Fossil Day Oct 12, 2022

Fossil Day

Travel back 199 million years with a trip to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, a 95-mile-long stretch of coastline in southern England. This stunning fossil display is known as the Ammonite Pavement, where thousands of ammonite fossils are embedded in a limestone ledge at the west end of Monmouth Beach in Dorset. Although the ammonites look rather like snail shells, these are fossils of extinct sea creatures that are more closely related to today"s octopus or squid. Britain"s Natural History Museum notes that the fossil-filled ledge is unique in the world because of the sheer number and size of the ammonites: The fossils reach up to 27 inches in diameter. If you want to check them out, timing is everything—the ledge emerges at low tide, and there are more ammonites in large rocks nearby, too.

© AWL Images/Danita Delimont

palette

Today in History

Oct 12, 2018Venture into a prehistoric gallery of art
Oct 12, 2019It s aboat time for the Barcolana
Oct 12, 2020Indigenous Peoples Day
Oct 12, 2021High tide at the walled city
Oct 12, 2023Farmers Day
Oct 12, 2024World Migratory Bird Day
Oct 12, 2025Village of Saranac Lake, New York

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Nov 4, 2018And they’re off!
May 5, 2020A courtyard scene from Spain
Jul 31, 2021Fashion models of the avian world
Apr 23, 2018National Park Week: Haleakalā National Park, Hawaii
Apr 17, 2021A river runs through it
Dec 13, 2025Merced River, Yosemite National Park, California
Oct 24, 202075 years of the United Nations
Mar 6, 2019Dreaming of the Tyrrhenian Sea
Feb 16, 2023Horsetail Fall, Yosemite National Park, California
Aug 19, 2022National Aviation Day
Jun 8, 2021A day for our oceans
Apr 5, 2026Easter Sunday
May 30, 2024Everglades National Park marks 90 years
Mar 29, 2024South Stack Lighthouse, Holy Island, Wales
Nov 22, 2021Irohazaka road
Dec 6, 2024Finnish Independence Day
Oct 6, 2024Ancient town of Sorano, Tuscany, Italy
Jan 23, 2026Þorrablót, Icelandic midwinter festival
Jan 24, 2025Thorrablot: The Icelandic midwinter festival
May 3, 2019A night of art and culture
Sep 7, 2023Camels in the desert, United Arab Emirates
Jun 7, 2020A hermitage with a view
Mar 25, 2022Tolkien Reading Day
Feb 28, 2019Over and under the delta
Feb 14, 2018Aerial view of a heart-shaped field in Trittau, Germany
Sep 10, 2020Hidden beauty in Thailand
Oct 3, 2020In the belly of Fat Bear Week
Aug 25, 2019A desert arts pop-up, just popped up
Mar 25, 2020It s Tolkien Reading Day
Apr 28, 2025Impala in Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana