Fossil Finder Database 2022
Shell ID This is part of the underside of a turtle shell, known as the plastron. The top side is the carapace. Turtle shells are made up of a series of plates that link together to form the overall structure which is supported by an internal skeleton of vertebrae and ribs. This is the right,…
Why are fossils from Charmouth in Wareham Museum? The answer is that we wanted to make the connection between the oil under Poole Harbour (the Wytch Farm oilfield), and the rocks from which the oil originated. The oil comes from organic material trapped in rock. These rocks formed on a stagnant sea floor where the…
Footprint facts Swanage, and the Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Beds, are famous for dinosaur footprints. This specimen is a cast, meaning the footprint itself was filled with sediment. The surrounding rock into which the dinosaur pressed its foot, has come away leaving a positive cast of what was originally a depression in the mud. The massive…
Purbeck Blue Marble The most famous of the Purbeck limestones is the Purbeck Marble which has been used for over a thousand years in the building of churches and cathedrals around England. In fact, the Romans first discovered it! Purbeck Marble is not a true marble but a limestone that is strongly cemented and can…
A liquid fossil Oil is formed from organic material, mostly plankton, that rained down into a muddy, stagnant sea floor where, rather than rotting, it became trapped in the sediments. Millions of years later, if the rocks are buried deep enough (typically over 2,000 metres), heat and pressure can ‘cook’ that organic material into oil…
This is a beautiful ammonite, with fine distinct ribbing. Three-dimensional specimens of Schlotheimia with uncrushed centres are not often found in the Blue Lias. Schlotheimia angulata defines the Angulata Zone within the Lower Jurassic, helping to pinpoint the age of the rocks in which it is found.
Why are fossils from Charmouth in Wareham Museum? The answer is that we wanted to make the connection between the oil under Poole Harbour (the Wytch Farm oilfield), and the rocks from which the oil originated. The oil comes from organic material trapped in rock. These rocks formed on a stagnant sea floor where the…
Here are three views of a plesiosaur vertebra, almost certainly from the Kimmeridge Clay. The neural arch on top of the vertebra (central image) is largely broken off, while the canal in which the spinal chord once ran can clearly be seen in the left-hand image. The holes and pits in the right-hand image (the…
Wafer thin Most ammonites in shale (compressed clay) are completely crushed flat and are preserved as an impression, sometimes with the white outline of the shell itself. That is why it’s not worth hammering into soft clay cliffs such as at Kimmeridge Bay; not only is it dangerous because of the risk of rock falls,…