Fisk Quarry Preserve, Isle La Motte, Vermont
Posted by: 
denben
N 44° 50.758 W 073° 21.763
18T E 629388 N 4967143
The Fisk Quarry Preserve is a U.S. National Natural Landmark which is part of a unique geological formation, the Chazy Fossil Reef. It is a protected site owned by the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust.
Waymark Code: WMG8AQ
Location: Vermont, United States
Date Posted: 01/27/2013
Views: 24
The Chazy Reef Formation is a mid-Ordovician limestone deposit that consists of some of the oldest reef systems built by a community of organisms. It extends from Tennessee to Quebec and Newfoundland, but its most easily studied outcropping is at Goodsell Ridge, Isle La Motte, the northernmost island in Lake Champlain. A gentle uplift has tilted the sediments: the bedding planes now dip slightly to the north, revealing sequences of horizons in exposed rock. The black limestone of Isle La Motte takes a polish, revealing the white "bird's-eye" markings of embedded fossil shells, notably the spirals formed by sliced gastropod shells.
Some 480 million years ago the land mass called North America was located near the equator, in the warm tropical waters of the lapetus ocean. The site was in shallow waters of a continental shelf: the continental craton of Laurentia lay to the west, beyond the lagoon system that formed behind the protective reef.
The Chazy Reef Formation, which built up vertically from a muddy base catching fine dark silt as it grew, began as mounds deposited by bryozoans that stabilized a muddy bottom, then built up into the water column to such an extent that the connected mounds modified their surrounding environment. As the reef aged, it began to offer an increasing variety of ecological niches, which fostered the first rich local biodiversity that has characterized all reef systems ever since. One dominant reef-building organism took the place of another, in a slowly evolving faunal succession.
The rock of the Chazy Formation was quarried from around 1803 to 1919 at the Fisk Quarry, the oldest quarry in Vermont. Founded in 1998, the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust is a non profit organizaton based on Isle La Motte. (See their website for more information on their mission)
When we visited the Fisk Quarry Preserve last fall we were the only visitors on the site. It is quite impressive specially around the old abandoned quarry and the pound and also all these fossils on the ground surrounded with small stones to facilitate their observation. Being neophytes in geology we appreciated this initiative even if some of the fossils were more difficult to see because of the recent rain. (See our 7 pictures)
The entrance to the Fisk Quarry Preserve is at n 44 50.691 w73 21.712
Source: Wikipedia (
visit link) and Isle La Motte Preservation Trust Website (
visit link)
Visit Instructions:At least one good photo you have personally obtained and a brief story of your visit. Any additions or corrections to the information about the Waymark (for instance, have the hours open to the public changed) will be greatly appreciated.