Geology & Fossils
Like the other New England states, Massachusetts is largely a region of barren rock and thin soil. Many rocks are extremely old. Most are also metamorphic or igneous. The land’s surface features were carved by glaciers during the Pleistocene, or Ice Age.
Some fossils of marine invertebrates that lived more than 230 million years ago during the Paleozoic Era are found in Massachusetts. These include trilobites. Although they are not common, such fossils tell exciting stories about the distant past. Trilobites found in Massachusetts and neighboring Rhode Island offer evidence that North America was once connected to Africa and Europe, for example.
But Massachusertts’ mosts famous fossils are found in the Connecticut Valley. Here are found sedimentary rocks from the Jurassic and Triassic periods. These rocks are the hardened remains of the sediments that flowed into a great basin millions of years ago. The rocks contain fossils of phytosaurs — animals that resembled crocodiles — and the fishes phytosaurs may have preyed on. But the Connecticut Valley’s rocks are best known for the dinosaur tracks they contain.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - 
