Aust cliff fossils and fossil collecting

The Famous Red and White cliffs that can be seen when crossing the river Severn contain a highly productive bone bearing bed at the very top from the Rhaetian Penarth series. This bed is full of teeth, reptile and fish remains.

Locations similar to Aust

If you are interested in other similar locations to that of Aust, you can also try other neaby locations along the River Servern including Hock Cliff, Sedbury Cliffs, Wainlode Cliff, and Westbury on Severn.

 

Along the Somerset coast, Blue Anchor and Lilstock are the best locations for Rhaetian fossils with Lavernock and Penarth both in South Wales being very popular locations.

 

Many fossils can simply be collected from the foreshore, especially along the tide line. However, any large lumps of the bone bed will require strong tools to split them up. A good eye is often all you need, but tools are there to aid the fossil hunter, and you never know when you may need them.

        

The cliffs of Aust are at both the North and South side of the bridge. When you enter the foreshore, you are on the Southern side which is currently being washed out more than the Northern side. To access the northern side, you will need to wait until the tide is low enough to walk around the concrete bridge support. Take extreme care if accessing this area as it can be slippery with mud flats. Return before the tide turns to avoid the risk of being cut off.

Look out for shells, and loose bones, teeth, or bone fragments in the areas of shingle. Occasionally you should come across large lumps of the bone bed though they are usually quite small as collectors have already split them down. You only need a small amount of the famous bone bed, to yield some finds. Common fossils are shark and fish teeth and fish scales and coprolites. Fragments of bone are also very common and often are from Ichthyosaur and Pleisiosaur remains, but identifiable bones are less common such as large vertebrae’s and leg bones. You can also find fossilised clams, and oysters at Aust.

Fossiliferous bone bed, full of coprolites, bone fragments and teeth at Aust

Aust is a very popular location for collecting fossils and because of this high competition means that the bone bed blocks are becoming harder to find. However, in recent times the South side of the bridge is regularly washing out, with fresh cliff falls and a good amount of material to search through.
The Red Marls are unfossilferous, so there is no point in searching within this layer. The bone bed comes from the top of the cliff at the base of the Lower Lias, and is unreachable, this location is dependent on cliff falls.

Geological formations at Aust Cliff, (click to enlarge)

The uppermost beds at the top of Aust Cliff are marine deposits from the Lower Lias. Just below this level, is the Westbury Formation from the Rhaetic beds. The red coloured beds beneath this, are the older triassic layers of the Keuper and Tea Green beds, these where formed in desert like conditions and are unfossiliferous. Together these two Triassic beds make up the Mercia Mudstone Group and Penarth Group. You may also find the odd hard carboniferous limestone rock which has been washed from both the River Avon brought from the Bristol area and from rocks beneath the river Severn...[more]

Cross section of a Jaw ...[more]