Poxwell Quarries fossils and fossil collecting
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 From the A352, Take the A353 to Poxwell, you will pass through the hamlet, and on a bend, you will see an old quarry on the left hand side with a grass area to park. Poxwell is shown on 1:25,000 scale maps but is shown as 'Poxwell Mannor' under 1:50,000 scale. The disused quarry has a mobile phone mask and warning sign.
Park on the grass area, you can briefly examine the Purbeck Beds here, although they are not as productive as those by the second quarry.
From this quarry, walk along the road South (or a left from the grass area facing the road). Cross the road and continue walking South along the road.....[continued]
GRID REF: 50.65070°N, 2.37004°W
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Not for Children
Locations for microfossils are generally not recommend for children 'searching for fossils', as the finds will be made back at home or in the lab once you process them. |
Poor Access
Poxwell Quarries can be difficult to find, however, if you have a 1:25,000 scale map then the quarries are marked on the map. |
Microfossils
Fossils at this location are found when processing samples of Purbeck. |
SSSI
SSSI Please do not overcollect, only take a few samples from the scree. |
Common sense when collecting at all locations should be taken. There are no real dangers at this location apart from care should be made at the first quarry, as the cliff face overhangs a lot. However the fossils are found at the second quarry, and this is so overgrown that cliff falls are not possible. |
Accommodation
Higher Spence
Farm Cottage, beautiful location 3 miles Charmouth. Double and Family rooms En Suite.
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Contact: Christine Nutkins
Tel: UK (01297) 560556
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Last updated:
last visited:
Written by: |
08/03/08
2008
Alister and Alison Cruickshanks
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| Fossils from Poxwell Quarries are 'Microfossils' so you will need to take samples back home and process, then view in a microscope. A sieve is also recommend for processing samples. You will require a chisel pick for splitting the layer....[more] |
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Microfossils are found within the white chalky micrites layer and some within the harder layer directly above the micrites layer. You will know when you have the correct layer, as it feels like soft chalk and will rub off easily on your hands. It is in the middle beds of the small outcrop around 140cm above the ground when standing next to it.
The best way to process your samples is to break them down with acid. This will separate the fossils. If this is not possible, then the material is actually quite soft and small pieces can easily be crumbled in your hands. This method may cause some fossils to become damaged, however, strong acid can be hard to source these days due to strict regulations on selling it....[more]
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Jurassic, 145mya |
The Purbeck Beds at Poxwell are from the Lulworth Formation. The fossils are found from the 'White chalky micrites layer' at the second quarry. This is of Portlandian age, from the Jurassic period, around 145 million years old. . ....[more]
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Microfossils from Poxwell Quarries are abundant. In particular, this location is well known for its insect and fish remains. Including small beatles fragments. Ostracods and small shells are also very common here. You can just make out the tiny black/brown remains in the material, but you do need to have a microscope to view these in full. ....[more]
Fish Remains from Poxwell Quarry ....[more]
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Other Locations similar to Poxwell Quarries
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Stone Tumblers are used for tumbling and polishing rough rock, stones and pebbles including those found on the beach and glass.
Whilst collecting fossils, on those days where you come back empty handed, you could collect rocks, stones and glass from the beach and tumble then at home.
These are all high quality machines to give a professional finish to your samples. The tumblers can be used with a variety of grits, most commonly Silicon Carbide Grit and Cerium Oxide. We have a wide range of rough rocks for sale too.
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Microfossils are much easier to collect because they are so small that the vast majority of collections only concentrate on large finds. These small finds can simply be found by taking small samples of sands, crags, clays and soft rocks and examining them under a microscope.
We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, both for the study of fossils, but also educational and professional for use in the laboratory. We have Stereo microscopes, Compound Microscopes, Polarising Microscopes and Monocular Microscopes.
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We have thousands of Test Sieves for Particle Analysis.
Endecotts Sieves: For accurate dependable results you can't buy a better test sieve than Endecotts. At every stage of manufacture each test sieve is individually inspected.
High Precision Tecan manufactures precision apertures as small as 3 microns for a wide array of applications such as filtering, sieving and nozzles. Its high-performance, ASTM/ISO compliant test sieves satisfy the most demanding fine particle grading requirements. |
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