The community of Scientists’ Cliffs in Maryland is a private community that happens to sit on some of the most amazing fossil exposures in the Coastal Plain. The strata in question are part of the Miocene-aged (~14 Ma) Calvert Formation. The Scientists’ Cliffs outcrops are better than the more famous outcrops at Calvert Cliffs State Park, mainly because of easier access. At the park, you have to hike in a good ways. At Scientists’ Cliffs, if you know someone who lives there, they can escort you down to the beach, and it’s a far easier commute.
Peter Vogt, a retired geological oceanographer from the Naval Research Lab (he co-authored This Dynamic Planet, a map every geology lab should have on its wall), lives in Scientists’ Cliffs. Over the years, he’s been very accommodating to Northern Virginia Community College professors and students, allowing them to access these priceless exposures, these glimpses into a bygone world.
But here’s the thing about Scientists’ Cliffs: People live there. People own houses very close to the edge of the cliffs… and the edge of the cliffs gets closer every year. Periodically, big storm events (like Hurricane Isabel) or landslides chew away the cliffs at a higher rate than normal. And every winter, freeze-thaw cycles spall away at the cliffs on a smaller scale… The community is concerned. In the case of two homes, FEMA is going to tear them down and return the sites to nature (this is also true, according to Peter, for eight other houses in Calvert County, but outside the Scientists’ Cliffs community). Elsewhere in Scientists’ Cliffs, the homeowner’s association has electted to install revetments (caged rip-rap buttresses) along much of its coastline where dwellings are perched in precarious positions atop the retreating cliffs. So: Cool for those homeowners! Their investment is protected; their gorgeous cottages with their awesome views can remain “home” for another few decades or a century (and, hey, it’s their property, so I guess they can do what they want with it). However: the “hard stabilization” of these cliffs is a move that’s not so cool for students of sedimentology, paleontology, and historical geology. Peter’s a geoscientist, and a Scientists’ Cliffs homeowner. He “gets” his neighbors’ motivation, but he also knows what’s about to be lost.
That’s where I come in.
Peter called Victor Zabielski, my colleague at the Alexandria campus of NOVA, and let him know what was coming down the ‘pike. Victor knew about my GigaPannery, and suggested that I be brought in to document the site before it was buried beneath rip-rap. We wanted to make it happen a few weeks ago, but weather conspired against us. This past Sunday, we tried again, and everything lined up: low tide, good light (even cloud cover), and (most importantly), Peter had put in hours of work clearing off the outcrop. He removed ivy, scraped the outcrop clean, scrubbed it with a brush, and sloshed it clean with water from the Bay.
I got up at 5am with the baby, and drank a bunch of coffee, and at 7am, I set off with my waterproof boots and my GigaPan EPIC Pro. It was 1.5 hours to Victor’s place in Alexandria, and then another 1.5 out to Peter’s place in Scientists’ Cliffs. We went to work cleaning off the outcrop, shooting GigaPans all the while. I got 8 of them in total, at various distances (and thus resolution of the fossils exposed in the cliff). In another month or two, this collection of GigaPans is going to be the best record of this particular site that will be available to humanity and science until the end of time (or, at least, the end of Scientists’ Cliffs). Every time someone accesses these images, and “explores” the outcrop with them, they will be going back in time, not only to the Miocene (which, hey, is old hat to us geologist types), but also to a time before this shoreline was “stabilized”…
Anyhow, have a look around. There’s tons to be seen here.
Overview (most zoomed-out):
[gigapan id=”124800”] link
Zoomed in on the left (south) half:
[gigapan id=”124805″] link
Zoomed in on the right (north) half:
[gigapan id=”124804″] link
Detailed face #1
[gigapan id=”124828″] link
Detailed face #2
[gigapan id=”124829″] link
Detailed face #3
[gigapan id=”124864″] link
Detailed face #4
[gigapan id=”124865″] link
Less “polished” outcrop (for comparison):
[gigapan id=”124841″] link
This outcrop is doomed, but these GigaPans will live forever. This may turn out to be one of the most useful things I’ve accomplished with the M.A.G.I.C. project.
I suggest that everylook at crossections of the bathemetry across the bay from Scientists Cliffs to the opposite shore at Taylors and Hoopers Island. Miles of land have “gone overboard” and been redistributed in the Bay. The Bay is unstoppable. Even more important, it is unstoppable in the lifetime of one generation, not even the lifetimes of families. When riprap revetments, groins, and jettys ae built, they are undermined by the Bay, whereupon they collaps and become navigational hazards. Do you want to see one? Look at the area between Taylors Island and James Island where there is a long line of collapsed riprap about a meter below the surface of the water. The engineering effort at Scientist’s Cliffs is not only doomed, it is a future hazard.
Hi Callan,
Great post on Scientists’ Cliffs. My family and I stayed there last year during late winter, which is often the best time to search for fossils. The winter weather has washed the fossils out of the cliffs, plus there are fewer people searching for them.
I’d also point out that Matoaka Beach Cabins is another beautiful place along Calvert Cliffs to hunt for fossils. Although it’s, too, privately owned, the owners will allow visitors (for a small fee) to access the beach from the property.
There are cabins at Matoaka Beach, but they are without a doubt the most primative of cabins imaginable. Not for the feint of heart. But the owners are wonderful people. They have a incredible collection of fossils collected from the beach that can be viewed inside the main house, which overlooks the bay. That house is also very close to the edge of the cliffs; one can’t help but wonder for how much longer the home will be there.
Directions to Matoaka Beach Cabins can be found on their web site @ http://www.matoakabeachcabins.com/
If any of your readers only have time for a day trip to Calvert Cliffs, and don’t know anyone at Scientists’ Cliffs who can provide permission to access the beach at that site, then I’d highly recommend to them that they check out Matoaka Beach. It’s a short hike down the cliffs from the main house. I think they charged us 3 or 4 dollars per person to access the beach, which was good for the whole day. Well worth it. We were there the entire day and saw maybe a handful of people.
Not to be a killjoy, but there’s some doubling along stitch lines in “detailed face #2”. You probably noticed, but I’m apparently a visual pedant today, and wanted to make sure…
Yep – I noticed. It’s horizontal, yes?
I might try re-stitching it with AutoPanoGiga instead of GigaPan Stitch, but right now I don’t have access to that program from this computer. So it’ll have to wait – and if I make a better one, I’ll replace it.
Yeah- and I only see them in the lower half of the image.
It’s all still awesome, of course!
My parents took us there many times when I was 8 years old up to about 15. I do recall finding sizeable vertebrae and sections of rib rolling around in the ankleslapper Chesapeake waves, as well as seeing a section of vertebral column still in the cliff above the waterline. It’s fascinating.