Paleontology in North Carolina

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"Prehistory of North Carolina" redirects here. For human prehistory of North Carolina, see History of North Carolina § Pre-colonial history.
state of North Carolina

Paleontology in North Carolina refers to

U. S. state of North Carolina. Fossils are common in North Carolina. According to author Rufus Johnson, "almost every major river and creek east of Interstate 95 has exposures where fossils can be found".[1] The fossil record of North Carolina spans from Eocambrian remains that are 600 million years old, to the Pleistocene
10,000 years ago.

About 600 million years ago, North Carolina was covered by a warm shallow sea that was home to

rock record. By the Triassic, North Carolina had a terrestrial environment where the local bodies of freshwater were inhabited by invertebrates and fishes while conifers and cycads grew on land. Dinosaurs and other kinds of prehistoric reptiles lived in the area. The Jurassic is missing from the local rock record, but during the Cretaceous evidence points to a shallow sea covering the state, which was home to creatures like belemnites
, and occasionally dinosaur carcasses which had washed out to sea were preserved.

Sea levels began to rise and fall after the Cretaceous, and occasionally marine invertebrates, bony fishes,

epoch, the sea withdrew from the state, which was then inhabited by mammoths and mastodons
.

Early significant discoveries in the state include Cretaceous reptile fossils discovered in the 1850s by state geologist Ebenezar Emmons. During the Civil War, Confederate coal miners uncovered many Triassic fossils. In approximately 1869, the state's first known dinosaur fossils were discovered.

Prehistory

The

fossil record of North Carolina spans from Eocambrian remains 600 million years old to the Pleistocene 10,000 years ago.[1]

Eocambrian

During the Eocambrian, North Carolina was covered in seawater.

Stanly County. These are the oldest known lifeforms in the state and among the oldest large fossils in the world.[3] Stromatolites are relatively common in the state when compared to other Precambrian fossils. A few Edicarian biota have been found in the state. A pair of Pteridinium were found in a creek in Stanly County (this fossil is now on display in the NC Museum of Natural Sciences). The disk-shaped Aspidella is also known from the state, as well as the strange Sekwia.[4]

Cambrian

North Carolina remained covered by a shallow sea through the early part of the Paleozoic.[2] The remainder of the Paleozoic was a time of significant geologic upheaval in the state. There are no sedimentary rocks from this interval of time in which fossils could have been preserved.[2]

North Carolina has very few Cambrian fossils. The only known fossils from this time period is the tube-shaped trace fossil Skolithos. However, a few trilobites are known from Cambrian deposits in South Carolina,[5] which are the same age as North Carolina's Cambrian deposits; thus it is likely that trilobites lived in North Carolina as well.

Triassic

Restoration of R. caronlinensis.

Powerful geologic forces formed rifts in North Carolina during the Triassic period.

archosaurs.[8]

The Solite Quarry, is which straddles the border between Virginia and North Carolina is another source of Late Triassic fossils. The vertebrate fauna it preserved included crocodilians, phytosaurs, and

conchostracans.[10]

Jurassic

There are no known Jurassic rocks at the surface of North Carolina.[2] However, there is a large expanse of possible late Jurassic rock lying 8,500 to 9,878 feet under present-day Cape Hatteras. However, due to this high depth, it would be extremely difficult to collect fossils from there, and currently the only known fossils from this strata are ostracods collected from deep well cores.[11]

Cretaceous

For intervals of time during the

hadrosaurids Hypsibema crassicauda and (possibly) Hadrosaurus, an indeterminate tyrannosauroid (possibly Dryptosaurus), and an unidentified leptoceratopsid (the first ceratopsian known from the East Coast
).

Members of North Carolina's Cretaceous

Mollusks were abundant in Cretaceous North Carolina. Cretaceous mollusks are known in a variety of locations across the state.[15] The Late Cretaceous Peedee beds are known for their belemnites and other mollusks.[16]

Paleogene

Sea levels also rose and fell during the ensuing Paleogene period of the Cenozoic era. Inhabitants of the sea would sometimes fossilize in the state.[2]

Paleocene

During the

cretoxyrhinid shark Palaeocarcharodon orientalis is also known from the state, based on extremely rare teeth from the Beaufort Formation.[citation needed
]

The Bald Head Shoals Formation, on the other hand, has an even more limited exposure; it is only located around the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and its only exposures are on some of the islands created from the dredging of the river.[17] Mollusks and foraminifera are known from here; in fact a new species of turriteline gastropod was discovered in this formation during 2008, found in cores drilled offshore by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Eocene

During the

whales
. These deposits are relatively well known. Sharks found in the state include early tiger and mako sharks.

Despite their renown, North Carolina's Eocene fossils are generally poorly preserved. Other invertebrates of this epoch included at least two species of

New Hanover counties.[18]

Neogene

Author Rufus Johnson has described one Neogene marl pit near

whales.[1]

Miocene

During the later Miocene epoch, Craven County was home to at least 21 different species of pelecypods and 20 species of gastropods.

Craven counties. Fossil vertebrates from this fauna included whales and sharks.[20] Yet more Miocene deposits provide evidence for a fauna including 35 species of gastropods, 47 pelecypods in southern North Carolina and even down into neighboring South Carolina. Tooth fossils indicate the presence of sharks in the region.[21]

Pliocene

Megalodon tooth with two great white shark teeth.

During the ensuing Pliocene epoch, North Carolina was home to invertebrate faunas including at least 25 species of gastropods and 46 pelecypods.[22] Pliocene fossil

Onslow counties Pliocene fossils are only known south of the Neuse River.[24] Vertebrates included horses like Equus complicatus.[22] The presence of whales in Halifax County is attested to by a middle ear bone preserved in Pliocene deposits of the Yorktown Formation.[25] Near the transition to the Pleistocene, North Carolina was home to vertebrates like buffalo, megalodon, and whales that were preserved in Halifax County.[26]

Quaternary

Pleistocene

During the ensuing

New Hanover, and Brunswick counties.[27]

Pleistocene vertebrate life in North Carolina included the modern horse genus Equus in Halifax, Pitt, Washington, Pamlico and New Hanover counties. Other kinds of horses left remains in Jones County. Cetacean fossils have been found in

New Hanover, and Brunswick Counties.[28]
Pleistocene mastodon ivory was also preserved in
Dare County.[28]

History

Hypsibema crassicauda.[30]

Natural history museums

Notable clubs and associations

  • North Carolina Fossil Club, Inc.[31]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d Johnson (2005); "Way, Way Back: Fossils in North Carolina", page 12.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Huntsman, Kelley, Scotchmoor, and Springer (2004); "Paleontology and geology".
  3. ^ a b c d Johnson (2005); "Way, Way Back: Fossils in North Carolina", page 13.
  4. ^ "North Carolina Fossil Club | Enriching minds with the Paleo-past". www.ncfossilclub.org. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  5. ^ "The Paleontology Portal". paleoportal.org. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  6. ^ a b Murray (1974); "North Carolina", page 217.
  7. ^ Johnson (2005); "5", page 13.
  8. ^ a b Weishampel and Young (1996); "North Carolina (Pekin Formation)", page 89.
  9. ^ Jacobs (1995); "Chapter 2: The Original Homestead", page 55.
  10. ^ a b Picconi (2003); "Ancient Landscapes of the Piedmont: Terrestrial environments preserved as conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, shale", page 89.
  11. ^ Swain, Frederick M. "Ostracoda From Wells in North Carolina: Part 2. Mesozoic Ostracoda" (PDF).
  12. ^ Weishampel and Young (1996); "Late Cretaceous Paradise", pages 48-49.
  13. ^ Weishampel and Young (1996); "Late Cretaceous Paradise", page 49.
  14. ^ Johnson (2005); "Way, Way Back: Fossils in North Carolina", pages 12-13.
  15. ^ Murray (1974); "North Carolina", pages 217-218.
  16. ^ Picconi (2003); "Ancient Seascapes of the Coastal Plain: Muddy, oxygen-rich environments & Silty-sandy environments preserved as gray shale", page 99.
  17. ^ "Shark Tooth Island(Wilmington) - North Carolina". The Fossil Forum. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
  18. ^ Murray (1974); "North Carolina", page 218.
  19. ^ a b Murray (1974); "North Carolina", page 219.
  20. ^ Murray (1974); "North Carolina", pages 219-220.
  21. ^ Murray (1974); "North Carolina", page 220.
  22. ^ a b Murray (1974); "North Carolina", page 221.
  23. ^ Johnson (2005); "6", page 13.
  24. ^ Murray (1974); "North Carolina", pages 220-221.
  25. ^ Johnson (2005); "1", page 13.
  26. ^ Johnson (2005); "2", page 13.
  27. ^ a b Murray (1974); "North Carolina", pages 221-222.
  28. ^ a b Murray (1974); "North Carolina", page 222.
  29. ^ Johnson (2005); "4", page 13.
  30. ^ a b c Weishampel and Young (1996); "More East Coast Bones", page 77.
  31. ^ Garcia and Miller (1998); "Appendix C: Major Fossil Clubs", page 197.

References

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External links
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