INVESTIGATING PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES AT LITTLE RIVER CANYON NATIONAL PRESERVE AND RUSSELL CAVE NATIONAL MONUMENT IN ALABAMA

Until recently, paleontological resources have historically not been the focus of National Park Service units in the southeastern U.S. despite many parks being underlain by fossil-bearing strata. Little River Canyon National Preserve (LIRI) and Russell Cave National Monument (RUCA) in northeastern Alabama are among parks in the Cumberland Piedmont Inventory and Monitoring Network known to preserve paleontological resources. The purpose of this work, as part of a class project by paleontology students at Georgia State University, was to investigate and summarize information about the fossil record at these parks and produce fact sheets for park staff to better understand the paleontology of their parks. These fact sheets include details covering geologic history and stratigraphic units as well as confirmed and potential fossil resources at these parks. Maps were examined to explore areas of investigation for future fossil work and literature research was completed to see if fossil discoveries had been reported in or around these parks. Recommendations were made for park management to consider in best preserving and/or further exploring these paleontological resources. The oldest fossil-rich strata in both parks come from the Late Paleozoic. Exposures at LIRI are made up of the Pottsville Formation from the lower Pennsylvanian Period. Lepidodendron, Calamites, and crinoids have been confirmed within the park. Outcrops of the Pottsville Formation outside the park include a variety of other plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate fossils, indicating the potential for similar finds to be uncovered in the park. RUCA has exposures of the Pottsville Formation as well as upper Mississippian units such as the Monteagle Limestone, Bangor Limestone, and Pennington Formation. Crinoids, blastoids, and brachiopods are among the confirmed fossils documented in Mississippian units at the park. Pleistocene fossils have also been found within Russell Cave, including skeletal remains of a peccary, Mylohyus cf. M. nasutus. Additional fossils reported in the vicinity from stratigraphic units at the park indicate the potential for more finds at RUCA upon further investigation. This research, including an initial scoping investigation at both localities, is a first step at uncovering new paleontological resources at these parks.