Eathie Fossil Beach EarthCache
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Eathie Fossil beach at sea level on the southern side of the Black Isle.
A steep descent down the Eathie cliffs from the car park is not suitable for young families or buggies and is often muddy and slippery.
Probably the most collected site for Jurassic fossils in the whole of Scotland.
The Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) period existed about 150 - 154 million years ago.
Whether you actually find fossils or not depends very much on the beach conditions and if there has been any recent storm activity which will turn over the beach material.
The Eathie cliffs are Devonian and these overlay the Jurassic and Old Red Sandstone beds at the beach some hundreds of feet below. The basement rock is Moinian and is over 600 million years old but most of this is obscured by the Sandstone. Other rocks to be found here are Hornblende schist, pyritic Granites and Granitic Gneisses.
Ammonites and fish fossils are to be found in these deposits that are exposed on the foreshore.
The site is designated SSSI (Special Site of Scientific Interest) - it is illegal to use a hammer to break off or break open fixed rock deposits here. However, fossils are readily found loosely lying in various locations if only you look carefully.
Ammonites are found either in a light grey colored hard rock in beach pebbles (Nodular form) or in the very soft black Oil Shale deposits that are easily seen at low tide. (Flat form)
Most of these finds are south of the Fishing Station in Jurassic rocks.
Rarer are fish fossils found in elongated flattish nodules found north of the Fishing Station in a dipping nodular fish bed formation of Old Red Sandstone. This Fish bed is only visible at low tide.
These deposits were laid down in a broad, shallow marine, sub-tropical, shelf and form part of many coastal outcrops found in various locations around the UK.
At the cache coordinates, you will find an old salmon fishing bothy which gives shelter in bad weather and also further information about the fossils in this area. Many fossil finders will leave their fossils here from time to time so that other visitors, perhaps unlucky to find their own on the day, may actually handle real fossils found locally. Please respect these leavings and perhaps add to them?
To claim this cache you should take two photos:
1) Post a photo on the cache page log of yourself and / or GPS at the Fishing Station bothy.
2) All along the beach, you will find various rocks from the different ages exposed here.
You need to find examples of these rocks:
a) Old Red Sandstone. Dark red and sandy!
b) Pale Yellow Sandstone. Pale yellow and sandy!
c) Granitic Gneiss . A light grey coloured rock often highly folded with darker layers and shiny quartz crystals visible. (Folded means that the layers are not flat - rather they look quite zig zagged.)
d) Oil Shale - may have Ammonite remains in it and is soft and black. It splits readily.
Find a sample of each rock, line them up on the bothy window sill and take a picture. Label and post this in your log.
These tasks form part of the educational guidelines as set by Earthcache.org and must be adhered to. Cachers who do not adhere to these tasks will have their logs deleted.
Park at the top of the Eathie cliffs at N57 38.681 W004 03.824 in a small car park. (3-4 cars only) A small information board gives details about the walk to the beach, the fossils and the Hugh Miller Geo-Trail.
Further boards about the geology, flora and fauna and the salmon fishing, are on the walls in the fishing bothy.
Please note: I no longer cache actively, but have kept these caches (Earth and Virtuals) for the enjoyment of those who do. I may not reply, therefore, to your email. If you are really looking for a reply, please don't log this cache.
Additional Hints
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