[Article]: Folkestone Fossil Beds (by Phil Eyden)

[tonmo]

TONMO.com Fossils Moderator Phil Eyden has provided the following article on Folkestone Fossil Beds.

Folkestone Fossil Beds

Thanks Phil for this excellent piece and its accompanying photos and illustrations.

For more articles related to Cephalopod Fossils, visit our Fossils page.

 

[Jean]

great article Phil makes me wanna go find a cliff and start poking around!

J

 

[Architeuthoceras]

8)

 

[um...]

Yeah, .

I want to be a palaeontologist when I grow up again!

 

[Phil]

Thanks chaps!

Went back to the site yesterday but had no luck whatsoever this time. Now it's starting to get warm the beach is getting picked over by weekend wanderers and the clay is drying out making decent specimens harder to spot. The bits I found were really dull! TONMO member Roy, on the other hand, found something absolutely stunning......it wasn't a cephalopod but is by far the best fossil I've seen in situ at Folkestone.

I won't reveal what it was just yet, that honour belongs to Roy. Hopefully we will see an image on his website soon.

Oh, by the way, this is me having more luck last month.

 

[WhiteKiboko]

is that a leather jacket under the vest you apparently swiped from the police/parking attendents/streetsweepers?

 

[Phil]

is that a leather jacket under the vest you apparently swiped from the police/parking attendents/streetsweepers?

Er...yes leather indeed. It was cold that day you know, about ten degrees celsius. The hi-vis was reversed to obscure the logo, afterall we don't want everyone on the beach to know what government employees get up to on their day off!

 

[Roy]

Folkestone Surprise Find!!!

Hi all,

Thanks to Phil for an excellent guide to Folkestone. We found some excellent ammonites and a particularly special find...

... possibly a plesiosaur tooth! We're getting this confirmed shortly.

(See attached picture)

I've also added a page to my website at...

www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/folkestone.htm

Roy

 

[Architeuthoceras]

If I say that is a dog tooth this time, it will really be a marine reptile :P

Hoplitaceae, a European ammonite super-family that that is characterised by its highly ornamented, generally spiky form, small size and tubercles.

The family Placenticeratidae is a member of this superfamily, possibly descended from Anahoplites, they grow very large, and have small tubercles, and are very common in late cretaceous rocks of the western interior of North America.

Large Placenticerids being collected in Colorado

 

[Phil]

If I say that is a dog tooth this time, it will really be a marine reptile :P

Hmm...ah well, one lives and learns I suppose. I feel a bit embarrassed about that one now! Actually that dog or wolf tooth was partially mineralised so it could well have been of Quaternary date, which sort-of makes it interesting.

I think this time the money is definitely on for a marine reptile, a large close up of the tooth is attached. There were no serrations on the edges and it was about an inch and a half long. Certainly fragmentary elasmosaurid plesiosaur fragments have been found in the area, a partial skeleton was collected in 1877 of Mauisaurus gardneri , though I'm not sure if that is still a valid name or not. I think ichthyosaur teeth are generally stubbier and more conical but I'll have to find some more pictures to compare.

Any opinions would be welcome.

Kevin,

the section on the Hoplitaceae was purely compiled from internet sources and a chart in Clarksons' book. If I've made any errors, please just shout and I'll alter the text accordingly.

Cheers, Phil