Students Map the Hidden Fossils of Six Southeastern Parks

Fossils have been documented in 286 national parks, but many have never had thorough fieldwork. The gap is widest in parks that are not known for fossils — like many in the Southeast, set aside for their scenery, history or culture — even though the rock beneath them is often fossil-rich and could hold new finds.

The project

In August 2023, Dr. Christy Visaggi and 18 undergraduate and graduate students in her Principles of Paleontology course at Georgia State University (GSU) began a pilot collaboration with the National Park Service. With the Park Service, they chose six parks where fossil-bearing rock is mapped nearby or fossils were already known, with room for more:

Six teams of three — formed around students' interests in caves, water or particular states, with leads chosen from volunteers and graduate students, and helped by a senior research student — each took a park, and the parks were paired where their rocks were alike.

They reviewed the literature and existing data, identified fossil-bearing geologic units in and near each park, compared maps to see where new finds might turn up, and considered how the fossils should be managed and protected — and what stories could bring them to visitors.

What the rocks hold

All six parks' fossil beds are mostly Paleozoic (541 to 252 million years ago), but they span different periods and environments.

At Russell Cave and Little River Canyon especially, extensive fossil-bearing rock, finds just outside the boundaries, and a first field visit — with fossils seen in the rock, and even in stones lining the walkways — point to much more waiting.

Paleozoic marine invertebrates in fossil-rich limestone at Russell Cave National Monument. NPS photo

Fossil Fact Sheets

Each team produced a Fossil Fact Sheet for its park — still being revised — summarizing its geologic history, rock formations, confirmed and potential fossils, management issues and stories for interpretation. The aim: give park staff a quick guide to prehistoric treasures they might not have fully recognized, and a starting point for research, surveys, interpretive programs and management. The Big South Fork sheet was led by senior Christopher Gray.

Students presented early results at GSU's STEM conference in November 2023, and several leads were preparing to present at the Geological Society of America's southeastern section meeting in April 2024.

What students got out of it

The project drew mixed reactions at first — some students were thrilled to work with the Park Service, others wary of work so unlike ordinary coursework. For lead author Shiloh Bauer, whose park, Obed, had among the least on record, the work turned out to be enjoyable, exercising skills — reading and digesting scientific literature, condensing large amounts of information, leading a team — that classes rarely demand. Many students valued learning paleontology by doing it, with a view of natural resource management, seldom part of paleontology courses, and a head start toward careers in the field. They hope to join future fieldwork in the parks.

Sources

Based on "A Georgia State University and National Park Service Collaboration: Fossil Fact Sheets in the Southeast Region," by Shiloh Bauer and Christy Visaggi, Georgia State University, for Park Paleontology News, volume 16, number 1 (Spring 2024), National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The article's dates for the Mississippian overlap its own dates for the Pennsylvanian, so neither range is given here; its photos of students and of the draft fact sheets are left out. Rewritten in hubnx's own words.