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Our Moroccan trip from 19th-23rd February 2019. 

Day One; Locality One

IFRANE 

Here we are near Ifrane, a village built by the French in the 1930's in a Swiss chalet style so there are pointy roofs instead of the usual traditional flat roofs of Moroccan buildings. 

This is wifey and Anouar, a Moroccan tour guide, old friend and one time student of English, his brother, our driver Abdullah, is taking the photo. Anouar paid for the trip, accommodation and food in return for me teaching him a little about the fossils, crystals and minerals that we encountered. 

The trip was mainly an exploratory voyage for me to discover where was worth revisiting when i was alone and had more time to spare. 

Somewhere in this area are outcrops of Pleinsbachian (stage of the Liassic/ Lower Jurassic) rocks that are stuffed with terebratulid brachiopods including more than a dozen species and subspecies that were first described from this locality, many unique to the site. Unfortunately, it's well off the beaten track, but I think i know roughly where now, so will return another day. Not time today!

The area is covered in loose rocks, ploughed up in fields and roadbuilding, eroded from outliers or washed into the area in the autumn rainy season floods or spring melts. The ones behind us look Middle Jurassic to me, yellowish limestones, some with iron staining. Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks are also in the region. 

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The high ridges in the background are basalt intrusions as the Atlas mountains were formed as Africa began to collide with Europe throughout the Palaoegene and Neogene and this resulted in a lot of volcanoes. 

We moved on north of the village and stopped where we saw a group of the local fossil huts. These are all year round businesses, but in the season, from May til October you will find little stalls selling local fossils and minerals all the way along the route through the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara. But the temporary stalls are all closed at this time of year, as it's pretty chilly and there are few tourists. 

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Top Tip : Always pop into a couple of different shops and check out prices. Tell the next shopkeeper how much the previous one had stated and see if they'll undercut for a similar item. Always, always haggle! 

Top Tip : Ask which fossils and crystals are local if you don't know already; most of the shops in Morocco have local fossils and others from all over the country. Local fossils will usually be much cheaper, wait until you get nearer to the localities of other fossils and see the prices come down! 

Top Tip : If you have the time, ask the purveyors of local fossils to show you where they came from. Then go and have a look. They don't mind this at all. 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Inside one of the shops.

Top Tip : Always ask permission before taking photos of people or their shops in Morocco. This is good manners. Some may ask for a little money, some may refuse, but most are quite happy as long as you are polite and ask first.The owner of this shop was a very friendly, honest and nice man who was happy with Anouar taking photos and me asking questions but buying absolutely nothing. 

The fossil boxes at the back are normally reasonably priced but don't always have the right labels (in French) and are of specimens collected from across the country with no locations given, though some can be surmised.  

The ornaments to the right come are made locally and aimed at tourists, tortoises can be found not far from here, but camels are rarely found north of the Atlas mountains, I've only ever seen them in the Fes region twice, one for tourist's to ride on and a small group carrying goods just the once.

The polished Orthoconic nautiloids are cheap enough, but originate in the Erfoud region (see Day Two), the desert roses are from much further south and aren't too good and all the shark's teeth and verts are from the phosphate mines at Khouribga, but are still pretty cheap here. The little ammonites are also from elsewhere, but large yellow middle Jurassic ammonites, found locally can be bought at good prices.  

Watch out for the nasty dyed geodes, you find these everywhere and they are usually fairly easy to spot, most sellers will admit they're dyed if you ask. Some have glitter in. Yeuch. 

Calcite and quartz geodes, barite (orange stuff in the picture below), small bits of amethyst and malchite and azurite do occur in the area and can be bought very cheaply, but the quality is only moderate.

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A closer look at the barite, dodgy geodes and collections :

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Some local stuff ;  jewellery, polished septarian nodules and I forget what the blue bits were.

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Tortoise Friend.

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"We're making good time", said Anouar, "You can have a half hour if you like."

So I dashed off in the direction the shopkeeper had indicated, hammer in hand. 

The ground is littered in bits and i soon found a little scree slope in amongst the trees and this :

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Okay, it's not much, some internal molds of bivalves or brachiopods, but goodness, i was so pleased. The first fossil I've found for years! :)

And things would get better as I scoured the loose bits and pieces on the slope (no in situ photos as all the cameras were with the others, i don't do photos):

These, I think, are Burmirhynchia termierae, all between 2 and 2.5 cm wide, Upper Bajocian, Middle Jurassic, I think. The species is pretty variable, but the one in the middle might be something else. 

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Brachiopods ! ! !  !

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:yay-smiley-1::yay-smiley-1::yay-smiley-1:

Even if I found nothing else this trip, this made me very happy

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Tortoise Friend.

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And then in another scree some fifty metres from the first : 

Cidarid urchins! A bit small and crushed but rather lovely :

 

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But then it was time to go.

A good start and better was to come. 

Ammonites can be found at this site, but I failed to find any, next time i go, i'm going to spend a day trying to find the Pleinsbachian site and then a day around here. :)

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Very happy you were able to finally get out and enjoy the field again Adam. Feels good huh?!

Looking forward to the next installment.

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Great echinoids Adam :) In my area they are kinda rare so I would be very happy about yours !! Congrats :1-SlapHands_zpsbb015b76:

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

Regards Sebastian

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Yay for you, Adam!!!  Those are great brachiopods and echinoids!!!  I'm very jealous, but happy for you at the same time :)

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Truly enjoyed your photos in the nature section before seeing this post. They conflicted  with my uneducated thoughts of what Morocco is really like. So thanks for enlightening me thru "Wifey's photographs! Now I can follow the rest of your trip with less than a stereotypical opinion of your country!!!! Great collection of fossils.

 

Mike

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This is really great, seeing the areas where so many fossils originate.  Much appreciated!

 

Don

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Great start to the story, with some great first fossils! Looking forward to Day 2!

Thanks for sharing your adventure and tips for buying the fossils there :) 

 

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Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

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10 hours ago, caldigger said:

Very happy you were able to finally get out and enjoy the field again Adam. Feels good huh?!

Looking forward to the next installment.

Oh, so, sooooooooooo good! :D

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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13 minutes ago, Max-fossils said:

Great start to the story, with some great first fossils! Looking forward to Day 2!

Thanks for sharing your adventure and tips for buying the fossils there :) 

 

Day One; Locality Two is next.:)

Thank you for the kind comments. 

 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Thank you so much to everyone who has commented on and read this offering. 

I feel quite touched. (and not just by madness this time). :)

Much, much more to come........................

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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8 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Day One; Locality Two is next.:)

Thank you for the kind comments. 

 

Even more fossil goodness? Good  :muahaha:

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Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

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Nice report Adam! Love the pics and cant wait for more!:popcorn:

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Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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