West Runton - Fossils and Fossil Collecting Guide with Geological Info

Fossils and Fossil Collecting in West Runton
Your Norfolk Geological Guide and Geology Info

The location of the famous 'West Runton Elephant'. From the West Runton fresh water bed, mammal and fish remains are common along with freshwater shells. On the foreshore during scouring tides, the chalk yields echinoids and sponges.

West Runton - Norfolk
Last updated: [08/07/05] last visited 2004

Cretaceous
Pleistocene

Written by Alister and Alison Cruickshanks

(West Runton Cliffs with chalk exposed on the foreshore) - 2004

West Runton Location Information

West Runton is a very productive site. You do however need the right conditions, either scouring to expose the chalk on the foreshore and Weybourne Crag, or a high tide to wash out the Cromer Forest Bed. Much of the best beds at West Runton are exposed in the lowest part of the Cromer Forest Bed exposed during scouring tides.

(Suitable for Children)

West Runton is ideal for children, indeed local schools often take their students down to this location to study the geology of the area. They can collect fossils on the foreshore, and when they get bored can play in the sand. The toilets and cafe are provided at the car park right near the beach.

Easy nearby parking at West Runton with good access to the beach.

Foreshore, Cliff

Fossils at West Runton can be found within the cliff (Cromer Forest bed), or on the foreshore (Chalk).

ACCESS
RIGHTS

SSSI

DO NOT Hammer or Pick the Forest Bed Face

Please follow our national fossil collecting code

! IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTES !

Common sense when collecting at all locations should be taken and knowledge of tide times should always be noted. The main issue at West Runton one should be aware of is the tide if visiting the chalk past the headland, seen in the distance in the photo above. This is the main place where one can be cut off from the tide.

Other Locations similar to West Runton

For other forest bed locations where mammilian remains can be found, try Pakefield or Corton

For other locations where mammalian remains can be found from the Pleistocene and Pliocene, try Easton Bavents, Weybourne, Easton Wood or Overstrand, Stutton.

For another nearby location where fossils can be found on the foreshore, try Overstrand, or at Weybourne where chalk fossils can be found in the cliff face. Hunstanton is another good location for chalk fossils.

Stone Tumblers (Lapidary)

Microscopes

Test Sieves for Particle Analysis

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.

Fossils and Fossil Collecting in West Runton Your Norfolk Geological Guide and Geology Info

Fossils and Fossil Collecting in West Runton
Your Norfolk Geological Guide and Geology Info