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Found 296 results
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My five year old found 2 fossil on the UK east coast and wondering if someone can ID them please, not too hard for you guys I bet. 2nd fossil is below cuz of photo size limitations.
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My partner and I found this on the beach at Runswick Bay (near Whitby, Yorkshire, UK). It's about the size of a golf ball. Given the concentric layers it might be geological. However, we wondered if it might be coprolite? There are hundreds of little white flecks embedded within that could plausibly be tiny fish bones? We are novices and any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Rich
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What a fitting tribute!!!!!!!! requiescat in pace,Ian (4,2 Mb) related:
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Found this on east coast of uk, is it a ammonite? The material seems rock/stone like.
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Hi everyone, We found this unusual looking ?fossil? at Seaham in the shoreline. The pattern on it is striking but what was unexpected is that it is on both sides. The whole item is about 2 inches thick and curved. It looks like the pattern on it is quite worn but is still visible. My first thought was is was bark of some kind as I know plant fossils are common at Seaham but when I discovered it was both sides I joked that it looked more like part of a body of a fish. I would appreciate any input - probably nothing that exciting. Photos show each side of the item.
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Found whilst digging for clay pipes, my son is very keen for this this to be a tooth. It's around 5cm in length. As far as I'm aware this bit of Kent was Cretaceous/palaeogene. Any help IDing would be great. I'm assuming it's just an interesting shaped bit of flint, but the ridges on the thin edge have him hopeful it's more exciting (and our previous finds have often not been quite as interesting as we'd hoped) I only have these photos for now, but should they not be good enough, I'll take some better lit close ups in a few days... thanks for your help!
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Some cool findings from the Isle of Skye: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-43620237
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Hi everyone, I've found a fossil for sale that is apparently from a Polacanthus. It was found in Brighstone on the Isle of Wight, UK. I can't see any defining features in the bone to narrow down what it could be from - would any of you fine folk be able to ID what creature this came from (and out of curiosity, how you can tell from such an isolated piece)? Many thanks!
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At over 4" across, this is the last few chambers of by far the largest diameter belemnite phragmocone I've ever seen. (If anyone has one from a Megateuthis, I'd love to see it! - they don't seem ever to be preserved.) Given to me by a friend, it is in a nodule from the Jet Rock (Upper Lias, Lower Jurassic) of Port Mulgrave, north Yorkshire coast. It must have belonged to an exceptionally large Acrocoelites trisulculosus which is probably the only belemnite to occur in this bed. It's a large species anyway - typical rostra of it are 5 - 7" long but about 9" has very rarely been recorded so a bit longer may be possible. Photo 6: Not having such a large Acrocoelites in my collection, I've done a conservative mock-up of it with a smallish (9") Megateuthis and another piece of phragmocone which is my second largest... A total length of 20 - 24" seems about right. Photo 7: For comparison , I have a complete but crushed example of A. trisulculosus about 12" long, the rostrum being 6.5". 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) This should probably be stretched more... 7) A normal size Acrocoelites trisulculosus with crushed phragmocone (the strange ridged structure on top of it is a crushed on-edge Harpoceras shell mouth)
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I found this rock (or fossil?) on Studland beach in Dorset, UK. I understand that it may just be a rock but the area (the Jurassic coast) is known for it's prevalence of fossils. I thought it may be a tooth of some kind. Can you help with identification please? Many thanks.
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Hi, Bit of a geological question here, I recently took this photo of some of the Upper Hamstead Member strata exposed on a headland at Bouldnor Cliff whilst out collecting. I really like this spot as the colour variation in the beds is really interesting. I've heard that the colour mottling in mudstones such as these can be indicative of the paleo-environmental conditions they were deposited in. Generally speaking these muds were deposited in ponds, lakes, and sluggish waterways on a low lying coastal plain. However, would it be correct to presume the redder areas indicate more arid conditions i.e. a period when the Hampshire Basin coastal plain was very dry and the other green and grey beds periods in which the environment on the plain was wetter? Thank you, Theo
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Hi guys/gals, found this huge Nautilus this Saturday, still unprepped and I'm still in a bit of shock, once prepped I think it will be unreal... thanks, Alan.
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Out hunting Jurassic coast yesterday, found this nodule containing what looks like the underside of a skull, symmetrical on both sides apart from one side is worn, if it is I was thinking croc or possibly Plesiosaur but it looks fish like to me, either way there is a lot of bone in there, any suggestions ? Thanks, Alan.
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Partial crushed left mandible from the anthracothere Bothriodon collected from the Bouldnor Formation in two pieces. The first collected ex-situ on the 29/01/18, and the second on 13/02/18. P2 to M3 in-situ. P1 and M2 missing.
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Saved for Science, for 22 years!
Auspex posted a topic in Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
A great example of the value of private collectors! A rare 200 million-year-old ichthyosaur specimen has been discovered in a private collection 22 years after it was originally found.- 6 replies
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Cheek tooth from the theridomyid rodent Isoptychus sp. Collected through screen washing of matrix from the 'White Band' a shallow freshwater lacustrine horizon.
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I bought these online, and the only info they had was that they were found in the south of the UK. I'll post the ones i'm unsure about on his thread and hopefully some people can point me in the right direction. Firstly, whale Bone?
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Found this cheeky Ammonite last week, well worn but potential on one side, gave it a tap or two and here we have it, first I thought was the centre of a Phylloceras but I'm not convinced looking at it, Yorkshire coast find, cheers.
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Hi all, I’m completely stumped by this. I found this on the foreshore of Holland on Sea, Essex near Clacton on Sea. The area is associated with London Clay deposits which usually throw out striatolamia and Otodus teeth. There is also Red Crag which throws out bivalves. Then again there are glacial deposits that have thrown out mammoth remains. Later still there is the Clacton spear and Clactonian assemblage of tools claimed to be evidence of the first hominid in the UK. So what is this? It has the “feel” of stone / pebble. It doesn’t “feel” or “look” recent but of course that means nothing. I’ve seen nothing like this from this area before although it resembles a herbivore tooth I have seen before so please.....help!
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Hello all! I am planning a trip to Dorset in the near future, and have decided on 3 locations: Charmouth, Seatown, and Lyme Regis. May I ask, what tools should I get to help me with splitting nodules, rocks, etc? Besides, any info on what time of the year to go to these locations, as well as some tide information (I heard after a high tide is the best time to collect as the waves wash out the fossils) As well as, any idea how much competition will be there? I hope I don't leave empty handed...
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Hi, I've recently fully processed some matrix from the Lower Hamstead Mbr. that I collected back in November, and I thought I'd share some of my finds in a similar way to my Bembridge Marls Mbr. material. The matrix originates from a 'shelly' horizon in the Lower Hamstead Mbr. and was collected from fallen blocks at the base of a low cliff exposure at Bouldnor Cliff. The Lower Hamstead Mbr. overlays the late Eocene Bembridge Marls and dates from the very earliest Oligocene epoch, approximately 33.75 - 33.5 million years ago. To put the finds into an environmental context the Lower Hamstead Mbr. was deposited during a period of rapid global cooling and drop in sea levels associated with the onset of antarctic glaciation (Oi-1). The cooling and eustatic change had begun in the late Eocene, with the palaeo-environments of the Bembridge Marls becoming increasingly terrestrial towards the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. By the Lower Hamstead Member the southern Hampshire Basin was a low lying coastal plain with extensive wetlands, lakes, ponds and sluggish rivers flowing south east towards the early channel (at this time the channel was more a large embayment with only occasional connection to the North Sea). The dense sub-tropical forests of the late Eocene had disappeared and the landscape was dominated by open woodlands of pine, sequoia, and oak. The environment was much cooler and annual rainfall had significantly dropped since the Eocene, although temperatures would begin to rise again further into the rupelian and Hamstead Mbrs. The basin was surrounded by areas of chalk upland (still existing today) with forests of sequoia and broadleaf species. This dramatic climate change is likely what triggered the Grande Coupure, in which endemic Eocene mammals like the palaeotheres disappeared and were replaced with Asian groups such as carnivorans, rhinocerotids, anthracotheres, and a variety of other artiodactyls. The mammals of the dense tropical Eocene forests simply couldn't adapt fast enough to the new open environments of the Oligocene and ultimately failed to compete against the better adapted migrants. By the Upper Hamstead Member the mammals on the Hampshire Basin coastal plain are almost entirely of Asian origin. Therefore the micro-vertebrates lived in an environment of large scale climatic and ecological change, which I think adds another level of interest to collecting from this member of the Bouldnor Fm. The material I've collected so far is a lot more varied than the Bembridge Marls, but overall is less abundant. So far it's produced at least 3 fish taxa, 2 mammals, and an indeterminate piece of jaw which may be reptilian or mammal. 1. A skull element from a Bowfin (Amia sp.), these fish are very common in most horizons of the Bouldnor Fm. 2. A vertebra from a Bowfin (Amia sp.) 3. A damaged lateral scute from a Sturgeon (Acipenser sp.) showing the transition to a freshwater environment 4. An indeterminate piece of a tiny jaw, may be crocodilian although I'm not sure. 5. The nicest find of the lot, a lower incisor from the theridomyid rodent Isoptychus (ID'd by Jerry hooker from the NHM). These rodents looked similar to modern kangaroo rats, hopping along the ground on large rear legs. Bite marks on Isoptychus bones collected from Thorness Bay suggest that they were common prey for the bear-dog Cynodictis. 6. Finally 2 images of an unidentified mammal tooth. I'm unsure as to whether this is part of the tooth or the entire crown, but it doesn't appear to be from a rodent. Hope you all enjoyed the finds, Theo
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Hi, I headed out for a full day of collecting at Hamstead on Saturday, and thought I'd share how it went. I reached the beach at Hamstead Duver around 9am and began searching the foreshore. The finds on this part of the coast are washed round by longshore drift, but it can be a productive section. This was definitely the case on Saturday, within the first 20 odd metres I picked up various pieces of trionychid carapace, Emys fragments, and the worn trochlea of an anthracothere humerus. I continued west along the coast before reaching the slipway (a disused boat launching ramp, apparently used by the US military in preparation for the Normandy Landings) the point where Hamstead Cliffs begin. Having not been able to visit in nearly a month, and after weeks of pretty violent storms over Christmas and the New Year, the coast at Hamstead Ledge has now completely changed. Most of the sand and gravel has been taken off the beach leaving large exposed areas of Bembridge Marls strata on the foreshore. The junction bed between the underlying Bembridge Limestone and Bembridge Marls is also now visible (usually obscured by sand and gravel). The Bembridge Limestone Fm. lays beneath the Bouldnor Fm. and was laid down in a series of large carbonate lakes on a heavily forested sub-tropical coastal plain stretching across what is now the northern Island. At 34.0 million years ago rising sea levels flooded the plain and the estuary/lagoons of the lower Bembridge Marls were deposited, which can be observed in the low cliff face. (A small normal fault can be seen in the Bembridge Marls highlighted in yellow, additionally the 'thin white horizon' is the western limits of the famous Insect Limestone. However it is un-lithified and does not produce insects at this locality) The largest change however was an enormous landslide just west of the ledge in the high cliff face. As well as several smaller falls and slips, this slip has littered the beach with clay debris and small trees. It's on the site of a large mudflow from last winter, I reckon the heavy rain saturated the already weakened area and triggered a large scale failure of the cliff face. I checked through the debris (and the exposed strata) and found some very nice pieces, including a huge piece of trionychid hypoplastron (the largest turtle piece I've ever found), a fragment of alligator jaw, a large fish vertebra, and two large baso-occipital bones from Bowfins (Amia sp.). As the beach was covered with clay blocks the foreshore wasn't very productive for ex-situ finds. As the tide dropped I moved further west towards Cranmore and beach conditions returned to normal with shingle, sand, and gravel, and a nice variety of finds. The best finds were a couple of anthracothere teeth, including a very nice canine. Coprolites were also very common as usual, most, if not all, are likely crocodilian. Further west there are exposures of the Upper Hamstead Member on the foreshore which if you're lucky turn up in-situ finds. The Upper Hamstead Member dates from approximately 33.2 - 32.4 million years ago. This time I was in luck, I spotted a large bone fragment and a piece of Emys weathering out of the clay. I checked the areas adjacent in case there was anymore associated material but unfortunately not. The bone fragment appears to be a rib. I reached Cranmore and collected some matrix for micro-sieving from the cliff face, and after collecting a few more bone fragments and coprolites, and with the tide now rising I called it a day and headed up to the main road. Overall it was a good collecting trip, with some good finds. Hopefully as the winter goes on the landslide debris is eroded away and some nice vertebrate remains are produced. Hope this was interesting, Theo 1. Huge piece of trionychid hypoplastron 2. 'Interior' view of the hypoplastron
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Hello all Around April, May I'm going to the UK for a couple of days with my parents. They will visit some villages, while I'll be fossil hunting on the beach. I've done some research on the internet and thefossilforum, but sometimes the messages I get are contradictory. So I have some questions. -Is it allowed to search fossils in Lyme Regis and Charmouth with a hamer? I know you can't hack in the cliffs. -Is April and May a good period to search for fossils? -I have some serious problems with my eyes and it's very difficult for me to find loose fossils lying on the beach. Are there nice finds in the rocks? I can see those a whole lot better. -If you find an ichthyosaur or a big ammonite (I don't expect to find any) are you allowed to take them with you home? -Does anyone of you know if a good place to stay in Lyme Regis or Charmouth? I found a lot of places and now I don't know which one I have to choose. Our dog is going with us. -Any more tips? Thanks already Greetings Thijs
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I think one is a rib, but i'm not sure about the other bits, cheers.
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Hi, I thought I'd share some of my finds from what was a pretty good trip up to Bouldnor Cliff on Tuesday morning. This was my first collecting trip in over a month due to tides, being ill over Christmas and being generally busy, so I missed out on most of December. But hopefully I can start getting back into going twice a week again as usual. Low tide was at 09:48 so I decided to head for Bouldnor instead of Hamstead, as it's a lot easier to quickly access. My hope was that the prolonged stormy weather we've had for a couple of weeks now would have brought up some nice finds, and I wasn't disappointed. Walking along the shingle I quickly spotted a worn mammal vertebra sticking out of the sand, then a couple of metres away in an area of mud was the distal end of an anthracothere humerus. Pieces like these can be pretty rare finds so I was really pleased with them. They both seem likely to be from Bothriodon based off their larger size. Moving further along the coast the productivity dropped and the finds were the usual fish vertebrae, alligator scutes, and Emys fragments punctuated by the occasional piece of rolled bone. I checked the surface of the log bed and any shelly horizon for bones or teeth that may be weathering out, but unfortunately no luck there. An interesting sight though was the log bed's huge tree trunks. Usually obscured by sand the log bed marks the boundary between the Upper and Lower Hamstead Members. It correlates with a eustatic lowstand attributed to the onset of antarctic glaciation and rapid global cooling. Around this bed is where the mammal fauna at Bouldnor passes through the famous Grande Coupure, marking the extinction of earlier endemic Eocene mammals like palaeotheres and anoplotheres, who are replaced with rhinocerotids, carnivorans, and a wide range of artiodactyls and rodents, including entelodonts and anthracotheres. The log bed represents a large log jam in fluvial swampy conditions, intermixed with the trees were the carcasses of mammals (a nearly intact Anoplotherium skeleton eroded out of the bed between the 1960's and 2002). Large tree trunks of pines and redwoods can be seen weathering out on the foreshore, and look pretty impressive. There's a long hiatus after the log bed, before the deposition of the Upper Hamstead Member above. Having passed the log bed, productivity picked up again and within the space of around 20 metres I made some pretty nice finds, including teeth from Bothriodont anthacotheres, an alligator tooth, a large section of trionychid costal plate, alligator jaw fragments, and a large cervical vertebra from an alligator (Diplocynodon sp.). Despite missing the neural arch and cervical ribs on one side the vertebra is quite well preserved and unworn, and is definitely one of the best bones I've collected from the Bouldnor Fm. I walked on a bit further towards Cranmore but decided to turn back as the tide has begun to turn. Overall, it was a great trip with some really nice finds. I'm planning on heading up to Hamstead for a full day of collecting on Saturday so I'll post on how that trip goes. Thank you, Theo 1. Worn Bothriodon vertebra 2. Distal anthracothere humerus, most likely Bothriodon 3. Diplocynodon cervical vertebra 4. Front view of the Diplocynodon vertebra
