National Capital Parks-East - Fossils

Paleocene fossil outcrops can be found in the Shell Marl Ravine Forests of Piscataway and Fort Washington Parks where the creeks cut deeply into the soils of the Sassafras-Croom association exposing underlying fossil deposits. The shells of Ostrea oysters, Cucullea clams, and Turritella snails from the Paleocene epoch dominate the glauconite rich gray clay substrata, but shells of other mollusk species and fossilized shark"s teeth can also be found.