Smokejacks 2008 |
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Two further visits are planned to Smokejacks, in Surrey, in 2008. The trips are being run as part of the Kent Geologists' Group field programme for 2008. This Weald Clay brickpit has yielded a number of important finds over the past two decades. A General view of Smokejacks quarry north west face is shown in the picture left. In 1983 Bill Walker, a local collector, found a new theropod dinosaur, Baryonyx walkeri, a find which proved to be the key to the understanding and reinterpretation of the spinosaurs. A picture of the Baryonyx tooth is shown below. On the Geologists' Association fieldtrip to the site in July 2001 a well-preserved partial skeleton of a juvenile Iguanodon was discovered. 
The Iguanodon skeleton was from the same bed as Baryonyx, and two Baryonyx teeth were also recovered from the excavation, suggesting that it may have been scavenged by Baryonyx. The skeleton was excavated by the Natural History Museum and will eventually go on display in the newly refurbished Geology Gallery at Maidstone Museum. The south east corner of the quarry, where both the juvenile Iguanodon and Baryonyx were found is shown in the picture right. The site is also known for the early flowering plant Bevhalstia pebja, which was first published in 1995. Since then more remains of the plant have been found, some showing cellular structure and others showing seed-like structures in association with the plant. The concretions of sideritic ironstone and fine grained calcareous sandstone have also yielded numerous insect remains (at least 13 orders) including some species new to science. Remains of dinosaur, fish, crocodile, molluscs and non-angiospermous plants can also be found. Recent finds have included an arthropod trackway, the first to be found in the Wealden, new species of scorpionfly and leafhopper, pterosaur bones and a small cone similar to the present day Sequoia. Also in 2005 a spectacular death-bed assemblage of teleost fish was found, which included the first articulated pycnodont fish to be found in the Wealden. Pictures of some notable finds are shown below.
Note: Parts of the pit are still flooded - please take care. |
