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Hi all Some of you may remember that I used to (and still do) research on fossils from the Late Cretaceous chalk of Denmark... Now there are 2 main chalk sites in Denmark, Møns Klint and Stevns Klint. My work focuses on the stuff from Møns Klint, but in all honesty there's some spectacular fossils coming out of both localities. One thing that both Møns and Stevns have in common is that fossils of mosasaurs (giant lizard-like marine reptiles) are extremely rare, with only a small handful of specimens found every year. A few years ago, I went to the Geomuseum Faxe (south of Copenhagen) to check out one of the finest mosasaur specimens from the Danish Chalk. It's roughly 67 million years old, and was found by amateur collector Peter Bennicke at a small quarry close to the Stevns Klint cliffs. The specimen is preserved in a large-ish block of chalk (~0.7 metres wide). The whole fossil consists of about 7 or 8 teeth, and some small cranial and jaw fragments. Yeah. Mosasaurs are so rare in Denmark that the best mosasaur fossil is a small association of a few teeth and bone bits. These remains are from Plioplatecarpus sp., one of the smaller fish-eating mosasaurs. The find was considered so rare that it was declared as part of the "Danish Natural History treasure trove" (Danekræ, catalogue Nº DK-1048). The museum where the mosasaur is kept (on loan from the natural history museum in Copenhagen). The chalk quarry (Stevns Kridtbrud) where the mosasaur fossil was found. Here's the Plioplatecarpus specimen in all its fragmentary glory! Most mosasaur fossils in Denmark are in the form of single isolated teeth, so this find is especially cool because it's one of very few (2-3) specimens that consist of multiple associated bones/teeth from one individual. This one would've been roughly 4-5 metres long, and would have ate small to mid-sized fish such as Enchodus. By the way sorry for the not-so-great photo quality, it's kinda difficult to take good pictures from behind an exhibition case... Best-preserved teeth. Tiny little teeth... And a small scrap of bone, probably cranial. More bone fragments... So yeah, a few associated teeth and bits of bone - for something so rare, this one's pretty cool. Hopefully I can find something like that, at Møns Klint this time, when I go out for this year's fieldwork! Let me know what you think about this nice mosasaur specimen!!

Hey hope y'all are doing well! Seems like I've been absent from here quite some time, huh? Between a rather intense semester at uni, and research work for the GeoCenter museum in Denmark, it's been a pretty darn busy past few months... But I'm back now, with some neat updates about the paleo stuff I've been up to lately Can't wait to browse through all the different TFF threads from the last weeks, too! The biggest thing I got up to - I participated for the first time in a paleontology conference!! It was really fun, I got to meet other up-and-coming paleontologists, took a workshop led by the brilliant Phil Mannion on how to better use the Paleobiology Database - and most importantly, there were some truly excellent talks about all sorts of interesting topics: unusual structures in mosasaur vertebrae, Silurian benthos paleoecology, resolving pterosaur taxonomy... I like to think that my talk was pretty good too, it garnered quite a bit of attention I presented Thoracosaurus crocodile bones from the Late Cretaceous chalk site Møns Klint (Denmark). My main conclusions were that the bones represent the oldest European gavialoid - and reveals that the transatlantic distribution of gavialoid crocs dates back at least to the early Maastrichtian. The Møns Klint specimen is also significant because crocs are simply darn rare in the chalk of Denmark, so new finds are really important to better understanding the paleoecology of the sea that covered Denmark and NW Europe in the Late Cretaceous. For those who are curious, here's a recording of my talk Hope you enjoy it!

Just wanted to share this bit of good news with you guys - I was accepted, some time ago, to present at a paleo conference The conference, Progressive Palaeontology 2021, is organised by the Palaeontological Association and is hosted (online) by the University College London (my uni!). It runs from tomorrow until the 19th. Although registration is now closed, some talks will be uploaded to Youtube (it's possible for presenters to ask to have their talks stay up on Youtube, publicly, even after the event has finished). Now although the conference is mostly for master's and PhD students, I thought I'd still go ahead with trying my hand at getting into the conference. I'm so delighted I got accepted! For those who are curious, this is the title and abstract of my talk: Historical material of cf. Thoracosaurus from the Maastrichtian of Denmark provides new insight into the K-Pg distribution of Crocodylia Crocodylia is one of the distinctive groups that survived the K–Pg mass extinction event. New material from Late Cretaceous–early Palaeogene deposits is therefore important to understanding shifts in crocodylian distribution and ecology. This paper describes and assesses a fragmentary mandible of a marine crocodylian from the lower Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of Møns Klint (Denmark). Based on features including narrow rami and curved, slender, and conical teeth, the specimen is referred to cf. Thoracosaurus (Gavialoidea). Although collected in 1968, the material has not yet been described. However, given its importance to crocodylian palaeontology, the specimen warrants further attention. This research aims to systematically present the palaeobiogeographical significance of the fossil material, assessed using digital palaeolatitudinal reconstruction. The Møns Klint specimen represents the oldest gavialoid record in Europe, with all other material deriving from upper Maastrichtian and Danian deposits. This indicates that Gavialoidea were present in the European Chalk Sea throughout the Maastrichtian, rather than being a latest Maastrichtian arrival. Furthermore, the Møns Klint ‘Thoracosaurus’ represents one of the only lower Maastrichtian gavialoids, the other two being from Mississippi and New Jersey (United States of America). The specimen thus extends the palaeogeographical range of lower Maastrichtian gavialoids across the proto-Atlantic and by ~7º in palaeolatitude. This reveals a transatlantic distribution of Gavialoidea dating back to the earliest Maastrichtian, providing further evidence for distributional communication between vertebrate faunas of the Western Interior Seaway and of the Chalk Sea. These factors therefore make the Møns Klint Thoracosaurus specimen particularly valuable to understanding distributional patterns of K–Pg crocodylians. I'm especially pleased that after several years, some of my research on the marine fauna from the late Cretaceous chalk of Møns Klint is finally getting "out there", into the academic/public world. A small step of progress for my Møns Klint Fossil Research Program! It'll also of course be great to see many talks on fascinating aspects of paleo research, exchange with paleontologists, and participate in workshops!! I'll make sure to post on TFF the recording of my talk once it's made publicly available Really can't wait for this, I'm so excited!! -Christian

Looking through @KansasFossilHunter's blog, I saw one of his posts was a "narrative essay" (you should check it out, it's really good! ). This gave me the idea to write an account of one of my MKFE fossil hunts. I hope you guys enjoy it! Resurrecting the Cretaceous The fine, almost mist-like rain fell gently in sheets and imbued the skin of my face. Despite the lack of intensity, this slow downpour had been going on for the past half hour, and water was starting to seep through my clothing. I was beginning feel very cold. A loud metallic clank (presumably from a hammer) brought me back to the task at hand. I looked around. In front of me, the white chalk cliffs of Møns Klint towered, shrouded in a veil of thick fog. I could hear behind me the sound of waves ploughing through innumerable pebbles of flint. The entire atmosphere felt… otherworldly – I was almost expecting to see the large head of a mosasaur, breaching through the turbulent waters of the Tethys- no, the Baltic sea. Indeed, this cliff was highly fossiliferous – it could almost be considered as some marine “graveyard” from the Late Cretaceous. I got back to work. I was currently excavating a tubular and hollow fossil. At the time, I couldn’t identify it. With the aid of small dental tools, I chipped the soft rock encapsulating the fossil. I felt the fragment come loose, and tensed in anticipation as I gently pried the fossil from its chalky tomb. As I began to safely wrap it in kitchen paper, I looked momentarily back at the excavation site and saw something rather unexpected: the same pattern of the fossil I had just pulled out of the rock. There was more of this fossil. Armed with my small metallic pick, I continued working around the unidentified invertebrate fragment. What was it? Some weirdly preserved crinoid? Focus, Christian. You can ID it later. This was getting very strenuous. The cold, the exhaustion… I toiled on, nevertheless, with grim determination. Shortly after, I got another fragment out of the chalk. This stuff was really brittle, it was already starting to crumble in my hands as I was wrapping it. If only I had taken some PVA. As I thought that that was the end of it, I went back to the cliff wall to gather my tools. I looked back up. Don’t tell me… The fossil was still continuing! Alright then. Time to get out the big guns. Ignoring my family’s requests that I speed up a bit (fossil excavation takes time, alright?), I picked up my hammer and chisel. Small wet bits of chalk flecking my coat, I started hammering off chunks of chalky overburden. I repositioned my chisel so as to slightly modify the angle at which I was striking the rock. I soon saw a thin crack appearing, meaning that the piece of rock containing the fossil was starting to come loose. I gave a few more taps with my hammer, and then pried off the matrix-surrounded fossil. It really wasn’t surprising that there was still more of the fossil in the cliff face. Let’s hope this is the last bit. After all, the visible diameter of this invertebrate seemed to have decreased as I uncovered more of the fossil. Reiterating the work I had been doing up until now, I pried rock from around the “calcareous tube”. Just as I was asking myself if this fossil would ever reach an end, the rock started to come loose. Once the fossil was wrapped in kitchen paper, I looked back at the cliff wall. There was no more trace of the fossil. Finally. I used my dental pick to scrape a bit around, just to make sure. We packed up the fossils and gathered the tools, ready to leave – and say goodbye to Møns Klint I was going to miss that place. Just as we were about to head up the long cliff-front staircase to get back to the parking, my mum picked up a large block of chalk for me to work on – once back at home. Why hadn’t I thought about that before? Safely seated in my parents’ car, I looked out of the window. The atmosphere still felt “prehistoric”: the slight hint of fog, the damp trees shivering in the wind, even the bumpy dirt road… At this moment, I really wouldn’t have been surprised to see a flock of small velociraptorine dromaeosaurs, crashing through the undergrowth and rushing to the opposite side of the road. It was almost as if my fossil excavations had brought back to life animals long gone, from the Late Cretaceous. N. B. Subsequent research indicated the fossil I was excavating was a serpulid polychaete Field photography of the in situ serpulid (in the black circle). The end of a chisel is in the left

Just found out about this book - "Fossils of the Harrana Fauna and the Adjacent Areas" (2009), written by Hani Kaddumi. It basically describes the marine fauna of the Muwaqqar Chalk Marl Formation, a Maastrichtian unit represented in parts of Jordan. Due to faunal content and age, I think it'd be a good source for contextual information regarding my MKFRP project. Would anyone have a PDF of the book? citation details: Kaddumi, H. F. (2009). Fossils of the Harrana Fauna and the Adjacent Areas. Publications of the Eternal River Museum of Natural History, Amman, pp. 232-239. Thanks for any help -Christian

Nowadays, I'm mostly focused on preparing for my high school finals. But in my free time... Well I started to plan the 3rd Møns Klint Fossil Excavation (MKFE), as part of the larger Møns Klint Fossil Research Program. This field session has been planned for mid-August, and will last about 2 weeks - needless to say, I'm pretty excited Especially when considering the success of the 2nd MKFE... Collection policy will remain mostly the same as last time, meaning that arthropod, cephalopod, echinoderm and vertebrate material will be the priority. Of course, there will be a slight change; with more focus on articulated/associated remains (because single, eroded fragments are becoming a bit too numerous...). Also, last year, when I was collecting anything significant (e.g. articulated echinoderm remains), I forgot to try and find associated zone fossils. This time, I'll remember to collect zone fossils (brachiopods and belemnites), as they can be pretty useful for determining more precisely the age of a specimen. Of course, I'll use this field trip as an opportunity to donate to the GeoCenter museum some of the fossils from the 2nd MKFE. Can't wait to go back there!! -Christian

Hey everyone, I recently came back from a trip to England. Most of the time was spent in museums, especially London's Natural History Museum. Over there, I met the Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology (Tim Ewin), who showed me around some parts of the Echinoderm Collections. Basically, the goal of this visit was to examine some of the echinoderms from the British Chalk, for some comparative research material for my MKFRP project. Some of the stuff in those collections is absolutely amazing - and the amount of material in there is really extensive. This thread will show some of the chalk echinoderm material that I saw over there. Hope you guys'll like this! 2 very well articulated Tylocidaris clavigera in a single nodule of chalk g on Drawer filled with "tylocidarine" regular echinoids. The pink colouring on some of the specimens is due to the fact that some of them needed to have the fine details rendered sharper (this was before the age of digital photography) Partial Tylocidaris clavigera associated with a disarticulated goniasterid (Asteroidea, Goniasteridae) starfish Very well preserved and nearly complete Nymphaster marginatus goniasterid Neat little example of the goniasterid Metopaster Calyx and partial arm of the free-floating crinoid Marsupites testudinarius (sorry for not very good photo quality ) Articulated columnals of an isocrinid crinoid (possibly Isocrinus); this is specifically relevant to my MKFRP project given the age of that fossil (Early Maastrichtian) To finish things off… It's not very "chalk-y", but it's definitely special - a Palaeocoma milleri ophiuroid from the Early Jurassic of Lyme Regis, collected by Mary Anning

Hello, and welcome to my new MKFRP thread! In this new thread, there are going to be a lot more details, accounts, and of course… pictures, than in the previous one. I hope you enjoy it here For those who don't remember (or who haven't heard of this), the MKFRP is a research project based on the extensive collection and research of fossil material from the Lower Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of Møns Klint, Denmark. The project was put in place given that this fossil site is highly diverse (more than 120 macrofossil taxa), but has been given too little paleontological attention. The goal of the MKFRP is to promote greater understanding and knowledge of the paleontology of this fossil site. The fieldwork aspect of this project consists of "MKFE's" (Møns Klint Fossil Excavations), organised week/fortnight-long field trips of which the central goal is to collect a large quantity of fossil material (especially from cephalopods, echinoderms and vertebrates). The first MKFE was a success, in which many echinoderm fossils (and one shark tooth) had been collected. The second MKFE will last 2 weeks, and is scheduled for the 2nd and 3rd weeks of July.

Just got this new idea for a future MKFRP research avenue Basically, on the beach near the cliffs, there is this area filled with small bits of fossils washed out from the chalk (the so-called "washout zone"). I'll make a sampling of that area, with a few control variables included (i.e. sampling area, maximum sampling depth, fossil size class, quantity of fossils). The sampling will be done by scooping washout material with a bucket & spade, bringing it home and then picking out individual fossils. Based on the fossils collected, I'll then establish relative faunal abundances based on percentages of particular fossil groups. The results obtained from the data will hopefully help to further understanding of the paleoecology of Møns Klint. Similar research has been done on places like Stevns Klint or Rügen, so I'd be expecting similar results for Møns Klint. Small preliminary hypothesis: fish remains won't have reach an abundance higher than ~5% Closeup picture of the "washout material"; taken from Meyer (2015) - "Fossilerne fra Møns Klint"

A few days ago, I started in another thread a gallery of fossils from Møns Klint held at the "on-site museum" GeoCenter MK. I thought that it would be more appropriate to continue this gallery in the "A Trip to the Museum" forum. This post will deal with a multitude of fossils that are more common than the exceptional Danekrae fossils (but you'll see that some of them are rather rare). All the fossils pictured here are exhibited at "The Fossil Room". Hope you like them! 2 partial stems of the crinoid Isselicrinus sp. preserved in a single piece of chalk - uncommon 2 nodules of flint that preserve associated and articulated ossicles of the goniasterid asteroid (starfish) Recurvaster sp. - relatively rare Partial mandibular rami from a thoracosaurine crocodylian - unique; no other crocodylian remains have been found at MK (temporarily removed from display to facilitate my research of the specimen in summer) Calyces from 3 Bourgueticrinus constrictus crinoids - relatively common 2 teeth from a Cretalamna appendiculata shark - rare Complete tooth from a Hexanchus microdon shark - rare Articulated and associated ossicles from the goniasterid asteroid Metopaster poulseni (includes at least one arm) - rare Temnocidaris pistillum (cidarid echinoid) spines - relatively common Phymosoma granulosum (phymosomatid echinoid) spines - relatively common Complete Phymosoma granulosum test (echinoid "shell" composed of numerous ossicles) - relatively rare Partial Baculites vertebralis (baculitid heteromorph ammonite) shell - rare Sphenodiscus sp.; almost complete ammonite shell - rare Rather long stem of the crinoid Isselicrinus buchii - relatively rare Well, that was the MK fossil gallery! Tell me what you think about it Best, Christian