Department of Environmental Protection

Water Resources Management

New Jersey Geological and Water Survey
35(+,6725,&/,)(2)1(:-(56(< Environmental Education Series

The images on the geologic map illustrate the variety of living creatures that
formerly inhabited what is now New Jersey. This interesting array of prehistoric Trilobite
life lived in New Jersey during the Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Devonian
Cenozoic Eras. These major eras of geologic time are characterized by the
predominance of certain types of trace fossils and other types of fossils. Included High Point
are stromatolites, some of the most ancient fossil records of life on Earth, New Cephalopod
Jersey’s most famous dinosaur, Hadrosaurus, the New Jersey State Dinosaur, Devonian
large marine reptiles called Mosasaurs, 30-million-year-old sharks, crocodiles, Ice
Age woolly mammoths, mastodons, elk moose and many more types of ancient
life. The likenesses and fossils are shown approximately where they were found. Mastodon
They range in age from the Precambrian, about 1.2 billion years ago, through the Pleistocene
last Ice Age, just a few thousand years ago. Mastodon
Pleistocene
Fossils are most abundant in the northwestern part of the state and in southern Eurypterid
New Jersey. Many fossils were unearthed during quarrying and the construction Silurian Stromatolites
Stromatolit
of roads and buildings. Some fossils are also found in creek beds. Though most Precambrian
fossil sites are on private property, some are open to the public in New Jersey. Redfieldius
Two are in Monmouth County: Poricy Park, http://www.poricypark.org/ and a site Triassic Hypsognathus
ognathus
on Big Brook, http://www.njfossils.net/cover.html. Delaware Water Gap Trilobite
T ilobite Linguloid
nguloid
d
Upper Cambrian
am
mbrian Cambrian Triassicc
bi Mastodon
M t d n Semionotus
Precambrian: Most of the Precambrian rocks in New Jersey are igneous (igneous Pleistocene Triassic
rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava) or Trilobite Icarosaurus
metamorphic (the transformation of an existing rock type through heat or Lower Ordovician Elk-Moose Diplurus Triassic
pressure) and do not contain any fossils. However, stromatolites (layered and Pleistocene
Ice Age Horse Triassic Grallator
Gr
gradually built structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and Pleistocene Jurassic
Ju
urassic
c
cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms of microorganisms) have been
found in a 1.2 billion-year-old marble, indicating that marine conditions prevailed
at that time. Conodont Phytosaur
Ph t
Ordivician Anchisauripus
Anchis
sauripus Diplurus
Di
Diplu
luruss Triassic
Paleozoic: Cambrian trilobites and stromatolites record the presence of a warm, Belvidere Jurassicc Triassic
Triassi
ic
Mastodon Grallator
Gralla
ator
shallow sea, whereas deeper water conditions prevailed during the Ordovician. Pleistocene Jurassic
sic
Warm, shallow seas returned to northwestern New Jersey from the Late Silurian
into the Devonian. Trilobites, brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, and crinoids are Trilobit
Trilobite Estheria ovata Mastodon
Upper Cambrian Pleistocene
among the common fossils found in this time. Triassic

Mesozoic: Fossils of early reptiles and fish are found in the Triassic sedimentary Graptolite
Graptolit Reindeer
rocks. Footprints preserved in the sedimentary rocks indicate that bipedal Ordovician
Pleistocene
dinosaurs roamed New Jersey during this time. Most of northern New Jersey was
above sea level during the Cretaceous, whereas in southern New Jersey, seas Cephalopod, ammonite
C
Cephalopo
advanced and retreated from the coastal plain, providing a variety of habitats from Grallatorr Cretaceous
estuary to marine. Insect and leaf fossils indicate that low-lying swamps were Jurassic Sandy Hook
covered by vegetation, and tracks and bones show dinosaurs inhabited the Plesiosaur
Plesiosa
landscape. Mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, (an extinct marine reptile) sharks, and Gastropoda Cretaceous
Cretaceou
Wooly Mammoth
mmoth
mmoth Cretaceous Sclerorhynchus
squid-like animals (ammonites) swam the seas, while clams and oysters thrived on Apatopus
Apatop
pus Pleistocene Cretaceous
the sea floor below. Triassic
Mosasaur
sasaur Hyboduss
Cenozoic: Marine life continued to flourish in the Tertiary seas of southern New Cretaceouss
Jersey and fossils of brachiopods (marine animals that have hard shells on the Estheria ovata Cretaceous
aceous Ischyrhiza mira SSqualicorax
lii Giant Ground Sloth
Gia
upper and lower surfaces) shark teeth, corals, echinoderms (any of a group of Diplurus
Di
Diplul Cretaceous
Cretaceo Pleistocene
Plei
Triassic Hyposaurus Cretaceous
etaceou
Enchodus
radially symmetrical marine animals including the starfishes, sea urchins, and Triassic
Triasssi
Cretaceous Exogyra
related forms) and microscopic organisms indicate that the waters were warmer Cretaceous Cretaceous
than those off the coast today. Ice sheets advanced and retreated over northern Belemnitella,Pycnodonte
New Jersey during the Pleistocene Epoch and sea level fluctuated as glaciers americana
Cretaceous
Scapanorhnychus texanus
alternately grew and shrank. The Pleistocene Ice Age ranged from about 2.6 Wooly
ooly Mammoth Tertiary
million to approximately 12,000 years ago and was characterized by periods of Dryptosaurus
urus Cretaceous
Pleistocene
istocene Cretaceous
cold climate. Mammals included horses, mammoths and mastodons have been
found in many parts of New Jersey and roamed the land south of the ice sheets Sea Turtle Myliobatis
then moved north as the glaciers retreated. During this time, the coastline of New Diatryma Carcharodon Tertiary

lf
Cretaceous
Jersey extended 70 to 80 miles farther into the Atlantic Ocean than it does today. Thoracosaurus
T uss

he
Tertiary Tertiary
Some mastodon, mammoth and giant ground sloth remains have been found by Elk-Moose Cretaceous
C Ischyodus Clam
C
Cl

lS
commercial scallop fishermen, and during U. S. Geological Survey coring Pleistocene
Cretaceous Cretaceous

ta
projects in the Atlantic Ocean. Some specimens have also washed up on the

en
beaches. Almost all of the giant mammals disappeared at the end of the
Pleistocene and the start of the Holocene. The Holocene continues to the present Cephalopod

in
day. Plesiosaur Cretaceous Mosasaur Reindeer

nt
Cretaceous Camden Ice A
Age Horse Cretaceous Pleistocene

Co
Sea Turtle
e Pleistocene
P
Pl
Pleis
eis
Further Reading Cretaceouss Mastodon
Case, Gerard R., 1967, Fossil Shark and Fish Remains of North America, Grafco Pleistocene
Press, New York, 20 pages. Walruss Hadrosaurus
Hadrosau
urus
Pleistocene
e Cretaceous
Cr
retaceous

Gallagher, William, B., Parris, David C., Grandstaff, Barbara Smith, and DeTample, Dryptosaurus Giant Ground Sloth Wooly Mammoth
Pleistocene
Craig, 1989, Quaternary Mammals from the Continental Shelf off New Jersey, The Halisauruss Cretaceous Pleistocene
Cretaceous Mosasaur
Mosasaur, v. 4: pages 101-110, Delaware Valley Paleontological Society. Cretaceous
Cow Shark Reindeer
Geological Survey of New Jersey, 1889, Annual report of the State Geologist for the Cretaceous Pleistocene
Year 1888, Trenton, NJ, http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/SG-
Annual-Report-1888.pdf, 87 pages. Salem
Peccary Lamna
Geological Survey of New Jersey, 1905 Annual report of the State Geologist For the Pleistocene Pleistocene
Mastodon
Mastodon Walrus
Year 1904, Trenton, NJ, http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/SG- Pleistocene Pleistocene Pleistocene
Annual-Report-1904.pdf, 317 pages. Mastodon
Pleistocene
Procolpochelys
New Jersey Geology, Awareness and Activity Package, New Jersey Geological Survey Miocene
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/seeds/docs/NJGeoPack.pdf Accessed December 6, 2011. Atlantic City
Mastodon
Pleistocene
Wooly Mammoth
New Jersey Geological Survey Stromatolites in the Franklin Marble, New Jersey Mastodon Pleistocene
Highlands, http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/stromat.htm Oyster Pleistocene
Pleistocene
Marsh, O. C., 1894, A Gigantic Bird from the Eocene of New Jersey. The American
Journal of Science, 48: page 344, New Haven, Conn.

Olson, Storrs L., and Parris, David C. 1987, The Cretaceous Birds of New Jersey,
Smithsonian Contributions to Paleontology, v. 63, 22 pages, Smithsonian Institute
Press, Washington D. C. Woodland Musk Ox
Pleistocene
Palisades Interstate Park Commission, 1999, New Jersey Section, Triassic Park, Walrus Mastodon
March, 1999, http://www.njpalisades.org/cn1999_03.htm Pleistocene Pleistocene
Clam
Cape May Pleistocene
Parris, David C, 1983, New and Revised Records of Pleistocene Mammals, The Mosa-
saur, v. 1: pages 1-21. Delaware Valley Paleontological Society.

Richards, Horace G., 1962, The Cretaceous Fossils of New Jersey, State of New
Jersey, Department of Conservation and Economic Development, Bulletin 61-IIa, 342 Ted Pallis and Richard Dalton
pages, Trenton, NJ, http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin61- New Jersey Geological and Water Survey
II.pdf. and David Parris
NJ

New Jersey State Museum E

D

P
Schmeck, Harold M. Jr., November 27, 1966, Mastodon Teeth are Found Offshore, 2012
New York Times, New York.