Giant Ammonite, Peacehaven

[tamaranth]

Giant Ammonite, Peacehaven
Originally uploaded by tamaranth

Went to Peacehaven again on Monday in search of giant ammonites. Again, came home with a single echinoid fossil. But I did find ammonites ... (and was in the right place last time: the tide was in too far.)

The thing about giant ammonites is that they are very large. See Flickr for a photo with some sense of scale. I did see a fragment of one on the beach, but even that didn't prepare me for the scale of the actual fossils.

I see that if I want a new paperweight I shall have to travel further afield ...

Comments

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I see what you mean about big.

How obvious is it that it's a fossil close-up? I ask because in the pictures, it's (to me at least) much more obviously a formerly living thing in small images rather than larger versions. I suppose that on screen the surface texture captures your attention in large images and you notice the shape less, but I can imagine that this might not be the case in 3D reality.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

They're not immediately obvious -- I suspect I saw one on my previous visit but didn't know what I was looking for. On the other hand, once I'd recognised one, it was easy to spot others.
I think part of the problem was that I had been expecting the other pattern of ammonite (more obviously chambered):

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

.... there's meant to be an image there but you know what I mean: the 'classic' ammonite!