As part of the workshop, teachers were taken on a day long field trip to an area just south of Jackson, Mississippi to collect sediment and fossil samples (Figure 1). All of the formations in the collection area are Oligocene in age. The oldest formation is the Forest Hill Formation, which is a deltaic and fluvial deposit. The upper part of the Forest Hill is estuarine. The contact between the Forest Hill and the overlying Mint Spring contains a shell hash and clay clasts. Marine waters of the Mint Spring were encroaching upon the deltaic/estuarine sediments of the Forest Hill. The site contains abundant pectens, several different types of echinoids (Cassidulus gouldii is the most common), various bivalves (mollusk, gastropods, and scaphopods), and other invertebrates. |
