Strepsodus Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Hi. I went fossil hunting today in an old coal mining tip in South Yorkshire, UK. Almost all of it is overgrown and there is very little rock which contains good fossils but it is possible to find some nice fossils. Years ago, the tip caught fire, which changed the colour of the rocks. Most of the rock is now red or pink. The fossils at the site are from the Pennine Middle Coal Measures formation, which is around 312 million years old. Good quality fossils in West or South Yorkshire are very rare, mainly because the rocks which contain the best fossils are rarely exposed. When they are exposed, it is usually in places which are very steep and difficult to get to. The Coal mining tips like the site I went to today are quickly becoming overgrown and most of them don't contain any good fossils. The rock layers which contain the best fossils in the British Coal Measures seem to be very thin. The marine bands, for example are usually only a few inches or a foot thick, so finding them is very difficult. In the sites where I find plant fossils, the layers which contain the good plants are all very thin, and usually there are unfossiliferous rocks above and below the layer. West and South Yorkshire are therefore not very good for fossils, but rare fossils can be found. I have found Shark teeth, fish teeth, scales and bones, a millipede, coprolites, a shrimp, goniatites, bivalves, plants, ostracods, burrows and tracks in West and South Yorkshire. Overall, the most important thing is to know the geology of the area well, and then with a lot of research it is possible to find sites which have fossiliferous layers. Today, I didn't find much, however I did find this plant fossil. It seems to be a part of a large Cyclopteris sp which is covering what I think is an Asterophyllites sp. Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TqB Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Great specimen, Daniel. I think your ID is spot on. Tarquin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Fascinating preservation on that specimen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Thanks for the detailed information on your hunting ground. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strepsodus Posted March 4, 2017 Author Share Posted March 4, 2017 2 hours ago, TqB said: Great specimen, Daniel. I think your ID is spot on. 2 hours ago, deutscheben said: Fascinating preservation on that specimen! 1 hour ago, Ludwigia said: Thanks for the detailed information on your hunting ground. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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