Brighstone Bay is famous for the partial sauropod skeleton found by Portsmouth University, and reptile and dinosaur remains are often found along this coastline. Barnes High was also featured on the live television programme, ‘The Big Dig’.
DIRECTIONS
♦ Parking is limited. You will also need to park on the grass verge next to the road. Be aware that this is a very busy road.
♦ From here, there is a footpath down to the beach. You can then walk right, once you reach the shore. The walk may be unsuitable for some people.
♦ Ref: 50.61642°N, 1.37180°W
PROFILE INFO
FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦ – Although lots of fossils can be found, you will often need the right conditions.
CHILDREN: ♦ – Brighstone Bay is not suitable for children.
ACCESS: ♦♦♦ – Brighstone Bay has limited parking and there is a fair walk to the beach.
TYPE: – Most of the fossils are found on the foreshore. You simply pick them up, but they can also be found in the cliff.
FOSSIL HUNTING
East of Grange Chine, there is a plant debris bed. This bed contains plant remains, but also contains dinosaur, reptile (including crocodiles) and fish remains. Dinosaur and reptile remains can be found along the whole of Brighstone Bay, mostly on the foreshore in the areas of single, or exposed during scouring/cliff falls, or in the scree slopes. Most of the fossils can be found during scouring conditions, but they can often also simply be picked up out of the clay. Dinosaur and other reptile remains can be found along this coastline. You will need to examine the foreshore, especially in the shingle, and look in the scree slopes of the cliff. Bones and teeth can also be found in the plant debris bed. This bed is hard and full of plant remains.
GEOLOGY
Brighstone Bay is about 9 km. long and extends from Hanover Point to Atherfield Point. It is mainly of Wealden strata and is a notable area for collecting dinosaur bones.
A complete section of the Wealden Group is found in the subsurface, but only the upper part of the succession is exposed from Compton Bay to Brighstone Bay. The exposed sequence comprises the upper part of the Wessex Formation and the overlying Vectis Formation.
The Wessex Formation consists of red mudstones with some interbedded sandstones laid down in a freshwater and floodplain environment. The Wessex Formation is internationally famous for its included saurian remains, including some forms unknown from anywhere else in the world.
The Vectis Formation consists of grey mudstones, deposited in a shallow water lacustrine to lagoonal setting, with some evidence of marine influence, showing evidence of fluctuating salinities. The type section for the Vectis Formation is in Brighstone Bay. The section at Brighstone Bay, places the lower boundary at the base of “red sand with bones” (the ‘Hypsilophodon Bed’). This bone bed, comprising a red siltstone but is now considered as being several metres below the base of the Vectis Formation formation and from which bones of Hypsilophodon, a small ornithopod dinosaur, have been found.
This is a full stratigraphic breakdown of the exposed Wessex Formation along the Chilton Chine to Brighstone Bay coastline on the Isle of Wight. It represents a fluvial floodplain and river-channel system with fossil-rich plant debris beds and channel sandstones, widely used by collectors and researchers to locate specific fossil horizons.
WEALDEN GROUP
Wessex Formation (Barremian)
Lower Wessex Formation (floodplain mudstones with channel sandstones)
Bed 1 — basal variegated floodplain mudstones (c. 8–12 m)
Red, purple and mottled grey mudstones with calcrete nodules and root traces. Poorly fossiliferous except for rare plant debris and carbonised wood. Represents well-drained floodplain soils.
Sudmoor Point Sandstone Member (channel sandstone complex)
Bed 2 — Sudmoor Point Sandstone, basal lag (0.2–0.5 m)
Intraformational conglomerate with mudstone clasts, quartz pebbles and ironstone nodules. Contains rolled bone fragments, fish teeth and phosphatic debris.
Bed 3 — Sudmoor Point Sandstone, main body (3–5 m)
Yellow-brown to pale grey cross-bedded sandstone forming a fining-upward point-bar sequence. Occasional vertebrate remains and driftwood fragments.
Bed 4 — Sudmoor Point Sandstone, upper silty sands (1–2 m)
Finer-grained ripple-laminated sandstones passing up into siltstones with scattered plant debris.
Bed 5 — overbank mudstones above Sudmoor Point Sandstone (5–8 m)
Purple and grey mottled mudstones with rootlets and calcrete nodules. Floodplain soils with limited fossil content.
Lower Plant-Debris Bed Group
Bed 6 — Plant Debris Bed L1 (0.3–1.0 m)
Grey mudstone with basal conglomeratic lag. Rich in plant material, logs, pyritised wood and siderite nodules. Fossiliferous with vertebrate fragments.
Bed 7 — Plant Debris Bed L2 (0.3–0.8 m)
Grey to dark mudstone rich in freshwater bivalves and microvertebrates. Shells commonly preserved in calcite.
Bed 8 — Plant Debris Bed L3 (0.2–0.6 m)
Thin, laterally variable plant-rich mudstone with comminuted organic debris.
Bed 9 — Plant Debris Bed L4 (0.3–0.7 m)
Dark grey mudstone with organic debris and small siderite concretions; occasional vertebrate remains.
Bed 10 — variegated mudstones with calcrete horizons (6–10 m)
Red and purple floodplain mudstones with pedogenic features and sparse fossils.
Bed 11 — Plant Debris Bed L5 (0.4–1.0 m)
Grey mudstone with woody debris and siderite concretions. Yields large vertebrate remains including armoured dinosaurs.
Chilton Chine Sandstone Member (major channel system)
Bed 12 — Chilton Chine Sandstone, basal lag (0.3–0.8 m)
Conglomeratic base with mudstone clasts and reworked debris including abraded bones and teeth.
Bed 13 — Chilton Chine Sandstone, main channel sands (4–7 m)
Medium- to coarse-grained cross-bedded sandstone with lateral accretion surfaces. Contains vertebrate remains including dinosaur material.
Bed 14 — Chilton Chine Sandstone, deformed units (1–3 m)
Sandstone with slump structures, fluid-escape features and soft-sediment deformation, including possible dinosaur trampling structures.
Bed 15 — Chilton Chine Sandstone, upper silts and sands (1–2 m)
Finer-grained ripple-laminated sands grading into siltstone.
Bed 16 — muddy intraformational conglomerate above Chilton Chine Sandstone (0.5–1.5 m)
Grey-brown muddy unit with intraformational clasts and fragmented vertebrate remains.
Middle Plant-Debris Bed Group
Bed 17 — Plant Debris Bed L6 (“amber bed”) (0.5–1.2 m)
Dark grey organic-rich mudstone with abundant plant debris, logs and siderite nodules. Contains amber with insect inclusions and diverse microvertebrates.
Bed 18 — variegated floodplain mudstones (6–12 m)
Red, purple and grey mottled mudstones with calcrete nodules. Generally unfossiliferous floodplain deposits.
Brighstone Sandstone Member (upper channel system)
Bed 19 — Brighstone Sandstone, basal lag (0.3–0.8 m)
Intraformational conglomerate with mudstone clasts and pebbles. Contains rolled and polished vertebrate remains and gastroliths.
Bed 20 — Brighstone Sandstone, main body (3–6 m)
Cross-bedded sandstone forming a fining-upward channel sequence. Occasional vertebrate remains.
Bed 21 — Brighstone Sandstone, upper silty sands (1–2 m)
Fine-grained sandstone and siltstone with ripple lamination.
Upper Plant-Debris Bed Group
Bed 22 — Plant Debris Bed L8 (0.3–0.9 m)
Grey mudstone with plant debris and siderite nodules. Occasional large vertebrate remains.
Bed 23 — Plant Debris Bed L9 (“Neovenator bed”) (0.5–1.2 m)
Fossil-rich plant debris bed yielding diverse vertebrates including dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles and mammals.
Bed 24 — variegated mudstones above L9 (5–10 m)
Red and purple floodplain mudstones with calcrete nodules. Largely unfossiliferous.
Grange Chine Black Band interval
Bed 25 — Plant Debris Bed L11 (“Grange Chine Black Band”) (0.5–1.5 m)
Dark grey to black mudstone rich in comminuted plant material, pyrite nodules and siderite concretions. Produces vertebrate remains including theropods.
Uppermost Wessex Formation
Bed 26 — floodplain mudstones below Ship Ledge Sandstone (5–10 m)
Variegated red and purple mudstones with pedogenic features.
Bed 27 — Ship Ledge Sandstone (3–5 m)
Channel sandstone forming a distinct ledge; fining-upward sequence with basal lag and vertebrate debris.
Bed 28 — Plant Debris Bed above Ship Ledge Sandstone (0.3–0.8 m)
Grey plant-rich mudstone yielding microvertebrates and occasional larger bones.
Bed 29 — upper channel-fill plant-debris bed (cliff-level) (0.3–1.0 m)
Narrow channel-fill deposit rich in microvertebrate remains.
Total exposed thickness: approximately 90–120 metres (highly variable due to channel incision and lateral facies changes).
References
Stewart, D.J. (1978). Sedimentology of the Wealden Group (Lower Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wight.
Sweetman, S.C. (2011). The Wealden of the Isle of Wight. In: Batten, D.J. (ed.) English Wealden Fossils. Palaeontological Association Field Guide.
Sweetman, S.C. & Insole, A.N. (2010). The plant debris beds of the Wessex Formation.
Radley, J.D. (1994). The Wealden Group of the Isle of Wight: stratigraphy and palaeontology.
SAFETY
Common sense when collecting at all locations should be used and knowledge of tide times is essential, because tidal conditions at this location are dangerous. You must return before the tide turns and must check out tide times before you visit. It is very easy to become cut off.
You must also take care if walking over the slippages, as these can be very sticky and you may get stuck.
EQUIPMENT
Most of the fossils can be picked up off the foreshore, without the need of any tools. However, it is best to take a few, which may come in useful.
ACCESS RIGHTS
This site is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). This means you can visit the site, but hammering the bedrock is not permitted. For full information about the reasons for the status of the site and restrictions, download the PDF from Natural England.
It is important to follow our ‘Code of Conduct’ when collecting fossils or visiting any site. Please also read our ‘Terms and Conditions‘
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