Hunting ammonites in southern France

[Italo40]

Hi everyone, 

now that it is a prohibitive time for fossil hunting (at least where I am!) I though it was a good opportunity for a little throwback. 

This summer I travelled to southern France and I had the chance to visit museums, paleontological heritage sites and, of course, collect fossils. 

Towards the end of August I met with a friend and we headed to an area that was quite popular among professionals and amateur collectors alike, but we didn't know any exact location. We stopped at a place that looked promising and we asked the owner of the land permission to survey and, potentially, collect. And we were very lucky indeed! 

Note that I cannot pinpoint the spot to you, because the owner asked not to disclose it.

Here's a picture of the outcrop at the end of the day. It was a 1.5 m (5 ft) thick bed of grey marls with limestone interbeds, Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) in age. As I am chiefly interested in the scientific aspect of collecting, I managed to record bed-by-bed stratigraphy and fossil occurences. I drew a few sketches and a log, so that no info will be lost.

 

 

We found a lot of material. Large inoceramid bivalves (not pictured) were very abundant. Ammonites were relatively common, but very fragile and most of the time fragmented. We did find however a few complete ones. 

Here's the first find of the day. This large boulder was detached and, in hitting it with the hammer, this ammonite popped out undamaged:

 

 

 

This was the largest specimen, before and after collecting: 

 

 

Another very delicate specimen, it may need a bit of prepping:

 

 

 

And, finally, one of the most interesting find, a heteromorph ammonite, still to prep:

 

 

In conclusion, I hope you enjoyed my post and my finds. Let me know if you have any ID suggestion, they'd be much appreciated. 

Cheers, 

Fabio

[FranzBernhard]

Nice ammos and site, thanks for sharing!
Franz Bernhard

[Fossildude19]

Nice report! 

Thanks for posting it.   

[Tidgy's Dad]

Yes, I enjoyed that, thank you.

[RJB]

Looks like a nice trip. 

 

RB

[FossilNerd]

Always glad to see you post a trip report Fabio! I’d love to see that heteromorph after it’s prepped.  Thanks for sharing.  

[caterpillar]

Nice report. Thanks for sharing

Are you sure it's cenomanian level? Your heteromorph asks me a question

[Italo40]

Thanks everybody who replied and reacted to the post, I really appreciated that you enjoyed it!

 

18 minutes ago, caterpillar said:

Nice report. Thanks for sharing

Are you sure it's cenomanian level? Your heteromorph asks me a question

Thanks for asking, caterpillar. When I got home from the site I checked the literature and I found a few papers dealing specifically with the spot and surrounding areas. I had no problem identifying the formation, since only two lithologies crop out there and they are very distinctive, one being these grey marls, the other glauconite-rich marls (dark green in colour). The former's age assignement is early Cenomanian to late Cenomanian. 

[caterpillar]

I thank you for your reply.

Indeed your ammonites look very much like Cenomanian ammonites. Mainly the first which is certainly a Schloenbachia. But I really have a question about the heteromorph. She doesn't tell me anything about Cenomanian

[caterpillar]

Or maybe Anisoceras

[FossilLerp2]

Very nice! 

I agree with what has been said before, the first photo looks a lot like Schloenbachia, and it could very well be a Schloenbachia varians, which is quite common in this particular stage. The second photo (your largest specimen) is possibly a Mantelliceras cantianum, though I cannot be quite sure because I do not know the specific biozone you found it in. 

 

[Adam86cucv]

Looks like it was a good trip.  Thanks for sharing.

[Manticocerasman]

the 1st one is indeed Schloenbachia varians,

the other ones are Mantelliceras sp. 

as for the heteromorph I agree with Anisoceras sp.