Paleontology in Rhode Island facts for kids
Paleontology in Rhode Island is all about finding and studying fossils in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It also includes research done by people from Rhode Island. The state doesn't have a huge number of fossils. But you can often find plant fossils, especially near old coal beds.
Millions of years ago, during the early Paleozoic Era, parts of Rhode Island were covered by a sea. Tiny sea creatures called trilobites lived there. Later, in the Carboniferous Period, Rhode Island became a big, swampy area. Lush plants, including trees over 50 feet tall, grew everywhere. Animals like arachnids (like spiders) and insects, such as cockroaches, also lived there.
During the Permian Period, the land started to pull apart, forming valleys. The next periods, Triassic and Jurassic, don't have any rock records in Rhode Island. This means no dinosaur fossils have been found here. We don't know much about the state's Cretaceous history either. The Paleogene and Neogene periods are also missing from Rhode Island's rock record. Much more recently, during the Pleistocene Ice Age, huge glaciers covered the state. Some cool fossil finds in Rhode Island include new types of insects and many ancient amphibian footprints.
Contents
Ancient Life in Rhode Island
Life Before the Dinosaurs
No fossils have been found from the Precambrian time in Rhode Island. Back then, this area was located far south, near the South Pole. The early Paleozoic Era also doesn't give us much information about ancient animals. But we know that parts of Rhode Island were under the sea during this time. Some of the few fossils from this period are trilobites. They are found in metamorphic rocks, which were once soft sediments at the bottom of that old sea.
The Carboniferous Swamps
During the Carboniferous Period, the same powerful forces that later broke apart the supercontinent Pangaea began to create a deep valley in northern Rhode Island. Rivers and streams flowed into this valley, turning it into a big, swampy place.
Rhode Island was full of amazing plants during the Pennsylvanian time, which is part of the Carboniferous Period. These plants left behind many fossils, like leaves, stems, and tree trunks. You can find club moss and horsetail fossils preserved as molds in sandstone. One of the best finds was a tree trunk 16 inches wide, from a tree that was thought to be over 50 feet tall!
Insects and Spiders of the Past
Carboniferous Rhode Island was also home to many different arthropods (creatures with exoskeletons, like insects and spiders). One type of arachnid called Anthracomartus lived here. This was the first Carboniferous arachnid ever found in the eastern United States! Other important arthropods from Rhode Island included a new type of neuropteroid (related to modern net-winged insects) and a new protophasmid (an insect that ate plants). Back then, Rhode Island was also crawling with many kinds of cockroaches.
Missing Time Periods
During the Permian Period, the same geological forces that would eventually split Pangaea kept forming valleys in northern Rhode Island. However, during the Triassic and Jurassic periods, rocks were being worn away from the state instead of being laid down. This means there are no rocks from these ages in Rhode Island where fossils could have been preserved. So, no dinosaur fossils have ever been found here.
Even though there are no Triassic and Jurassic rocks, some Cretaceous sedimentary rocks have survived on Block Island. But still, no dinosaur fossils have been found. Just like before, during the Paleogene and Neogene periods (part of the Cenozoic Era), Rhode Island's land was eroding. This left another big gap in the state's rock and fossil record. More recently, during the Pleistocene Ice Age, huge glaciers scraped across Rhode Island.
Discoveries in Rhode Island
Near the end of 1892, a church leader from Providence found the fossilized wing of an ancient cockroach in Pawtucket. Later, in 1914, construction started for a trolley tunnel through College Hill. During the digging, many plant fossils were found. These fossils are now kept and studied at Brown University.
Natural History Museums
- Rhode Island Museum of Natural History and Planetarium, Providence
