Fossil Excavation at the Gingin Chalk
On the weekend, we stopped at a chalk outcropping near Gingin to hunt for fossils. Our main goal was to find some shark teeth, but we weren’t successful. We did find a large assortment of crinoid bits, sea urchin spines, pieces of giant clams, and rhizoliths.
We headed across the fields to the chalk outcropping.
"Wait for me!" The thick mud in the field slowed RJ down a bit.
"Where'd they go?" RJ got to the top and had to search for the other members of our expedition.
LR was already hard at work digging out crinoid stems down in the abandonded quarry.
RJ was desperate to find some shark teeth. "The hammer goes BOOM!"
At one point, RJ found slugs everywhere.
"Can we keep them? They're cute."
Stomp! Squish! Stomp! Squish! Stomp! Squish!
With a bucket full of fossils and some very muddy boots, it was time to head home.
September 4th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Hi Great photos… We’re actually going looking for Dinosaurs.. our 5 yr old wants to find them and apparently prints have been found near Gingin. So really happy we can find something close.
I was wondering is where you went looking for fossils on private land? Would you be able to let us know where it is?
Cheers
Dave
September 6th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Hi Dave,
If you want dinos in Western Australia, you’re better off up at Giralia Station in Exmouth. Lots of mosasaur vertebrae and shark teeth up there…occasional dino bits, plus you can go to Broome and see the footprints.
The Gingin site is on top of a chalk outcropping at the roundabout just outside of town. There’s a water tank there as well. You have to go across a farmer’s field though, so ask permission.
If you go to (or call) the WA museum bookshop, there is a series of booklets called “The fossils of the Gingin chalk, The fossils of the Newmarracarra limestone, etc”. I highly recommend picking those up if you’re planning on going fossicking.
Carina
June 6th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Hi,
Your trip looks great, and my 4 & 7 year old are keen to do a dig. Can you direct us to where we can find the farmer? – or is it obvious once we’re there.
cheers,
Olly
June 7th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Hi Olly,
I’m happy to pass on the details, but I don’t think he’d thank me for posting them on a public site. So drop me an email. cmarshall at tobob dot com
Carina