This EarthCache takes you for a walk along the top of Ilkley Moor. You need to to on the north side of the boundary wall, there is no need to cross over.
We are here to look for fossil bark in the stones that make up the wall. If you look closely there are some good examples.
Ichnofossils
The fossil bark is a a type of fossil known as an Ichnofossil, which also known as trace fossils. Trace fossils may consist of impressions by an organism, such as footprints, feeding marks, root cavities and animal trails.
The fossil bark that we are going to look at it are from the remains of a Lepidodendron tree, also known as the scale tree, an extinct primitive plant related to the club mosses which sometimes reached heights of over 30 metres. They thrived during the Carboniferous Period before going extinct. They had tall, thick trunks that rarely branched and were topped with a crown of branches bearing clusters of leaves . These leaves were long and narrow, similar to large blades of grass, and were spirally-arranged. The closely packed diamond-shaped leaf scars left on the trunk and stems as the plant grew provide some of the most interesting and common fossils in Carboniferous deposits.
At the posted co-cordinates look down at the bottom of the wall. Here we have our first example of Lepidodendron bark.You can see the pattern in the rock.
Does the fossil cover all of the rock, what does it look like and feel like? What direction does the rock point?
Onwards to Stage Two.
Again look down at the bottom of the wall, where there is another example of Lepidodendron bark.
How big is this fossil. Please describe it. Is it more or less defined than the fossil at the first stage?
Onwards to Stage Three.
Look at the top of the wall. Here you can see the fossilised remains of a Lepidodendron branch.
How long and wide if this fossil?
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