Locations in the Norfolk Area – a personal view

Alison Cruickshanks (UK) In the first part of this article, I discussed locations in the Suffolk area. Since then, I have visited a few locations in the neighbouring county of Norfolk including West Runton, Weybourne, Overstrand and Hunstanton. Most of the rocks in Norfolk are Cretaceous. However, you also find deposits from the Pleistocene period that yield a wide variety of fossils. Therefore, this article will cover fossils from both of these geological times. There are also many other interesting and productive locations in Norfolk, but this is just a few of the most popular. Overstrand Overstrand can be a very unpredictable location as fossils found here come from deposits that are below beach level. There is also a sea defence and several groynes that, together, limit excessive beach scouring. However, if you’re lucky and scouring does occur, you can find some good specimens. This normally happens during the autumn and spring months after prolonged northerly winds (Fig. 1). Fig. 1. Overstand during scouring conditions. The cliffs at Overstrand are of glacial origin and contain no fossils. However, there is a small fault, just passed the granite sea defence, where a small section of chalk with overlying Wroxham Crag (formally Weybourne Crag) can be seen. This provides a good opportunity to examine exposures normally obscured by sand and gives you an idea of the formations below beach level from where the fossils are washed out. The Wroxham Crag was deposited during the Pleistocene period. The upper sequences are known as … Read More