Seashells in Appalachian Mountains in Maryland.

[SRT]

I am new here, first post, just have a simple question.
When I was a kid I lived high up in the Appalachian mountains in Western Md.
I used dig in the ground as a kid and found Seashell fossils all the time.
Our parents built a house and I remember construction pulling out a boulder that was covered in shell fossils.
We found many Trilobite fossils and even a shark tooth, but Trilobites are common in that area.
I just don’t have an explanation why all those shell fossils where present in that area.
It’s a question I’ve always had that never got answered.
Maybe a simple answer from someone who is a geologist, but I could find any answers yet.
Thanks for your time and response!

 

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[ToddsPoint]

Uplift. The area with the shells was a sea floor at one time millions of years ago. Plate tectonics causes continents to collide and can lift former sea floors (limestone) into mountains. Gary

 

[Kray Gelder]

SRT, the geologic history of Western Maryland is a complex one. In a nutshell, the area in the mountains where you found the fossils, was under the sea, 450 million years ago and south of the equator. Continental drift moved the continents around and 300 million years ago the super continent of pangea formed when most of the continents collided and accreted together, with what is now North America having moved north, close to it's current latitude. The Appalacians were formed at this time, when the collision of Africa and Europe with the North American continent forced up what was once sea bed to form mountain ranges. Just as sheet metal crumples when two cars collide, forming ridges and valleys, so do continents.

Apologies to geologists for my butchery of geologic history and time. The answer to your question, SRT, is easily found in great detail by simply searching on the internet.

 

[SRT]

SRT, the geologic history of Western Maryland is a complex one. In a nutshell, the area in the mountains where you found the fossils, was under the sea, 450 million years ago and south of the equator. Continental drift moved the continents around and 300 million years ago the super continent of pangea formed when most of the continents collided and accreted together, with what is now North America having moved north, close to it's current latitude. The Appalacians were formed at this time, when the collision of Africa and Europe with the North American continent forced up what was once sea bed to form mountain ranges. Just as sheet metal crumples when two cars collide, forming ridges and valleys, so do continents.

Apologies to geologists for my butchery of geologic history and time. The answer to your question, SRT, is easily found in great detail by simply searching on the internet.

Thank you so much for the detailed response. It is hard to believe my home was once under water. Now we have to drive 6 hours to reach the beach!

 

[ecmjamsit]

What freaks me out, is that oil is thousands of feet underground. If you study asteroids, you will find the earth has been hit by some huge rocks. Some have killed 99% of all living organisms.