Origins | Fossils | Dinosaurs | Cave Art
We have some good fossil hunting grounds (see below) - particularly for marine fossils - when they died they formed the 'carboniferous limestone dome' of the White Peak. In other parts of Derbyshire, where coal is found, you can find fossilised imprints of ferns.
Other Marine Fossils
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.
Small trilobites and ammonites are more scarce. Ammonites are some of the most well known and best appreciated fossils - possibly because of its distinctive and beautiful spiralling design. They give evolutionists a bit of a headache though, because each ammonite species is entirely distinct from each other - there's no evidence of one ammonite evolving into another type. However, this makes ammonites particularly useful as Index fossils, which help geolgists to classify layers of rock into different periods.
Trilobites, along with corals and other marine fossils, are found in several of conical hills near Matlock, such as Thorp Cloud in Dovedale or Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill at Crowdecote, near Longnor. These are reef knolls - a kind of coral reef which has turned into harder rock than limestone, preserving the fossils more effectively.
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, a nd limestone containing corals, brachiopods and crinoids.
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.
Bivalve molluscs which have their shells in two sections are sometimes called the "Devil's Toenail" from an old wives' tale that they were made by the devil clipping his toenails.
Good luck with your fossil hunting!
