Geology & Fossils
Maryland lies within the Atlantic Coastal Plain on the east and the Appalachian highlands on the west. Most of its fossils are found along the coast, and these are mostly marine animals from the Cenozoic Era, or Age of Mammals.
Maryland’s most exciting fossil site is found along the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland. Here the Calvert Cliffs harbor fossils of hundreds of different kinds of animals that lived twelve to twenty-five million years ago, during the Miocene Epoch. The Calvert Cliffs preserve the most complete record of Miocene animals on the East Coast.
During Miocene times, this area was the bottom of a shallow sea. The climate was warmer then. Whales and porpoises swam with sea cows, sea turtles, and crocodiles. There were also sharks, including the sixty-foot white shark Carcharodon.
Mastodons, rhinoceroses, tapirs, horses, and dogs roamed on land. Occasionally, they wandered onto sandy beaches along the sea. Sometimes they became mired in swamps or were trapped between high tide and steep banks. Today their fossils are found mixed with fossil snail shells and sharks’ teeth.
Though these animals are extinct, very similar related species survive today, mostly farther south. Sea turtles still nest in the Carolinas — which are also home to alligators — for example. Relatives of sea cows, manatees survive as far north as Florida. Tapirs, rhinoceroses, and elephants inhabit tropical regions. Horses and dogs, of course, are found around the world.
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