Fossil Park, Sylvania Ohio

One of the places I think that is so neat to have is a fossil park.  There is one located in Sylvania Ohio. A while back in 2011 I went and visited it with my son.  I started this post back then but ran into technical difficulties with my computer.  I left it in draft mode and forgot all about it.  Its about time to finish this. 

I saw this post and it was what got me wanting to go to it.  I had the link but lost it  when I saved it in Word, now can't remember where I saw this and have tried to find it again. I even searched for Roy of Times Scientific but couldn't find anything related to it.   (if anyone knows where this came from I want to give the proper link and also recognition and will remove this copy of it.) 

About the Silica formation:

In the middle Devonian, a vast sea covered Ohio. The sea floor was very muddy, creating a remarkable place for fossilization to occur. The Silica Formation in northwest Ohio represents this marine environment from the middle Devonian; it leaves a well-preserved and abundant fossil record. The preservation of these Devonian fossils are among the best in the world. In this formation, one can find the abundant remains of corals, brachiopods, echinoderms, and trilobites. These exquisitely preserved fossils are found in soft, gray shale, and quickly weather free from matrix.

The Silica formation is only accessible through quarries in the area. Access to these quarries is restricted, however, the Hanson quarry provides spoil from the Silica formation for a Fossil Park in the area, where people are welcomed to collect.

Collecting site:

Fossil Park

Fossil Park

My camera batteries died when I got to the park. This pic was taken by Roy of Times Scientific.

# A few employees of the Hanson Quarry came up with an idea to allow the public access to these famous Devonian collecting grounds. They came up with an idea that eventually became Fossil Park!

# Fossil Park is open to the public.

In the park, truckloads of Silica Shale from nearby quarries are dumped into a few large areas, where the public can simply hand split the shale, and find the same fossils one can find in the quarries.

# The park has two dig sites and a trail around the quarry. It is also staffed with knowledgable people that will help identify your finds.

# I personally have not collected here. However, by the looks of things, families were finding lots of fossils, mainly brachiopods and corals.

# Currently no tools are allowed to split the shale.

Location:

Fossil Park is located in an abandoned mine in Sylvania, OH. It is on the west side of Centennial Road in Sylvania, which is just north-west of Toledo.

The direcitons sound a bit long, but they are easy to follow. From the Ohio Turnpike, take exit 59, the Maumee/U.S. 20 exit. Follow signs to U.S. 23/Ann Arbor. Go south on U.S. 20 to Dussel Rd. Turn west onto Dussel Road. Follow that road to U.S. 23. Take U.S. 23 north to Central Ave. Make a right (west) onto McCord Rd. Stay on McCord road for about 1 mile north and turn left (west) onto Sylvania Rd. Follow Sylvania Road for about 2 miles to Centennial Road. Turn right (north) for a little under 2 miles on Centennial Road, and you should see a sign marking the park.

The park is open weekends from Memorial day until October 22nd.

Read the fossil park entrance sign for more information.

 I went looking for that link but could not find it but I did find this stuff on it.

  Here's a link to it Fossil Park - Ohio,

 and another visit-fossil-park-sylvania-ohio-562615.html
 and another    northwest/toledo/fossil-park.html


 Now this is the stuff that I have gotten.

This is the path way that led to where the collecting was.

I could tell by the looks of the formation that this was once a quarry that had been abandoned.  According to Mark J. Camp in the 'Roadside Geology of Ohio'(2006 pg 80),  the out crop showing in the park is the Dundee limestone.  Camp points out that the managers have the Silica formation stuff shipped in from other places.

They had this to help you identify the different Devonian fossils that have been uncovered here.

And this is what the park looks like.  Just piles of debris that you get to sort through.  It was frustrating not being allowed to have tools, but you could use buckets.  You mainly just pick a pile and then sit on it and use something to sift through the material.  In our case it was just our hands and so gloves were a good thing to have.    They did have these tables where you could put the things you found and also there was some running water so that you could wash some things off too.

There were some people who were into collecting that were very helpful with things, explaining how it was done and showing you some of the stuff they did get.  The one thing they said its always best pickings after they bring in a new load of material.  It had been awhile since they had brought anything in on the day we were there and so the pickings were not to good.  But my son did have fun doing it and I was glad I could share that experience with him. All we seemed to get was bits and pieces of things.  There was lots of pyrite there too.

This is the quarry from which they get their materials.

              I used to go to Sylvania  and collect when I was an undergraduate.  Things sure have changed since then.   We used to go into the Medusa quarry and were able to collect on the weekends when the quarry wasn't in operations and only in the area where they had the tailings and not the active area.
Here's what it look like in May of 1977 and what we had to look through.  The water was a problem and we had to sign waivers stating we would not swim in it.  The pickings were a lot better but then again we had so much more material to sort through too.

 And here are two of my all time favorite fossils that I had collected from the area.
 The first one used to be in a whole lot better shape with a lot more of the black steinkern area but with all the moves it made through the years and all the places its sat and all the times it was picked up and handled,  I'm amazed that I still have it at all. 
A Trilobite  -   Phacops_rana

Trilobite - Phacops

 and a Brachiopod - Spiriferida  - Paraspirifer?.

Brachiopod - Paraspirifer?

What I really liked about this Brachiopod was it steinkern was pyrite which makes it very durable.  Back when I had a lot of them, I used to soak them in hydrochloric acid and take some of the lime away thus leaving the pyrite.  Non geologist would really like them and through the years I gave them all away so that now I just have this one specimen left.  I'm glad I kept this one and didn't try to do anything to it.

I am grateful that there is a park like this available and I'm glad that I could take my son to it.  I find when you collect it yourself it's so much more fun and you appreciate what you get so much more.  The other thing is when you do see something that is really nice at a show or museum you appreciate all the work that went into getting it too.