Fossil Hunting on Mars and in Central London

A talk by Michael Morris FranksFor the Astronomical Society of Harringay

20th May 2010

Three types of Rocks

1) Sedimentary

2) Igneous

3) Metamorphic

Fossils are found mainly in sedimentary rocks.

Mars has Sedimentary Rocks

Strangely Mars has no Limestone rocks which is surprising given that it has CO2 and appears to

have had open water which should have caused the

formation of limestone. Maria Zuber , Itay Halevy and Daniel

Scrag of Harvard University have suggested that thought that the reason is due to sulphur from

volcanoes which prevented the formation of limestone.

The two Mars Rover, Spirt and Opportunity have a battery of cameras and have been spending pictures back to earth for over five years. Some people have claimed to see evidence of Fossils in the photographs. Sir Charles W. Shults III has produced a CD with photographs which he claims show fossils.

What is the Evidence

1) Sphercules

2) Rotini

3) Sol 34 object

Ockham's Razor

The Knoll criterion, named after Andrew Knoll author of “Life on a Young Planet. The Knoll criterion is that

anything being put forward as a fossil must not only look like something that was once alive—it must also not look like anything that can be made by non-biological means.

Preparing for a trip to MarsBy Looking for Fossils in Central London

1) Portland Stone

a) Roach Stone

b) Whitbed

c) Basebed

2)Flint

3) Sandstone

4) Slate

Roach StoneEconomist Building 25 St James Street

Aptyxiella portlandica (Sowerby), Portland screwstone

Caxton House Tuthill Street London SW1Grove Whitbed

Bivalue Shell Possibly Camptonectes lamellosus

Isognomon

Red Algae Solenpora grew in Reef Patches

These slides identified by Mark Golden of Albion Stone Plc

Portland Stone Traflagar Square

An artists' impression of the Jurassic sea bed at the timeof the formation of the Portland Stone.

From The Ecology of Fossils, by Dr Stuart McKerrow as Editor, Pub. Duckwork. 1978

Keya. Ostrea - the oyster (Liostrea)b. Calcareous algal mould (Solenoprara)c. Boring bivalve, burrowing into the agal (Lithophaga)d. Ostrea - a small curved species (Pleurotomaria)e. A fossil Top-shell: a marine snail (Pleurotmaria)f. a tall spiral marine snail (Protocerithium)

Calcareous algae are rubbery mats which trap fine lime sand and partly precopate calcite (lime) from sea water. The algae has no internal structure as such and no tissue is fossilised.

By kind permission of the author

British Library

Fossilised sea sponges in Hauteville limestone located outside the Conference Centre

Fossilied Flint 14 Tufton StreeL London SW1

A selections of small echinoids preserved as flint

Royal Festival Hall London

Sandstone Cobble from Faringdon

Slate Solitary Horn Coral fossilised in slate could be 350-410 million years old.