Jul 29, 2016

The Calvert Cliffs, which rise over 100 feet along 30 miles of the Calvert County eastern coastline, are eroding at a pace of nearly three feet a year, spilling secrets from their clay-rich soil of the world, as it was 15 million years ago during the Miocene era.

: Scientist Robert Hazen who has studied the cliffs for 25 years says, “The fossils of the Chesapeake Bay show an entire ecosystem. You had clams (bottom right). They would have been good to eat -very tasty. And then you have these predatory snails (top left) that ate the clams. There’s various conch shells (center and bottom left). There’s even a little fish vertebrae (the dark circle below the snail shell).” (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Trees that toppled from the top of the Calvert Cliffs form a natural port for seaweed. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: On their many scientific excursions along the cliffs, Robert and Margaret Hazen have found glass fragments from a more recent time period smoothed by the friction of the waves. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The Chesapeake Bay waters lap the edges of the Calvert Cliffs at high tide. According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the cliffs “are slowly eroding at the rate of almost 3 feet per year.” (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: At high tide, waves wash over seaweed and the floor of Calvert Cliffs, composed of blue marl, which contains clay. The seashells are now fossils preserved from 15 million years ago. When wet and under certain conditions, the sea floor along the cliffs has the same property as quicksand. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Boulders have been added to the base of the cliffs at Western Shores Estates to help with erosion. When wet and under certain conditions, the sea floor along the cliffs has the same property as quicksand. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Sporadically along the cliff surface are indentations where someone has removed a fossil, most likely a bone, says Margaret Hazen. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Interspersed among the Calvert Cliffs are flat areas where water flows from the land and pools by the water’s edge. Pictured is Dares Beach on the Chesapeake Bay. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: A piece of blue marl, a geologic formation containing clay and calcium carbonate, is embedded with clams shells in the upper left corner, and Chesapecten Jeffersonius scallops in the lower right corner. The scallop is the Virginia state fossil. The sea life dates back 15 million years. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Pictured are shark’s teeth collected by scientist Robert Hazen and his wife, historian and writer Margaret Hazen, along the Calvert Cliffs dating to the Miocene era 15 million years ago. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Scientist Robert Hazen holds a small horseshoe crab which just molted. Hazen describes the Cliffs as an, “incredibly rich fascinating eco system where this vertical cliff meets the Chesapeake Bay.” (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Calvert Cliffs border a 30 mile stretch along the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County. One hundred feet high, the clay escarpment was formed 15 million years ago during the Miocene era (5 to 25 million years ago) and contains fossils of sea life from that era. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The blue marl surface of the cliffs and beach is very slippery and cracks easily. Says Robert Hazen, a senior staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution, “Fluids rich in iron come through here and make these beautiful vein-like systems rich in iron.” (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Scientist Robert Hazen holds a bivalve from his collection of clams found at Calvert Cliffs over the past 25 years. They date back 15 million years to the middle of the Miocene period. The clams, now fossils, have been preserved in the cliffs along with other sealife. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Lush vegetation grows very low along the beach at Calvert Cliffs. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Robert Hazen, senior staff scientist with the Carnegie Institution, and writer and historian Margaret Hazen, his wife, walk along Calvert Cliffs regularly finding fossils on the beach. Calvert Cliffs border a 30 mile stretch along the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County. One hundred feet high, the clay escarpment was formed 15 million years ago during the Miocene era (5 to 25 million years ago) and contains fossils of sea life. Bob Hazen, who is also a Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University, says they have donated thousands of shark’s teeth to schools to teach children about the history of the area. In a two-hour walk on a recent July day, the Hazens collected about 20 teeth along a 2-mile stretch. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: In some areas, water laps the base of Calvert Cliffs at high tide creating a favorable environment for moss. The orange color comes from “fluids rich in iron,” says scientist Robert Hazen. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: With only the top of the tooth protruding from the sand, scientist Robert Hazen easily spots the tooth and identifies it as a Hemipristus with sharp serrations. He says, “They’re biting teeth; they’re tearing teeth, they’re stabbing teeth” from a “Snaggletooth Shark, now extinct, which lived 15 million years ago during the Miocene era. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The Calvert Cliffs replete with fossils are made primarily of blue marl consisting of clay and calcium carbonate. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: A Hemipristus tooth with sharp serrations lies on the beach at Calvert Cliffs. Robert Hazen, Senior staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution and Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University, says, “They’re biting teeth; they’re tearing teeth, they’re stabbing teeth” from a Snaggletooth Shark which lived 15 million years ago during the Miocene era. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Queen Anne’s Lace grows into the cliffside among crumbling clay rocks which hold fossils of sea life dating back 15 million years -the middle of the Miocene age. According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, over 600 species of fossils have been identified. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, over 600 species from the middle of the Miocene period 15 million years ago have been found at Calvert Cliffs. The large bone towards the center right is from a crocodile. The fossils in the lower right corner are dolphin bones. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Scientist Robert Hazen describes this detail of Calvert Cliffs as having, “Layers of sediment with varying amounts of iron, which turn the layers a darker, reddish-brown color.” (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: A Chesapecten Jeffersonius fossil more than 15 million years old lays on chunk of clay rock fallen from the Calvert Cliffs. Iron deposits have caused the rock to turn orange. The scallop is the state fossil of Virginia. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: In this section of Calvert Cliffs at Dares Beach, there has been much erosion as seen from these stones and boulders which have fallen to the shore. Sections of the cliffs can fall at a moment’s notice. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: For twenty-five years, scientist Robert Hazen and writer Margaret Hazen, his wife, have been collecting and studying fossils from the Calvert Cliffs. Pictured are a collection of Ecphora gardnerae, the Maryland state fossil, the shells of snails that lived 15 million years ago in the Miocene period. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: A butterfly alights on moss which covers blue marl, a geologic formation that contains clay of which the Calvert Cliffs are composed. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Calvert Cliffs border a 30 mile stretch along the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County. One hundred feet high, the clay escarpment was formed 15 million years ago during the Miocene era (5 to 25 million years ago) and contains fossils of sea life from that era. Scientist Bob Hazen and writer Margaret Hazen, his wife, have studied and documented their findings from this unique geological time capsule of the earth’s history. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Robert Hazen, senior staff scientist with the Carnegie Institution, and writer and historian Margaret Hazen, his wife, walk along the beach at the Calvert Cliffs looking for fossils. The Calvert Cliffs border a 30 mile stretch along the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County. One hundred feet high, the clay escarpment was formed 15 million years ago during the Miocene era (5 to 25 million years ago) and contains fossils of sea life. Bob Hazen, who is also a Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University, says they have donated thousands of shark’s teeth to schools to teach children about the history of the area. According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the cliffs are eroding at the rate of almost 3 feet per year. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Robert Hazen, senior staff scientist with the Carnegie Institution and Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University, walks along the Calvert Cliffs. Calvert Cliffs border a 30 mile stretch along the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County. One hundred feet high, the blue marl escarpment was formed 15 million years ago during the Miocene era (5 to 25 million years ago) and contains fossils of sea life from that epoch. Hazen and his wife, Margaret Hazen, have collected and studied the fossils for the past 25 years. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

Robert Hazen, a senior staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution and his wife, Margaret Hazen, a writer and historian, have been studying fossils from the cliffs for the past 25 years, such as: shells, shark’s teeth, whale, shark and crocodile bones. According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, over 600 species of fossils have been found. Robert Hazen is also researching mineral evolution on the cliffs: how minerals (in this case, manganese) are forming because of microbes, and vice versa.

Although beautiful and majestic, the cliffs can be dangerous. Sections can fall without warning, dropping boulders along the Chesapeake Bay shoreline. Sometimes, conditions are created at high tide where the soil underfoot has the consistency of quicksand.

The public can gain safe access to the beaches at the Cliffs through Calvert Cliffs State Park, where shark’s teeth wash up with seashells along the shore.

Says Hazen, “What you’re seeing is a snapshot of history.”

Experiencing Calvert Cliffs

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