COON CREEK FORMATION LAGERSTÄTTE (LATE CRETACEOUS) OF WESTERN TENNESSEE – STATUS OF CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH EFFORTS

The Coon Creek Lagerstätte (terminal Campanian – Early Maastrictian) has been internationally recognized since publication of Bruce Wade’s classic 1926 USGS Professional Paper for its abundant and diverse pristine invertebrate fossil preservation. Well over 400 species have been identified from the site including representatives of: calcareous algae, sea grass, foraminifera, nannofossils, ostracods, bryozoans, corals, numerous bivalve and gastropod mollusks, scaphopods, cephalopods, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, worms, sea urchins, sharks, numerous fish (bone, teeth, and otoliths), turtles, mosasaurs, and the occasional fossil land plant (lignite and leaves). Built in 1988 by the Memphis Family of Museums, a 240-acre Coon Creek Science Center (CCSC) now occupies the original “Old Dave Weeks Place”. Wade’s type section consisting of micaceous, glauconitic, clayey-sand and sandy-clay lithofacies and its classic unaltered “Coon Creek Fauna”, overlying condensed moldic shell beds, and several trace fossil rich horizons are now protected. Efforts are underway to transfer ownership of the CCSC from the Memphis Family of Museums to the University of Tennessee at Martin for further site development into a regional paleontology field and research station – the only of its kind in Tennessee and perhaps the southeast. Existing educational and research facilities on the site include several overnight cabins, dining hall, museum, library, and rock-prep facility available to overnight college classes and other groups. Future plans for the site include expansion of the paleontological facilities, including a covered quarry, addition of forensic geology and geophysical field stations, forestry and cultivation crop demonstration areas, revitalization of an artificial wetland, nature trail development, pond ecology program, and geoarchaeological study of the 19^th century “Weeks” period of habitation. We also plan on the instillation of a remotely operated astronomy observatory and weather station, including a mesonet and microweather studies. The long-term goal is continued conservation of the type locality and lagerstätte and expansion of education and research programs to include nation-wide delivery of study specimens and in-the-field conference video to K-16 classrooms.