West Yorkshire Carboniferous fossil hunt

[Strepsodus]

I am lucky enough to have permission to collect fossils at an old coal mining tip in West Yorkshire, UK.  The site is now a woods, but pieces of shale can be found, containing upper Carboniferous fish fossils including sharks and Rhizodonts.  At this time of year, collecting is difficult due to the leafs which cover the shale.  The vast majority of the shale comes from a mussel band, which as the name suggests, contains abundant bivalves, but generally the fish remains are very small.  The exceptions to this are blocks of the mussel band which contain orange coloured bivalves.  These blocks seem to contain larger fish remains.  However, there is generally no one rock type which is better than the others at this site.  To ensure I don't cause any disturbance to wildlife, I don't do any hammering at the site.  Instead, I collect promising shale samples and split them at home in search of fossils.  When choosing which shale samples to collect, I look for shale samples with a relatively high grain size.  I have not split the shale samples yet, but the following posts will contain photos of the site, and two fossils I found at the site today.  If I find any good fossils in the samples, I will post pictures on here.

 

[Strepsodus]

Two fossils I found at the site today: plant fossil and a bivalve.  This site doesn’t contain many plant fossils.

[Strepsodus]

There has been a very high amount of rainfall in West Yorkshire recently.  Here is the stream at the site with water levels much higher than usual.

[Strepsodus]

Only a small part of the wood contains the good shale.  Most of the wood contains mostly just sandstone, which can contain plant fossils like the one shown above, whilst other parts contain only non-fossiliferous shale.  The photo here shows an area mainly containing sandstone.

[Strepsodus]

Two blocks of the mussel layer containing orange bivalves.

[Strepsodus]

A more usual block of the mussel layer.  I don’t usually collect these blocks, unless the preservation of the bivalves is good.  Generally the fish remains in these blocks are only small and they are quite scarce.

[Strepsodus]

This is part of the best collecting area.  As you can see, blocks of shale are difficult to find, especially at this time of year.

[Strepsodus]

Near to the coal tip, there is an exposure of lower coal measures shale.  I have collected here on one occasion.  It contains abundant bivalves, though the ones in the shale are very poorly preserved.  The nodules can contain better examples.  Fish fossils are present in the shale, though they are very small and not common.  On the second and third photos, the black layer seen at the bottom of the exposure is a coal seam.

[Strepsodus]

[Bobby Rico]

Yorkshire has the most beautiful of U.K. countryside vistas . Nice report 

[FranzBernhard]

Thanks for sharing, highly interesting site, @Strepsodus!

34 minutes ago, Strepsodus said:

mussel layer

I would love to see some cleaned/prepped/cut specimens of this! Thanks!!

Franz Bernhard

[Ludwigia]

Thanks for showing and describing your site. I'm looking forward to seeing your finds prepped.

[Strepsodus]

40 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

Thanks for sharing, highly interesting site, @Strepsodus!

I would love to see some cleaned/prepped/cut specimens of this! Thanks!!

Franz Bernhard

Here are some fossils from the Mussel band.

[Strepsodus]

Here is by far the best tooth I have found at this site.  I think it is likely to be Rhizodus sp.  Any fish fossils in West Yorkshire are rare, especially large complete teeth like this.

[FranzBernhard]

50 minutes ago, Strepsodus said:

Here are some fossils from the Mussel band.

Thank you! Sweet!! 

Is there some shell present or are these imprints/casts/molds?

 

51 minutes ago, Strepsodus said:

by far the best tooth I have found at this site.

Also sweet! How large is it?
Franz Bernhard

[deutscheben]

Thank you for sharing your trip- that mussel layer is just packed full of them! I am eager to see more of your finds too. 

[Strepsodus]

26 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

Thank you! Sweet!! 

Is there some shell present or are these imprints/casts/molds?

 

Also sweet! How large is it?
Franz Bernhard

Thanks.  Sometimes shell is present, though not always.  The tooth is around 1cm.  Most teeth in the Yorkshire coalfield are a few mm.

[Monica]

Beautiful bivalves 

 

And congrats on the fish tooth!!! 

[Tidgy's Dad]

What an interesting location. 

Nice report and great finds. 

[Strepsodus]

I have split yesterday’s shale and found some good teeth, including a few small fish teeth, a small Helodus tooth and also a piece of shale containing many Xenacanthus teeth.  All the Xenacanthus teeth are approximately the same size, suggesting they are from the same animal.  Here is a photo of one of the teeth.

[deutscheben]

Fascinating, how big are those Xenacanthus teeth?

[Fossildude19]

41 minutes ago, deutscheben said:

Fascinating, how big are those Xenacanthus teeth?

Looks pretty tiny. 

[Strepsodus]

4 hours ago, deutscheben said:

Fascinating, how big are those Xenacanthus teeth?

These ones are only a couple of mm, but I have found much larger ones.

[Archie]

Nice finds! The bivalves are really well preserved, are these a Carbonicola sp.?

[Strepsodus]

On 01/12/2019 at 5:53 PM, Archie said:

Nice finds! The bivalves are really well preserved, are these a Carbonicola sp.?

Thanks.  I think the majority of the bivalves at this site are Anthracosia, though I do occassionally find ones which I think are Carbonicola.