichnotaxon (plural ichnotaxa) is "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism", i.e. the non-human equivalent of an artifact. ''Ichnotaxa'' comes from the Greek ίχνος, ''ichnos'' meaning ''track'' and ταξις, ''taxis'' meaning ...
''
Grallator
''Grallator'' GRA-luh-tor"is an ichnogenus (form taxon based on footprints) which covers a common type of small, three-toed print made by a variety of bipedal theropod dinosaurs. ''Grallator''-type footprints have been found in formations dati ...
'' and an abundance of the
ornithischian
Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek st ...
ichnogenus ''
Atreipus
''Atreipus'' is an ichnogenus
An ichnotaxon (plural ichnotaxa) is "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism", i.e. the non-human equivalent of an artifact. ''Ichnotaxa'' comes from the Greek ίχνος, ''ichnos'' meaning ''track'' ...
'' have been found in this unit. Other finds include remains from the
phytosaur
Phytosaurs (Φυτόσαυροι in greek) are an extinct group of large, mostly semiaquatic Late Triassic archosauriform reptiles. Phytosaurs belong to the order Phytosauria. Phytosauria and Phytosauridae are often considered to be equivalent g ...
Rutiodon and the lizard-like ''
Tanytrachelos''.
At least three fossil sites have been discovered for the Late Triassic Manassas Sandstone of
Fairfax County
Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria, Virginia, Alexandria and ...
. Dinosaur tracks of the ichnogenus ''Grallator'' have been reported from this unit as have the ichnogenera ''
Apatopus'', ''
Brachychirotherium'', and ''
Chirotherium
''Chirotherium'', also known as ''Cheirotherium'' (‘hand-beast’), is a Triassic trace fossil consisting of five-fingered (pentadactyle) footprints and whole tracks. These look, by coincidence, remarkably like the hands of apes and bears, with ...
'', which were left by other kinds of
archosaurs
Archosauria () is a clade of diapsids, with birds and crocodilians as the only living representatives. Archosaurs are broadly classified as reptiles, in the cladistic sense of the term which includes birds. Extinct archosaurs include non-avia ...
. Body fossils are known from fish and the phytosaur ''
Rutiodon''.
The Late Triassic dinosaur footprints in the Balls Bluff Sandstone are of such number and quality that the unit is considered one of the best sources of these fossils in the world.
Near Culpeper the Balls Bluff Sandstone has produced the ornithischian ichnogenus ''
Gregaripus'', the
prosauropod
Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had l ...
ichnogenus ''
Agrestipus'', and the theropod ichnogenera ''
Grallator
''Grallator'' GRA-luh-tor"is an ichnogenus (form taxon based on footprints) which covers a common type of small, three-toed print made by a variety of bipedal theropod dinosaurs. ''Grallator''-type footprints have been found in formations dati ...
'' and ''
Kayentapus''.
Aetosaur
Aetosaurs () are heavily armored reptiles belonging to the extinct order (biology), order Aetosauria (; from Ancient Greek, Greek, (aetos, "eagle") and (, "lizard")). They were medium- to large-sized Omnivore, omnivorous or Herbivore, herbivoro ...
tracks have also been found in the Balls Bluff near Culpeper. One Balls Bluff Grallator track was found near
Manassas National Battlefield.
For a 30 million year interval spanning the
Late Triassic
The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch of the Triassic Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch and followed by the Early Jurassic Epoch. ...
-
Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
boundary, the Culpeper basin was an extensive
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
.
1A diverse fish community swam in what is now Virginia during the Early Jurassic. The best represented among the well-preserved fossils they left behind were
semionotids. Other kinds of fish present in Early Jurassic Virginia included
coelacanths
The coelacanths ( ) are fish belonging to the order Actinistia that includes two extant species in the genus ''Latimeria'': the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (''Latimeria chalumnae''), primarily found near the Comoro Islands off the east coast ...
and
palaeoniscids. Their fossils were buried in a deposit now called the Midland Fish Bed.
During the Cretaceous period, eastern Virginia was covered by seawater. This sea was home to belemnites and oysters.
Cenozoic
![Chesapecten Jeffersonius Outside](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Chesapecten_Jeffersonius_Outside.jpg)
Local sea level rose and fell significantly during the ensuing Tertiary period of the Cenozoic era.
During the
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
gastropods and pelecypods were preserved in
Westmoreland County.
Foraminiferans
Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly an ...
were preserved in
James City County
James City County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county, the county seat is the adjacent independent city of Williamsburg.
Located ...
.
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
gastropods were preserved in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
and James City Counties. Miocene pelecypods were preserved in York and James City Counties. Miocene vertebrates of Virginia included
sharks
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...
and
whales
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...
, which left teeth and bones respectively in York County.
During the Quaternary, local mastodons were preserved associated with bodied of water.
History
In 1782, workers digging in a swamp marsh discovered large bones and teeth.
Major
Arthur Campbell sent them to
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
. He remarked in a letter that several
African slaves who had seen the fossils identified them as
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
remains.
The slaves' identification of the teeth as elephantine is evidence that this discovery was of mammoth rather than mastodon fossils, whose cusped teeth are very distinct from elephants'.
Between 1775 and 1780, Thomas Jefferson conferred with leaders of the Delaware Indians in Virginia about the fossils of Big Bone Lick, of what is now
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
.
Sometime around 1920,
Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
dinosaur tracks
A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils ...
were discovered during renovations on the grounds of
Oak Hill while sandstone was being excavated to line its terraces and walkways.
Later, a scientific paper published in 1956 reported the presence of 17 species of nautiloid across 10 genera from a unit at the transition between the Cambrian and Ordovician in Virginia. Of the ten genera observed two were new to science. The researchers also observed that many of these were similar to their contemporaries in neighboring states.
During the 1980s the Midland Fish bed was flooded in the course of the construction of a
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
. This site preserved abundant remains of Early Jurassic fish like semionotids, palaeoniscids, and coelacanths. Prior to its inundation it had been regarded as one of the best sources of fish fossils in Virginia.
In 1993, the
scallop ''
Chesapecten jeffersonius'' was designated the Virginia
state fossil.
People
Natural history museums
*Hostetter Museum of Natural History, Suter Science Center,
Eastern Mennonite University
Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) is a private Mennonite university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The university also operates a satellite campus in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which primarily caters to working adults. EMU's bachelor-degree holde ...
,
Harrisonburg
*James Madison University Mineral Museum,
Harrisonburg
*Museum of the Middle Appalachians,
Saltville
*
Virginia Museum of Natural History
The Virginia Museum of Natural History is the state's natural history museum located in Martinsville, Virginia founded in 1984. The museum has several different award-winning publications, is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, and has ...
,
Martinsville
*Virginia Tech Geosciences Museum,
Blacksburg
See also
*
Paleontology in Kentucky
Paleontology in Kentucky refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Kentucky.
Kentucky's abundance of exposed sedimentary rock makes it an ideal source of fossils. The geologic column of Kentu ...
*
Paleontology in Maryland The location of the state of Maryland
Paleontology in Maryland refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Maryland. The invertebrate fossils of Maryland are similar to those of neighboring D ...
*
Paleontology in North Carolina
*
Paleontology in Tennessee
*
Paleontology in West Virginia
Footnotes
References
* Lockwood, Rowan, Dale Springer, Judy Scotchmoor. July 14, 2010.
Virginia, USThe Paleontology Portal Accessed September 21, 2012.
* Mayor, Adrienne. ''Fossil Legends of the First Americans''. Princeton University Press. 2005. .
*
* Picconi, J. E. 2003. The Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Geology of the Southeastern U.S. Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, NY.
* Weishampel, D.B. & L. Young. 1996. Dinosaurs of the East Coast. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
External links
Geologic units in VirginiaPaleoportal: VirginiaVirginia Fossils
{{Paleontology in the United States
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
Natural history of Virginia
Science and technology in Virginia