It’s Fossil Festival season, and last weekend I visited the Venice Sharks Tooth Festival 2025 in Florida. The crowds seemed happy after University of Florida’s recent NCAA Basketball Championship win! Go Gators!
We’ll also take a look at the upcoming North Carolina Fossil Festival in Aurora, North Carolina. Ready? 🦈
Sharon Lyon
Editor, GeoLifestyle
Sharks Tooth Festival, Venice, Florida
Shark teeth at the festival in Venice.
Venice, Florida, is the self-proclaimed Shark Tooth Capital of the World and home of the annual Venice Sharks Tooth Festival. We checked out the vendors’ selections of fossils, including giant shark teeth from Megalodon, the largest shark that has ever lived.
Why are there so many shark teeth at Venice? Because of the geology!
Geological history:
The state of Florida is the emerged portion of the Florida Platform, a tall, mostly underwater plateau of carbonate rocks.
During the Oligocene, about 30 million years ago, sea levels began to drop, and a part of north-central Florida emerged.
This was the first appearance of the state of Florida above the platform.
The cave systems and sinkholes common to Florida began to form at this time.
During the Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, central Florida stood above sea level while a shallow sea covered the coastal areas.
Uplift of the Appalachian Mountains added an influx of siliciclastic sediments from the north. These river-transported sands, silts, and clays sank to the bottom of the sea, entombing dead marine animals.
The sediments form phosphate-rich formations, including the Peace River Formation, which are mined in the area today.
The Peace River Formation (middle Miocene to early Pliocene in age) is exposed off the beach near Venice.
Fossils such as shark teeth, dugong ribs, whale bones, and stingray plates weather out and wash ashore.
Pleistocene sediments from interglacial periods cover much of Florida. Ice Age animal remains can also be found in the Venice area.
Shark teeth hunting in Venice:
We’ve had luck hunting at Caspersen Beach, finding shark teeth, whale bone pieces, and stingray barbs.
Note: The entry road and parking area at Caspersen were damaged by Hurricane Ian, but you can still hike along the coastline to get there.
This year, we hunted at Manasota Key Beach and managed to find a few nice specimens.
Be sure to get there early to find a parking spot.
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Phosphate dragline bucket; Glyptodont at Mulberry Phosphate Museum.
Exiting the auto train near Orlando, we drove through Bone Valley, a region of central Florida where phosphate mining is common.
Army Corps. of Engineers discovered massive phosphate deposits in 1881 along the Peace River. This spurred the formation of the state’s large mining industry. The phosphate is mined primarily for use in agricultural fertilizer.
Phosphate is found within the Miocene/Pliocene sediment, and formed from precipitation from seawater, along with skeletons and coprolites of sea creatures. Phosphorites are often related to strong marine upwelling by deep water currents.
Trip tips:
Stop in Mulberry, Florida at the Mulberry Phosphate Museum to see its exhibits about the phosphate industry.
Peruse the Fossil Gallery to see the Bone Valley Fossil Collection. Fun fact: This gallery is located inside a historic train depot.
Why it matters: Eighty percent of the phosphate used in the United States and 25 percent of the phosphate used globally comes from Florida.
North Carolina Fossil Festival, Aurora
You can dig in the fossil pits throughout the year, but there's more fun at the Fossil Festival over Memorial Day weekend.
Over Memorial Day weekend, the Aurora Fossil Museum hosts the annual North Carolina Fossil Festival in the town of Aurora, North Carolina. It includes a parade, 5K Run, Jurassic Classic Bike Race, fossil digging, food trucks, music, fossil and craft vendors, mine trucks, and STEAM events! All celebrate and support the museum. What’s not to like?
Area geology:
The stratigraphy is exposed at the Nutrien Phosphate Mine. Holocene and Pleistocene-age deposits of sand and mud are visible at the top of the mine to a depth of approximately 55 feet.
These marine deposits mark the rise and fall of sea level.
A thick shell bed sits right above the underlying Yorktown Formation. Channel sands occasionally scour the Pliocene beds.
The Pliocene-age (2.6–5.3 Ma) Yorktown Formation marks a time of deeper ocean waters, as the shoreline moved inland.
The Yorktown is found at depths between 90 and 120 feet below the land surface.
It is divided into the Upper and the Lower, separated by a Pecten bed of scallop shells.
The lower unit has abundant fossils, with large whale vertebrae and shark teeth, including the best examples of Carcharocles megalodon teeth in the world.
The Miocene-age (5.3–23 Ma) Pungo River Formation is at the bottom of the mine.
During the Miocene, a vast embayment covered the area.
The base of the Pungo River contains rich phosphate ore, which is extracted at the mine.
Trip tips: This year, come to Aurora on May 24–25 for some small-town fossil fun.
To dig in the pits, bring your sieve (12x12 inches maximum), trowel, hat, and sunscreen.
The Aurora Fossil Museum is small but mighty. Check out its exhibits of vertebrates and invertebrates, including huge, razor-sharp Megalodon teeth excavated from the nearby Nutrien Phosphate Mine.
An entire room illustrates the stratigraphy of the area.
Pits of the Pungo: Across the street from the museum, you can visit two large fossil pits. Visitors can dig for Miocene fossils.
The Nutrien Phosphate Mine donates the material, replenishing the pits beforehand. Shark teeth, stingray teeth, whale bones, fish vertebrae, and coral are abundant. You can keep all you find, and it is free!
We stayed in picturesque Washington, NC and had a delicious seafood dinner at Down on Mainstreet.
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