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Found This Ontop Of A Mountain In Wales, Uk


Luke90

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I had to google that. Wow, this is pretty cool then!

Any idea how old it might be?

I picked it up not far from the summit of a mountain in northern Wales some 3560ft high.

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You should be able to get stratigraphic charts for that area. That should assist in determining which strata and geologic time it came from.

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I had to google that. Wow, this is pretty cool then!

Any idea how old it might be?

I picked it up not far from the summit of a mountain in northern Wales some 3560ft high.

So, that means mount Snowdon presumably. The fossil-bearing rocks (which are limestones with some shale) that are now near the summit were laid down in the Ordovician period 485.4–443.4 million years ago. The sediments accumulated at the bottom of a shallow sea called the Iapetus Ocean. Around 458 to 457 million years ago a volcanic caldera formed on top of those sediments, producing a rock known as rhyolitic tuff (formed from volcanic ash) in multiple layers up to 1,500 feet thick. The collision of two continental plates then forced the underlying limestone upwards displacing some of the volcanic tuff and the landscape was ultimately shaped into the peaks you see in Snowdonia today by long periods of glaciation.

Roger

I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who [Rudyard Kipling]

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Or, to paraphrase an American axiom: Considerably older than the hills!

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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So, that means mount Snowdon presumably. The fossil-bearing rocks (which are limestones with some shale) that are now near the summit were laid down in the Ordovician period 485.4–443.4 million years ago. The sediments accumulated at the bottom of a shallow sea called the Iapetus Ocean. Around 458 to 457 million years ago a volcanic caldera formed on top of those sediments, producing a rock known as rhyolitic tuff (formed from volcanic ash) in multiple layers up to 1,500 feet thick. The collision of two continental plates then forced the underlying limestone upwards displacing some of the volcanic tuff and the landscape was ultimately shaped into the peaks you see in Snowdonia today by long periods of glaciation.

Yes mount Snowdon. Thankyou for the explanation. Thats quite amazing to think about.

Thanks guys.

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