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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 13d

🚨New ChaSE paper!🚨 'Slimehead Size Through Time'. Led by Masters student Chloe Griffiths, we used #chalk collections @nhm-london.bsky.social of the 🐟 genus Hoplopteryx & stable isotope analyses @ucl.ac.uk to see how fish body size varied with #Cretaceous climate change. 🌡📏 doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

Slimehead Size Through Time: Testing the Temperature–Size Relationship in Late Cretaceous Trachichthyidae

In this study, we use the extensive fossil record of the extinct Late Cretaceous Trachichthyid fish genus, Hoplopteryx, from the British Chalk Group to explore how this family responded to past clima...

doi.org

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 26d

A good day in the field logging and sampling at high resolution new site containing a record of #Cretaceous 'Ocean Anoxic Event 2' (can you spot it?) near Ringstead, #Dorset yesterday. Plenty of finds for #FossilFriday including sharks, sea urchins, sponges, belemnites and fish!

A large quarry with a face made of chalk, a dark grey band runs across the center of the face. The sky is blue.

A fossil echinoid with a scale bar and arrow pointing to the fossil.

A fossil belemnite embedded in rock with a scale bar.

A fossil gastropod (snail) with a tape measure for scale.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Sep 1

Great to be in Hannover at the 12th #Cretaceous Symposium! @jdwitts.bsky.social is presenting an overview of our #Chalk project @nhm-london.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk

A poster on the work of the Chalk Sea Ecosystems project.

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Reposted by ChaSE Project

Fossils in t'Hills @fossilsinthills.bsky.social · Aug 15

Picture in your mind a shark tooth... We bet this isnt the shape you were thinking of!

The shark Ptychodus had a 'pavement' of these strange teeth for crushing hard-shelled prey. Ptychodus fossils have been found all over the world, including from Hessle near Hull.

🏛️ Sedgwick Museum #FossilFriday

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Reposted by ChaSE Project

James Witts @jdwitts.bsky.social · Aug 6

Some of today's #chalk views at Eastbourne. 🚁 🐚

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Aug 1

#FossilFriday. In 1950, 10-year-old Stephen found a fossil #sponge on the beach at Seaford, East Sussex & donated it @nhm-london.bsky.social. 75 years later, Stephen visited us to see the specimen! Thanks to all the #ChalkHeroes who donated their finds over the years and make our research possible.

A man holding up an ornately written certificate

A flint nodule containing a fossil sponge in a white box. Two labels identify it as Plinthosella from the upper chalk, Seaford Sussex

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Jul 29

Yesterday was #MicrobalanceMonday. Working at the Bloomsbury Environmental Isotope Facility @ucl.ac.uk weighing out #chalk samples for carbon & oxygen isotope analyses. These will tell us about both temperature and carbon cycling in the chalk sea. UCL campus also has some lovely spots for a break!

A laboratory work bench with a microbalance, some glassware, and tubes filled with white powder

A view looking up through some trees to a blue sky

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Jul 21

#MolluscMonday a selection of inoceramid bivalves (and bonus sponges!) from the late Cenomanian Plenus Marls at #Eastbourne. These rocks were deposited during a period of #Cretaceous climate change known as 'Oceanic Anoxic Event 2', but these unusual clams don't seem to mind.

A large fossil clam embedded in a grey rock with a black-and-white scale bar.

A large clam fossil embedded in a grey rock with a black-and-white scale bar.

A large clam (labelled 37) and a sponge (38) fossil embedded in grey rock with a tape measure for scale.

Fossils of a large clam (56) and sponge (57) embedded in a grey rock with a yellow tape measure for scale.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Jul 18

Highlighting a new paper from our team for #FossilFriday! On the discovery and diversity of bone-eating worms in historically collected marine reptile specimens @nhm-london.bsky.social from the UK #chalk.

Marc Jones @marcehjones.bsky.social · Jul 17

Happy Birthday #EuniceNewtonFoote! 🎂
She would be 206 years old today!

We recently named the trace fossil #Osspecuseunicefooteae after her in this study led by @plesiosarahs.bsky.social on Cretaceous bone-eating worms:
- journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
- journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

🦴🪱

Images of the trace fossil Osspecus eunicefooteae. The inset shows a post mortem burrow in the bone of an fossilised ichthyosaur (from the Cretaceous of the UK) as seen in a slice from a micro X-ray CT scan. The main panel shows a 3D digital model of the burrow made in specialist software (Avizo) by tracing the burrow slice by slice. The burrow is about 2.7 mm across.

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Reposted by ChaSE Project

James Witts @jdwitts.bsky.social · Jul 14

Looking forward to a fun few days of science and catching up with coclleagues @lifeandplanet.bsky.social @geolsoc.bsky.social. Our @chalksea.bsky.social project has two posters and a talk on #Cretaceous environmental change and effects on marine ecosystems. Come and say hello!

A man stands at a podium in front of a dcreen advertising 'Life and Planet 2025'

Two scientific posters set up in a library.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Jun 15

It's the final day of the #FossilFestival at Lyme Regis! Still time to join our team in The Hub to learn about our science reconstructing #Cretaceous ecosystems, handle some chalk fossils from @nhm-london.bsky.social, and draw your own #ChalkSea creatures.

A group of smiling people stand behind a table which is covered by fossils and pictures of chalk fossils.

A large poster with a reconstruction of a water column on which people have drawn reconstructions of fossil animals on stickers.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Jun 14

We had a great first day at Lyme Regis #FossilFestival talking to a lot of visitors from local schools, somem fabulous additions to our #chalk ecosystem! If you fancy drawing your own #Cretaceous creature and learning more about our project, we're in The Hub today!

A group of people working for the Natural History Museum stand behind a table of fossils in a marquee.

A poster representing an ancient seafloor environment covered in drawings of fossils

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Apr 18

Fun few days #fieldwork touring and logging beautiful Cenomanian - Campanian chalk outcrops in North Lincolnshire and Yorkshire with Prof Andy Gale and Paul Hildreth. Including exposures of the 'Black Band', the northern expression of #Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2.

An exposure of rock (chalk) mostly white and grey. A distinctive black and grey layer runs horizontally through the center of the photo. There is a geological hammer for scale at the base.

A sea arch cut into white chalk cliffs with a field of boulders in the foreground. The chalk shows obvious bedding and dark grey flint layers.

A man in a black coat and white hard hat looks at a cliff of white chalk showing obvious layering.

A man in a high visibility jacket uses a geological hammer to expose layers of rock at the base of a low cliff.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Apr 9

Lovely day in the field at Culver Cliff (Isle of Wight) with @echinerd.bsky.social and PhD student Chia-Hsin Hsu. We looked at the beautifully bedded Cenomanian-Turonian #chalk, finding plenty of echinoderms, bivalves, serpulids and even a nice nautilid!

Three people stand talking in front of a cliff made up of distinct bands of light and dark coloured chalk.

A fossil echinoderm in white chalk. A finger for scale!

The impression of a large fossil Nautilus in grey chalk. A black and white scale bar is at the top of the photo.

A tiny star-shaped ossicle from a fossil crinoid in the chalk. With a finger for scale.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Apr 4

#FossilFriday Chalk Sea fish, big and small! From the amazing historic chalk collections of Booth Museum of Natural History in #Brighton. Part of ongoing research to understand how these fish were affected by #Cretaceous climate change. 🐟🌡

Skeleton of a fossil coelacanth fish (Macropoma mantelli) preserved on a block of chalk. A cm scale bar is present at the top.

A beautifully preserved fossil fish (Ctenothrissa radians) complete with scales, sitting on top of a block of chalk on a white background. A cm scale bar is at the bottom left.

A person measuring a fossil fish skeleton using a pair of digital calipers.

A tiny fossil fish skeleton preserved in a block of chalk. The scale bar above shows it is only 3cm in size.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Apr 4

D'oh! The perils of tagging on social media.. I thought that account was for the council. 😅 Though @officialbha.bsky.social are of course based on top of the #chalk..

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Mar 10

#MacropomaMonday - MRes student Kaia Spence is at UCL this week, preparing samples of chalk matrix for stable isotope analysis. By comparing oxygen isotope/temperature data with morphometric measurements from fossils, Kaia is examining how body size in coelacanths was affected by climate change.

A well-preserved fossil fish skeleton sitting in chalk matrix within a wooden box.

Someone using a razor blade to scrape chalk matrix off the side of a fossil skeleton onto a piece of paper.

A fossil fish skeleton set in chalk. A small area of the matrix is visibly whiter where a sample has been taken for stable isotope analysis.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Feb 19

Welcome to new PhD student Chia-Hsin Hsu from @unisouthampton.bsky.social - Chia-Hsin will be studying morphological evolution of echinoids from the #Cretaceous chalk sea. Including these beautiful Hagenowia from #Yorkshire.

A man with dark hair and glasses examines fossils in chalk blocks from a wooden drawer.

Several pieces of chalk containing unusually shaped fossil sea urchins. A label says they are from Yorkshire.

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Reposted by ChaSE Project

James Witts @jdwitts.bsky.social · Feb 6

First #fieldwork of 2025 ☑️. Good day at #Eastbourne with @chalksea.bsky.social project collaborator Dr Charlie Underwood, collecting samples and surveying the #Cenomanian Plenus Marls. Plenty to think about, & fossil sponges, bivalves, brachiopods, and echinoderms galore!

A man stands in front of a large chalk cliff. A geological hammer rests on the ground.

A large fossil clam in chalk with a scale bar.

A white chalk outcrop with brown structures (fossil sponges!), and grey fossil burrows.

A beach filled with boulders in front of a large white chalk cliffs.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Jan 31

🐌 are quite rare in the #chalk as their aragonite shells dissolve easily. An exception is the Family Pleurotomariidae or 'slit snails', sometimes with original shiny nacreous shell on display for #FossilFriday

A drawer full of fossil snail shells preserved in white and grey chalk.

More snail shells preserved in chalk in a wooden drawer.

A large fossil snail showing well preserved shell structure.

A fossil snail with original shiny nacreous shell preserved.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Jan 17

Sponges are very common in the #Cretaceous Chalk of the 🇬🇧 and their fossilised skeletons were probably important for silica cycling & formation of #flint nodules. This week we've been databasing and selecting 100 specimens for re-dating, helped by our regular volunteer Neil Ireland. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

A series of boxes containing fossil sponges - most preserved inside flint nodules.

A man (Neil Ireland) is picking boxes out of a large wooden drawer.

A close-up of a flint nodule containing the detailed impression of a fossil sponge.

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Reposted by ChaSE Project

Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · Jan 2

#FossilFriday One of my favourite bryozoans to kick-off 2025, Herpetopora, a runner-like cheilostome here growing across the shell of a Chalk inoceramid bivalve.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Dec 18

You've heard of Piltdown Man, but how about 'the Piltdown Clams'? (As christened by Dr Jon Todd!). A pair of Upper Cretaceous inoceramid bivalves from the #Chalk were 'found' alongside the discredited hominid specimen at Piltdown, East Sussex. Likely stained artificially and planted? 🤔

A pair of fossil shells, stained brown in white museum specimen boxes. A hand-written note accompanying them says "The Piltdown Clam(s)"!

A square museum label describing specimens of the fossil bivalve Inoceramus inconstans from Pleistocene gravel (derived from the Cretaceous chalk). Presented to the museum by Charles Dawson - now the leading suspect in the Piltdown Man hoax.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Dec 12

Great poster by @plesiosarahs.bsky.social @thepalass.bsky.social related to the ChaSE project. New records and a timeline of bone-eating worms living on marine reptile remains in #Cretaceous #chalk seas of the UK.

Dr Sarah Jamison-Todd @plesiosarahs.bsky.social · Dec 12

Ask me about Osedax #PalAss24

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · Dec 6

Thanks to staff at the Sedgwick Museum (Cambridge) for hosting us today! A fun #FossilFriday spent looking through their extensive UK #Chalk collections. Including this rather nice #Cretaceous reconstruction.

Wooden display cases with glass lids containing fossils preserved in chalk.

A man with blonde hair, glasses, and a stripey jumper looks intently at a wooden drawer. In the background is a large sign for the 'Cretaceous 145 - 65 million years ago'.

A painting showing a Cretaceous-age marine ecosystem made up of fish, sharks, a squid-like organism swimming above a white sea floor containing Sponges, a sea urchin, brachiopods, and a lobster-like crustacean.

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