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Hello all, Found some fossils from the Cretaceous period in water. Around Vaals in the Netherlands, Maastrichtian sediments occur. The Kalksteen van Vijlen (Vijlen chalk), Orsbach Kreide (Orsbach chalk) and Kunrader Kalksteen (Kunrader chalk) or Vetschauer Kalksteen are present. Fossils from these sediments consist of belemnites (Belemnella (Pachybelemnella) sumensis (Jeletzky, 1949) and/or Belemnella (Pachybelemnella) cimbrica (Birkelund, 1957), some forms are described as Belemnella ex gr. sumensis/cimbrica and Belemnitella junior (Nowak, 1913), sea urchins (Echinocorys sp. including Echinocorys scutata (Leske, 1778) and Cardiaster granulosus (Goldfuss, 1829), oysters (Pycnodonte vesicularis (Lamarck, 1806), parts of or eroded shark teeth (for example Carcharias sp., Cretalamna lata (Agassiz, 1843), Squalicorax pristodontus (Agassiz, 1843) and Pseudocorax affinis (Münster in Agassiz, 1843). Many fossils are from the Vijlen Chalk (early Early to early Late Maastrichtian). Fossils from the Vijlen 0-3 and Vijlen 4-6 (Vijlen chalk) are approximately between 70.6 and 69.3 million years old (the basis of interval 0 of the Vijlen Member could be dated at 70.6 Ma). Lithology and bioclast contents for intervals 5 (upper part) and 6 of the Vijlen Member at Mamelis (Mamelis 62D-78) have indicated an age of 69.7-69.3 mya. Including the latest part of the late late Maastrichtian (Formatie van Maastricht), the fossils can be between 70.6 and 66 million years old. Internet https://www.somniosus.be/Homepage_set.htm Literature Birkelund, T. (1957). Upper Cretaceous belemnites from Denmark. Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Biologiske Skrifter, 9, 1–69, Copenhagen. Christensen, W.K. (1995). Belemnitella from the Upper Campanian and Lower Maastrichtian chalks of Norfolk, England. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 51, 1-84. London. Felder, P.J. & Bless, M.J.M. (1994). The Vijlen Chalk (early Early to early Late Maastrichtian) in its type area around Vijlen and Mamelis (southern Limburg, The Netherlands). Annales de la Société géologique de Belgique 116: 61–85. Felder, W.M. & Bosch, P.W. (2000). Geologie van Nederland, deel 5. Krijt van Zuid-Limburg. NITG TNO, Delft/ Utrecht: 192 pp. Jagt, J.W.M. (2005). Stratigraphic ranges of mosasaurs in Belgium and the Netherlands (Late Cretaceous) and cephalopod-based correlations with North America. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences. 84. 10.1017/S0016774600021065. Jagt, J.W.M. (2012). Belemnitellid coleoids (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) from the type Maastrichtian, the Netherlands and Belgium. Scripta Geologica. Special Issue, 08, 93–112. Jagt, J.W.M, & Jagt-Yazykova, E.A. (2012). Stratigraphy of the type Maastrichtian – a synthesis. Scripta Geologica. Special Issue, 08, 5–32. Keutgen, N., Jagt, J.W., Felder, P., & Jagt-Yazykova, E. (2010). Stratigraphy of the upper Vijlen Member (Gulpen Formation; Maastrichtian) in northeast Belgium, the southeast Netherlands and the Aachen area (Germany), with special reference to belemnitellid cephalopods. Geologie En Mijnbouw, 89, 109-136. Jeletzky, J.A. (1949). Über den taxonomischen Wert einiger morphologischer Elemente des Rostrums der belemnitellenartigen Formen (Familie Belemnitellidae Pavlow, 1913), sowie über die Gattung Belemnella (Nowak, 1913,subg.) Jeletzky, 1941, ihre Phylogenie und einige Vertreter.Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, B9, 257–287. Keutgen, N. (2011). The belemnite zonation of the uppermost Cretaceous in the Maastricht-AachenLiège, Brabant-Méhaigne and Mons areas (Belgium, southeast Netherlands). In: Jagt, J.W.M., Jagt-Jagt. Belemnitellid coleoids from the type Maastrichtian. Scripta Geol., Spec. Issue 8 (2012). Keutgen, N. (2018). A bioclast-based astronomical timescale for the Maastrichtian in the type area (southeast Netherlands, northeast Belgium) and stratigraphic implications: The legacy of P.J. Felder. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 97(4), 229-260. doi:10.1017/njg.2018.15 Nestler, H. (2002). Die Fossilien der Rügener Schreibkreide (4. überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage). Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Bd. 486., Hohenwarsleben (Westarp Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft mbH). Schulz, M.G. (1979). Morphometrisch-variationsstatistische Untersuchungen zur Phylogenie der Belemniten-Gattung Belemnella im Untermaastricht NW-Europas. Geologisches Jahrbuch, A47, 3–157. Van der Ham, R. & van Birgelen, M. (1992). Zeeëgels uit het Maastrichtien van de Schneeberg en omgeving (Aken, Duitsland). Natuurhistorisch Maandblad, 81(8/9), 139–153. Description The Cretaceous fossils I found are numerous broken belemnite parts and almost complete ones (species Belemnella (P. sumensis/cimbrica or Belemnitella junior), three belemnite phragmocones, shark teeth (Cretalamna lata, a part of a Squalicorax sp. and other teeth, perhaps one or two Enchodus sp. teeth), one complete Cardiaster granulosus, one part of a oyster (Pycnodonte sp.), small bivalves and one gastropod (possibly Natica cretacea (Goldfuss, 1844) and Holocene or Pleistocene material (not on the photo). I also found a tooth that looks like a reptile or Mosasaur tooth (height around 1 cm). It is cone like and has a thicker root than the shark teeth. One of the fossils is also difficult to determine. It looks like a seed from a tree or other plant. Any ideas? Photo 1: overview of the fossils. Photo 2: some shark teeth, belemnite parts, phragmocones and the very small Mosasaur or reptile (?) tooth. Photo 3: some shark teeth. Photo 4: found the next day a more complete but eroded Squalicorax pristodontus (Agassiz, 1843). All of these teeth are very small, around 0.5-1 cm (only the Squalicorax tooth is a bit bigger).

Can anyone please help to ID the structure at the top of this phragmocone? Apologies that the photos aren't better, but hopefully they're good enough. I have seen this structure on other fossils from this location too, but have never been able to work out what it is. The phragmocone is 4 inches long, the unknown fossil is nearly an inch long. It's from the toarcian beacon limestone, in the UK. I'm also unsure what the phragmocone is from. I suspect this is too big for any of the belemnites from this location, so presumably a largeish squiddy thing. Most of the fossils found here are ammonites, with some nautiluses.