[Ansteorra] Elfsea

[Sean Gulick]

Putting on my geologist's hat for a moment:

The reason for the shells and for the prevalence of limestone in the DFW area
is that it was once beneath an ocean .. of a sort.  Around 65 mya there was a
singular sea that stretched north-south covering the entire center of what is
now the United States.  From east to west it stretched from the Rocky Mountains
across the Mississippi River Valley to the Valley and Range province of the
Appalachian Mountains.  This sea was known as the Cretaceous Intercontinental
Seaway and while covering huge amounts of land it was frequently never more
than 6 feet deep.  As you can imagine as giant shallow sea housed massive
amounts of aquatic and amphibious life.  This life has left its record as
massive Limestone deposits and the hard parts of organisms such as shells
throughout the midwest and northern Texas.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled medieval discussion group...

In service and for scholarship,
Gideon

Rhonda Hays wrote:

> Some time ago, there was a discussion on our local list about traditions.  I
> recall from that one of the reasons why Elfsea is so named is because Fort
> Worth some of the surrounding areas of Tarrant county sit on what was once
> under water.  Fossil Creek is an example of what you can dig up around here.
> We live in NE Parker County, next to Tarrant and have a "drop off" which
> runs the length of our six acres.  We have found all sorts of shells, from
> the small ones to some rather large (6" wide") ones, clearly all from under
> the water.

--
'Honor the past, live the present, create the future'
________________________________________
Sean Sandifer Gulick, PhD

PGI Postdoctoral Fellow
Institute for Geophysics
University of Texas
4412 Spicewood Springs Rd Bldg 600
Austin, TX 78759

Phone:  (512) 232-3262
Fax:   (512) 475-6338
E-mail: sean at ig.utexas.edu
Web: http://www.ig.utexas.edu/staff/sean/sean.htm