Martin Marietta Quarry
Cross, South Carolina_______________________
This quarry (active gravel mine) cuts 40' through the Cooper Formation (Pliocene Marine), the Cross Formation (Middle Marine Eocene), and the Moultre Formation (Middle Marine Eocene), the site provides both vertebrate and invertebrate fossils. More than a dozen new species of Eocene Crabs have been found here. This mine has also produced more Middle Eocene Archeocete (Protocetid) material than any other location in the US. This is an excellent site to collect a variety of brachiopod fossils, small shark teeth, iridescent shell fossils and much more. This is an active quarry, collecting is only permitted on Saturdays and Sundays. When you enter the site, proceed to the office , there is a mailbox outside the building which contains release forms, fill out the form and then go collect.
Directions:
Take Interstate 26 to exit 154 in Santee, take Hwy. 301 to I-95, go North on I-95 for .5 mile to Hwy. 6, turn right and follow 11 miles to the town of Eutawville, bear left onto Hwy. 6 & 45, go 7 miles to County Line Road., turn right at Church with a big brass bell in parking lot, the quarry is 2 miles on the left.