Why fossils from the sea were found in the mountains of Kentucky.
You will notice that most of the rocks in the store are either fossilized or agatized corals. That’s because they were all picked in the same area, and that was deep in the Appalachian Mountains. I’m sure about now some of you are asking yourself the same question that I asked, “How in the world did coral and sea sponges end up on the side of a mountain?”
When I was invited to come to Kentucky, to do some rock hounding, I expected to find a few baseball sized colored Kentucky agate. I never thought I’d be picking up fossilized reef animals. At first I questioned what I was seeing, but growing up in west central Florida I pretty much know coral when I see it. Having Parkinson’s disease though, I do sometimes have to question what I’m seeing. My brother was with me, and after getting his attention, I pointed towards the large brown pot marked rock, and asked him what it looked like to him.
The place we were at was a beautiful crystal clear mountain creek. The water wasn’t much more than a foot deep on average, and rocks of all sizes and shapes lay everywhere. Even with the large number of rocks my brother knew exactly which one I was referring to when I called to him. Without hesitation he confirmed that it indeed looked to be coral.
I lifted it from the creek, and the first thing I noticed was that it was a lot heavier than I would have expected a coral of that size to weigh. It did weigh in at 44 ponds, and I’ve been told that it’s rare. I’m not all that sure about that, but I can say that after two days of rock hounding that’s the only one of that size that we found. We did find a few more smaller pieces, but nothing like that.
I placed the fossil on the bank of the creek, and looking closer at it I could tell that it was beginning to agatize. I could actually see the individual polyps forming agate inside them. I then did next logical thing, I asked Google the question. Unfortunately, I quickly came to the realization that Google wasn’t going to be much help at that time. We were far enough off the grid that getting a cell phone signal was pretty much out of the question.
We spent the next few hours rock hounding, and the entire time I couldn’t help but wonder how these creatures ended up here. How old were they? What was their story? On the way home, my brother drove, and I sat in the passenger seat anxiously staring at my phone. When the first bar showed up I quickly asked Google the question that I had been pondering for half the day, and this was the explanation that I got.
It turns out that around 500 million years ago a shallow sea covered most of the lower Appalachians. They covered all the way from Alabama to northern Kentucky. Apparently the weather then more resembled the weather in the Bahamas today. The way I understand it is that this tropical period lasted until about 60 million years ago. I think that means that these corals and sponges are around 60 million years old. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around that.
Think about it, 60 million years ago these guys were minding their own business, the sea dries up, and they’re on the side of a mountain. That ended their way of life, but at the same time it insured that they would be around pretty much forever. Because, over all those millions of years, the calcium that made up the bodies of the creature slowly dissolved and changed. It mixed with other minerals and were covered in clay.
Over time the creatures hardened and turned to stone. Then, at some point in time the creek formed. It probably first began as a small stream, which began eating away at the mountain side. As the stream grew it began revealing the long ago buried tropical reef. Where the creatures lay until I found them.
That’s pretty much how the first day went, and why sea creatures were on a mountain. I’ll tell you about the second day in my next blog. It was just exciting. We found a rock that I call the two faced rock. My best find ever, and I didn’t even know it until I got back to Alabama. I actually almost left it behind.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I’m sorry if I got a little long winded. Remember when you purchase a fossil you’re not just getting a pretty rock, you’re also getting a piece of the Earth’s history.
Until next time, thank you again, Tom.
