FOSSIL SPONGE PRESERVED IN FLINT - Hertfordshire
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PRESERVED IN FLINT
80 million years old
Clay-with-flints Formation.
PRESERVED IN FLINT
80 million years old
Clay-with-flints Formation.
Harpenden, Hertfordshire
During the late Cretaceous period Britain was submerged beneath a tropical sea. On this sea floor was laid down white, limy mud, which became the familiar soft limestone we know as Chalk. Sponges that lived on this sea floor are often preserved as fossils in the Chalk, usually as the hard form of silica known as flint.
This flint nodule was found in flint gravels eroded from the Chalk during the Ice Age. It has been broken open to reveal the radiating 'roots' of the sponge.
During the late Cretaceous period Britain was submerged beneath a tropical sea. On this sea floor was laid down white, limy mud, which became the familiar soft limestone we know as Chalk. Sponges that lived on this sea floor are often preserved as fossils in the Chalk, usually as the hard form of silica known as flint.
This flint nodule was found in flint gravels eroded from the Chalk during the Ice Age. It has been broken open to reveal the radiating 'roots' of the sponge.
A very good example from an old collection. Collected in 1972.
Click on a picture for a larger image
Size: 8 x 7.5 x 7.5 centimetres
Weight: 351 grams
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