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Showing results for tags 'blue lias formation'.
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Fossils: Boy finds 200-million-year-old ammonite on beach at Vale of Glamorgan, United Kingdom
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Fossils: Boy finds 200-million-year-old ammonite on beach By David Grundy, BBC News, United Kingdpm, March 30, 2023 Yours, Paul H.- 1 reply
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- ammonites
- blue lias formation
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Marine reptile hunting at Lyme Regis, UK - April 2023
Paleoworld-101 posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
It's been a while since i posted a proper trip report, so i thought i'd show you guys the spoils from my recent trip to the Lyme Regis area in early April 2023 (collecting from the 3rd to the 9th). I spent the week intensely scouring over the foreshore for any vertebrate fossils that i could, as marine reptiles are my main interest at this particular fossil site. But i found many great invertebrate fossils as well! Especially ammonites and belemnites. These fossils are all Early Jurassic in age, about 200 to 190 million years old, and come from the Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone formations. Most of my collecting time was on the beach between Lyme Regis and Charmouth, but i also visited Monmouth Beach west of Lyme Regis, which spectacularly showcases literally thousands of ammonites embedded within the shore platforms. This trip was my 6th to Lyme Regis overall, so i was hoping to find some vertebrate specimens that i hadn't yet found on previous trips. And things proved very successful! Despite the large amount of people on the beach over the Easter break. Firstly, some shots of the beautiful coastline. It really is an amazing place to collect. This is the beach immediately east of Lyme Regis, looking out at Church Cliffs, the Spittles, and Black Ven. This is midway between Lyme Regis and Charmouth, looking east towards Charmouth. A closer view looking towards Charmouth. This is the famous "ammonite pavement" at Monmouth Beach, west of Lyme Regis, where thousands of ammonites can be observed in the shore platform. This Mary Anning statue has recently been erected near the beach access point east of Lyme Regis (within the last year i believe). People were leaving both flowers and fossils here which is lovely. Now to the fossil finds! Including some "as found" pics of fossils lying on the beach, before i picked them up. Starting with a nice section of marine reptile rib. I suspect this is plesiosaur rather than ichthyosaur. The end of some kind of marine reptile limb or phalange. Possibly the end of a plesiosaur phalanx. This is the bottom half of an ichthyosaur humerus. I've drawn the approximate shape of the part that is missing. A small piece of ichthyosaur rib. This is a new one for me. A fragment of hybodontid shark dorsal spine. Although it is just a piece, these are relatively rare on this coast. Perhaps the quintessential marine reptile bone from this coastline, an ichthyosaur vertebra! As found on the beach and then in my hand. Finding these never gets old. This is the top of an ichthyosaur femur. The natural cross section of the bone shaft preserves amazing detail of its growth rings! A small fragment of ichthyosaur jaw, with several rounded cross sections of worn teeth. Something else i had yet to find from this area: marine reptile coprolites! One is quite beach worn, while the other is rather 'fresh'. No pun intended. As-found pictures of marine reptile bone chunks sitting on the beach. Here's a final summary of all the vertebrate finds from the trip. For a weeks worth of searching i'm very happy with this lot! And of course, the invertebrates! I particularly loved some of the larger ammonites, although carrying them off the beach would require a team of people! And these definitely wouldn't fit in my suitcase returning to Australia... A lovely belemnite. This one is a nautilus! Finally, something i wasn't expecting to find. This is a small crustacean from the Upper Greensand (Cretaceous rather than Jurassic). Overall it was a fantastic trip! And i'm looking forward to returning whenever i can. Thanks for checking out this report- 10 replies
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Marine Reptile Bone Collection from Lyme Regis and Charmouth (England)
Paleoworld-101 posted a topic in Member Collections
I've spent a fair amount of time now combing the beaches around Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England, and thought i would put together a topic that presents all of my marine reptile bone finds (so far) in one place. The fossils here are Early Jurassic in age, approx. 195-190 million years old and come predominantly from the Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone formations. I first visited this area in 2013 with the simple goal of finding at least one ichthyosaur vertebra, and now after three subsequent trips in 2014, 2017 and 2019, i've put together a far better assortment of finds than i could have possibly hoped for! I think i have been quite lucky along this coastline, although it has taken many hours to amass this collection. Across all four of my England trips i have spent a total of 18 days looking for bones in the Lyme Regis area, most often on the stretch of beach between Lyme Regis and Charmouth but sometimes at Monmouth Beach as well. This coastline also produces a large quantity and diversity of ammonites, belemnites, crinoids, bivalves, brachiopods, gastropods, and even rare insects. However i've always been most interested in fossil vertebrates, and so the ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs that are found here have been my primary target for collecting. There are also some impressive articulated fish to be found, but as yet i have had no luck in finding any! Ichthyosaur bones are the most common type of vertebrate fossil in the area, particularly their bi-concave vertebrae. Less commonly you can also find pieces of the jaw, sometimes with teeth. If you are extra lucky though you may also find plesiosaur bones, which for whatever reason are much rarer than those of ichthyosaurs. The best way to find any type of marine reptile bone around Lyme Regis is to closely examine the shingle on the beach, and i've spent seemingly countless hours bent over and slowly walking along the shore looking for them. If you have a bad back it's even more difficult! I've learnt that bones can be found pretty much anywhere on the beach: in the slumping clays, at the top of the beach in the 'high and dry' shingle, along the middle of the beach, at the low tide line, and also underwater amongst the rocky pools and ledges. And just when i start to think that the beach has already been heavily searched and there isn't much left to find, there always seems to be another bone that turns up, often lying in plain sight. The truth is that most people who visit here to collect are not experts and will probably walk past a lot of these bones, as the texture is the most important thing that gives them away and learning to recognise it takes a bit of time. For the sorts of articulated skeletons that sometimes make news headlines and are beautifully intact, searching the shingle is not the way to go, but for a short term visitor like me i think it is the best way of maximising the chances of finding any sort of reptile bone in the shortest amount of time (and something i can take back with me on the plane too!). Without further ado, here are the pics (spread across multiple posts due to file size limits). I've also included as-found pictures for some of these finds to provide a sense of what they look like and how they are found when they are on the beach. The collection so far. Starting first with my favourite Lyme Regis fossil, this is a very nice plesiosaur vertebra that is in great condition! A very rare find! I have been very fortunate to find two plesiosaur vertebrae at Lyme Regis so far, although this one is smaller and more beach-worn than the previous example. Continued below.- 24 replies
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Articulated Ichthyosaur Vertebrae (found 2014)
Paleoworld-101 posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth
Collected from Monmouth Beach in Dorset, England. Blue Lias Formation. About 200 Ma.-
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