After three consecutive years of popular community fossil digs at the Inversand company mine in South Jersey, Mantua Township passed an ordinance this week to purchase the 65-acre site for $2 million.
The township will have a year to secure funds for the purchase, and according to an
NJ.com report, the proposed initiative involves preserving the location as an educational facility and tourist attraction. This would include a visitor center, a museum and sites where visitors can dig for fossils.
The Inversand company, which operated the site as a manganese greensand mine for nearly 80 years, is currently running pumps to keep the pit dry while Mantua Township attempts to complete the purchase using state, federal and private funding. One potential source may be New Jersey's
Green Acres program, where the township has already submitted an application for a preservation grant.
Without the pumps, the pit, which sits 40 feet under the water table, would wash out fossils from more than two dozen species dating back to the Cretaceous period. Some of those fossils may be remnants from the mass extinction event credited with wiping out dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
"This site is the only place in the world that shows this window into a pivotal moment of earth's history," said Drexel paleontologist Dr. Ken Lacovera, who drew attention to the pit last year when he and his colleagues dug up a 65-ton dinosaur called "Dreadnought."
The pit includes species of sharks, bony fish, sea turtles, marine crocodiles, and a Komodo dragon-like sea monster called a Mososaur, Lacovera told Newsworks.
Beyond what Lacovera considers the "global importance" of preserving the site, its scientific appeal and educational value to children is a major factor driving the township's motivation to make the purchase. Already more than 7,000 local school children have visited the site, with an additional 50 school groups on a waiting list that seems to confirm support for the purchase.
The committee ordinance does not lock Mantua township into the purchase, but while fundraising gets underway, current activities scheduled at the site will continue as planned.
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