Aquia Formation, Paleocene of Maryland and Virginia

During the Paleocene parts of the United States were once again under water on the east coast. The oceans had crept in all the way from New Jersey down to Georgia, this is evident by the fossil record they left behind. During the time the Aquia formation was being deposited in the Salisbury embayment which was covering a good portion of Maryland and some of eastern Virginia. The accompanying image gives a general outline of is location during the Paleocene when the Aquia sediments were laid down. The red dot gives an idea as to where most of the collecting in the Aquia formation has been conducted. The Aquia formation got it's name from Aquia creek where it is exposed in cliff faces along the waters edge.

img link

Pictures of a cliff slide consisting of Aquia formation. The darker blocks on the left are zone 5
img link

Cliff section showing exposed Aquia formation and concreted slabs of zone 3 on the beach

img link

Great shot showing the contact between zones 2, 3, 4 and 5. The top thick yellowish brown concreted layer is zone 5, the 4 extends beneath it until the concreted ledge which is the 3 and the 2 is the dark gray beneath that

The Aquia formation was laid down 59-55.5 million years ago during the Paleocene time period. It is comprised of clayey, silty, glauconitic sands and is for the most part extremely rich in invertebrate material. It is broken down into two members, the Piscataway and the Paspotansa, laid down respectively 59-56.25mya and 56-55.5mya. It is currently believed that there is a slight time gap between the two depositions. The Piscataway member was deposited much closer to shore. This is evident by the vast number of wood, pinecones and seeds it contains. The abundance of wood has lessened greatly by the Paspotansa so it is likely the deposits were further offshore.

During this time the temperatures where much higher on the average and life was abundant as can be seen by the fossil record. The seafloor was covered with invertabrates, mostly turritella. The ocean was filled with many species of fish, rays and sharks. Sea going turtles and crocodiles were extremely prolific during this time period both in diversity and abundance. The Atlantic ocean was still in its early stages and was much narrower then it is today. There is a good overlap seen with fossils of the Paleocene of the united states and those from western Europe and Morrocco because of this. Despite the fact that a good majority of the Aquia we've collected is near shore fossil mammal remains are extremely rare, only a handful have ever been found. Bird fossils are extremely uncommon for the aquia formations as well.

The Aquia formation is\has been exposed in quite a few ways in Maryland and Virginia. The most commonly collected Aquia formations lay along the edges of various rivers where cliffs containing the formation have risen up and are starting to erode out as seen in the pictures above. When these cliffs erode they release the fossil treasures they have held for millions of years. Below are two as found photo's of a Wrasse mouth plate and an Otodus shark tooth.

img link

Fossil Wrasse mouth plate, Aquia Formation
img link

Fossil Otodus Obliquus Shark Tooth, Aquia

Although the Aquia formation of the Paleocene pumps out mostly sand tiger type teeth by the thousands, you can still find some super sweet stuff there. Here are a few images of some of the cooler stuff you can find from the Aquia. To see everything we have found and posted by scrolling a little further down to the Fossils of the Aquia Formation Paleocene of Maryland and Virginia section

img link

Awesome turtle skull from the Aquia formation, this specimen was included in a paper by Dr Robert Weems of the USGS
img link

Sweet Otodus obliquus shark tooth, these are the great grand father of the megalodon and the biggest shark tooth that can be found in the Aquia
img link

Paleocarcharodon, Paraorthacodus and a Delpitoscyllium, not to scale from the Aquia Formation