- Marine invertebrate fossils: These include brachiopods, corals, mollusks, and sea urchins.
- Plant fossils: These include lycopods, ferns, and conifers.
- Vertebrate fossils: These include fish, amphibians, and reptiles.
How did they get there?:
The fossils found at the top of the Grand Canyon were deposited during the Paleozoic Era, a span of geologic time roughly between 540 and 250 million years ago. During this period, the area that is now the Grand Canyon was covered by a shallow sea. Over time, sediment and organic matter accumulated on the seafloor, eventually forming layers of rock strata. These include fossilized remains as sediment accumulated and became hardened in rock layers forming sedimentary rocks with different fossils depending on the rock stratum and the specific time they were formed over millions of years.
