Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) scientists have uncovered hard proof of faults in northern Delaware, indicating the occurrence of earthquakes millions of years ago.

Delaware Geological Survey improving groundwater monitoring efforts with new wells, sampling. Scientists are digging for answers about the amount and quality of water available underground in central Delaware, where ongoing development will put increasing demands on water supplies in the coming decade.

The Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) is installing 7,700 feet of wells at eight sites in southern New Castle and northern Kent counties to improve groundwater-monitoring efforts, supported by a $600,000 grant from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and populations there are projected to continue expanding.

Pictures and brief descriptions of commonly found fossils in Delaware.

Only fragmentary remains of dinosaurs have been found in Delaware. All of these have come from the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, mainly from the spoil piles created by the dredging of the Canal. Various nature groups in Delaware lead trips to the Canal for collecting. Most of the fossils found are those of marine invertebrates (primarily bivalves and gastropods with some remains of sponges, ammonites, and belemnites).

A 33-year tradition, Coast Day lets visitors learn more about the state's ocean and coastal resources as well as the work of CEOE researchers, Delaware Sea Grant, and their many partners.

The Pollack Farm Site, in the Cheswold sands of the lower Miocene Calvert Formation, produced a fragmentary marine mammal fauna. The Pollack location yielded at least six cetaceans (whales, porpoises), a sirenian(manatee), along with one of the earliest records of a true seal (Listed below).

Land mammal fossils were discovered in 1992 in the lower part of the Calvert formation at the Pollack Farm site. During the short time the pit was open, the collection grew to become the most diverse tertiary land mammal fauna known north of Florida on the eastern half of North America.

The lower Miocene Pollack Farm Fossil Site has yielded few avian fossils in comparison to the other classes of vertebrates and invertebrates. Only eleven fossil fragments, assignable to six taxa, were collected at the Pollack site. Of the eleven avian fossils collected, representations from three distinctive orders were recovered: Gaviiformes (divers and loons, seen below), Charadriiformes (gulls and shore birds), Pelecaniformes (cormorants and pelicans).

The Pollack Farm Site has provided the first legitimate window of Miocene reptilian life in North America east of the great plains and north of Florida. In years prior to the excavation of the Pollack site, records of particular small lizards and snakes were non-existent in locations of the mid-Atlantic and northeast, thus providing a significant value to the Miocene fossils recovered.

Phylum Chordata includes the vertebrates. Although not as common as the invertebrates, teeth and bones from different classes of vertebrate animals can be found at Canal sites.

Echinoderms are "spiny-skinned" invertebrate animals that live only in marine environments. Two major divisions are recognized by biologists: principally attached, usually stalked forms of the Pelmatozoa; and unattached free-moving forms of the Eleutherozoa.

Arthropods are animals with a segmented body, external skeleton, and jointed appendages. The Arthropoda includes insects and crustaceans. Only two groups of arthropods are common as fossils in the Cretaceous of the C&D Canal area, and both are types of crustaceans: the Malacostraca (crabs, lobsters, and shrimp) and the microscopic Ostracoda.

Annelids are segmented worms. The remains of the soft-bodied segmented worms are not usually preserved as fossils. Some marine (salt-water) types, however, secrete tubes of calcium carbonate to use both as a home and to provide protection from their enemies. These tubes can be found as isolated specimens or attached to larger shells. Two genera, Serpula and Hamulus, are fairly common in formations near the C&D canal.

Cephalopoda is the scientific name for the mollusc group that includes the chambered Nautilus, squid, and octopus. Two extinct types are found at the C & D canal: the Nautilus-like ammonites and the superficially squid-like belemnites. Ammonites are uncommon, especially complete specimens, but can be very useful for age determination. The belemnite species Belemnitella americana has been so abundant at some canal localities that it was named the state fossil of Delaware.

Pelecypoda is the group of molluscs referred to as the bivalves. Most pelecypods have a pair of hinged shells of generally equal size. Clams, oysters, and scallops are well-known types. Pelecypods can be abundant in the sediments of the C & D canal area.

Gastropoda is the scientific name for the group of animals more commonly called snails. Gastropods have a single coiled or uncoiled shell and are common fossil types in the Cretaceous sediments of the C & D canal area.