Age of Kentucky Fossils



Most of Kentucky's fossils are very ancient, and most are much older than the dinosaurs. Fossils are the same age as the sedimentary rocks that contain them, and the sedimentary rocks at Kentucky's surface range from 505 million to less than 16 million years old. A geologic map of Kentucky shows the distribution of these different age rocks. Not all ages are found in Kentucky, and the missing Permian through Cretaceous period is a mystery.

 

 

Types of Kentucky Fossils



The Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, and some of the Pennsylvanian rocks of Kentucky began as sediments laid down in shallow tropical seas; consequently, the fossils found in them are types of marine shellfish (invertebrates). The most common types include corals, moss animals (bryozoans), lampshells (brachiopods), trilobites, clams (pelecypods), snails (gastropods), shell-bearing squid-like animals (cephalopods), and sea-lily animals (crinoids).

 



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