The fossil coral reefs exposed at the Oakes Quarry Park in Fairborn, Ohio are among the oldest Silurian fossil reefs in the United States. These reefs formed during the important transitional time in the history of reefs, when corals were becoming more important as reef frame builders. The coral-stromatoporoid reef that you can visit and see in the quarry is only a few meters in diameter, but shows the diversity of reef-building, reef-dwelling, reef-associated organisms living on the sea floor during deposition of the Brassfield Limestone. The core of the batch reef is exposed in the quarry and is characterized by large mound-shaped corals and stromatoporoids.
Twelve species of solitary corals and four species of stromatoporoid have been found in the coral reef. Similar to reefs living today, the reef at the quarry provided homes for many other creatures that lives in, on, and around the reef including crinoids, brachiopods, bivozoans, mollusks, and trilobites.
The vertical high wall of the quarry is dangerous and the rocks exposed there are research sites for scientists both locally and internationally. Please collect fossils from the spoil piles only. Fossil collecting from the patch reef is prohibited.
Entrance Fee
There is no fee to enter the park!
Address
1267 E Xenia Dr, Fairborn, OH 45324
Click here for Google Map directions
Video
Credit: Oakes Quarry Park
