Hello all

Had a day out with a difference yesterday. Instead of heading to my usual hunting grounds near Whitby I decided the hordes of Easter holiday makers would probably make the roads unpleasant so me and my mate John headed to Holderness instead. Holderness lies to the east of Hull and the coast comprises cliff of glacially derived Boulder clay from which erodes a wide variety of erratics scooped up by the ice sheets and now released to cover the beaches. Its very hit and miss as to what can be found and I haven't had much luck in the past but yesterday proved the perserverence pays off. Found this large nodule derived from the Cretaceous age Speeton clay formation with a hint of ammonite projecting out. We were initially defeated by the clay which did not want to give up its prize easily but were finally helped out by a kindly fisherman who arrived with truck and large shovel and after that nodule extraction proved quite easy. 3 hours work with the air chisel and a hammer has revealed this. Looks like a large heteromorph but not sure which one. Fingers crossed the rest of its inside the nodule! More pics as it gets revealed.

All the best

Andy

Fantastic find Andy 8-), I don't mean to rush you but I can't wait, hurry and get that thing prepped. :grin:
For my gratification, what makes you think it is a heteromorph?

ooooooooooooh niiiiiiiiiiiiice!

J

Hi Kevin and Jean

We're all going to be disappointed with this one I'm afraid. Had another 2 hours on it this afternoon and found the phragmacone is very crushed. All I was exposing were broken bits of shell. Presumably its all in there but its going to be a heck of a job to dig out. Exposed more of the body chamber though so hopefully it will be identifiable.

I'm thinking heteromorph because large hetermorphic ammonites are fairly common in the Speeton clay (Aegocrioceras and Distoloceras), usually preserved as body chambers in the clay but occasionally also in large nodules in which they can be preserved in 3d (but not this one!). Have a look at the "Friends of the Speeton Clay" website under the fossils section where Johns stunning Distoloceras is shown. Basically it just looks right. I'll carry on nibbling away at it to see what comes out.

Andy

Here it is after this afternoons efforts.

it's still looking rather gorgeous Andy ! keep prepping, have tomorrow off & get it done !

Keef