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This Earthcache is in honor of the 10th Birthday of Earthcaching! Jan 10th, 2014!
With this Earthcache we will be sharing the following trackable:
(This TB will be available ALL day at the Earthcache location on January 10th, 2014.)
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Looking at Trammel Park's formations:
At Trammel Park the lowest is the Fairview, which is overlain by Miamitown, the Bellevue, and on top of them all is the Corryville.
Fairview Formation
Named after the hillsides exposed at the Fairview Heights in Cincinnati. The limestone layers of the Fairview typically ranges from 7 to 15 inches in thickness. The tops and bottoms of these layers are in soft shale and thus provides easily worked slabs that were used for building stones. You will see ripple marks caused by water moving acorss the surface of the sea, forever frozen in time. In some places you can see holes in the rocks, probably made by worms burrowing into the mud.
Miamitown Formation
The formation lying on top of the Fairview is called the Miamitown Shale, named aster rocks first studied near Miamitown in western Hamilton County. The Miamitown Formation accumulated in a trough that had extended into Ohio from the West. The seafloor of this trough was generally mud filled. At Trammel Park, shell layers colonized the mud filled though and were subsequently buried by mudslides, preserving the fossils in time.
Bellevue Formation
The Bellevue formation was named for the rocks first studied around Bellevue, Kentucky. These rocks are recognized by close layering of limestone indicating a shallower, more stirred up sea at the time of formation. Out of all the formations view-able at Trammel Park, Bellevue reflects a time with the shallowest water, perhaps within ten foot of the surface. Bellevue layers have rippled appearances and plenty of fossils indicating a favorable environment for all kinds of animals.
Corryville Formation
The Corryville Formation is named after the Corryville neighborhood of Cincinnati, near the University of Cincinnati. Fine particles settling out of the seas formed the shale layers that you see in Corryville. These fine particles resulted from erosion and runoff from the uplifted Appalachian Mountains, east of this region. From the Corryville shale, some of the most rare fossils have been found. In many other local areas, the soft shale has eroded away. Trammel Park is unique in that the Correyville Formation is exposed and undisturbed.
How Do Fossils Form?
When animals, plants and other organisms die, they typically decay completely. But sometimes, when the conditions are just right, they're preserved as fossils.
Several different physical and chemical processes create fossils, according to the New York State Geological Survey.
Freezing, drying and encasement, such as in tar or resin, can create whole-body fossils that preserve bodily tissues. These fossils represent the organisms as they were when living, but they're very rare.
Most organisms become fossils when they're changed through various other means.
The heat and pressure from being buried in sediment can sometimes cause the tissues of organisms — including plant leaves and the soft body parts of fish, reptiles and marine invertebrates — to release hydrogen and oxygen, leaving behind a residue of carbon.
This process — which is called carbonization, or distillation — yields a detailed carbon impression of the dead organism in sedimentary rock.
The most common method of fossilization is called permineralization, or petrification. After an organism's soft tissues decay in sediment, the hard parts — particularly the bones — are left behind.
Water seeps into the remains, and minerals dissolved in the water seep into the spaces within the remains, where they form crystals. These crystallized minerals cause the remains to harden along with the encasing sedimentary rock.
In another fossilization process, called replacement, the minerals in groundwater replace the minerals that make up the bodily remains after the water completely dissolves the original hard parts of the organism.
Fossils also form from molds and casts. If an organism completely dissolves in sedimentary rock, it can leave an impression of its exterior in the rock, called an external mold. If that mold gets filled with other minerals, it becomes a cast.
An internal mold forms when sediments or minerals fill the internal cavity of an organism, such as a shell or skull, and the remains dissolve.
*Article used with permission.
Logging Requirement:
Once you log this Earthcache as "FOUND" please message us the answer to the following question within 10 minutes:
Trilobites are an extinct group related to horseshoe crabs, lobsters and crabs of today.
- Name the formation that Trilobites are found in?
- From what you have discovered, what is the name of the most common Trilobite found here?
Take note, Trilobites are found in only one layer of formation at this park. You may need to examine the hillside, read signs and possibly locate a sample!
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