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, and on the Geologists' Association fieldtrip to the site in July 2001 a well-preserved partial skeleton of a juvenile Iguanodon was discovered. 
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,and remains of the plant can still be found. 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. 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. Also in 2011 a vertebra and partial jaw of a frog was found, the first to be recorded from the Upper Weald Clay. Pictures of some notable finds are shown below.
Please note that the pit is running on reduced capacity, so there have been no fresh scrapes since early 2008, hence no fresh exposures since that date. |
