I.d. Needed For Shells Corals Echinoid ? Shark Teeth

[DE&i]

Not long been home from my latest  field trip - the weather was perfect. I had a great day.  I’ve posted a lot of photos to my Out In The Field link, but  not sure of their quality. So just for now I’m posting a few of them here as they were found.

To tell you the truth I’ve never dealt with this material before so don’t really don’t know how to prep them if at all.

 

Any help with I.Ds would be appreciated it’s a bit of a mixed bag of finds I know these are sharks teeth but to what species I’ve no idea.

Let me tell you this is a HUGE quarry with miles of opportunities for collecting fossils in many different beds, everything from the oolite series to Oxford Clay. Gypsum is also quite common here.  This site also contains one of the most fascinating faults of its kind in the UK and is likely to soon have SSSI status.

 

This site is too big to completely cover in one trip; it is several miles wide and is still growing. The best area to search in is the Blisworth Limestone, part of the Oolite series. Both the Great and Inferior Oolite is present at here. Ammonites can be found, but shells, corals, echinoids and micro fossils such as sharks teeth and bones are more common. Dinosaur footprints are also quite common along with fragments of bone.

 

Geology: the Great and Inferior Oolite makes up the bulk of the beds at the quarry. The exact name of the limestone is the Blisworth Limestone. At the top of the beds is the Blisworth Clay.

 

Darren

p.s. two separate posts 9 more photos to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DE&i]

The remaining 9 photos

[Auspex]

Looks like a real middle Jurassic treasure trove!

All of which is well beyond my ability to identify...

[DE&i]

Thanks for looking Auspex im really struggling with some of these pieces but getting there slowly but surely i think this kind of material on TFF is not everybodys cup of tea.

Darren.

[DE&i]

Update on photos 13,15,16,17 ( Eomesodon fish teeth ) Apparently rare finds does anyone have any links for this Jurassic fish.

Darren

[painshill]

These may be of interest (2 files attached separately to circumvent size limit):

Fish Dental Microtexture & Diet (Fossil & Extant).pdf

Edited May 20, 2013 by painshill

[painshill]

...second one:

Pycnodont Fish - New Insight.pdf

[DE&i]

...second one:

Pycnodont Fish - New Insight.pdf

Those PDF files where spot on photos 13,15,16,17 are certainly ( Eomesodon fish teeth ) but why i cant find any reference to anybody else finding teeth such as these from the area where i found them seems to be unusual...i think its perhaps im not asking the wright questions to the wright people.

Darren.

[DE&i]

I'm trying to pin a I.D. On the coral in photo 8 I've got it either Isastrea or Montivaultia or perhaps neither.

Darren.

[DE&i]

Hi everyone these are the notes I scribbled down as we walked around the quarry and finally put them into some sort of order.

On Saturday the 18th of May 2013 the Stamford and District Geological Society and The Open University Geological Society went on an organised field trip to a site in Lincolnshire, UK.

 

The guys who led the trip are Bill Learoyd (Stamford and Dist.Geol Soc) Ken Nye (Stamford and District. Geol Soc) and Donald Cameron (Open University Geol Soc)  - their guidance and expertise was very much appreciated.

 

Now… this site is working quarry so hard hats, and reflective jackets and stout foot wear are essential. Access is limited. Facies are unstable due to blasting and there are muddy areas and also deep-water to contend with. We were informed that we enter at our own risk but are covered against third party claims!

After a brief talk on Health and Safety we were instructed to only go where directed by a leader or a member of quarry staff which went to plan for the first few hours after that they pretty much gave us free reign.

 

This site has probably the best section of Middle Jurassic strata in the East Midlands. Our trip through the quarry the quarry revealed rocks from the upper Lias Clay to the Kellaways sands and clays. In the northern part of the pit faulting has been exposed. Fossils where regularly found especially in Blisworth, Cornbrash and Kellaways.

 

We first looked at the Lias Clay that is only exposed in a flooded test pit and spoil from it was poorly endowed with fossils.
We then walked across a surface of Northampton Sands Ironstone, iron rich calcareous sandstone. This was once made in the local area to supply ore to Corby Steel works, but became uneconomical for extraction some is now used in cement making.

 

Sitting on the ironstone is the Grantham Formation, made up of silts and sands with rootlets.

 

The next bed is the base of the Lower Lincolnshire limestone, the bottom of which is Collyweston Slate. Not a true slate but a thin bedded limestone it is still mined locally. Blocks are kept wet and exposed to frost which causes them to split. The thin “slates “are the dressed and used for roofing.

The next stop allowed us to look at the Upper Lincolnshire Limestone. At the site, this is Oolitic and a near perfect example of this type.

 

This is the limestone used in the cement making. It is also Freestone, meaning it can be cut in anyway. This is used in many buildings including some of the colleges of Cambridge.

 

On top of the Lincolnshire Limestone is a series of silts, mostly non-marine, showing various coloured beds containing rootlets this is the other ingredient for cement making. Although unfossiliferous there is evidence of “Dinoturbation “, this is when a dinosaur track way has been heavily used by many dinosaurs (Cestiosaurus in general). Cestiosaurus ( Sauropod ) would have been common in this area during the Middle Jurassic, it would have been the largest dinosaur in these parts and would have been hunted by Megalosaurus ( Allosaurid ). A skeleton of Cestiosaurus was found near here, and its skeleton resides in Leicester Museum.

 

The higher beds higher beds are not used in cement making and are dumped on site, this is the reason we are gathered here today for most of these beds contain fossils. We looked through a bed of Blisworth Limestone, fine-grained, not Oolitic, overlain by Blisworth Clay.

 

Next up was some Cornbash, a dark coloured massive limestone this was supposed to be the most likely place to find the ammonite Macrocephalites. But it wasn’t to be no one found any from either party.

 

We finally looked at the Kellaways itself at the end of the day it is the highest Middle Jurassic formation here, with a bed of Lopha Visible.

The Kellaways is overlain itself by chalky boulder clay with occasional derived fossils.

 

Regards,

Darren.

[Auspex]

Excellent summary! I especially appreciate that you have presented the quarry's purposes for the various types of stone.