Today Emily and her family are enjoying Fossil Friday at Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve. Catherine Konieczny, director of science at Penn Dixie says 380 Million years ago this was an ancient marine coral reef. The water would have been 60 to 100 feet deep, and it stayed like that for millions and millions of years so all that got preserved. She shows us how to search for fossils. She says once you get the hang of it your eyes will just start picking up on the different shapes, and the patterns that don’t really make sense are most likely a fossil. After you find the fossil, match it up to the fossil identification card you received to identify the fossil you found.
Catherine says one of the reasons they are rated America’s number one fossil park is because you can come in and take these things for a low cost and if you are a member you can come in all year round and take what you found. All you need is the identification sheet they give you showing the different types of fossils and then you find it and match it up and she says it’s just so exciting to leave with a bucket of stuff, that you accomplished and have that connection to something that is 380 million years old.
When asked what she thought kids got out of this experience, Catherine says it’s a rare thing to see a girl out in the field getting dirty and then sticking with it into adulthood, so we really love encouraging that and says it’s just so rewarding
Visit penndixie.org for more information or give them a call at 716-627-4560.
