Dry Dredgers Field Trip
October 24, 2009
Oakes Quarry Park, Ohio

The Dry Dredgers had a chilly day for our October field trip to the interesting fossil park known as the Oakes Quarry Park in Fairborn, Ohio. This quarry exposes the Brassfield Formation of the Silurian Period. The quarry is located between Dayton and Xenia.

Left to right: Ron Fine, Taylor Bross, Bob Bross and Gary Richter

The park has plenty of informative signs and also signs that guide you around the park.

We gathered in the parking area. There was plenty of available parking. The fossil collecting site, however, was about a 15 minute walk to the other end of the quarry. We left the cars to go to the fossil site in groups from 9:30 to 10 am.
 

We got to have an interesting tour of the quarry during our walk to the site. Ron Fine and Bob Bross had been to the site before and was able to point out the features of the quarry, which includes a Silurian coral reef .
 

Then we finally arrive at the site. Our collecting was limited to two piles of discards. There is active and past Paleontological research at specific locations throughout the quarry, making most of the quarry off limits to casual fossil collecting.
 

After collecting Silurian fossils in the piles, we headed off for a tour of the quarry, guided by signs. Our destination was the Silurian coral reef, marked by Bob's waiving arms and the signs.
    

At last we reach the Coral Reef.

The reef was home to lots of crinoids, as evidenced by the rock surfaces.

It had been a light drizzle of rain for the last hour we were out there. But the rain started to be more persistent. We had been in groups of 5 or so people. The group I was with decided to head back to the cars when the rain started to get harder.
 

I think everyone had a good time and I heard several people say it was worth the cold temperatures and light rain. I highly recommend the Oakes Quarry Park to those interested in fossils and geology.

Fossils Found That Day

Crinoid Holdfasts

Crinoid Stems

Solitary Corals

Colonial Corals

Stromatoporids

Brachiopods

Bryozoans

Cephalopods

Snails

For more information on Oakes Quarry Park, see the the Fairborn Ohio web site at http://ci.fairborn.oh.us/parks.htm or download their brochures in PDF format.

Oakes Quarry Park General Information Brochure
Oakes Quarry Park Fossil Brochure

Now let's move on to our February 2010 field trip to a local museum.

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