Ferncliff Peninsula Fossils | Ohiopyle, PA
A hike along the Youghiogheny River on the Ferncliff Peninsula side of Ohiopyle Falls will take you over boulders and large rocks. If you look carefully, you’ll find many reminders of a more tropical time, 300 million years ago. One neat aspect of the Ferncliff area, in addition to the unusual climate and plant life there, is the long gone plant life left behind.
Calamites fossil along the Youghiogheny River. This grew to about 100 feet tall and went extinct 250 million years ago.
300 million years ago the area was a tropical swamp covered in a shallow sea. Ferns and trees grew 80-100 feet high in the standing water. The plants were trapped in sandstone. Over many, many years, the sandstone was worn away revealing the impressions of these long extinct plants.
Lepidodendron, aka “scale tree.” This went extinct 250M years ago.
Not sure how to identify this one, but it’s the most unique I found.
An interesting Cordaites that rises above the rock, after the erosion of the sandstone around it. This is similar to what grows in the everglades.
Another Calamite.
A Lepidodendron peeking out from under the moss.
Some random impressions on a large, well-worn boulder.
I’ve always had a fascination with prehistoric life and archeology, so it was really neat to see these all along my hike!