Author: Aron Bowers

lead article

New fossil exploration in the

Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire

There was a time when everyone thought that rocks of Precambrian age contained no fossil remains, believing that the base of the Cambrian marked the ‘dawn of life’. All that changed for ever when, in 1956/7, a schoolgirl called Tina and a

schoolboy called Roger found the very first specimen of what was later named Charnia masoni in an old quarry in Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire.

In the intervening years, a number of workers, both academics and amateurs, have continued to find more examples of life in what we now call the Ediacaran at new sites in and around Charnwood Forest.

Veterinary surgeon Aron Bowers, share some of his recent discoveries with Down to Earth readers... Discoid fossil form, with zig-zagged stem emerging and attached 'mop-

headed' frond form. Total length 15cm. (Photo: Aron Bowers)

A news item in Down to Earth 87, May 2014, suggested a completely new Precambrian location had been discovered. This is not so. I discovered it two years ago and it has been written up as a scientific paper in the Mercian Geologist, last year. Of interest is that there are two significant fossil planes nearby in the same area.

I have discovered several new species not known from type locations previously (Primocandelabrum sp., Hiemalora aff. stellaris, etc) and have discovered specimens of a species Hadrynichorde aff. catalinensis, not recorded previously from the UK or Europe. I have had the luck of describing thirty-five new specimens of juvenile fossil

forms, many of known species, Charnia, Charniodiscus sp., and many show no correlation with known UK species, and are reminiscent of the species Charniodiscus spinosus and Trepassia sp, akin to the Newfoundland biota in Canada.

Roger Mason with the original specimen that he and Tina Negus found in 1956/57. Over fifty years later, new and exciting finds are still being made in Charnwood Forest

There are few incidences where amateurs can really make a difference in the field of geology. Palaeontology is the exception. Being a keen amateur geologist with a passion for palaeontology, my fossil collecting has led me to search all over the UK.

My passion at the moment is for the Precambrian period. Few exposures of Precambrian rocks reach the surface in England, but fossiliferous horizons in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire have been known since Tina Negus (nee Batty) and Roger Mason discovered the iconic fossil Charnia masoni in 1956/7.

Prior to 2012 only six fossil locations for Precambrian fossils were known in Leicestershire. In the last two years I have been lucky Small area of fossil plane 20 x 30cm, in which twenty-seven fossil enough to discover twenty-one new fossiliferous bedding planes, discs, large and small have been discovered (small discs evident in similar locations to those known, and have also discovered three with casting of the area). (Photo: Aron Bowers) completely new locations, quite separate from those known.

10 Down to Earth 88

Discoid fossil form, likely holdfast 30 x 35mm (Photo: Aron Bowers)

Several specimens look like multi-branched algal forms and parallel multi- filamentous forms seem to be of species not recorded previously.

Recently, I have discovered a large fossil plane which at a preliminary, rough count has 265 discal holdfast fossils upon it, and several small Charnia/Charniodiscus forms. There is a likely total tally of circa 400 discs upon the plane, in effect this is the densest concentration of Precambrian fossils to have been discovered in Britain so far. This fossil plane is currently being written up and will appear as a scientific paper shortly. It is important to note, these fossil forms are incredibly rare finds, and are in effect national treasures. They should never be hammered or collected, as the fractured nature of the rock often means that extraction attempts destroys the fossil itself. There have been attempted fossil extractions of disc forms from classic locations in the past twenty years. It is for this reason that I have been careful not to give localities for the fossils shown in this article.

The Charnia Research Group, has been set up to further research and also to protect the finds that have already been made. It comprises of like-minded geologists, Natural England representatives, land owners, conservation managers and amateurs who gather at bi-yearly meetings to discuss the protection of the fossil sites.

The author would like to ask if any DtoE readers, whilst walking within the Charnwood Forest of Leicestershire, discover any potential fossil discs or unusual, presumed fossil forms - to record the locations, and take photographs and to contact me to investigate the locations further.

If I can discover twnety-one new fossil-planes in two years, there is still a lot of scope for future fossil discoveries!

Many Down to Earth readers are incredibly observant and it may be that these pictures inspire you to look for more in and around Charnwood Forest.

If you can help Aron with this information, please contact him by email at: [email protected]