We are #InternetFamous: Fossil Find Blows Up Below BC Social Media!

This week we visited the site of a locally known giant Titanites sp. ammonite fossil. We posted the image on social media channels and were blown away by the responses! At this time, we have 2,324 likes and 755 retweets on Twitter, as well as 50,000+ up likes on Reddit. We are also seeing the image get shared across these and other platforms! Who knew?!

We are currently on a tour of British Columbia after receiving a sponsorship grant from Geoscience BC under their Heritage Projects for 2019. The project goals are to support the preservation and curation of significant geological rock suites, samples, sites and archival material in museum and government holdings. (Click here for a full description)

This fossil is a BIG DEAL because it is from one of the largest species of ammonite to exist. Ammonites were squid-like creatures with a hard, coiled shell. This species lived during the Jurassic, approximately 150 million years ago and had a shell diameter up to 1.4m. They would have been fast moving predators, using their tentacles to catch fish and other prey items. Although large, another species from the Late Cretaceous era (around 100 million years ago) known as Parapuzosia have been estimated to grow up to 3.5 meters in diameter!

We saw this fossil in an outcrop near to Fernie in south eastern British Columbia, directed there by locals. This area is now several hundred kilometers away from the ocean and high in the mountains, demonstrating how British Columbia was once an oceanic realm with scattered volcanic islands that got squashed up against ancient North America, forming the Rockies and Coastal Mountains, pushing up all those sediments in the process.

Below BC is working on bringing these sites alive in a digital realm for all British Columbians and we are NOT advocating for collecting fossils at this or any other site. Fossil collecting is governed by a series of standards and ethics in order to preserve our heritage and scientific knowledge. We refer you to the British Columbia Paleontological Alliance website for full details and encourage readers to become familiar with rules and regulations: www.bcfossils.ca/collecting.html.

Keep following us to see what else we find!

Instagram: #below_bc

Twitter: @Below_BC

Facebook: www.facebook.com/belowbc

Website: www.bbcga.com