Fossil discoveries made in Deal Lake
Steamer clams lie at the bottom of Deal Lake.
Dr. Stewart Farrell, director of the Coastal Research Center at Richard Stockton College. and his team uncovered an abundance of the fossilized mollusks while testing the bottom this month ahead of a planned dredge at the lake in the near future.
“They are Mya arenaria, or the New England steamer … Not common in New Jersey, but I have caught them in Great Bay, so in the 19th century, quite likely in (Deal Lake) ,” said Farrell.
They were out looking in the muck for contaminants — volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the usual metal ion suspects mercury, arsenic, lead, and nickel — to help the state Department of Environmental Protection determine how the sediment would be disposed when they discovered the shell fragments.
The find indicates that the clams — which are saltwater bi-valves — were living in Deal Lake up until the inlet closed there permanently by 1889. That date matches historic maps that show between 1885 and 1889 a sediment dam consisting of beach sand formed a barrier across the mouth of the lake where it flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. Read more at app.com