Download The Geology of Ohio

The Geology of Ohio
Under Ohio the rocks tell a fascinating
story wherever you go.
Northern Ohio borders Lake Erie.
Eastern Ohio rises to meet mountains
where coal mines tunnel into the earth.
Western Ohio leads to fields of farms
that look like patchwork quilts.
Southern Ohio has steep cliffs and
valleys carved by the winding Ohio River
and ancient streams where you can find
ancient caves.
Did you ever wonder what is underneath
Ohio?
What is Under Ohio?
Rocks formed from magma.
Rocks formed from fiery volcanoes that
erupted when the continents pulled apart.
Metamorphic rocks from mountains that
formed when the continents pushed
together.
Sedimentary rocks from tropical seas that
covered Ohio millions of years ago and left
behind fossil seashells, corals and fish
bones.
Rocks left behind from icy-cold glaciers
that spread across the land – you might
even find diamonds and gold among the
glacier scraped stones.
Geologic Time Scale
Geological Periods to Know
Quaternary – Ice age; Great Lakes scraped
out and many rocks left behind (~1.5 m yrs.
ago)
Mississippian & Pennsylvanian – Ohio
covered in swamps, organisms left for coal
to form, fossil record (~300 m yrs. Ago),
when our sandstone started forming 
Devonian – Ohio covered in shallow seas,
sediment rocks deposited, fossil record
(~350 m yrs. Ago)
Geologic Cross Section of Ohio
Local Rock Formations
Berea Sandstone
http://www.amst.com/
http://home.earthlink.net/~bereahistorical/Sand
stone.html
http://www.sandstonepatio.com/
Bedford Shale
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec
=2857
http://www.newarkcampus.org/professional/osu/
faculty/jstjohn/Bedford%20Shale/Bedford%20S
hale.htm
Berea Sandstone
The Big Quarry- Berea, Ohio
Bedford Shale
Ohio’s Fossils
Found only in Sedimentary Rocks!
Trilobites – looks like a bug!
Brachiopods – looks like a clam!
Crinoids – looks like a flower!
Corals – looks like modern horn coral!
Trilobites!
State Fossil of Ohio
Brachiopods!
Crinoids!
Coral!
Dunkleosteus!
Dunkle Who?
Dunkleosteus!
Kuhl Things at Other Places in Ohio
Kelleys Island – you can see huge, long
grooves scraped into the limestone bedrock by
the glaciers that moved down from Canada!
Cleveland – there is a mine that goes down
more than a thousand feet to a layer of rock
salt; some of the mine is even under Lake
Erie!
Under Toledo is limestone from a tropical sea
where trilobite relatives are found in the great
numbers.
Under Ashtabula are clay deposits from when
Lake Erie was much larger than it is today.
Mrs. Draves on glacial grooves!
More Kuhl Things at Other Places in Ohio
Under Campbell Hill, the highest point in
Ohio (1,549 feet) the shale formed a hill so
high and wide that it force the glaciers to
move around it!
Just north of Cincinnati, the last glacier
stopped and left hills of sand and gravel.
Under the city are rich fossil beds from
shallow seas and can be seen from the
cliffs along the Ohio river!
Under Columbus are the roots of the
Grenville Mountains that were once higher
than the Rocky Mountains!
Credit goes to:
Charles Ferguson Barker, author and
illustrator of:
Under Ohio The Story of Ohio’s
Rocks and Fossils
We used some of the information
from his book in putting together this
Power Point. Thanks, Charles!