Deborah Painter (USA)
The breezes from the estuarine Pamlico Sound, which attain the tiny coastal city of Aurora, North Carolina within the USA alongside a meandering tributary, typically carry the evocative and never disagreeable ambiance of salt, combined with decomposed estuarine life, akin to fish, clams, crabs and different “shellfish”. Based on the 2020 United States Census, this city is dwelling to 455 individuals. It’s additionally dwelling to the Aurora Fossil Museum (Fig. 1) and the annual Fossil Pageant.
Michael Griffith, a good friend and fellow gem and mineral society member, took a road trip to Aurora for the 2023 North Carolina Fossil Festival. It had been postponed from its usual dates of the last weekend in May, to the month of June. Across the street from the Fossil Museum, he beheld the spectacle he had driven 271km to see… a large dark grey pile of silt and some dolostone fragments, mixed with shells, barnacles and small shark’s teeth (Fig. 2).
Children and adults climbed on the spoil pile under the hot June sun and excitedly shouted when they found a fossil, which was often (Fig. 3). The big draws, not unexpectedly, were shark’s teeth.
Michael visited the museum and viewed the educational paleontological displays and information, as well as geological and archaeological displays (Fig. 4). The museum offers a video on the phosphate mining industry that makes the fossil dig pile possible.
Phosphate is mined from an area north of Aurora on the Pamlico River. This mineral has many uses, including water treatment, fertiliser and animal feed supplements. Mining it in this location requires plenty of advance planning and engineering. The mining equipment removes the Holocene epoch and the Pleistocene epoch (the 0.00117 million year old to 2.0 million year old Post-Croatan Formation) overburden first. The operation stockpiles this sandy material and continues deeper into the thick Coastal Plain sediments.
The next step is to penetrate to the Pliocene Yorktown Formation, where some of the material for the spoil pile across the street from the Aurora Fossil Museum is derived. The material is from 2.58 to 5.3 million years in age. Next oldest in age is the Miocene Pungo River Formation, a fossil hash, dolostone and silt layer. Barnacles, whale fossils, shark fossils, echinoids and plenty of bivalves and gastropods make up this layer, deposited when the area was a shallow water marine area.
Some marl and Coquina Limestone is present here, with casts and moulds of marine animals. The Pungo River Formation is dated from between 16 to 11.6 million years ago. Below the coquina in the Pungo River Formation is the phosphate ore. Everything above the economically valuable phosphate ore is considered overburden. The ore includes not only some of the fossils mentioned above, but also fossil foraminifera and dolostone streaks that often contain marine clam burrows. The bottom of the mine goes rather deep, to approximately 48.7m below sea level.
Our gem and mineral club had previously purchased from the museum a plastic bin full of the overburden spoil material that is piled in a concrete bermed area across the street for the public to sample (Fig. 5). The club had the museum ship it to us so that during our 2023 spring picnic all club members could check the material out for themselves and take home some specimens.
The museum was founded in 1976 through a collaborative effort by East Carolina University and other government institutions, local residents, regional fossil clubs and the local phosphate mine. Originally owned by the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Canada, the mine is now owned and operated by Nutrien, which has mines in locations in the United States, Uruguay and elsewhere throughout the world.
The Fossil Festival will resume its usual schedule in 2024. Movie night, a silent auction, live entertainment including a dinosaur show, food and craft vendors, a 5K run and even a parade down the heart of Main Street, can be anticipated at the 2024 Festival. Most are free and open to the public. Admission to the museum is free. A few activities are ticketed. A VIP version of the “Dinosaurs Alive” event is one of the ticketed activities.
Cynthia D Crane, Executive Director and Curator of the Aurora Fossil Museum Foundation, Incorporated says:
We also have a National Day designated to honour the Aurora Fossil Museum’s June 15th ‘birthday’ (original opening) called National Megalodon Day. And, we partner with the National Park Service in the fall to celebrate National Fossil Day. Plus outreach, virtual programs, on-site programs, and a Capital Campaign to build a new museum and restore the current buildings are activities we are involved in throughout the year (just to name a few).”
The link to the North Carolina Fossil Festival website is: https://ncfossilfest.com/.
From the north, many visitors take US Route 17 to State Route 33/306. Aurora is also accessible by automobile from the east from State Route 264 and the town of Bath by the free ferry across the Pamlico from the Bayview Landing near Bath, south to Aurora.
Many employees of the phosphate mine commute to work using the ferry. Approaching Aurora from the south from US Route 17, turn east to US 55, then continue on to State Route 304, which turns into Route 33 and then 306 as it leads one into Aurora.
| Aurora Fossil Museum |
|---|
| The Fossil Museum is located at: 400 Main Street, Aurora, North Carolina. It is open most days of the week and days vary during winter months. The fossil spoil pile is open on the same days as the museum. Bring a small children’s size shovel and a sifter or buy them at the Museum. It is advisable to telephone the Museum at 252-322-4238 before a visit to assure that it is open. |
About the author
Deborah Painter is an ecologist and general environmental scientist. She lives in the United States.
References
Aurora Fossil Museum Collections: Collections | Aurora Fossil Museum.
Crane, Cynthia D. Personal communication.
Kimrey, Joel O. 1965. Description of the Pungo River formation in Beaufort County Bulletin 79, Prepared cooperatively by the Geological Survey United States Department of the Interior, 131 pages.
Lee, James F. “Ferry-Go-Round. Traversing Coastal North Carolina By Boat and By Car.” AAA Explorer, Tidewater Members Edition. January/February/March 2024. Pages 28-33.
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality-Geological Survey, Interactive Geologic Map of North Carolina: Geologic Map of North Carolina (arcgis.com).
North Carolina Fossil Festival web site: https://ncfossilfest.com/.
Nutrien website: Transforming Agriculture | Feeding The Future | Nutrien.
Stokes, Alison, and Anthony D. Feig. 2011. Qualitative Inquiry in Geoscience Education Research. Geological Society of America. 211 pages.
United States Census Bureau Data for Aurora, North Carolina, Beaufort County: Search Results (census.gov).
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