Can You Dig It?

Mineral Wells Fossil Park

Story and photos by Bob Kaspar

It isn’t often that visitors are allowed to take resources out of a park, but at Mineral WellsFossilParkthey’reencouragedtodoso.

Fossilsaresoabundantattheparkthatevenamateurfossilhunterscanfilltheirhands with ancient treasures in a matter of minutes This ease of collection has attracted professional paleontologists and amateur rock hounds alike to the park since its openingin2010

The geology of Mineral Wells Fossil Park is hundreds of millions of years old, but in the more recent past it served as the “borrow pit” for the city’s landfill. The landfill was closedintheearly1990s,andthe20yearsofexcavationanderosionthereremovedthe topsoiltorevealtheMineralWellsFormation,ageologicstratadatingback300 million yearstowhenmostofthelandonEarthwaspressedtogether intoasupercontinentknownasPangaea.

Texas, and much of the Americas, once was attached to present-day Africa on this supercontinent, and the area was covered in a shallow sea The story of this ancient sea life is toldinthefossilsthatcanbefoundatthepark

The most common finds in the park are remnants of crinoids. With a stalk and feathery arms, crinoids may look like plants, but they’re actually animals similar to sea stars and sea urchins Fossilized clams and other shelled sea life are also abundantatthepark.

Rare finds at the park include prehistoric shark teeth and trilobites, an ancient creature that looked somewhat like a modern-day horseshoe crab. Their segmented bodies make awe-inspiring fossils that help tell the story of Earth’s prehistoricpast.

Fossils are extremely plentiful and easy to find at the park, making the site a fantastic place for youths Any fossils found canonlybekeptfornon-commercialpurposes,anddiggingis only allowed with a small shovel There is no running water at thepark,sovisitorsshouldmakesuretobringtheirown.

On the website of Mineral Wells Fossil Park, comments are posted from visitors wondering why the park isn’t more publicized, but the park has to compete with many other offbeat attractions found in and around the city. After all, MineralWellsiswellknownforitsrichhistory,fromtheglamor of the Roaring ’20s and the wild world of the 1800s, to hundreds of millions of years ago when the area teemed with abundantsealife

Mineral Wells Fossil Park is located at 2375 Indian Creek Road Hours are 8 am to 8:45 pm daily, and admission is free

Formoreinformation,visitthewebsite: wwwmineralwellsfossilparkcom