Ordovician Fossils at Caesars Creek, Ohio

I'm not a paleontologist, but I do have a lot of interest in the history of the natural world. My wife and I took a day to drive to Caesar Creek, Ohio to look for fossils in the spillway. This a great activity for families and students of all ages. I was inspired by a visit to the Natural History Museum in DC. It was fun to mix pictures taken at the museum with video showing where some fossils can be found. I'd be very interested to know of other fossil hunting sites around the world.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• fossils
• ohio
• natural history
• paleontology

[gchFam]

stet1965: Last time I went the rules were that you could take a slabs the size of your hand, but no larger.

[d2paintballer]

Hey great video. I live about 15 mins from Waynesville, and I just remembered yesterday how cool it was when my class whent on a fieldtrip there way back in the day. I'm gonna head up this, or next weekend I think.

I have a question, if anyone can answer it-

What is the chemical make-up of the most common fossils that are at Ceasers Creek? Like, if you broke up/crushed some fossils, and mixed the fossils in water....what would the water mostly consist of? ie: nitrogen/hydrogen? Please LMK.TY

[gchFam]

The rock is calcite (CaC03). (I asked a geolgist!)

"When a drop of dilute hydrochloric acid is placed on a piece of limestone, the acid reacts with the calcite and forms bubbles of carbon dioxide. This fizz reaction is so characteristic of limestone that many geologists carry a small bottle of dilute hydrochloric acid into the field for a rapid and easy identification of limestone."

I don't have any HCl, dilute or otherwise, so I soaked a sample in Vinegar and found bubbles, likely of CO2.

[d2paintballer]

Ok. Thanks for the reply.

[gchFam]

Update on the vinegar experiment. Tiny bubbles came off the small sample for hours.After a few hours most of the rock had dissolved. The fossil seems undisturbed! I think it is also calcite, but the molecules are more tightly bound. I will try it on some other small pieces containing fossils. I used distilled white vinegar that we use for salad dressing.

[vulcan1429]

The America we drive past on our way to no-where...

[flightsimx65]

HEY! I am mabye going there! TODAY!

[sigma1atar]

Very interesting! Thanks for the video

[BRIERFOX]

That brought back memories of exploring that region. Thank you.

[stet1965]

Wow - great video! Nice detailed close-ups! I visited the region years ago in my college Geology class and I think it will be worth the 600 mile trip to get there and explore the region again. I know a free permit is required to collect but are you allowed to take a slab or two from the site?

[misper34]

I am from Springfield and go to Caesars Creek quite often. A good place for fossils is by the spillway where a creek drains into it. There is a rusty fence strung across it, but it is easy to duck and climb up. I swear, every rock I picked up in that old creek bed was a fossil. I even found what appeared to be a fossilized chunk of coral.

[d2paintballer]

Awesome! So I can use vinegar on the fossils I find, and it will not hurt the fossil's details? That's really cool, thanks for the info...inform me whith any other info. Thanks again!