If you had X-ray vision and flew high above Virginia in an aircraft, it might look something like the map below. These contain few fossils. Fossils occur in sedimentary rocks in the Valley and Ridge region of western Virginia. These are mostly fossils of animals lived during the Paleozoic Era, before dinosaurs evolved. They include both marine invertebrates and coal and associated fossils.
Coal mining is an important industry in western and southwestern Virginia.
Fossils are also found in sedimentary rocks along the Coastal Plain. Most fossils found here represent marine animals that lived during the Cenozoic Era, or Age of Mammals. Fossils of Pleistocene, or Ice Age, animals lie scattered across Virginia at or just below the surface. During the following Mesozoic Era, North America began to split away from Africa and Europe. As Earth s crust stretched thin, great cracks, or basins appeared along the Atlantic Coast.