These field trips will hopefully give you everything you
need to visit and understand the sites described.
I rate sites for safety as follows
| P Safe for children without parental guidance. I have yet to find a site this safe. All fossil sites have broken glass, poisonous spiders, and loose rocks. Small children need to be supervised. PG These sites are separated from the road, good parking, and only small chance of rock falls PG-13 These sites have good parking, but aren't separated from the road. Some also have high bluffs R These sites generally lack good parking. e.g. you have to cross Charlotte Pike where there are no stoplights. They are not appropriate for children. |
Fossil Hunting Field Trips
Murfreesboro - Old
Nashville Highway at Stones River Battlefield (PG)
Stones River Group fossils,
also see a cedar glade.
Lavergne - Murfreesboro Pike (PG)
Stones River Group fossils
Nashville - Lebanon Pike at Mt. Olivet Cemetery (PG)
Stones River Group fossils -
Carters Limestone - Also bentonite from the Taconic Orogeny
Nashville - Nolensville Road at Southern Hills Medical
Center (PG)
Stones River Group fossils -
Upper Carters Limestone (a little Hermitage Formation at the top)
Nashville - Murfreesboro
Pike at Plus Park (PG-13)
Nashville Group fossils - Hermitage
Formation
Nashville - Nolensville Road across from the Zoo (Windland
Plaza) (PG)
Nashville Group fossils - Hermitage
Formation - Curdsville and Laminated Argillaceous
Nashville - 8th Avenue at Inverness (PG)
Nashville Group fossils - Hermitage
Formation - Laminated Argillaceous and Dalmanella Coquina
Nashville - Thompson Lane at the Railroad Tracks (PG)
Nashville Group fossils - Bigby-Cannon
Formation
Nashville - Metro Center Boulevard at Maxwell House (PG)
Nashville Group Fossils - Catheys
Formation - also calcite crystals and gypsum
Nashville - Charlotte Pike at Moose Lodge (PG-13)
Nashville Group Fossils - Catheys
Formation
Nashville - Dickerson
Pike at Briley Parkway
Maysville and Richmond Group
fossils
Nashville - Ridgetop
Fort Payne formation fossils
Landforms and Evidence of Geologic History
The Hills of Warner
Parks - PG
Examine the strata exposed in the
park and discover why some of Nashville is flat and some hilly.
Earthquakes and
Volcanoes - PG-13
Nashville has evidence of two
earthquakes and five volcanic eruptions.
Introduction to Karst - PG
Water
The Hills of Warner
Parks - PG
Look at two springs.
Why do we find them where we do?
Stream Gauging - PG-13
Find out how to determine how
much water is flowing in the Harpeth River
Percy Priest Dam - PG
What effect does a dam have
on a river?
Getting Out of Town
Parsons, TN -
Decatur County
Collect fossils from the early Devonian
Period.
Coon Creek, TN - McNairy County
Late Cretaceous fossil site
19th century iron mining in Dickson county