Note: This is officially the first day of the trip. Everyone will fly into Richmond, VA the day prior. Upon arrival in Richmond each student will check into the hotel, secure a room, and then check-in with his/her professor at desk in hotel conference room. Students are encouraged to book early flights; a van will leave hotel parking lot at 11:00 a.m. for King's Dominion Amusement Park. (The trip to the amusement park is NOT mandatory but it is a good way to get to know your fellow classmates.) Those who are able to go to the park will meet back at van at 7:00 p.m. and return to hotel. A brief, but mandatory introductory meeting will be held in hotel conference room at 8:00 p.m. for all students. They will be given an outline of the week's activities. Students will break at 8:30 p.m. and will be asked to return to conference room at 8:00 a.m. the next day.
Location: Caramel Church Quarry is located off Highway 1, near I-95 between Richmond and Fredericksburg. It is only a few miles from Paramount's Kings Dominion Amusement Park.
Equipment Needed: trowel, plastic bags, bucket, sunscreen, water bottle, tent.
Day's Schedule:
8:00 a.m. Meet in hotel conference room.
Students are to be provided with an introduction of Caramel Church Quarry
and an explanation of what they will do
for the day. Students will examine the stratigraphic column at the
quarry and will then have an opportunity to dig for
fossils. A brief summary of rock strata, relative dating, and
fossil formation would prove beneficial.
8:45 Load vans and drive to quarry.
9:00-12:00 Examine the column and decide where to dig. Set up a tent to help shield from the heat of the sun. Begin dig.
12:00-1:00 Break for lunch. (Professor's
assistant will bring in Subway sandwiches, chips, and drinks. This
will need to be set up
with the sandwich chain in advance and included in the tuition/fee.)
1:00-2:30 Continue Dig
2:30-4:00 Exam any specimens found and
discuss significance of any finds. If a significant fossil is found,
it may need to be cast for
preservation. Answer any questions.
4:00 Load vans and return to hotel for rest and relaxation.
Scientific Significance of Caramel Church Quarry:
Caramel Church is a very interesting and important site for paleontologists. It is a unique exposure of Virginia Coastal Plain sediments in that it offers a great number of rock units from various ages. The stratigraphic column below shows the different rock units, their names, and the geologic time period of deposition found at Caramel Church. As you can see, the oldest rocks are metamorphic Sabot Amphibolite and Maidens Gneiss which date back to Precambrian time. These 900 million old rocks are among the oldest rocks in Virginia. They are highly altered and lack fossils.
The remaining layers are unlithified sediment of the much younger Cenozoic Era. The younger rock units here at Caramel Church belong to the Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, and Miocene epochs of the Tertiary period.
The five sediment units at Caramel Church represents at least five different times when sea level rose high enough to cover this area. These rock units can be found throughout the Coastal Plain, however, they are often more than 100 feet thick in some areas. What makes Caramel Church unique and geologically important is that none of these layers are more than 15 feet thick. This allows Paleontologist to come in and examine rock units from various ages at one time.
The oldest of the Cenozoic sediment at Caramel Church is the 60 million year old Aquia Formation. Next is the Nanjemoy Formation which is 50 million years old. Sharks' teeth have been collected from the Nanjemoy Formation but no significant fossils have been discovered from these two formations at this time.
A rich fossil bed of whale bone, sharks' teeth, crocodile, turtle, fish, and land mammal remains has been discovered in the 14 to 15 million year old Calvert Formation. A whale bone bed sits directly on top of the conglomerate boundary that marks the transition from the Nanjemoy to the Calvert formations. This conglomerate alone is unique in that it contains such large grains (as much as a foot across) rather than the typical 1-2 inch grains typical of Coastal Plain conglomerate. Currently, the Calvert Formation is the main unit being excavated by a team of Paleontologist at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Below are two pictures: the first is a picture of the Nanjemoy/Calvert boundary (Nanjemoy on bottom, Calvert on top) and the second is a picture of weathered and oxidized conglomerate containing a dolphin vertebrae.
While the 10 million year old Choptank Formation has not been significant in rendering a large quantity of fossils, one fossil found in this formation is that of a previously unknown whale species.
Finally, the 8 million year old Eastover Formation is known to contain molds and cast of seashells, however, thus far no bones or teeth have been discovered.
*Photos and information is courtesy of the Virginia Museum
of Natural History. Visit the VMNH
site for more information.
Return to 7-day trip