Transcript:

Fossils Drive By OutcropsFossils - those tantalizing links to our prehistoric past, can be found in many locations. You could even be driving by a bed of fossils on your way to work. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.Schimmrich: Fossil hunting is becoming more and more difficult, especially in the east, because virtually all land is privately owned. Out west it's a little easier. There's a lot more public land. Steven Schimmrich is a professor of geology and earth sciences at SUNY Ulster County Community College. He took me on a fossil hunt near Kingston, New York, not far from the New England Thruway.Schimmrich: You can find them anywhere there is sedimentary rock. All you need to do is get out and start looking at that. Most sedimentary rocks, if you look hard enough, you can find fossil material. Maybe not anything beautiful museum quality. But you can find fossil material.You could look at rock outcrops on the side of the road. Railway cuts. Quarries - if you can gain access to an old rock quarry, those are great exposures for sedimentary rocks. Metzner: - Any outcropping on the side of the road? Schimmrich: Yes. You just have to get out of your car and go look.Metzner: Let's look!Schimmrich: There are various layers here of broken up shell material. Ambience: trafficMetzner: What is that? Schimmrich: That is an organism called a Brachiopod. Brachiopods are kind of like clams and oysters and scallops, and those things we're familiar with today. They're shelled marine creatures. Back in the geologic past, a few hundred millions years ago, Brachiopods were hugely abundant., thousands and thousands of species of them, living and evolving over time.We'll hear more about finding fossils in future programs. Pulse of the Planet is made possible in part by Virginia Tech, inventing the future through a hands on approach to education and research.