[Question_Assumptions]

The East Coast was already a subduction zone. That's why we have all those folded rock formations in our old worn down mountains. Central New Jersey is actually a failed rift valley. The Atlantic Ocean originally started to form between the Watchung Mountains and the Atlantic Highlands. It expanded a little, the land collapsed, and then it stopped and filled in with dust. That's why there is shale and clay all over Central NJ. And it is mighty boring shale, too, because the rift valley was a desert at the time. I woundn't mind having to hack through shale to plant trees if I could at least get a few need fossils out of the effort

[dirtboy]

I woundn't mind having to hack through shale to plant trees if I could at least get a few need fossils out of the effort

My mom's side of the family mines that nasty red clay to make bricks in Pennsylvania. Sometimes I think the finished bricks are softer than the source clay.

[Pyro7480]

Yeah, I knew about that. I guess the proper way to state what I said was to say the East Coast becoming a subduction zone again. ;-)

[XRdsRev]

Slight correction, the red Triassic shale of central New Jersey is not so boring as once thought.

While it has for some time, been thought to be devoid of fossils, recent work (1970s-80s) has proven otherwise.

Specifically, the Feltville, Boonton and Stockton formations have well developed beds of shale, sandstone and laminated limestone that have abundant fossil and trace fossils.

These include numerous tracks of the early dinosaurs Grallator and Eubrontes, numerous specimens of the fossil fish Seminotous and various plant fossils.

While the fossil bearing strata are not widely exposed, when they are, they are very prolific. Riker Hill in Essex has given up thousands of dinosaur prints over the years as have other quarries in the Watchung Range. The Boonton Resivoir project at the turn of the last century exposed hundred of fossil fish, some of which are among the finest specimens found anywhere on earth. Other minor outcrops in the Watchung Range also provide the collector with fish specimens.

Several old quarries from Stockton to Plainfield have yielded some excellent plant fossils from the Traissic period.

If you move further south into the Coastal Plain, Cretacous fossils are common in marl & clay beds at some localities. Merchantville Formation marl beds are famous for the large numbers of shark's teeth, Mosasaur and Plesiosaur remains, Belemnites and shell material. Some excellent and very large Ammonite specimens were found near Bordentown some years ago.

The claypits around Sayreville have provided many specimens of carbonized tree material and some incredible amber including insect bearing specimens which may be among the oldest ever found.

[Rumplemeyer]

Your explaination is very interesting, I am a Heavy/Highway Contractor in the NY/NJ area.
I have moved a lot of the New Brunswick Shales, and the geology has always intersted me, from the shales of Central NJ to the sands & clays of the shore to the granite & gniess & trap rock in the north.
You are the first person to explain it clearly.
Could you recomend any text for further information or possably a geolegy course for busy contractors?