Fossil Sites in Delaware
Fossil Sites in Delaware
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Area Fossils
Delaware offers a few sites for fossil collectors, and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is the best.
When the canal was built, several formations having fossils from the Cretaceous Period (144 to 65 million
years ago) were exposed. Fossils found there represent life forms that existed for a good portion of that
period of time and that lived in a shallow sea or along the seashore. The fossils include large clam and
oyster shells and a pen-shaped fossil called a belemnite. The belemnite species
Belemnitella americana is
one of the more common fossils from this area and so was designated Delaware's state fossil. It comes from
the inside of a squid-like animal that lived in the seas of the Cretaceous Period. Similar fossils are
found in New Jersey and in England. Geologists can use this information to correlate geologic rock units
in different areas, allowing them to link events in different parts of the world.
Most fossils found in the Canal area are called "steinkerns." These are formed when a shell fills
with mud that later hardens. In some cases, the shell then dissolves, although at the Canal many original
shells also are preserved. Other fossils commonly found at the Canal include fish and reptile bones,
including vertebrae and teeth.
Good locations at the Canal to search for fossils are the dredge spoils near St. Georges and at the
foundation of the Reedy Point Bridge. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over the Canal
lands, and small-scale collecting of fossils for private collections is permitted. It is against federal
law to collect fossils from the area to sell.
For more information on the interesting fossils remains from the C & D canal area, please visit
the DGS Cretaceous Fossils of Delaware web pages.
Other Fossil Sites in Delaware
Other locations throughout the state also offer good hunting grounds for fossil collectors. Just south
of Dagsboro, where Route 113 crosses Pepper Creek, the collector can find young (less than 2 million
year old) marine fossils from the Pleistocene Epoch. At the state sand and gravel pit just south of
Middletown on Route 896, plant impressions from the Pleistocene may be found.
A variety of Miocene fossils are know from central Delaware. Fossils from the Miocene epoch,
approximately 15 million years in age, have been found in the banks of the Coursey and Killen Ponds
near Felton. In addition, a rich concentration of Miocene fossils approximately 18 million years old
was found during the construction of Delaware Route 1 south of Smyrna. The fossils at this site, the
Pollack Farm, include the remains of ancient relatives of horses, rhinos, hippos, porpoises, whales,
seals, manatees, bats, beavers, hedgehogs, dogs, birds, snakes, fish, snails, and bivalves (clams,
oysters, and scallops). A series of web pages will soon be online explaining this fossil find. Detailed
scientific descriptions of the geology and fossils of this site can be found in DGS Special Publication
No. 21.