Irish Fossils, a Pocket Guide

Reviewed by Tom Kennedy on 18 Nov 2009

Wherever sedimentary rocks occur we are likely to find the fossilised remains of plants and animals. Although Ireland has little to offer in the line of dinosaurs, there is an abundance of limestone and other sedimentary rocks, so fossils, often of great age, occur in most areas.

Geologist, Patrick Gaffikin, has produced a short guide on where to look and illustrating what we are likely to find. Starting with one of the most ancient of all, the 550 million year old traces of Oldhamia in the slates of Bray Head, we can find trilobites, sea urchins, corals, and the curled shells of Ammonoids.

Some, like the sea urchins, are still with us, others, like the trilobites are long extinct, and many, like the marine conodonts that occur at Acton, Co Armagh, are so small that they can only be be examined under a microscope.

Published as one of the Appletree Pocket Guides, this is an excellent introduction to Irish fossils.