After a bit of confusion over access to the Naze, the trip did take place.
It appears that although the car park access had been closed, access to
the foreshore had not been restricted.
Approximately 10 members plus a few from the Essex Wildlife Trust attended the field trip. The weather was rather showery. (Dry patches in persistent rain!). The cliff face was heavily obscured by mud and grass from recent effects of erosion. However, quite a few Red Crag fossils were recovered along with some fossil whale bone.
This
is a typical piece of whale bone found lying on top of the exposed London
Clay of the foreshore. One young lady, when told she had found a lump
of fossil whale bone asked. "How do you know?" What a good question.
Someone told me that it was whale bone and I accepted the statement. Now,
I too want to know why it's fossil whale bone. There are 50Ma of geology
missing between the London Clay and the Red Crag! (Is it whale, what species
and when did it live? I don't know but, I bet we have an expert in the
club who does!)
All specimens feel heavy and are solid. The fossil mineralization seems quartz based and the weathered patina suggest the bone would take a good polish. Sadly, the colour is not attractive. It could be good material to practice stone carving. (Thus speaks the Lapidary in me)
Someone found a fossil crab, Zanthopsis leachi, in the Red Crag Nodule Bed ( I think this layer is at the base of the Red Crag at the junction with the London Clay). This was a derived fossil (derived meaning that it was deposited here after being eroded from its true place of origin. In this instance eroded from the London Clay and re-deposited at the basement of the Red Crag about 2Ma ago).
This
Zanthopsis leachi specimen is from the London Clay exposures on Sheppey.
It's quite a common find there! Some members have wonderful specimens
showing the claws as well, but generally a degree of fossil preparation
is required. Carving away the surrounding matrix is sometimes easy but
often very hard and many times unsuccessful. Occasionally the effort is
rewarded with a beautiful specimen.
This specimen shows the poorly preserved remnants of the crab's claw at the top of this view.
It is a pity that the actual specimen found was not available for photographing at the meeting. (I would have been interested to see it and so would others, perhaps next time?)
The Volcanic Ash Layers in the London Clay at Walton were mentioned. (I have seen samples of small glass beads about 0.5mm to 1mm across, said to have been collected from these Ash Layers. Next time it may be interesting to view these deposits. By the way, the Cafe was open in the afternoon!)
Examples of Red Crag Fossils previously shown on this website