Field Trips To the Coastal Plain

The selected areas described below are locations where the sedimentary features of the coastal plain landscape can be examined. Parks and places on the coastal plain that consist dominantly of glacial deposits and more modern shoreline features are described in the next sections. The sites provided below represent only a partial sampling of coastal plain stratigraphy. It is unfortunate that intense urban development have taken away many sites that were once open to casual collecting and study. Future generations of students, researchers and hobbyists will have to struggle to regain lands lost to urbanization. There are many locations in the coastal plain that could easily rival any of the "fossil parks" of the American West or Europe in terms of potential for yielding significant paleontological resources. Not only must such localities be secured, but they must be managed to guarantee public access and interest, and it is imperative that reasonable policies regarding "collecting and study" be established. Some of the places listed below will illustrate how not to manage. Fossil localities need not be resources to be "exhausted." Fortunately, in some places there are probably enough fossil shark's teeth and mollusk shells to provide samples for every geology student on Earth for as long as our species will be interested.

49. Sayreville/Kennedy Park
50. Cheesequake State Park
51. Atlantic Highlands
52. Poricy Brook
53. Big Brook
54. Tatum Park
55. Crosswicks Creek
56. Shark River Park

The Pine Barrens of New Jersey
57. Allaire State Park
58. Lebanon State Forest
59. Wharton State Forest
60. Penn Forest