This quarry is located in Jeffersonville, Indiana, is the closest quarry to downtown Louisville. It is closed to collectors (don’t even ask) since late 2009.
The bottom of the quarry is Laurel Dolostone (Middle Silurian) and in ascending order: Waldron Shale, Louisville Limestone, Jeffersonville Limestone (Middle Devonian), Speed Limestone, North Vernon (= Sellersburg) Limestone, Beechwood Limestone, and basal New Albany Shale.
Unless noted, these photos were taken during a geology club visit on July 2004.
Looking west from the top of the quarry in 2004. Note slabs of New Albany Shale in the foreground.Fossil rich chert (rock made of quartz) near the top of the quarry. This chert is rich in fossils including brachiopods, mollusks, and trilobites.Deep weathering of Devonian limestone forming a clay-rich subsoil. Limertone weathers red – it’s called terra rosa (red earth).Atkin’s Quarry had deep weathering solution features in the North Vernon (Sellersburg) Limestone. These features were created by sulfuric acid formed by ground water + decomposing pyrite located in the basal New Albany Shale. Pseudoatrypa brachiopods are seen weathering out of limestone. They are an abundant fossil in Clark County.Thin Tropidoleptus carinatus brachiopods in subsoil – notice how they were buried and eroded together.For a short time, a rich deposit of Aulocystis corals were found eroding out of the limestone. These were still attached and uncollectable, but plenty of loose specimens were found. These are Aulocystis frutecosa (Davis). The area was blasted through not long after our visit in 2004.Mud-covered fossils collected directly from the subsoil where the limestone decomposed.The same tray after spraying the mud away with a hose. There are some spectacular corals here! We we fortunate to visit when this coral-rich area was exposed.At the quarry road entrance: Walnut Ridge Cemetery with a “Dead End” sign! How’s that for appropriate? The roads were improved and this sign no longer exists. Too bad.
