Deal Protects Part of World's Oldest Reef

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A 71-acre section of 450 million-year-old rock that is believed to be part of the world's oldest coral reef will be preserved and opened to the public, officials announced Tuesday.

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A 71-acre section of 450 million-year-old rock that is believed to be part of the world's oldest coral reef will be preserved and opened to the public, officials announced Tuesday.


Two local preservation groups bought the parcel in the middle of the Isle La Motte at the northern end of Lake Champlain. The purchase price was not disclosed.


The Chazy Reef formed a half-billion years ago in the warm shallow sea south of the equator. Over the eons, it drifted north to its present location.


"One scientist called it a time capsule of reef building," said Linda Fitch of the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust. "On Isle La Motte you can see how it evolved from simple little mounds into what I call a reef city."


The original reef stretched for 1,000 miles. Charlotte Mehrtens, head of geology at the University of Vermont, has studied other portions of it from Newfoundland to Tennessee, but said Isle La Motte is the only place where so much of it is visible.


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The land will become a scenic area with an outdoor museum and fossil preserve. Interpretive trails and a visitors center in an old farmhouse are planned.


Source: Associated Press