Miocene Fossils of Calvert Cliffs (09/09/2021) Stephen J. Godfrey PhD

Presentation Summary: Calvert Cliffs extend for approximately 35 miles along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, from southern Ann Arundel County to the southern tip of Calvert County. The Cliffs comprise three Miocene-age formations; in ascending order they are the Calvert, Choptank, and the St. Marys formations. They were deposited in the Salisbury Embayment during a series of transgression-regression events over a period of approximately 10 million years. The varying composition of the sediments in the cliffs is a reflection of the water depth at the time of deposition. Trillions of fossils are preserved in these sediments from microscopic forams, diatoms, and dinoflagelates; to mollusks and a host of different vertebrate taxa. Following a brief introduction on the geology of the cliffs, Dr. Godfrey will focus on an overview of the varied organisms preserved in the cliffs and some of the most amazing fossils that have come from Calvert Cliffs and the stories they tell.

Presenter Bio: Stephen Godfrey was born and raised in the Province of Quebec, Canada. He has always been fascinated with nature and natural history museums. As an early teen, he began to collect fossils, seashells, pinecones, and skeletons for his own bedroom natural history museum. He received his B.Sc. in biology from Bishop’s University and a Ph.D. in paleontology from McGill University. Following a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Toronto, he moved to Drumheller, Alberta, the “Dinosaur Capital of Canada,” where he became involved in paleontological exhibit work for museums around the world (Skullptures.com). In 1998, Dr. Godfrey became the Curator of Paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland where his mandate is to collect, preserve, and interpret fossils from the famous Calvert Cliffs along the Chesapeake Bay. Most of the fossils that he quarries from the cliffs are of extinct whales and dolphins that lived between 8-18 million years ago.