Ancient Reefs on Isle La Motte, VT - Labor Day 2009

Did you know that Vermont has the oldest exposed fossil reef in the world?

CEPHALOPOD


480 MILLION YEARS OLD

My 9 year old now wants to be a paleontologist...specifically the first to discover dinosaur fossils in Vermont. We have been watching many shows on the Discovery and NatGeo channels and I saw one that featured the Chazy Reef. What a surprise to see it practically in my backyard!


Several key areas have been set aside as national preservation trust areas. They have a wonderful discovery walk where you can see and find fossils right in the rock at your feet. The kids spent more than an hour brushing dirt and grass from the exposed rock and finding many different ancient lifeforms.

Linda Fitch was a wonderful guide and also instrumental in getting this unique and fascinating area preserved.

These are rocks that the kids found loose on the surface. We examined them with the docent at the visitor center, then "returned them to the wild".


From top left: a part of a sponge, stromotoporoid (a cabbage like coral precursor), a piece of a gastropod, and a shell impression (bottom).

GASTROPOD



STROMOTOPOROID (a cabbage-like coral precursor)

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