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  • Alley B posted an update 5 years, 1 month ago

    5 years, 1 month ago
    5 years, 1 month ago

    I’m new here, and would love to know if anyone is from Virginia as well! I’d also love to know if anyone has any idea on places to find fossils in Virginia.

    • @hunter-thurmond and @nathan-newell, any suggestions for fossil hunting in or near Virginia?

      • @sadie-mills Sure! Here are a couple of tips for you, @alley-b

        First, the geology of Virginia is broken up into 5 different provinces:
        geology.blogs.wm.edu

        You can find Cenozoic fossils (like shark teeth) in the Coastal Plain, and Paleozoic fossils (trilobites, crinoids, brachiopods) west of the Blue Ridge. The Piedmont province is a big chunk of the state, but it’s all Proterozoic metamorphic/igneous rock so you won’t find much of anything there.

        Second, fossil hunting in Virginia is tricky because of the vegetation; it just loves to cling onto the ground, resist erosion, and cover everything up. So I usually find fossil sites in road cuts, unless you’re in the Coastal Plain where the rivers help expose fossils (as you already know, considering the fossils you’ve found).

        Third, Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States by Jasper Burns is a great book for Virginia fossil hunters. Most of the sites I’ve found come from that book, so I highly recommend tracking it down.

        I hope that helps!

    • I’m in Northern Virginia, near DC