Coon Creek Science Center
Encyclopedia
Adamsville, Tennessee
Adamsville is a town in Hardin and McNairy counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 2,207 at the 2010 census. Adamsville is named after George D. Adams, who operated an inn and stagecoach stop in the 1840s...
, McNairy County, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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The science center is situated on a 232 acres (94 ha) property on one of the most important fossil sites in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The Coon Creek Formation
Coon Creek Formation
The Coon Creek Formation is a geologic formation located in western Tennessee and extreme northeast Mississippi. It is a sedimentary sandy marl deposit, Late Cretaceous in age, about 70 million years old. The formation is known for producing mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, particularly at Coon Creek in...
is a geologic formation
Geologic formation
A formation or geological formation is the fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy. A formation consists of a certain number of rock strata that have a comparable lithology, facies or other similar properties...
located in western Tennessee and extreme northeast Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
. It is a sedimentary sandy marl
Marl
Marl or marlstone is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and aragonite. Marl was originally an old term loosely applied to a variety of materials, most of which occur as loose, earthy deposits consisting chiefly of an intimate mixture of clay...
deposit, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
in age, about 73 million years old. In the Late Cretaceous era, the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
reached further north and West Tennessee was covered by water. The fossilization began when the water receded. Finds at the Coon Creek site range from marine shells, crabs and snails to vertebrate fossils, e.g. sharks.
Apart from fossil digging, the Coon Creek Science Center offers fields and forests for hiking tours and wildlife watching as well as five ponds at which aquatic life can be studied. A telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
site is available for studies of the night sky.
The science center organizes special tours, environmental camps and fossil digs. Visitors can dig for fossils at the site and take them home. Five camp-style cabins, a dining hall and kitchen are available to accommodate overnight guests. Admission to the center is limited to organized groups by appointment. The Coon Creek Science Center was acquired by the City of Memphis in 1988 and is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums
Pink Palace Family of Museums
The Pink Palace Family of Museums is a group of museums maintained by the City of Memphis and Memphis Museums, Inc. The Pink Palace Family of Museums display collections of historic, educational and technological significance....
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