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Introduction to Thurso

Fossils and Scottish Fossil Collecting in Thurso
North Scotland Geological Guide and Geology Info

Thurso is famous for its rich fish beds, fish remains and scales can be found everywhere along the foreshore, the rocks are full. Fish teeth and complete fish are also found. The foreshore can be slippery and the rocks are extremely hard.


Thurso - North Scotland
Last updated: [26/06/05]  last visited 2005
Devonian
Written by Alister and Alison Cruickshanks
Fossils & Fossil Collecting in Hastings
(Thurso Cliffs and Foreshore) - 2003

Location Information

This location has been classified as 'High' the Devonian Rocks here are highly fossiliferious and rich in fish remains.

(Not Suitable)

Thurso is not suitable for families, the foreshore can be very slippery and it quite rocky.

 

Thurso has good access to the beach, although the shores are rocky, you don't have to walk far and there is a car park which leads directly onto the beach.

Foreshore, Cliff

Fossils can be found either on the foreshore platforms, cliff face or within smaller boulders.

ACCESS
RIGHTS
There are 'NO' restrictions to this location

Please follow our national fossil collecting code

A UK Fossils & Discovering Fossils initiative (c) 2006

! IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTES !

Common sense when collecting at all locations should be taken and knowledge of tide times should always be noted. The coastline at Thurso is very dangerous since the tide always hits the cliff and comes in very fast. Always return before the turn of the tide. The surface can be very slippery so care must be taken when walking over the seaweeded and algae areas.

Other areas where you can find fossil fish

Within the local area, Achanarras is another very good location where complete fish can be found. At Spital Quarry, fish fragments and complete finds can also be made. Fish can also be found at Cromarty, Tarbat Ness , John o' Groats, Queensferry, North Berwick and Eathie

Some of the best fish come from County Durham. where a number of quarries yield some of the best specimens in the UK.

Fish Remains from the Devonian can also be found at Portishead in Avon.

Of course fossil fish can be found at many locations during many periods, such as fish from the Jurassic of Dorset, Cretaceous of Norfolk, Eocene of Essex, Pleistocene Crags of Suffolk, and the Triassic beds from Aust and Blue Ancher along with many others.

Stone Tumblers (Lapidary)


Stone Tumblers are used for tumbling and polishing rough rock, stones and pebbles including those found on the beach and glass.

Whilst collecting fossils, on those days where you come back empty handed, you could collect rocks, stones and glass from the beach and tumble then at home.

These are all high quality machines to give a professional finish to your samples. The tumblers can be used with a variety of grits, most commonly Silicon Carbide Grit and Cerium Oxide. We have a wide range of rough rocks for sale too.

Microfossils are much easier to collect because they are so small that the vast majority of collections only concentrate on large finds. These small finds can simply be found by taking small samples of sands, crags, clays and soft rocks and examining them under a microscope.

We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, both for the study of fossils, but also educational and professional for use in the laboratory. We have Stereo microscopes, Compound Microscopes, Polarising Microscopes and Monocular Microscopes.


We have thousands of Test Sieves for Particle Analysis.

Endecotts Sieves: For accurate dependable results you can't buy a better test sieve than Endecotts. At every stage of manufacture each test sieve is individually inspected.

High Precision Tecan manufactures precision apertures as small as 3 microns for a wide array of applications such as filtering, sieving and nozzles. Its high-performance, ASTM/ISO compliant test sieves satisfy the most demanding fine particle grading requirements.




Images, Graphics & Content - (C)opyright 1998-2005 Alister Cruickshanks.
UK Fossils Management - Alister Cruickshanks & Roy Bullard
UK Fossils Curator - Ian Cruickshanks
UK Fossils is a division of CWA Design and run in conjunction with UKGE. Whilst we try to ensure that all content is accurate and up to date we cannot guarantee this. UK Fossils takes no responsibility in the accuracy of this content, nor takes any liabilities for any trips, events or exchanges between visitors using either the discussion board or the UK Fossils planner. Any posted trips and events by UK Fossils are personal and not arranged by UK Fossils, therefore visitors should seek their own personal insurance cover. Please remember to always check the tide times.
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