
Rockhounding Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is a good state for rockhounding. Pennsylvania – the ‘Keystone State’ – is known for its vast coal deposits as well as the fact that it was the location for the first oil well in the United States. Pennsylvania also is a state with numerous different minerals and thousands of different fossil plant and animal species. The state also has numerous caves as well as a very interesting geologic oddity. In addition, Pennsylvania is home to one of the very finest natural history museums in America. Meteorite hunters have yet to find the main mass of the ‘Chicora Meteorite’ that hit Western Pennsylvania in Butler County.
State Rocks, Gemstones, Minerals, Fossils, & Dinosaurs
Rockhounding Tip: Knowing state rocks, gemstones, minerals, fossils, and dinosaurs often can be very useful information for rockhounders. Ordinarily, states with significant mineral deposits, valuable gemstones, fossils, or unusual or significant rock occurrences will designate an official state mineral, rock/stone, gemstone, fossil, or dinosaur to promote interest in the state’s natural resources, history, tourism, etc. Accordingly, such state symbols often are a valuable clue as to potential worthwhile rockhounding opportunities.

Phacops rana fossil (trilobite)
State Fossil: Phacops rana (1988)
Pennsylvania
designated Phacops rana as its official state fossil in 1988. Phacops rana is a specific type of trilobite, a small sea creature. Trilobites are so named because their bodies
are divided lengthwise into three parts or "lobes." Trilobites are an extinct category of jointed-legged
animals related to crabs, lobsters, shrimp, spiders, insects, and so on. This group of creatures, called arthropods,
is among the most complex of all the animals without backbones. Trilobites are no exception. They had
well-developed nervous systems and large antennae. Trilobites also had a hard outer skeleton
composed of chitin, a complex organic protein, and the mineral apatite (calcium
phosphate).
Many trilobites had large eyes. They are, in fact, the first organisms on
earth known to have eyes. The trilobites
had compound eyes, composed of many individual lenses, like those of
insects. Trilobites possess the most
ancient visual system known to scientists and thus they provided some of the
best direct evidence of eye evolution. Trilobites
are a common fossil in many of the early to middle Paleozoic rocks of central
Pennsylvania – rocks that are between 570 and 365 million years old. Complete fossil specimens are rare because
the animals were composed of rigid outer skeletal segments joined by flexible
organic connections that decayed on the death of the animal. Currents, scavengers, and molting all served
to separate skeletal parts, which comprise the most common trilobite fossils in
Pennsylvania. This common abundance of
trilobite parts in the fossil record, in fact, was enhanced by the fact that
the animals grew by casting off their outer skeleton in a series of molt
stages. One animal probably produced ten
to twelve potentially preservable skeletons in its lifetime. Phacops rana can be recognized by its
large eyes (which remind some of a frog's -- the specific name rana is a
reference to a common frog and phacops is Greek for 'lens' or 'eye') and its fairly large size (up to six inches long).
State Mineral - In 2004, celestine was proposed as the state mineral. The proposal, however, was not approved.
Rockhounding Resources

State-specific rockhounding books (including the books listed here as well as other books), regional rockhounding site guides, and other helpful rockhounding resources are identified - by category - in the Books & Gear section of Gator Girl Rocks with a link to the Gator Girl Rocks Amazon Store where you may easily browse selected resources and securely place an order. Your order will benefit Charity Rocks!

Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic & Geological
Survey
Useful website with information (and pamphlets)
on fossil, mineral, and rock collecting.

Delaware Valley Paleontological Society
Pennsylvania Caves Association
- Bradford B. Van Diver, Roadside Geology of Pennsylvania (1st ed., 1990).
- Scott Stepanski & Karenne Snow, Gem Trails of Pennsylvania & New Jersey (Rev. ed. 2000).
- Robert Beard, Rockhounding Pennsylvania & New Jersey (2013).
- Jasper Burns, Fossil Collecting In the Mid-Atlantic States (1991).
- Floyd & Helga Oles, Eastern Gem Trails (1967).
- Allan W. Eckert, Earth Treasures Vol. 1 - Northeastern Quadrant (1985; reprint in 2000)
- James Martin Monaco & Jeannette Hathway Monaco, Fee Mining & Mineral Adventures in the Eastern U.S. (2d ed. 2010).
- Kathy J. Rygle & Stephen F. Pedersen, Northeast Treasure Hunter's Gem & Mineral Guide (4th ed. 2008).
- Kevin Patrick, Pennsylvania Caves & Other Rocky Roadside Wonders (2d ed. 2004).
Museums of Interest to Rockhounders

Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History is one
of the very best natural history museums in America. The museum has an extensive collection and
exhibits thousands of specimens. The
museum’s dinosaur collection includes the world's
largest collection of Jurassic dinosaurs and its ‘Dinosaurs in Their Time’ exhibit offers the third largest
collection of mounted, displayed dinosaurs in the United States. Notable specimens include one of the world's
only fossils of a juvenile Apatosaurus and the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex
known to date. The Museum’s Hillman Hall
of Minerals & Gems exhibits over 1,300 specimens including a section on the
meteorites that have hit Pennsylvania.
The Museum also includes the Benedum Hall of Geology, the Hall of Ice
Age Animals, and other fine exhibits.

Academy of Natural Sciences
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel
University is America’s oldest natural history museum. The Academy has a legendary history with
dinosaurs in America. Academy scientist Joseph Leidy made the first report
of dinosaur fossils in North America in 1856.
These fossils consisted of a few teeth collected from the Judith River
Formation in Montana. Two years later,
Leidy reported on the skeleton of Hadrosaurus foulkii, a large dinosaur
discovered in New Jersey (Hadrosaurus
the most complete dinosaur skeleton then known and it was the first to show
that some dinosaurs walked on their hind legs).
Today, visitors to the Academy’s Dinosaur Hall may see dinosaur
skeletons, fossilized dinosaur eggs, footprints, and other exhibits. In addition, the Academy exhibits rocks,
minerals, and fossils – including a collection of Thomas Jefferson.

State Museum of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
The Museum’s exhibits include a Hall of
Paleontology and Geology that displays a Dunkleosteus, a large prehistoric armored fish that terrorized the
seas of Ohio and Pennsylvania 367 million years ago. Visitors also may explore a carboniferous
forest and see the plants and animals of the Pennsylvanian Period (about 310
million years ago). The museum also
includes a Dino lab where visitors can watch technicians excavate fossils. The museum exhibits the Marshall's Creek Mastodon Skeleton.

Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University – University Park,
Pennsylvania
The EMS Museum & Art Gallery’s science
gallery has displays of fossils, rocks, and minerals as well as an interactive
earthquake exhibit.

Everhart Museum
Scranton, Pennsylvania
The museum’s natural history collection
includes minerals and fossils.
Bryn Mawr
College Mineral Collection
Bryn Mawr
College Geology Department – Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
The college has a fine collection of Pennsylvania and other minerals. The geology department has approximately 1,500
minerals exhibited in twenty-eight hall cases in the Park Science Center.
Paul R. Stewart Museum
Waynesburg College – Waynesburg, Pennsylvania
The museum exhibits rocks, minerals, gemstones,
and fossils, including local specimens.

West Chester University Geology Museum
West Chester University – West Chester, Pennsylvania
The museum, located in the Schmucker Science Center, exhibits rocks, minerals, gemstones, and fossils, including local
specimens.

Delaware County Institute of Science
Media, Pennsylvania
The museum’s exhibits include minerals and
fossils. The museum also houses the
original plate blocks used to print Dr. Samuel Gordon's 1922 "Mineralogy of
Pennsylvania."
Rennie Geology Museum
Dickinson College – Carlisle, Pennsylvania
The Rennie Geology Museum exhibits rocks,
minerals, gemstones, and fossils including local specimens.

North Museum of Natural History & Science
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
The museum includes a small dinosaur gallery
with fossilized claws, teeth, and bones.
Places to Visit - Interesting Sites To See

Ringing Rocks
Ringing
Rocks Park – Upper Black Eddy, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Ringing Rocks Park is home to a geological
oddity – a small field of boulders that are ringing rocks. Ringing rocks, which are not common, resonate
like a bell when struck with a hammer.
In the United States, the two most famous sites are this one and another
site in Jefferson County, Montana.

Drake Well Museum
Titusville, Pennsylvania
In 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the oil well
that launched the modern petroleum industry along the banks of Oil Creek in
Venango County, Pennsylvania.

Anthracite Museum Complex
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Located in McDade Park, the Anthracite Museum
Complex includes coal mining attractions as well as the Anthracite Heritage
Museum.
Caves
Pennsylvania has numerous caves operated as
tourist attractions.
Rockhounding Sites for Children & Families
Fossils – Marine
Swatara State Park – Lebanon &
Schuylkill Counties, Pennsylvania
A very accessible and
interesting collecting site for Middle Devonian (about 375 million years ago)
fossils can be found in the eastern section of the park (Suedberg Fossil
Site). Note: The Park
previously included a good fossil collecting site for trilobites and other
fossils. Because people undercut bridge/road
supports, however, this site is closed.
Unfortunately, this happens fairly routinely.