Last week
members of the Team TW:eed spent a day at one of the coastal field sites hunting
for fossils. Vertebrate fossils were first found in rocks on the beach at this
locality in the 1970s. Stan Wood collected there in 1999/2000 and found
more material and possibly found the fossil horizon in situ. The rocks form part of the Ballagan Formation and the
tetrapod and lungfish material from this site are being studied as part of the
TW:eed project. Last week the aim was to re-visit the site and locate the
fossil-bearing horizon in situ (in
its original position within the rock strata).
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A loose piece of rock from the
fossil-bearing horizon
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The team found
more lose pieces of matrix containing bone and other fossils and have a good
idea where the in situ horizon is. But despite digging two trenches through the
shingle to get down to bed rock we were unable to locate it. Because of this,
we think it maybe a restricted lens of sediment, like those seen in other
localities. It just goes to show how rare the fossils are and how a combined
effort is often necessary to achieve our aims.
This week
Jenny Clack and other members of the team are out in the Scottish Borders
continuing work at a few other important sites. Fingers crossed for a fantastic
fossil-finding week!
Until next
time
Carys
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