The Falls of the Ohio

To visit the Falls of the Ohio's website click here.

The Falls of the Ohio is a patch reef and during the fall when the river is at its lowest, as many as 220 acres of fossils are visible. For this particular project, only fossils at the highest exposed formations were observed since the Ohio River rose significantly this spring. The reef's presence in the river is partly responsible for the formation of the city of Louisville. Boaters would routinely have to portage the falls, which cascade 26 feet over a span of two and a half miles.

The quality of fossil preservation at the Falls is well known throughout the scientific community, and specimens appear in collections all over the world.

The Devonian beds contain over 450 different species of invertebrates, about half of which are corals.