Happy National Fossil Day!
Happy National Fossil Day! Here’s a recent fossil sent in by Rockwatcher, Ronnie for identification which is likely to be a part of a bivalve shell, Trigonia costata, named by chemist and palaeontologist James Parkinson whose name lives on in Parkinson’s disease. It is a species that appeared first in the Toarcian Stage (end of the Early Jurassic), but persisted into the Middle Jurassic – which is probably the age of...
Michele’s Calcite Crystals from Lulworth Cove
This week’s fabulous find was discovered by young geology enthusiast Michele from iconic Lulworth Cove in Dorset on the Jurassic Coastline. Sending in details about her specimen for further investigation, Michele wondered if her rock might be fossilised wood, grass or plant matter. Rockwatch Ambassador Michael explains that clues to its form lie in its fibrous appearance as well as its location. Resembling the fibrous texture of beef,...
Lana’s Nodule of Marcasite
On a recent walk in Dorset, Lana stumbled across an unusually hard and heavier than normal stone and wanted to find out more about it. Sometimes mistakenly thought to be meteorites, Rockwatch Ambassador Mick is confident that Lana has found a nodule of marcasite. Evidently typical to the Child Okeford area of Dorset thanks to its chalk deposition, Lana’s specimen of marcasite is formed of characteristic rounded bumps and if it was...
Katie’s Belemnite Bullet
Often found digging in the gravel at home, Rockwatcher Katie has discovered that her fabulous find is a Belemnite, a bullet-shaped part of an extinct squid that thrived in our ancient seas. Rockwatch Ambassador, Michael, confirms that Katie’s fossil, “is a piece of fairly large Jurassic Belemnite”. So, what’s a Belemnite? Belemnites were an extinct marine animal that looked very like a modern-day squid except that they also had an...
Solving the Mystery of Piotr’s Crystal Rock from Herne Bay
Rockwatcher Piotr was intrigued to learn more about the mixed-looking rock he found at Herne Bay East Cliff Beach in Kent, England. Describing the rock itself as ‘unusual’ and the location of the find as a bit of a ‘mystery’, Rockwatch Ambassador, Michael pieces together a number of clues to help identify the rock and its possible origins to help solve the mystery. Michael’s approach to identifying Piortr’s rock is rather like a...
Miriam’s Fascinating Flint Finds
Rockwatcher Miriam’s two flint fragment finds are the focus of the latest Fabulous Find feature. The first fragment, found in Bedford near Pavenham looks rather like fossilised fish scales, but Rockwatch Ambassador Michael has different ideas based on his knowledge of the geology of Bedfordshire. The area is north of an area called the Chalk Scarp where an abundance of flint is typically formed from chalk, accounting for its lightness...