A fossilized coral reef in Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York is being recognized by the federal government as a National Natural Landmark.
The Isle La Motte Preservation Trust says several sites where the ancient Chazy Fossil Reef is exposed on the Lake Champlain island and on New York’s Valcour Island were given the designation by the Secretary of the Interior and the head of the National Park Service.
The Chazy Reef is known to geologists as the oldest known occurrence of a biologically diverse fossil reef. It’s also the earliest appearance of fossil coral in a reef and the first documented example of a reef changing over time.
The Chazy Reef was one of four sites given the National Natural Landmark designation this year.