Easter in the Eocene in England

[Striatolamia]

16 hours ago, HoppeHunting said:

Welcome!

 

Sounds like an awesome trip! You got some amazing stuff in a relatively short amount of time. I had no idea England had productive shark tooth sites like this. Since the fossil exposure is offshore, does anyone ever scuba dive for teeth like they do at Venice Beach, FL? Also, what’s the largest tooth you’ve ever found at this locale? 

 

Hoppe hunting!

Thanks for your kind words.

 

England has quite a few good sharks teeth sites but Beltinge is arguably the best of them for ease of use and quantity of teeth available.

 

I'm not aware that anyone has ever tried scuba diving at Beltinge. It's strongly tidal and the water is pretty cold (less than 10'C for most of the time) and rather murky most of the year. I might try snorkeling in the shallow water just beyond the low tide mark when it is warmer and calmer in the summer.

 

The largest teeth at Beltinge are Otodus obliquus which can reach up to 6cm (slant height) but are usually found battered and broken.

 

Otodus obliquus I found at Easter. This is about as big as they get at Beltinge. It's also very rare to find them unbroken.

 

 

However, a mile eastwards along the coast the seawall is protected by a bank of pebbles that are regularly replenished using material brought in by barge from across the estuary in Essex. This material is dredged from the seabed and comes from the Red Crag which is the only source in the UK for megalodon teeth. They're very rare but can be found on the beaches if you're extremely lucky.

 

This one was found yesterday at Reculver by a fisherman.

 

I know where I'll be looking when I next visit East Kent....!

[Max-fossils]

Very cool total finds!

The bivalves look nice from the picture, but it would be nice having a better picture of them!

[Striatolamia]

22 hours ago, Max-fossils said:

Very cool total finds!

The bivalves look nice from the picture, but it would be nice having a better picture of them!

Hi Max,

 

Thanks for your kind words.

 

Here's a close-up picture of some of the bivalves:

 

The top three are Cuspidaria inflata, the lower two I have yet to identify.

[Max-fossils]

57 minutes ago, Striatolamia said:

Hi Max,

 

Thanks for your kind words.

 

Here's a close-up picture of some of the bivalves:

 

The top three are Cuspidaria inflata, the lower two I have yet to identify.

1

Nice, but the picture is still blurry... 

[Striatolamia]

5 hours ago, Max-fossils said:

Nice, but the picture is still blurry... 

Sorry, my phone camera won't do macro. I'll try again tomorrow with my proper camera!

[Striatolamia]

@Max-fossils

As promised, here are some (hopefully) better shots of the bivalves:

 

Five Cuspidaria inflata (I hope I have identified these correctly).

 

Three unidentified bivalve shells.

 

[Max-fossils]

Much better pictures @Striatolamia !

 

I think you're correct with the genus, Cuspidaria, about the ones above. But I think C. triradiata is perhaps a better guess? It appears in the Eocene London Clay, which is not that far away and is the same age. 

Then for the bottom, from left to right it's Macoma balthica, Spisula subtruncata, and Mactra sp?

Not sure about the last one. Maybe seeing a picture of the hinge would help (sorry, I seem to be asking a lot of pictures from you... )

But the two first ones are pretty much identical to those I commonly find here in the Eemian (Pleistocene) of the Dutch coast. 

Btw, I think it is much more likely that these 3 shells are Pleistocene or modern in age rather than Eocene. But if you say that they are Eocene for sure, then I'd have to recheck my IDs.

 

Nice shells otherwise!