Please help with Scarborough fossil

[JeanMcK]

I found this fossil on Scarborough South Bay beach at low tide, well above the tide line. I am very new to fossil ID and would appreciate help, even if only to tell me if it is a plant or something like a crinoid! It is about 1 1/2 centimetres thick.

 

Thank you very much.

[dhiggi]

Doesn’t immediately strike me as a particular fossil but I can see why you were drawn to it. I’d have certainly picked it up. Not seeing crinoid, maybe the impression of an ammonite, but wait for expert opinion. @TqB should be able to help if he’s around and sees this.

[JeanMcK]

Thanks very much. Perhaps it isn't a fossil at all!

[RuMert]

Fragmentary impression of an ammonite or bivalve

[JeanMcK]

Thanks very much. I thought about that, but the marks seemed too irregular. Good to know that this is a possibility.

[Ludwigia]

I don't think you can find ammonites at Scarborough beach and I'm not at all certain if this is an impression of any kind, even of a bivalve. The structure is much too irregular for that in my opinion. I'd tip that it's just a random break in the shale on a bedding plane.

[JeanMcK]

Yes, I don't think there are ammonites at Scarborough. Probably not a fossil at all! I'll keep looking.

[dhiggi]

34 minutes ago, JeanMcK said:

Yes, I don't think there are ammonites at Scarborough. Probably not a fossil at all! I'll keep looking.

Get yourself a few miles up the coast; plenty of very productive sites both sides of Whitby 

[Al Dente]

This is a type of fracture known as a "hackle" or sometimes "hackle fringe".

[JeanMcK]

Thanks - interesting to know the terminology. I wish my geologist dad was still alive!

 

I've been around Whitby, Filey, Robin Hood's Bay, etc and have seen some nice examples in the rockface, but didn't want to take them (and I know you can't hammer the bedrock in Whitby). I haven't really gone on a serious hunt, though, so might have to do that soon.

[digit]

Welcome to the forum!

 

1 hour ago, JeanMcK said:

I've been around Whitby, Filey, Robin Hood's Bay, etc and have seen some nice examples in the rockface, but didn't want to take them (and I know you can't hammer the bedrock in Whitby). I haven't really gone on a serious hunt, though, so might have to do that soon.

Glad you know the rules (and understand the reason for them). Sounds like there are some productive areas to hunt nearby. You've shown you have the eye to spot a curious rock and have an interest in fossils. Take some photos of your next outing and show us any fossils you find. We love to see fossils from areas around the world that we are not familiar with and may never get to visit in person.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[JeanMcK]

Thanks - I certainly will do because I'm pretty sure I won't know what they are! I do know belemnites because there are all over the rocks in Robin Hood's Bay. It's a beautiful place, if you can ever make it over.

[digit]

We had plans to go visit Mary Anning's old stomping grounds this summer as well as visiting Down House (the former home of one Charles R. Darwin) and see some sights at the Natural History Museum in London. Seems that something postponed those travel plans for at least a year.

 

Our members really enjoy vicariously experiencing distant fossil hunting locations by reading well-illustrated trip reports. Some may be moved to visit the sites pictured in these trip reports but most will only get to experience these areas by reading the reports. We love photos--especially of in-situ fossils just how they looked when you first spotted them. The big trick is trying to remember to take photos before collecting the fossils.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Mahnmut]

Glad to learn about the hackle!

My first thought was "conchoidal fracture, and yet not", because it is more radial than concentric and still in a way showing the way the kinetic energy took through the stone when it broke.

Beautiful anyway.

Best Regards,

J

[abyssunder]

I'm wondering if can't be eroded slickenside. 

[JeanMcK]

I had to look these terms it up! It looks kind of like the concoidal fracture, but definites looks like it was either scraped horizontally or is an impression of some kind of ridges like sand and I think the shale(?) has a definite plane of fracture. The marks are definitely not circular. Would a slickenside or a concoidal fracture have the "lip" on it at the edge of the fracture? The underside is shallowly rounded, like it had been exposed before the rock split.

Edited August 7, 2020 by JeanMcK

[JeanMcK]

15 hours ago, digit said:

We had plans to go visit Mary Anning's old stomping grounds this summer as well as visiting Down House (the former home of one Charles R. Darwin) and see some sights at the Natural History Museum in London. Seems that something postponed those travel plans for at least a year.

 

Our members really enjoy vicariously experiencing distant fossil hunting locations by reading well-illustrated trip reports. Some may be moved to visit the sites pictured in these trip reports but most will only get to experience these areas by reading the reports. We love photos--especially of in-situ fossils just how they looked when you first spotted them. The big trick is trying to remember to take photos before collecting the fossils.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

All great places to visit - but I cannot recommend the North of England and Scotland highly enough! Scotland has some amazing fossils and very interesting geology.

 

I'll definitely try and get some pics next time I'm oot and aboot.

[digit]

My wife and I spent a couple of weeks traveling through the Hebrides a number of years ago. We even made it out to the remote island of St. Kilda. I heard about a beach with fossils on the Isle of Skye but without a proper local guide to show us around we never quite figured out where to look. I remember poking around near a power station (I think) but we came up empty handed. That's why I always prefer to go out with locals who know the area--it virtually guarantees a great experience and a chance to meet up with fellow fossil addicts.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Fossildude19]

4 hours ago, JeanMcK said:

I had to look these terms it up! It looks kind of like the concoidal fracture, but definites looks like it was either scraped horizontally or is an impression of some kind of ridges like sand and I think the shale(?) has a definite plane of fracture. The marks are definitely not circular. Would a slickenside or a concoidal fracture have the "lip" on it at the edge of the fracture? The underside is shallowly rounded, like it had been exposed before the rock split.

Hackle Fringe can be straight or curved or wavy.