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4 days of fossil hunting on the coast of Northern France


Manticocerasman

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This Christmas I spent 4 days of fossil hunting with my girlfriend on the French coast.

The planning was 2 days in Normandy at the "Vaches Noires" cliffs in villers sur mer and one day at Cap blanc Nez near Calais ( we finally extended the trip with one extra day near Boulogne sur mer )

 

Day 1:

 

The first day we got at Villers sur mer after a 4h drive from home. Once at the cliffs we had to wait a little while since the tide wasn't low enough, but the beginning of the cliffs were already accessible.

The fossil fauna was very variable, we found echinoid spines, echinoids, gastropods, bivalves ( lots of oysters like rastellum ) , ammonites ( mostly fragments ), brachiopods...

Our best find of the day was a complete Cardioceras sp.

IMG_20181222_123443.thumb.jpg.04757e215f5cf0cbd49089eab6513457.jpgIMG_20181222_123438.thumb.jpg.ffe7eed86039fb3387e9ae49a706d40d.jpgIMG_20181222_154723.thumb.jpg.5b5a536f18af744aa49217f3b011d6a1.jpgIMG_20181222_134909.thumb.jpg.5ddd7f86ef01bff85a439ceddac96381.jpg

 

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Day 2 started with a visit to the local museum.

in the afternoon we got back to the beach. Natalie found 2 ammonites, one of them was a really nice Euaspidoceras.

 

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On day 3 we went back North to Boulogne sur mer, here we looked through late Jurassic deposits.

 

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Day 4:

The last day of our field trip, we visited the late cretaceous of "Cap Blanc Nez" 

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Looks like you were able to obtain some very nice pieces.

 

I try to stay away from those beaches this time of year. Way too many people sunbathing and crowding the beach. :rofl:

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Looks nice a very nice trip to some wonderful fossil sites :D Love the ammonites, congrats to you both on finding them!!

Am I right in thinking that one of the pictures from Boulogne sur Mer (Day 3) represents an ichthyosaur vertebra?

Thanks for sharing this really nice field report, it looks like you two had a great time!! :) 

-Christian

Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

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Nice report and great way to spend the Holiday.  :) 

Congratulations on your finds, Kevin. 

Regards,

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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The Euaspidoceras is sweet. What was the status of the callovian layers on the beach ? I've heard that they were under the sand for most of the year ....

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Congratulations on some superb ammonite and gastropod finds. Hope to see more of what you collected there. I hope to make it there someday. Oh, and by the way, some beautiful photos as well.

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6 hours ago, caldigger said:

Looks like you were able to obtain some very nice pieces.

 

I try to stay away from those beaches this time of year. Way too many people sunbathing and crowding the beach. :rofl:

We did , still a lot in boxes waiting to be cleaned and prepped :)

 

 

5 hours ago, Monica said:

Beautiful ammonites! :wub::ammonite01:

Congratulations on a great hunt!

Thanks :D

 

5 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Great trip and very nice finds.

Yhanks :D

 

4 hours ago, Gizmo said:

Very nice, congrats! :)

Thanks :D

 

4 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Looks nice a very nice trip to some wonderful fossil sites :D Love the ammonites, congrats to you both on finding them!!

Am I right in thinking that one of the pictures from Boulogne sur Mer (Day 3) represents an ichthyosaur vertebra?

Thanks for sharing this really nice field report, it looks like you two had a great time!! :) 

-Christian

Thanx Christian, the vert is a shark vert, we also found a few Hybodont teeth and a spine.

 

4 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

Nice report and great way to spend the Holiday.  :) 

Congratulations on your finds, Kevin. 

Regards,

Thanks Tim :)

 

2 hours ago, taj said:

The Euaspidoceras is sweet. What was the status of the callovian layers on the beach ? I've heard that they were under the sand for most of the year ....

Thanks, indeed a lot of the callovian was under the sand, only a little part of the top was exposed, most of the fossils we found were from the Oxfordian deposits.

 

1 hour ago, Jeffrey P said:

Congratulations on some superb ammonite and gastropod finds. Hope to see more of what you collected there. I hope to make it there someday. Oh, and by the way, some beautiful photos as well.

Thanks Jeffrey :) 

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Awesome finds! Any idea what the vertebrae belonged to?

Each dot is 50,000,000 years:

Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic...........

                                                                                                                    Paleo......Meso....Ceno..

                                                                                                           Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here

Doesn't time just fly by?

 

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Very productive spots. Nice ammonites, but I also like the snails and the multi-Trigoniid block! Good to see some members in the northern climes are still able to collect in the wintertime.

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Thanks for sharing this beautiful hunting trip :drool: 

On 26.12.2018 at 1:32 PM, Manticocerasman said:

 

IMG_20181224_162019.thumb.jpg.0d7d24bdebc273259fbddd40fdb37549.jpg

And who of you found this beautiful vertebra? Congrats :ighappy:

Many greetings from Germany ! Have a great time with many fossils :)

Regards Sebastian

Belo.gif

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22 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Best time of year to be collecting at the coast. You've made some nice finds!

Thx Roger :) It is the best time of the year for those locations, but sadly it is getting dark verry soon, we had to get of the beaches at 5 PM because it was getting to dark :wacko:

 

 

19 hours ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

Awesome finds! Any idea what the vertebrae belonged to?

Thx :) , Yes, it is a shark vert.

 

18 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Very productive spots. Nice ammonites, but I also like the snails and the multi-Trigoniid block! Good to see some members in the northern climes are still able to collect in the wintertime.

Thanks :) , the Trigoniid block is still on the beach, it was to heavy to take along, but at least I got a picture of it .

 

3 hours ago, belemniten said:

Thanks for sharing this beautiful hunting trip :drool: 

And who of you found this beautiful vertebra? Congrats :ighappy:

Thanks Sebastian :) Natalie did find the shark vert, we also found acouple of hybodont tooth and a spine 

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also a little update on the preppwork and cleaning of all this nice stuff:

 

2 Mantelliceras sp. from Cap Blanc Nez:

 

IMG_20181227_200957.thumb.jpg.6f84a7d668aab236313340934cefec32.jpgIMG_20181227_201121.thumb.jpg.2cf9b91da89002d26627c4649d002a7c.jpg

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and a few more pictures from Cap blanc Nez, this is what I cleaned up until now:

 

IMG_20181227_205032.thumb.jpg.5a15e7acf18f63496c8e3b53cf588f20.jpgIMG_20181227_205214.thumb.jpg.c7ce3e3600af8f463b0dd8d7016756b5.jpgIMG_20181227_205102.thumb.jpg.bbb50cabb3b8c1890600900adf21aed9.jpg

 

 

And a Group picture :)

IMG_20181227_205338.thumb.jpg.8655c55ccf228df6a2a9b4011cd552a0.jpg

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3 hours ago, Manticocerasman said:

Thanks :) , the Trigoniid block is still on the beach, it was to heavy to take along, but at least I got a picture of it .

I guess that shows the difference in productivity between that site and my local site - If I had found that piece here, I would be going back with the equipment to haul it out!

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Beautiful scenery and great fossils. What more can you ask for. The ammonites are awesome. Those Hybodont teeth look very similar to the ones we find here in eastern North Carolina.

Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt

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