Fossils of the Yorkshire Coast Dr Liam Herringshaw

Fossils of the Yorkshire Coast Dr Liam Herringshaw - lgh 865@hotmail. com

The F Word What are fossils? What is palaeontology? Why are fossils important?

What are fossils? Petrified remains of old, dead organisms (Also trace fossils) Most things don’t get fossilized – Best to live in the sea – Best to have a hard shell

Future coastal fossils?

The fossilization filter

Fossils & Strata Smith, Phillips & Yorkshire

Yorkshire Coast Fossils What, Where & Why?

Geology of the Yorkshire Coast Mesozoic – middle life

The Early Jurassic: Redcar – Ravenscar Redcar Mudstone Formation Staithes Sandstone Formation Cleveland Ironstone Formation Whitby Mudstone Formation

“The Lias”

Redcar Mudstone Formation Robin Hood's Bay Redcar Earliest Jurassic unit on Yorkshire Coast – - Divided into 4 members

Redcar Rocks

Robin Hood's Bay

Common fossils Gryphaea arcuata, an Early Jurassic 'oyster'

Trace fossils Rhizocorallium, Boggle Hole

Staithes Sandstones & Ironstones

Staithes to Old Nab

Staithes Sandstone Fm Sandstones with cross-stratification Burrowed siltstones

Cleveland Ironstone Formation Transition from SSF to CIF, Penny Nab

Fossils Belemnites, bivalves, woody debris

Ironstone burrows Rhizocorallium, Old Nab

Jet-powered Whitby Early Jurassic Whitby Mudstone Formation Grey Shales Black Shales Alum Shales

Whitby–Saltwick Nab Bituminous → Alum Shales

Fossil fuel! The Jet Rock – very high organic content

Jet: a puzzle

Ammonites Hildoceras Dactylioceras Harpoceras

Bivalves Dacryomya ovum Alum shale 'nut shell' Pseudomytiloides dubius The dubious, false mussellike clam!

Marine mudstone monsters! Temnodontosaurus crassimanus

Middle Jurassic

Middle Jurassic: shallow and sandy

World Famous Fossil Plants

Soils, coals, roots Yons Nab, Cayton Bay

Dinoturbation Cloughton Wyke

Shallow marine burrows Diplocraterion, Cloughton Wyke

Traces of Yorkshire There are Jurassic burrows in the walls of the museum!

Upper Jurassic

Filey Brigg Birdsall Calcareous Grit: wedge of tough, limy sandstone

Filey Brigg stratigraphy Coarse-grained Limestones-sandstones Oolites Shelly fossils Trace fossils

Big Brigg burrows!

Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary somewhere in Filey Bay

Cretaceous: Chalk on the board

Speeton Clay fossils Ammonites, crustaceans, gastropods

Chalk Group Very fine-grained shelly limestones

Belemnites in red chalk Neohibolites

Hard northern chalk!

Flamborough Sponge Beds 10 m-thick sponge -rich interval (near Sewerby)

Chalk fossils Inoceramid bivalves D, E, from Flamborough

Chalk fossils Echinoids (sea urchins) Dane's Dyke. Sewerby

end-Cretaceous

Ice Age!

The glacial coast

Glacial erratics

Further info Fossilhub: www. fossilhub. org Intro To Fossils Sat. 20 th Feb. 2016 Yorkshire Fossil Festival Sept. 16 th-18 th 2016 Scarborough

Develop your interest https: //www. york. ac. uk/lifelonglearning/geology/