Fossils are the remains of animals and plants that died long ago. Their remains have been replaced by minerals and the resultant cast is called a fossil.

Fossils occur in sedimentary rock.

Many fossils are of plants & animals that used to live in the sea. Fossils are a great record of living things from a long time ago.

Most of the time, the fossil is made of rock harder than the surrounding rock and so it survives. As the host rock erodes, the fossil weathers out and rolls away - often onto a beach or in a creek bed.

Another very common place to find fossils is in limestone quarries where the blasting of rocks uncover the many different layers of fossils.

Fossils are interesting to look at even if you don't know what they are called or when they were formed. Many fossils look similar to plants and animals that still live today. Below are just a few of the different kinds of fossils. If you click on the links, you will then see more pictures of that kind of fossil and where they are found by rockhounds. Most of these pictures are of fossils found by ordinary people - rockhounds whose hobby it is to collect these interesting kinds of rocks.

Some of the places we have fossils from are: Alden NY   Arkona ON  Beaverton ON   Coldwater Quarry ON   Eighteen Mile Creek NY       Manitoulin Island ON  

Fossils from Ontario - K. Kidd Collection

There are many places that fossils can be collected. Creek beds are the easiest places to start since the water helps release the fossils from the sedimentary rock by eroding the river banks. Over time, the fossils - which are usually made of harder rock, are exposed or tumble out onto the gravel and sand bars.