The Edge of the Sea

[Pagurus]

My first fossil encounters began here, on a little Maine beach, more than a few years ago. My grandparents lived only a hundred yards away and I lived here every summer as a child. Five generations of my family have cherished these rocks ever since. I don't live here now, at the edge of the sea, but I am still fortunate enough to visit my childhood playground often. I was here this week, wrestling with plumbing and storm windows, and enjoying the opportunity to wander on the sand, explore the tidepools and search among the tumbled cobbles for an increasingly infrequent brachiopod or two. 

 

  

 

 

 

Most of the exposed bedrock is a wonderfully swirly and deformed metamorphic tale of shifting sands, tectonic plates and molten magma. The cobbles on the beach are mostly an Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian potpourri. The dark mudstones which occasionally reveal a few worn brachiopods are probably Silurian.

 

 

While fossils were fairly common when I first began looking, I now can wander an hour with not a find. I was happy, then, when I uncovered this 7-inch plate. Not too impressive in another setting, but the best I've found here in quite awhile.

 

 

 

I was lucky to find this as well.

 

 

I'll add a few more photos, now, and maybe I'll add to this thread as time goes by. Thanks for looking.

 

 

   

 

 

 

[Darktooth]

Nice story and pics Mike! I love Maine, it has been too long since the last time I was there. 

[Bobby Rico]

Nice report and thanks my friend for sharing this beautiful landscape and finds with us.

[Jeffrey P]

Really nice scenery and pictures, Mike. Maine's seafront sure is gorgeous!! Always nice to find fossils where they are rare. 

[bcfossilcollector]

Beautiful seashore!  Thanks for sharing. 

[sixgill pete]

Beautiful Mike. Where in Maine?  It was my teenage years the last time I was on the coast of Maine, so that is many years ago. 

[Pagurus]

6 hours ago, Darktooth said:

Nice story and pics Mike! I love Maine, it has been too long since the last time I was there. 

              Thanks, Dave. Another visit to "Vacationland" may in your future.

 

5 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

Nice report and thanks my friend for sharing this beautiful landscape and finds with us.

 

              Thank you  Bobby.  Seascapes now remind me of your incredible artwork.

 

4 hours ago, Jeffrey P said:

Really nice scenery and pictures, Mike. Maine's seafront sure is gorgeous!! Always nice to find fossils where they are rare. 

 

          Thanks, Jeff.  I'm always drawn back to this gorgeous place.

 

4 hours ago, bcfossilcollector said:

Beautiful seashore!  Thanks for sharing. 

 

Thanks.  Seashores everywhere are full of wonder.

 

3 hours ago, sixgill pete said:

Beautiful Mike. Where in Maine?  It was my teenage years the last time I was on the coast of Maine, so that is many years ago. 

 

Thanks, Don.  I hope you enjoyed your time on the Maine coast. This beach is north of Portland and south of Bar Harbor.

[Pagurus]

These are two more fossils I found on the beach,

 

 

 

 

 

... along with some extant bryozoans on algae,

 

  

 

 

 

 

and extant Spirorbis worms as well: