Ordovician Bedrock
Road cuts throughout the County and area expose the strata of fossil-rich Ordovician rock layers
The Ordovician
Period
450 Million Years ago
Clermont's Ordovician bedrock was created when the land we now call the State of Ohio was within a shallow ocean and was located below the equator.
The Ordovician oceans were full of life, some being algae, bi-valves, brachiopods, cephalopods, crinoids, trilobites, corals, and many more.
Over time these creatures died and landed on the ocean floor, accumulating and being covered by layers of shells and fine silt. It is thought extremely violent hurricanes would pull sediment and mud from shallow regions and lay that sediment as layers over the ocean floor which would become today our shale layers. The previously mentioned shell deposits would become limestone. The shell layers (future limestone) would take long periods of time to accumulate, while the mud silt layers (Shale) could happen in a short period of time, covering the sea life and giving us the intact fossils between the shale and on top of the limestone.
.
