Fossil Day Oct 12, 2022

Fossil Day

Travel back 199 million years with a trip to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, a 95-mile-long stretch of coastline in southern England. This stunning fossil display is known as the Ammonite Pavement, where thousands of ammonite fossils are embedded in a limestone ledge at the west end of Monmouth Beach in Dorset. Although the ammonites look rather like snail shells, these are fossils of extinct sea creatures that are more closely related to today"s octopus or squid. Britain"s Natural History Museum notes that the fossil-filled ledge is unique in the world because of the sheer number and size of the ammonites: The fossils reach up to 27 inches in diameter. If you want to check them out, timing is everything—the ledge emerges at low tide, and there are more ammonites in large rocks nearby, too.

© AWL Images/Danita Delimont

palette

Today in History

Oct 12, 2018Venture into a prehistoric gallery of art
Oct 12, 2019It s aboat time for the Barcolana
Oct 12, 2020Indigenous Peoples Day
Oct 12, 2021High tide at the walled city
Oct 12, 2023Farmers Day
Oct 12, 2024World Migratory Bird Day
Oct 12, 2025Village of Saranac Lake, New York

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Jan 18, 2026White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Feb 16, 2025Happy World Whale Day!
Jul 17, 2023Cloughoughter Castle, County Cavan, Ireland
Jan 24, 2025Thorrablot: The Icelandic midwinter festival
May 31, 2018Leaves of Grass
Nov 4, 2018And they’re off!
Sep 13, 2022Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Jan 18, 2023White Sands National Park turns 90
Mar 25, 2019Greece celebrates its independence
Sep 25, 2022World Rivers Day
May 30, 2026Plains zebra foal in Etosha National Park, Namibia
Jul 14, 2020Under Parisian skies
Nov 8, 2020Languid life on the Lakes
Mar 29, 2025Superbloom in Carrizo Plain National Monument, California
Apr 6, 2018It’s National Walk to Work Day
Apr 25, 2023World Penguin Day
Oct 6, 2021A valley view at 9,000 feet
Jun 23, 2023Pollinator Week
Apr 22, 202050 years of Earth Day
May 26, 2025Memorial Day
Jul 14, 2021A different view of sharks
Apr 29, 2022Arbor Day
Jul 24, 2025Happy Cousins Day!
Aug 14, 2018Combating extinction with citizen science
May 25, 2019Traveling warblers
May 13, 2021Hues of Hokkaido
Mar 14, 2018Happy Pi Day!
Sep 19, 2019Fall for birding
Mar 26, 2018The Unfinished Obelisk near Aswan, Egypt
Apr 11, 2025Tulips, Netherlands