A couple of miles to the east lay a marshy lowland bordering the limestone bluffs of the Western Highland Rim of the Nashville Done, home to duckbill and Tyrannosaurus-like dinosaurs. At that time western Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, western Kentucky, and southeast Missouri were submerged beneath the Mississippi Embayment, a bay of the Gulf of Mexico. Occasionally the bones of vertebrates are found, … Most organisms are not preserved as fossils. We sometimes find fish scales and plant leaves as well (Wade 1926). 2816: 20 pages. Life abounded in the sea. Huge plesiosaurs, marine crocodiles, sea turtles, a… Plankton ate the bacteria. Unless covered quickly after death, their bodies are consumed by other animals and plants or destroyed by weather. The sea floor was heavily populated with shellfish, crabs, and lobsters. Eckert, A. W., 1963, Coon Creek's Fabulous Fossils: Science Digest, v. 53/1, p. 47-53. The clay in the sediment at Coon Creek sealed off the fragile fossils from the corrosive action of water and the hard parts of the clams, snails, crabs, and shrimps were well preserved. 76, Art. Snails ate the clams and were eaten in turn by crabs and fish. 2816: 20 pages. Little Rock was on the West Coast and the Tennessee River was on the East Coast. Some organisms were swimmers or floaters, but most lived on or in the sandy mud of the sea bottom. (Sohl 1960 and 1964) Giant reptilian mosasaurs, highly ornamented cephalopods, and other less familiar sea creatures lived in the water. Noble, D. R., 1996, The Story of Coon Creek: Museum News, v. 75/3, May/June 1996, p. 16-22. Mosasaurs and cepahlopods ate the fish and crabs. While dinosaurs did roam the land of central Tennessee during the same time period, they were land animals and did not live in the sea. The Mississippi Embayment stretched West from the Tennessee Valley to the area of Little Rock, Arkansas. [4][5] Sometimes the dried carcasses of dinosaurs were washed out to sea by rivers. Russell, E. E. and Parks, W. S., 1975, Stratigraphy of the outcropping Upper Cretaceous, Paleocene, and Lower Eocene in Western Tennessee including descriptions of younger Fluvial Deposits: Tennessee Geological Survey Bulletin, 76: 111 p. Russell, E. E., Walker, L. G., and Pruitt, G. N., 1975, Field Trip 1- Fossiliferous Silurian, Devonian, and Cretaceous Formations in the Vicinity of the Tennessee River." "Field Trips in West Tennessee: Nashville: Tennessee Division of Geology Report of Investigations 36, p 8-34. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. The science center is situated on a 232 acres (94 ha) property on one of the most important fossil sites in North America . Adams, S. and Adams, K., 1994, Creatures in the Coon Creek Clay: The Tennessee Conservationist, v. LX/1, January/February 1994, p. 8-13. As of 2016, the only known dinosaurs found in this region include the remains of indeterminate hadrosaur remains, as complete fossil skeletons of dinosaurs are a rarity in Appalachia. The lack of distinct layering indicates that clams, shrimps, and other burrowing organisms mixed the bottom sediments. found. Clams filtered the small plankton. Fossils from Coon Creek have included bones from plesiosaurs and a mosasaur -- a carniverous oceanic reptile that grew up to 45 feet long. Berry, Edward W., 1925, The flora of the Ripley Formation: United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 136, 94 p. Berry, W., and Kelley, L., 1929, The Foraminifera of the Ripley Formation on Coon Creek, Tennessee: United States National Museum Proc. Sohl, N. F., 1960, Archaeogastropoda, Mesogastropoda, and Stratigraphy of the Ripley, Owl Creek, and Prairie Bluff Formations of Tennessee. A couple of miles to the east lay a marshy lowland bordering the limestone bluffs of the Western Highland Rim of the Nashville Done, home to duckbill and theropod dinosaurs. 19, No. [2], • There is a rich diversity of the animals with over 600 different species of organisms found.[2]. The Mississippi Embayment stretched West from the Tennessee Valley to the area of Little Rock, Arkansas. Adams, S. and Adams, K., 1994, Creatures in the Coon Creek Clay: The Tennessee Conservationist, v. LX/1, January/February 1994, p. 8-13. Coon Creek is a 73 million-year-old fossil site located about 90 miles east of Memphis in McNairy County, Tennessee. These served as the base of the food chain. reasons (Noble 1996). Geologists employ biostratigraphy, the use of index fossils, for dating sedimentary rock units like the Coon Creek. Fish scales and plant leaves are sometimes found as well (Wade 1926). • The number of fossils is stupendous. Index fossils are species of plants or animals that existed over a wide area for a geologically short period of time (Russell and Parks 1975). It is a sedimentary sandy marl deposit, Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) in age, about 73 million years old. The overlap indicates that Coon Creek sediments were probably deposited between 70 and 71 million years ago. Coon Creek was formed in shallow coastal water probably less than 100 feet deep. Sohl, N. F., 1964, Neogastropoda, Opistobranchia, and Basommatophora from the Ripley, Owl Creek, and Prairie Bluff Formations. Unless covered quickly after death, their bodies are consumed by other animals and plants or destroyed by weather. The Coon Creek Formation is a geologic formation located in western Tennessee and extreme northeast Mississippi. Everybody ate everybody else. The Coon Creek Science Center is a science center and fossil finding site at 2985 Hardin Graveyard Road in Adamsville, McNairy County, Tennessee, USA. They were carnivorous and would have been the top of the food chain in the Coon Creek area. Coon Creek was formed in shallow coastal water probably less than 100 feet deep. Other index fossils from Coon Creek date a little older than 70.6 million years. The Geology Of The Mississippi Embayment And Coon Creek, 10.1306/74d70af1-2b21-11d7-8648000102c1865d, "REVIEW OF VERTEBRATE DIVERSITY IN THE COON CREEK FORMATION LAGERSTÄTTE (LATE CRETACEOUS) OF WESTERN TENNESSEE", "First dinosaur record from Tennessee: a Campanian hadrosaur", "DISCOVERY OF A SECOND HADROSAUR FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS COON CREEK FORMATION, WEST TENNESSEE", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coon_Creek_Formation&oldid=970020608, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. [2] Crustacean fossils have also been unearthed in the Coon Creek Formation as well.[3]. Huge plesiosaurs, marine crocodiles, sea turtles, and mosasaurs shared the waters with sharks and fierce fanged-tooth fishes. This layer of sandy clay, bones, and shells became the Coon Creek Formation. Occasionally the bones of vertebrates are found, as well as the cartilaginous vertebrate of sharks. The overlap indicates that Coon Creek sediments were probably deposited between 70 and 71 million years ago. Fossils from Coon Creek have included bones from plesiosaurs and a mosasaur -- a carniverous oceanic reptile that grew up to 45 feet long. Clams filtered the small plankton out of the water and ate it. Wade, Bruce, 1926, The fauna of the Ripley Formation on Coon Creek, Tennessee: United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 137, 272 p. Zepp, L., 1999, Students Dig the Past at Coon Creek: The Tennessee Conservationist, v. LXV, no. Periodic hurricanes may have brought in heavy loads of river sediment to bury the plants and animals living there. Eckert, A. W., 1963, Coon Creek's Fabulous Fossils: Science Digest, v. 53/1, p. 47-53. Adamsville - Coon Creek Sohl, N. F., 1960, Archaeogastropoda, Mesogastropoda, and Stratigraphy of the Ripley, Owl Creek, and Prairie Bluff Formations of Tennessee. • Because the Coon Creek Formation sediment is unconsolidated, it makes it very easy to The margins of the bay teemed with marine life. • The fossils are found in their original state. Sohl, N. F., 1964, Neogastropoda, Opistobranchia, and Basommatophora from the Ripley, Owl Creek, and Prairie Bluff Formations. Most fossil sites require concentrated efforts to find a representative sample of Radioactive minerals lose energy at a known rate over time- like a battery running down. collect and prepare the fossils. 2985 Hardin Graveyard Rd, Adamsville, TN 38310. This layer of sandy clay, bones, and shells became the Coon Creek formation. Heavy waves from severe tropical storms constantly churned up shallower parts of the sea floor.[1]. Acquired by the Pink Palace Family of Museums in 1988, this property Periodic hurricanes may have brought in heavy loads of river sediment to bury the plants and animals living there. Unless covered quickly after death, their bodies are consumed by other animals and plants or destroyed by weather. It may have been 1,000 feet deep where Memphis is now. Their shells, bones, carapaces, teeth, and other hard parts were constantly being buried in the sandy mud of the sea floor. At that time a bay of the gulf of Mexico extended over West Tennessee up to southern Illinois. Within the grounds of Coon Creek Science Center, located in rural McNairy County, Tennessee, lies one of the most important fossil sites in North America. Geologists have turned to the use of the biostratigraphy, the use of index fossils for dating. This unique location exposes a Cretacious era shallow ocean environment from about 70 million years ago, when dinosaurs still stalked the Earth. The story of Coon Creek began near the end of the Cretaceous Period, around 71 million years ago. We have found the remains of at least two mosasaurs. This page was last edited on 28 July 2020, at 19:16. It is possible that dinosaur bones will turn up at Coon Creek someday. "Field Trips in West Tennessee: Nashville: Tennessee Division of Geology Report of Investigations 36, p 8-34. • There is a rich diversity of the animals with over 600 different species of organisms The clay in the sediment at Coon Creek sealed off the fragile fossils from the corrosive action of water and the hard parts of the clams, snails, crabs, and shrimps were perfectly preserved. [1] They were not dinosaurs but large aquatic lizards that could reach lengths of up to 45 feet. Their shells, bones, carapaces, teeth, and other hard parts were constantly being buried in the sandy mud of the sea floor. Conditions for life were ideal; the water was warm and of normal salinity (Wade 1926). Have we found dinosaurs at Coon Creek? These served as the base of the food chain. Brister, R. C., 1994, Bruce Wade: Tennessee's forgotten geologist: Earth Sciences History, v. 13/1, p. 47-51. By comparing the amount of original radioactive material with its break-down products, its age in years may be calculated. Plankton ate the bacteria. Many rivers fed into the sea bringing leaves and driftwood from the land. Snails ate the clams and were eaten in turn by crabs and fish. • The number of fossils is stupendous. The Gulf of Mexico filled the trough on several occasions between 80 and 50 million years ago. Bacteria and other microscopic scavengers ate the decaying wood. https://fossil.fandom.com/wiki/Coon_Creek_Formation?oldid=12032. Mosasaurs and cephalopods ate the fish and crabs. The Gulf of Mexico filled the trough on several occasions between 80 and 50 million years ago. Noble, D. R., 1996, The Story of Coon Creek: Museum News, v. 75/3, May/June 1996, p. 16-22. swimmers or floaters, but most lived on or in the sandy mud of the sea Brister, R. C., 1994, Bruce Wade: Tennessee's forgotten geologist: Earth Sciences History, v. 13/1, p. 47-51. the fossils. The Coon Creek Formation is a geologic formation located in western Tennessee and extreme northeast Mississippi. This thumb print-shaped bay extends roughly North-South from central Mississippi to southern Illinois. At that time western Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, western Kentucky, and southeast Missouri were submerged beneath the Mississippi Embayment, a bay of the Gulf of Mexico. Coon Creek was semi-tropical, like current-day southern Florida. The hard shells have not been permeated by Index fossils are species of plants or animals which existed over a wide area for a geologically short period of time (Russell and Parks 1975). bottom. Pictured above: The official State fossil of Tennessee: Pterotrigonia thoracica, from Coon Creek, Cretaceous, 70 million years ago. Cushman, J., 1931, A preliminary report on the Foraminifera of Tennessee, Tennessee Geological Survey Bulletin 41: 116 pages. It is possible that dinosaur bones will turn up at Coon Creek someday.