5 things everyone should know about Mantuas (New Jersey) Inversand fossil site By Andy Polhamus | South Jersey Times nj/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2014/12/5_things_everyone_should_know_about_mantuas_inversand_fossil_site.html Just off Woodbury-Glassboro Road in Mantua, a major piece of natural history sits in a former industrial site. The Inversand fossil pit has for years been a center of paleontological research, and now scientists, along with township officials, are working to turn the former sandpit into a world-class educational facility. 1. The fossil pit started life as a mine. The Inversand Company has mined manganese greensand in Mantua for more than 80 years. The sand, which gives the pit its signature greenish-black coloring, has long been used as a water filtering agent. Although the pit containing most of the fossils is no longer the companys main worksite, Inversand drains the area constantly to keep it clear for digging. Otherwise, ground water would turn the fossil pit into a lake. 2. Inversand is part of a rich history of fossil hunting in South Jersey. The first complete dinosaur skeleton to ever be mounted and exhibited was discovered in Haddonfield in 1858. A statue of that dinosaur, the Hadrosaurus, now graces downtown Haddonfield. Furthermore, according to Dr. Ken Lacovara, the paleontologist in charge of the Inversand site, dinosaur bones have also been discovered in Mantuas Ceres Park. Workers and researchers have been finding fossils at Inversand since the 1930s. 3. The fossils in the pit could provide clues about the last days of the dinosaurs. Lacovara points to a bone bed layer of earth containing thousands upon thousands of fossils at Inversand as a picture of what he calls the very last moment of the Cretaceous Period. Fossils found at the site, he hypothesizes, might be the remnants of animals that died some 65 million years ago in the same catastrophic event that killed the dinosaurs. Some common finds include the remnants of prehistoric sea creatures, including ancient turtles, as well as countless teeth. That would make this site the only place in the world where you could touch a skeleton and know the creature died on that very bad day, said Lacovara in 2012. It would make this a place of global importance. 4. Mantua hopes to turn Inversand into a full-fledged fossil park. The facility would feature a museum and educational center where guests could learn about dinosaurs and the history of the 65-acre site before heading out on fossil digs of their own. A small work station that was put up at the site this past summer for cleaning and preparation of recently-discovered specimens represents one small step toward turning the park into a reality. Township officials hope that Mantua will have full ownership of the land, which is still owned by the Inversand Company, sometime in 2016. 5. Its open to the public. The township opens the site to visitors once or twice a year. Mantuas most recent Community Dig Day in September brought out more than 1,200 people in a single weekend, and so many people tried to RSVP that theres always a waiting list for next time. Visitors flocked from not only all over New Jersey, but from around the country. Most people get to keep whatever they dig up, and if you happen to find something thats so rare the organizers cant let you take it home — well, good work!
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 01:48:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015