Just How Common Are Fossils?

[Archaeopteris]

Or Fossils in an Urban Setting.

Fossils come from quarries.

Rocks from quarries are used in the building industry, paths, roads and gardens. I see lots of rocks everyday, strewn about the place. Might any of these everyday rocks be fossiliferous?

Edited March 9, 2015 by Archaeopteris

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Depends on what place you are talking about. Some places have none whatsoever like where there is a lot of volcanic activity that has otherwise melted all of the sedimentary rock or some places might even use fossil beds as gravel as in places of Florida.

[Archaeopteris]

Well none of the rocks will be volcanic as I'm in England. But of course they would have been in the past....

I guess what I want to know is how do you spot a potential fossil?

[Mediospirifer]

You won't find them in a building made of granite blocks, or a metamorphic rock. Try looking at limestone or sandstone blocks. Look at the common fracture patterns, then look for odd spots. If you see a round or conical anomaly (especially of a different color), for instance, it might prove to be a horn coral on closer examination. I've seen a few around here.

Good luck!

[Archaeopteris]

Thanks. I see a lot of rocks that look like very fine sandstone, often with long cracks where i imagine there are layers and possibly a fossil.

[Ludwigia]

Fossils are common in particular places where sedimentary rocks are abundant, non-existent in others which have metamorphic, vulcanic or plutonic stones. I'd suggest you do some perusing of this website. I'm sure you'll find lots of information there, including where to look for fossils in the UK.

http://www.ukfossils.co.uk/

Edited March 9, 2015 by Ludwigia

[Auspex]

Here you go: LINK

[Boesse]

Next time you're in London, look at pretty much any white buildings in town; they're made from local limestone (upper chalk, perhaps? can't quite remember) but the limestone blocks the buildings are made of are richly fossiliferous. In Westminster near the Cabinet War Rooms museum, there are some government offices where bivalves and other mollusks are pretty common in the limestone, which is itself composed entirely of tiny fossil fragments (bryozoans perhaps?).

[jpc]

I found echinoids in the garden walls at Charles Darwn's house.....

[Archaeopteris]

Next time you're in London, look at pretty much any white buildings in town; they're made from local limestone (upper chalk, perhaps? can't quite remember) but the limestone blocks the buildings are made of are richly fossiliferous. In Westminster near the Cabinet War Rooms museum, there are some government offices where bivalves and other mollusks are pretty common in the limestone, which is itself composed entirely of tiny fossil fragments (bryozoans perhaps?).

Be a long time before I visit London. Im at the other end of the country!

[Archaeopteris]

Here you go: LINK

Lol thats thousands of miles from me

[Archaeopteris]

Fossils are common in particular places where sedimentary rocks are abundant, non-existent in others which have metamorphic, vulcanic or plutonic stones. I'd suggest you do some perusing of this website. I'm sure you'll find lots of information there, including where to look for fossils in the UK.

http://www.ukfossils.co.uk/

Thanks, Im a member of that site too. Closest to me on that map is Yorkshire

[Jesuslover340]

Probably not the answer you're looking for, but to take the initial question at face value: fossils are fairly common, considering one can usually find them not too far from where they live. However, one must keep in mind that the fossils we have today are only a small representation of the actual population of any one organism we see in the fossil record during its existence. Some fossils are more rare than others, but, as aforementioned, it also depends largely upon where you live, concerning the fossils available to you as pertaining to being "common", as well as geological exposures that exist in the area and access to them.

-95% of all fossils are shallow marine organisms

-95% of the remaining 5% are algae and plants

-95% of the remaining 0.25% are invertebrates

-the remaining 0.0125% are vertebrates, most of which are fish.

*these are approximations

This probably did not help concerning your specific question, but thought I'd share anyways (I find it interesting enough)!

Edited March 11, 2015 by Jesuslover340