The Ohio Geological Society

Quarry Trails Metropark Get Together and Self-Guided Geology Tour

FRIDAY, June 24th, 2022

2 PM

2600 Dublin Rd. Columbus, Ohio 43228  http://www.google.com/maps/place/Quarry+Trails+Metro+Park+2600+Dublin+Road,+Columbus,+OH+43228

(Meet at lower parking area below mountain bike area)

Self guided geology tour followed by happy hour at Knotty Pine Brewing 1765 W 3rd Ave, Columbus, OH 43212.

Guide pamphlets will be provided outlining the geology of the Quarry Trails Metropark and adjacent Marble Cliff Quarry.

The Marble Cliff Quarry is operated by Shelly Materials, Inc. and is located in western Franklin County, Ohio, in Norwich Township. The southern portion of the quarry was recently converted into a Columbus Metropark.  The quarry has been operating since the 1850’s and at one time employed approximately 400 people, who used hand tools to produce dimension stone and lesser amounts of agricultural lime.Many foundations and windowsills in Columbus’ older homes are made of dimension stone from the Marble Cliff Quarry.

The Quarry Trails Metropark /Marble Cliff Quarry today covers over 600 acres and exposes approximately 250 feet of Silurian-and Devonian-age limestone and dolomite.  Glacial cover above the uppermost bedrock surface is less than 10 feet thick where exposed at the north edge of the site.  Glacial deposits consist of Wisconsinan-age till in the uplands and outwash in the lowlands closer to the Scioto River.  Bedrock units exposed in the highwalls consist of, in descending order, the Delaware Limestone, the Columbus Limestone, both of Devonian age (438 to 408 millions of years before present) and the Salina Group of Silurian age (408 to 360 millions of years before present).  A major unconformity separates the Devonian-age rocks from the Silurian-age rocks and represents the boundary between the Tippecanoe and the overlying Kaskaskia sequence of Sloss (1963).