Question

dlofnep

I was wondering - Where trenches have to be dug through hills for roads, would the rock layers left on either side be worth looking at for exposed fossils?

Adam Khor

dlofnep wrote: »

I was wondering - Where trenches have to be dug through hills for roads, would the rock layers left on either side be worth looking at for exposed fossils?

As long as its sedimentary rock, I guess. But you have to be very careful!

dlofnep

Here is the area? I'm not a good judge of rock types unfortunately. It's still all knew to me.

Adam Khor

dlofnep wrote: »

Here is the area? I'm not a good judge of rock types unfortunately. It's still all knew to me.

Hmm at first glance that looks a lot like the volcanic rock we have around here... not fossil-bearing of course. But I could be wrong- maybe rocks there just look different to ours. No expert anyways

Is there a museum anywhere near you? They usually have info on local geology and could help u figure out where you are most likely to find fossils...

Mickeroo

dlofnep wrote: »

I was wondering - Where trenches have to be dug through hills for roads, would the rock layers left on either side be worth looking at for exposed fossils?

Most definitely. If its limestone(which there's heaps of in ireland) even better, sometimes its rare to actually not see something fossilised or resembling a fossil in limestone. Look out for things like this:






I've seen steps, patios and buildings made from limestine with fossils in them. similar to whats below:

dlofnep

If you look closely, there's some flat kind of rock behind soil in my pic. I'll take a drive out there tomorrow and have a proper look, good weather prevailing.

Mickeroo

I can't tell what kind of rock that is from the pic. What area you in? I have a geological map of Ireland somewhere.

Allosaur

GEologic map of Ireland
http://www.gsi.ie/NR/rdonlyres/0302F251-C4ED-4938-BCF0-CF228A3E8F6A/0/GSI_GeolIreland_A4.pdf

Galvasean

A friend of mine has sandstone patio tiles. About half a dozen of them have fossilised plant matter, some of it very well preserved.
I keep bugging them to source where the stone came from so I can try figure out what time period the fossils date from.

Rubecula

One of my best fossils (Brachiopod) I actually "obtained" from the wall of a farmhouse. The entire building was built of limestone that was full of fossils.

I just went over and tapped it out of the wall. It was only afterwards I found out the house was occupied.