Origins | Fossils | Dinosaurs | Cave Art
The abundance of fossils in Derbsyhire has always been an attraction, one way or another. Historically, at Ashford and Bakewell, impure local black marble inlaid with many different minerals and fossils was used to make beautiful fireplaces and tables - an important industry.
Star Site!
A QUESTION OF ORIGINS Watch a fascinating film!
Try to keep some of the surrounding rock (the matrix) around the fossil. Wet fossils must be kept wet (in a plastic bag). You only need geological hammer (with a specially hardened steel head), safety goggles, chisel and wrapping materials (foam or newspaper) if you are in an area where collecting is allowed. In some places, such as the SSSIs in Castleton, it is illegal to remove fossils - and hammering the rocks in national parks is usually frowned upon. Collect photographs of the fossils instead - the macro-function (usually a tulip flower symbol) can be useful for smaller specimens. Larger fossils may be too heavy to move. Some fossils could breaking up if you try to excavate them - in this case tell the local museum about your find instead of trying to take it home. Please respect the environment as you look for fossils!
Paths in the locations suggested may, in places, be rocky, steep or slippery with mud, and mobile phone reception can be patchy.
Geological Background: Derbyshire Peak District
Some of the oldest fossils in the world are found in the white Carboniferous limestone areas of Derbyshire and the Peak District. This fossil treasure house is a legacy of the tropical sea and many lagoons which covered this landscape. The tropical corals formed reefs in a fringe or barrier around the lagoon. Thorpe Cloud (in Dovedale) was then a coral atoll. Derbyshire's limestone was laid down about 15 degrees south of the equator — but later tectonic plate movements shifted the entire landmass north.
So it was that ancient climate patterns helped provide Derbyshire with good fossil hunting grounds (see below), particularly for Marine Fossils. When these marine fossils died they formed the pure white 'carboniferous limestone dome' of the White Peak.
The coal-mining areas of Derbyshire are good places to look for fossilised imprints of ferns.
The fossil reef at Middleton by Wirksworth is one of the best in England, with a good colony of crinoids. The reef protected the tropical lagoon behind it from the more violent waters of a tropical sea - "Widmerpool Gulf" - which stretched to Charnwood in Leicestershire.
Trilobites, corals and other marine fossils, are found in several of conical hills near Matlock, such as Thorpe Cloud in Dovedale or Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill at Crowdecote, near Longnor. These are coral reef knolls - a kind of coral reef which has turned into harder rock than limestone, preserving the fossils more effectively.
Crinoids, corals, brachiopods and goniatites are quite easy to find. Crinoids, or 'Sea-lilies', were delicate-looking creatures. A slender stalk supported the flower-like body with a crown of delicate feathery plumes to filter food from the water, and allowed the organism to wave gently in the moving water.
Broken crinoid stems are called "Derbyshire Screws" locally, because they look like wood screws embedded in the rock.
More information about crinoids, below
Brachiopods (Gigantoprocuctuc) were clam-shaped shellfish which could live in both fresh and salt water. Like crinoids, they had a stalk anchor.
Bryozoa look like a net of fronds - but really the are tiny coral-like are tiny animals who lived in colonies.
Goniatites and Nautiloids, like Ammonites, are relatives of squid and cuttlefish. When alive, all these creatures had tentacles, and a series of air chambers linked by a tube. By changing the gas pressure in these chambers they could rise or sink in the water, like little submarines. A few species of Nautilus are still living in tropical seas today - they obviously did not evolve into another species! Black Rock (between Cromford and Wirksworth) has shales containing goniatites (with flat, spiral-coiled shells), and limestone containing corals, brachiopods and crinoids.
In Derbyshire, bivalve molluscs (named for their shells, which are in two sections) are sometimes called the "Devil's Toenail". The old tale says that these fossils were made when the devil clipped his toenails.
Ammonites are some of the most well known and best appreciated fossils - possibly because of their distinctive and beautiful spiralling design.
Ammonites contradict Evolutionary Theory.
However, ammonites pose a problem for evolutionists. Each ammonite species is entirely distinct from each other — there's no evidence of one kid of ammonite ever evolving into another kind.
It is this very feature, however, which makes ammonites so useful as Index Fossils. They help geolgists to work out when different layers of rock were laid down.
Small trilobites and ammonites are less common than "Derbyshire Screws" and other Marine Fossils in Derbyshire.
Good luck with your fossil hunting!
Some of these palaentology website links may be detailed and technical
(may suit older children, adults and people with a specialist interest in the subject)
The Fossil Record
What is the fossil record and why is it important?
