Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Fossil Limestone at Punta Santa Domingo

this is the cliff that looked interesting
Yesterday we were walking along the beach and we saw a big red cliff. There were lots of shells stuck together with sand in the top layer. We found a piece and thought it was interesting so we brought it back to the boat. (We also brought back my new pet hermit crab, but you’ll hear for about that later.)

Today we put the rock on the table and banged it open with a hammer. Inside were shells, crystals and well, rock. My favourite shell was a spiral half shell, half crystal fossil.
the shell limestone looks like this

The fossils we found were covered in sand and/or rock and were mostly gastropods and pelecypods. Fossils are formed when an animal or plant dies and the bones and teeth are buried under sand or mud. The fossilising process takes thousands of years. It’s quite common to find an unfinished fossil.
this is how it looked up close

examining a fossil


I thought finding the fossils was very interesting and I’m going to keep looking for more fossils.

1 comment:

lynne Williams said...

Your journeys look so interesting. Fossils are fascinating.

Cassey still has a fossil from a trip she took with your mum and dad in the Queen Charlottes.

Hugs! :)