Friday, July 23, 2010

Fossils at the Louisville Zoo

The Louisville Zoo has a Dinosaur exhibit on display till October 31, 2010.  Part of the display includes an exhibit sign with a number of fossils.  Unfortunately, the sign does not give exact names or locations of the fossils being shown.  None the less, I think the crinoid calyx is from the Mississippian Period and probably from Crawsfordsville, Indiana.

The first fossils shown in the box on the sign in the lower left corner are stromatolites.  They are identified as small micro-organisms that lived in colonies about 2.7 billion years ago.



The next fossil is of insects trapped in resin that became amber over time.


The last fossil in this post shown is the crinoid calyx that was mentioned at the beginning of the post.