Beautiful Copenhagen, Louisiana
In perhaps the first of its kind scientific expedition, four area educational institutions united to search for ancient marine fossils at Copenhagen, Louisiana in Caldwell Parish. The event, initially organized by Louisiana Delta Community College, featured over 30 students and instructors from the University of Louisiana-Monroe (ULM), Louisiana Tech University (Tech), Louisiana Delta Community College (LDCC), and Richwood High School (RHS).
Dr. Gary Stringer from the Dept. of Geosciences at ULM gave a brief description of the area and the types of fossils that could be found. We left the Holidome parking lot in a 10 vehicle caravan to our destination some 45 minutes away. For some of us, that journey was just a bit longer since we took the "extended tour" after missing a turn.
The educational tour included graduate students from ULM, students from Dr. Ramsey's evolutionary biology class at LTU, students from Tiffany Green's geology class at LDCC, and students from Don Wheeler and Brien Dunn's classes at RHS.
The Copenhagen fossil bed includes many types of marine fossils some 38 million years old. The more common fossils found are various types of shells, corals, ray teeth and stinger barbs, corals, barracuda teeth, otoliths (fish earstones), and the more popular shark teeth. An occasional whale vertebrae is found (a partial one was found on this trip). According to Dr. Stringer's handout indicate some 70 vertebrate species have been identified, including 14 sharks, 5 rays, 46 teleosts, 3 reptiles, and 2 mammals.
Our group walked a hundred yards down a grown up country road for our final group rendezvous. We descended down a steep hill where the woods opened up into a beautiful meadow dotted with many grasses, flowers, and small trees. Because the soil has a high calcium content from the marine sediments, only certain types of plants will grow there. These plants are quite rare and are protected. The hilly terrain does not look like Louisiana. In fact, it more resembles the rolling hills in southwest Arkansas.
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