Lapworth Museum (and a trip to Aust Cliff)

Last year, while visiting friends in Birmingham, we went along to the Lapworth Museum. Despite Birmingham not having the richest fossil record in the world, the fossils on display were diverse and very interesting. They were not limited to UK fossils, as you will become abundantly aware when you enter and are met with an Allosaurus skeleton. Because it had worldwide fossils on show it did make for a worthwhile visit.

The Allosaurus skeleton that greets you when you enter the Lapworth Museum.

There is a display devoted to more local fossils, this is the Palaeozoic of the Welsh Borders. These featured a diverse array of trilobites, crinoids and graptolites.

But best of all (at least for me!) is the display of plaster models of foraminifera. There is also a microscope next to this showing the true size of foraminifera and other microfossils.

Plaster models showing the range of shapes of benthic and planktic foraminifera.

Although a small museum it is easy to spend a while here to appreciate everything it has to offer.

I also went on a quick trip to Aust Cliff under the Severn Bridge. This is a site that, at its base, is dominated by the Mercia Mudstone Formation. Unfortunately this is largely unfossiliferous. However, the overlying Rhaetian Bone Bed and Blue Lias can be very fossiliferous. Blocks of Triassic rock fall from the top of the cliff sometimes packed with bones of reptiles. We didn't manage to find these bone blocks but did manage to see three different reptile teeth. They were cemented into large pieces of rock so couldn't be collected.

Tooth from Aust Cliff.

Tooth from Aust Cliff.

Tooth from Aust Cliff.

My Collection #2

Small Kosmoceras jason on a piece of Oxford Clay with a tiny
belemnite to the left.

These fossils were collected from Must Farm Brick Pit in Whittlesey, near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, UK in June 2016.

Kosmoceras ammonites are known from Callovian age Oxford Clays of the Late Jurassic Period in Europe. These ammonites therefore date back to around 163 Ma. As with these two fossils, they are commonly found flattened in the clay, rarely it is possible to find three dimensional casts of the shell. The maximum diameter known from fossils is about ten centimetres. There is evidence of sexual dimorphism in these ammonite, the more decorated males have a smaller shell than the females, the purpose of the ornamentation is unknown.

Calcitic Kosmoceras jason from Kings
Dyke Brick Pit.

A larger iridescent Kosmoceras jason on a piece of Oxford Clay

The preserved phragmocone of a belemnite from the
Oxford Clay.

Cylindroteuthis is a belemnite known from the Early Jurassic, ~200 Ma, to the Early Cretaceous, ~140 Ma. This specimen is rather common, being found in Asia, Europe, North America and New Zealand. The calcitic guard of the belemnite is what is commonly found, lengths range from ten centimetres to twenty-two centimetres. Rarer fossils exhibit traces of appendages and an ink sac, showing their relation to squids. The guard would be an internal feature as traces of blood vessels have been found on the surface of the guard. This fossil is not to be confused with the shell of the belemnite, this is found within the guard, as shown in the photo to the right.

The largest of the Cylindroteuthis belemnites in my collection from the Oxford Clay at Kings Dyke Brick Pit.

This is a fragment on a bone from the giant fish Leedsichthys. This member of the pachycormidae is known from Callovian sediments of the late Jurassic. Discovered by Alfred Leeds in 1889 when the Peterborough brick making industry was taking off and quarries were being opened in and around the city, Leeds collected various marine fossils from the Oxford Clay in this time. Fossils have been found in England, France, Germany and Chile. In 2002, another individual was discovered in the Must Farm pit in Whittlesey by students at Portsmouth University. An excavation led by Jeff Liston of Yunnan University, revealed thousands of delicate bones, including the pectoral fin. A lot of the skeleton would have been composed of cartilage and so it doesn't fossilise. Size estimates put the fish at around twelve metres long. It is believed that a spike in planktonic populations were the reason behind the size of the Leedsichthys. Being a filter feeder, water would have been forced through gill rakers that removed the plankton from the water.

A small fragment of Leedsichthys problematicus from the Oxford Clay at Kings Dyke Brick Pit.

The larger and more complete Gryphaea
in my collection.

Also known as the Devil's Toenail, Gryphaea is an extinct genera of bivalve mollusc. Their geological range is from the late Triassic through to the Eocene. These bivalves are some of the more common finds in Jurassic marine deposits of Europe. They possibly lived in small colonies as shown in the photograph to the right. The bivalve had a larger hooked valve and a smaller, flatter lid. The
larger valve would be embedded in the sediment whilst the lid remained exposed. It is one of the only bivalves that have one valve larger than the other.

A broken Gryphaea from the Oxford Clay.

The underside of the above Gryphaea.

Museums: Hessiches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt

This museum in Darmstadt, Germany, varies in its collections. We were only interested in their Palaeontological collection, although we did have a look at the zoological displays also. So, lets take a look at some photographs from the museum. Again, not much to say, but plenty to look at.

This is what greets you when you enter the geology and palaeontology gallery, an American Mastodon. 

Side view of the American Mastodon skeleton.

Part of the palaeontological collection also includes fossils from the Pleistocene of the area. This is the giant Irish Elk, Megaloceros.

This is the skull of the primitive proboscidean, Deinotherium. This elephant ancestor is easily identified by the short tusks that protrude from the lower jaw.

The complete skeleton of the early horse from the Messel Grube pit, Propalaeotherium. There is an example of this horse that is pregnant. The pale slab that the fossil is displayed on is the resin used in the transfer method mentioned in my Messel Grube post.

This is just one of many examples of the fossil fish that have been found in the Messel pit. My class was very fortunate to discover two of these gar pikes.

One of the rarer bird fossils found at Messel. This is an Eocene Ibis.

The more common bird is Messelornis.

Messel was also home to a diverse population of crocodiles, varying in size and orientations. This particular specimen was preserved in three dimensions, coming to rest on the bottom of the lake on its side.

This is the exceptionally well preserved skull of a larger genus of crocodile from the Messel pit.

The diverse reptile fauna also included snakes of various sizes. This was one of the largest on display.

Messel Grube Pit

The first visit while I was in Germany was to the Messel Grube UNESCO World Heritage Site, near the town of Darmstadt. The strata within the quarry itself is of Eocene age, approximately 47 Ma. This was a period in time when the earth was experiencing temperatures much higher than today. At the time of deposition, the Messel Grube area was a lake environment with a diverse fauna of fish, reptiles and mammals, the latter of which were washed into the lake to be preserved under anoxic conditions. The area is believed to be volcanically active, periodically releasing poisonous gases into the waters and nearby forests.

The pit was originally dug for the exploitation of hydrocarbons, with the discovery of brown coal and bituminous shales, when handling the rock you find that you are quickly covered from head to toe in oil. Once the pit had become disused the local government used it as a landfill site for local industries. After a lengthy campaign from the local community, the site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its diverse palaeontology. On the plus side, the rubbish that was placed in the pit is now a perfect habitat for a population of bats.

There are only two museums that are allowed to dig in this quarry, Darmstadt and Senckenberg (Frankfurt). We were fortunate enough to be allowed in under supervision to excavate some fossils.

The fossils here are incredibly delicate. The nature of the oil shale means that once exposed to air it begins to dry rapidly, in the process the rock, and subsequently the fossil, begin to curl up. This led to the development of the transfer technique, this is where the fossil is taken and placed in resin then the rock is removed in the lab to reveal the fossil.

When we arrived, we set about removing the overburden to reveal the shale. This had been put there to keep the rock moist. We then used wedges and the spades to break the rock into large slabs and moved them away from the excavation site to be split further. The rock itself was soft enough to split with a large knife.

Getting to work removing the overburden to expose the oil shale and find exceptionally preserved Eocene fossils.

Our finds included, several bowfin fish (Cyclurus), a number of gar pikes and even a bird wing. By far the most common find was coprolite (fossilised faeces). The gars and bird wing was quickly taken away to be treated in order to be preserved.

After this we went on to visit the Darmstadt Museum to see the true diversity of the Messel Pit. I will show some of these fossils in my museum series.

Museums: Hauff Museum, Holzmaden

In this series I would like to share photographs of fossils and exhibitions from museums that I have visited. There won't be a lot to say about them so this will be mainly photographs of what I thought was pretty outstanding.

This post features some photographs taken in the Hauff Museum at Holzmaden. It is devoted to the palaeontology of the Posidonia Schieffer and exhibits a range of fantastic fossils, including invertebrates, marine reptiles, fish and pterosaurs. Enjoy.

The Hauff Museum featured a stepped profile of the stratigraphy through the Posidonia Schieffer. Each bedding surface featured a different fossil groups. You can see a marine crocodile (Steneosaurus) in the middle. It also featured plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs.

An example of the most common fossils found in the Posidonia Schieffer; ammonites. These ammonites vary in size from a centimetre in diameter to around 40 centimetres (that we saw). 

This particular bedding surface exhibits the most spectacular of the fossils found in the shale. The long dark fossil is a piece of driftwood. Attached to it are crinoids (sea lillies). The wood along with the crinoids would have floated in the water column until the weight of the crinoids and bivalves became too much and the wood sank and became buried in the soupy sea floor.

This is a rather complete fossil of a hybodont shark. These sharks are easily recognisable from their fin spines that precedes their dorsal fins. The cause of death for this particular shark is believed to be that of greed. The palaeontologists here believe that this shark ate too many belemnites including the guards, which caused it to increase its weight, eventually the shark became to float and subsequently died. The belemnite guards are still in the stomach of the shark.

This is the fossil of one of the largest Ichthyosaurs. This is Temnodontosaurus, fossils of this are found throughout Europe, a skull is on display at the Charmouth Fossil Shop that was found in the Blue Lias. This animal would have been the top predator of the Jurassic seas. Sir David Attenborough's recent documentary on an Ichthyosaur from Lyme Regis is evidence that Temnodontosaurus hunted smaller Ichthyosaurs.

This is by far the most impressive specimen in the museum. This is an 18m long piece of driftwood that has been colonised by crinoids and bivalves. This makes visiting the museum well worth it.

Ichthyosaur Preparation Diary #1

BEFORE: The underside is the side
 that I will be preparing from, 
far too much rock
for a small drill to get through.

The first major work that needed doing to the Ichthyosaur was that it needed cutting down to size. The blocks were very thick and very heavy. Plus, I plan on mechanically preparing the bones by going from what looks to be the bottom. This is because the bones are exposed on the top surface, great for spotting them in the field, not so good for their preservation. Some of the vertebrae in the long block are badly worn but going from the other side will reveal them at their best.

The round block was easy enough to split. The stratification was completely parallel to the bedding surface and split like a dream. On the underside, there are another three rather large vertebrae waiting to be revealed.

AFTER: The thickness of the rock has been greatly reduced,
making it easier for the drill to get to the better preserved side
of the bones.

The long block didn't want to play as nicely. The position of some of the bones had created cylindrical structures which split vertically rather than horizontally. Unfortunately, it broke into three pieces, not beyond repair but something that would have been better avoided.

Next step was gluing the off cuts, and now broken pieces back onto the main blocks so that the bones were complete when they are prepared out. Again the round block went back together with little to no fuss. One piece was guided in by a handy belemnite that had broken in two and stuck to either piece of shale. The long block was proving difficult again. The larger of the broken pieces was thicker than the main block and so the other end is being propped up to stop it snapping again. The rest was repaired with no problem, another three vertebrae added to this block with numerous ribs completed.

Block 1 after the repairs. The glued piece at
bottom of the picture is the large broken piece.
The glued slab on the right of the block has
three more vertebrae in it and numerous ribs, it
also completes a number of vertebrae along the
glued line.

Block 2 much more neatly glued and split with
the three large vertebrae revealed in the centre.
There is also potentially a fourth near the
tape measure but we will have to wait and see.

BEFORE: The small odd piece that doesn't fit
anywhere

But there is one piece that just does not fit anywhere. A shame but in this small piece of shale there are two vertebrae, at different angles. One appears to be squashed anterio-ventrally and the other is half complete. But once prepared it'll make a nice display piece.

Although the epoxy glue looks unsightly, I have smeared it onto the side that will be face down when it comes to preparation so this will not be seen.

AFTER: The small odd piece after splitting, this brings
the bone closer to the surface. The first vertebra is
clearly seen in cross section here.

The second vertebra is harder to see, it is in the centre of
the rock in side view, the lip around the centrum is rather
prominent.

Dotternhausen and the Posidonia Schieffer

While on my third year residential fieldtrip to Southern Germany we visited to early Jurassic strata known as the Posidonia schieffer (shale). The rock here is somewhat akin to the Blue Lias of Lyme Regis and Charmouth, however the rock here is much more uniform and does not feature Milankovitch Cycles. This particular outcrop was in a quarry just outside Dotternhausen.

Everyone hard at work counting ammonites, you can see the
enthusiasm in the picture.

The shale was deposited under anoxic marine conditions, the sea floor would have been a soupy mud that supported no benthic fauna. This is perfect for exceptional preservation. Ammonites, crinoids, ichthyosaurs, pterosaurs, sharks and fish all would fall into this mud and sink. Due to the lack of oxygen aerobic bacteria would not be present and therefore decay would be inhibited. This leads to the preservation and discovery of fossil logs with crinoids attached and ichthyosaurs with skin outlines and embryos in the womb, just to name some examples.

The morning was spent at the Werkforum Museum at the cement works in Dotternhausen. Here we got a brief background to the fossils found in the quarry and what the environment would have been like 185 Ma.

So while visiting the Dotternhausen Quarry it was to be expected that as a cohort of 20 students we should find something between us.

Dactylioceras in one of many sheets of split shale.

Phylloceras from yet another sheet of shale.

Our first task was to collect and tabulate the number of ammonites with epibionts living on them. Myself and three of my close colleagues set to work splitting shale "sheets" and counting every ammonite in sight. Here I had my first find, a beautifully preserved fish fin, encircled by the disarticulated 'horseshore' structure of a Lytoceras ammonite.

The well preserved fish fin with the Lytoceras horseshoe
in the top of the picture.

I would have been happy to come away from the entire field trip with just this one find. But a few layers down, I come across a very small bone, about a centimetre or so in diameter. What we know is this is an Ichthyosaur vertebra. What we believe is that it is a tail vertebra of a juvenile because of how small it is. Unfortunately this was an isolated bone. Fortunately, it doesn't need any mechanical preparation as it is already well presented on the slab of shale it came from. Already I have had more success here in an hour than I have in three years of fossil hunting across numerous sites on the south coast of England.

The small tail vertebra from the ammonite exercise.

The small Ichthyosaur vertebra, in need of a
little treatment to protect it.

An hour or two after we arrived to the quarry we had all just about finished the exercise, and not a moment too soon with the day only getting hotter and hotter! And so, true to form with this class, we enthusiastically scrabbled over freshly blasted rock from the quarry wall in search of the fossils we had seen in the museum that morning.

I chose to split larger blocks bit by bit in the hope that there would be a bone or two preserved inside. A few blocks in, I start on one particular piece and put it on its side and begin hammering. It split a little too easy and at an odd angle, revealing a line of bones in the piece that had come away. Turning it over, I found that there was a line of vertebrae, criss-crossed by slender ribs. This was a disarticulated Ichthyosaur. Just on this block there was around 15 vertebrae. Definitely not complete but certainly exciting to find! It took three of us to move this block out so that the rest of the class could see what had been found.

The first block to be found in the quarry, with
some of the offcuts to the right.

The two main blocks and offcuts that we
managed to find and bring back to the
UK for preparation.

Meanwhile, the search continued for the rest of the animal. After shifting some rock, another block with a single vertebra and some definition of ribs was found. Still not complete but unfortunately there was no more of the Ichthyosaur to find. At first, I thought that the museum, or at least the cement works, would want this find for themselves. Some quarry owners in the UK confiscate fossils and sell them as profit, I assumed this was the same here. But, I was told that I would be allowed to keep them and bring them back to the UK to prepare the bones myself.

Side view of one offcut that thankfully fits back onto the
rounded block quite nicely

The two blocks are jam packed with bones, still not complete unfortunately. I believe that the centre of the skeleton is preserved, the tail and head unfortunately missing, possibly eaten by a much larger Ichthyosaur.

There's always one piece left over, no idea how this fits onto
either block. But it'll still make a nice addition to my collection.

I spoke to Professor Dave Martill about why the bones are scattered in the block as opposed to being articulated like the specimens we have seen before. He said that this is probably due to the final resting position of the animal in the Jurassic. It may well have come to rest on its ventral side and not be completely buried in the sediment, therefore decay would have taken place. Therefore you know have vertebrae that are elevated above the sediment and becoming loose due to the decay process. They will begin to fall out and land on the sediment in seemingly more random orientations. The same is true for the ribs.

The local museum has very kindly allowed me to use their equipment to prepare this find. Work will begin on the 27th June. I plan to upload nightly on the progress of the day even if it is just a photograph of what has been revealed so far. Needless to say, I'm very excited!