Dinosaurs >> Dinosaurs Articles >> Fossil Ruins State Agricultural Chemist of Maryland

The geological researches of Mr. P.T. Tyson, State Agricultural Chemist of Maryland, have lately brought to light some very interesting fossil ruins, which have been emtombed during perhaps countless ages in the iron hills between this town and Baltimore.

The formation consists mainly of thick beds of lead-colored clays with lignite. The iron ore is in the form of bulky nodules, and consists of the carbonate of iron. The fossils revealed are:

1. Fossil teeth, which have been completely investigated by Dr. Christopher Johnston, of Baltimore, and resolute to those of a Theodont Saurian, not hitherto described.

We regret to learn that numerous vertebrae, which doubtless formed part of this enormous animal, and which were thrown out by the ore diggers at Mr. Tyson reached the place.

This Saurian has been named, conditionally by Dr. Johnston, "Astrodon," from the stellated appearance of cross sections of the teeth below the microscope.

2. At a petite distance from where the Saurian remains had been buried was found a fragment of what must have been a rib of a big Cetacean.

3. Also, about six feet in length and more than two feet in diameter, the trunk of a tree totally silicified, or, in popular language, "turned into stone." Dr. Johnston's microscopic investigations confirm this to have belonged to the coniferous or languish family.
All the over were found about 220 feet above the stage of tide water.

4. Above one mile far, on the farm of Dr. Theodore Jenkins, a vegetable fossil was found by Dr. J. which belongs to the cycades, (a tribe of tropical plants,) like the existing sago palm frequently seen in our hothouses. It is shaped somewhat like the pine-apple, and is about eighteen inches tall and fifteen inches in diameter, and is also silicified.
These discoveries show that the clays and iron ore ranging from Washington, via Baltimore, to the environs of Elkton, constitute secondary strata possibly older than the cretaceous green sand of New Jersey. In fact, the investigations of Dr. Johnston stipulate that the Saurian teeth may have belonged to a much older period.

These discoveries show that the clays and iron ore ranging from Washington, via Baltimore, to the environs of Elkton, constitute secondary strata possibly older than the cretaceous green sand of New Jersey. In fact, the investigations of Dr. Johnston stipulate that the Saurian teeth may have belonged to a much older period.

The continued inclement weather since these fossils were discovered has arrested additional researches for the present, but we are informed that they will be resumed by Mr. Tyson untimely in the ensuing spring. It is his opinion that the cretaceous green sand, so mainly and usefully applied as marl in New Jersey, may be expected to rest upon the southeastern edge of this iron ore structure, and be reachable within a few miles of the Washington and Baltimore railroad.

This must not be perplexed with the eocene green sands or marls of Charles, Prince George's, Anne Arundel, Cecil, and Kent counties of Maryland, and which are more or less watery with siliceous sand. The lower beds of the Jersey green sand or marl are almost free from siliceous sand. It contains from eight to twelve percent of potash, and is highly prized as a dung. It will prove to be a precious resource if it shall be found in Maryland contiguous to a railroad or tide-water. This article is mainly exported from New Jersey, and enters into the composition of some of the synthetic fertilizers imported from New York or its vicinity.

What amazing changes must have taken place in this part of the world since Whales and Saurians were entombed upon this (then) boggy coast! The ruins of the Saurian and Cycas indicate that a tropical weather then prevailed in this latitude. At the same time also almost the only portion of what now constitutes the only portion of what now constitutes the dry earth of Maryland and Delaware was north and west of a curved line drawn from Wilmington, near Elkton and Baltimore, to Washington. All the residue, comprising half of Maryland and almost the whole of Delaware, was covered by the waters of the ancient sea.