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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

We are at Lyme Regis #FossilFestival this weekend! Swing by the Hub to talk to our researchers and students about chalk sea #Cretaceous ecosystems and play our game 'pin the tail on the chalk fish'!

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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

What happens after a forest dies, a coral reef bleaches, or an oyster bed collapses? A study of 10 ecosystems reveals that they carry memory. The material remains of foundation species can shape resilience, recovery, or collapse for decades in a changing climate. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

Legacies of foundation species shape life after death

The dead remains of habitat-forming organisms can have powerful influences on the resilience of the ecosystems they inhabit.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

#EGU26 - check out the poster on our work presented by Dr Debs Tangunan: 'Unlocking UK Chalk macrofossil collections using calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy: Insights into Late Cretaceous ecosystem change, resilience, and extinction' at booth X.350 in Hall 3 this morning.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Big #FossilFriday thanks to our curatorial colleagues @nhm-london.bsky.social who have been helping our project curate and register #chalk specimens! This week dealing with hundreds of cidaroid spines - these were originally attached to echinoids (sea urchins) which lived on the chalk seafloor.

NHM curators Zoë Hughes and Leila D'Souza work on labelling and housing echinoids spines from the chalk collections of southern England.

A cidaroid echinoid spine sitting in grey chalk matrix. The specimen is labelled with '69.5', indicating the precise level it was found.

A complete cidaroid echinoid (Hirudocidaris hirudo) from the NHM historic collections, illustrating how the spines attached to the test.

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Ruth Siddall @pavementgeology.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Echinoderm and belemnite fossils in Ulster Chalk from Northern Ireland. This material is used for seating in @nhm-london.bsky.social Evolution Garden in South Kensington #fossilfriday #chalk #urbangeology

A circular fossil, a section through an echinoderm (sea urchin) in white chalk

A cluster of echinoderm fossils in white chalk

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The Geologists' Association @geolassoc.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Correlation of the lower and middle Turonian chalks of south-west England and north-west France - condensation towards the Cornubian and Armorican massifs by Andy Gale In Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol 137, issue 1, Feb 2026: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Selected structural features in southern England, the English Channel and northwest France. The distribution of the correlative Tilleul and Ogbourne Hardgrounds is shown; these are absent to the north-east of the Wight–Bray Fault and associated with Variscan basement thrusts across central southern England. The section at Winterbourne Kingston, on the Litton Cheyney Fault, shows a conglomerate of older Cretaceous debris derived from the overthrust hanging wall, deposited on a surface correlative with the Ogbourne Hardground (Gale, 2019a). The Ogbourne Hardground is absent in the marginal successions in Devon. 'Strahan's Hardground' at Lewes, East Sussex, is correlative with the Ogbourne Hardground. Map modified from Wikimedia Commons.

Identification of marker marl beds in the lower and middle Turonian of the northern Anglo-Paris Basin. See text for detailed explanation.

Geological map of the area adjacent to the English Channel, to show the Cornubian and Armorican Massifs and the Turonian depocentre. This study focuses on successions on the Devon and Seine-Maritime coasts, where the successions thin towards the basin margins. Map modified from Wikimedia Commons.

Front cover of the scientific journal Proceedings of the Geologists' Association.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

#MolluscMonday is all about rudists! These unusual bivalve molluscs were very common in the Late #Cretaceous, especially in tropical settings around the Tethys Ocean. Individual or conjoined specimens occasionally appear in the UK Chalk but are often poorly dated.

Two large rudist shells belonging to the genus Durania preserved in chalk, sitting in a box in a white metal drawer.

A white metal drawer containing a selection of fossil rudist bivalves from the Chalk.

A cylindrical specimen of the rudist bivalve Durania from the UK Chalk.

A cross section through a rudist bivalve fossil preserved in the chalk showing its distinctive porous shell structure.

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Marc Jones @marcehjones.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Emma Bernard presenting her research as part of @chalksea.bsky.social that samples chalk nannofossils fossils from over 1000 Cretaceous fossil fish specimens at @nhm-london.bsky.social to significantly clarify their stratigraphic context. Meeting Room Hall 4 #2025SVP #SVP2025

Emma on stage in Meeting Room Hall 4 with her title slide.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

#FossilFriday at #SVP2025 today! Emma Bernard will be talking about dating the amazing @nhm-london.bsky.social chalk fish collections at 09:30 in Hall 4. Then check out posters by Twitchett/Underwood and Kaia Spence on new #chalk sharks & coelacanth size in Poster Session III, Hall 3 (4:30 - 6:30).

A fossil coelacanth (Macropoma) from the Chalk in a drawer in the NHM London collections.

Well preserved fossil fish from the Chalk in the NHM London collections.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

A great time was had at the 'Festival of Geology' today! Thanks @geolassoc.bsky.social and @geolsoc.bsky.social for having us, and to all the enthusiastic visitors who were interested in our work. Thanks especially to @spissatella.bsky.social and Tessa for sharing your knowledge and helping out.

A flag outside the Geological Society of London advertising the Geologists Association Festival of Geology.

Three people stand behind a table which is covered in chalk fossil, images of chalk fossils, and postcards/business cards.

One person holds a chalk fossil echinoderm while another touches various chalk fossils on a table which is also covered with images of chalk fossils

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

If you're in #London today then come along to the @geolassoc.bsky.social FREE 'Festival of Geology' @geolsoc.bsky.social on Piccadilly. We'll be there showcasing some #chalk fossils and talking about our work on #Cretaceous ecosystems and environmental change. Come and say hello!

The library of the Geological Society of London with tables set out for the Festival of Geology.

A series of chalk fossils and information about life in the chalk seas.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Great to be in San Antonio, Texas this week! 🇺🇸 We were at the @geosociety.bsky.social annual meeting, where @jdwitts.bsky.social & project PI Rich Twitchett presented a talk and poster on the latest science from ChaSE, studying #Cretaceous environmental and marine ecosystem change.

A billboard on the side of a large building advertising the Geological Society of America Connects 2025 conference.

A man stands at a podium delivering a scke tirich talk. On the screen are images of chalk cliffs and a map.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

#FossilFriday This large slab in the NHMUK covered with screws of the Carboniferous bryozoan Archimedes was unknown to me until last week. For at least 46 years it has been lurking among large specimens in the coral collection.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Historic specimens of the unusual #Cretaceous crinoids Marsupites and Uintacrinus @nhm-london.bsky.social made by Dr Arthur Rowe in the 1900s, including some beautiful pencil drawings. These extinct 'sea lilies' are abundant at certain levels in the #chalk making them useful for global correlation.

A museum drawer full of ball-shaped crinoid fossils.

A fossil crinoid belonging to the genus Marsupites

A pencil drawing of the test (skeleton) of the crinoid Uintacrinus.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

#FossilFriday from the chalk seas of #Yorkshire - a good day in the field yesterday sampling a working chalk pit containing outcrops of the 'Black Band'; corresponding to #Cretaceous Ocean Anoxic Event 2. Thanks to the folks at Ashcourt Group for facilitating our visit!

An outcrop of chalk with a tape measure for scale. A prominent layer of dark shale - the 'Black Band' - runs through the middle of the sequence.

A large chalk pit under a blue sky. A man in a high vis jacket and hard hat is examining the rock outcrops.

A close up of a finely laminated rock showing small fossil burrows- proof thst even during an 'Ocean Anoxic Event' there was life on the sea floor.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

A good day in the field logging and sampling at high resolution new site containing a record of #Cretaceous 'Ocean Anoxic Event 2' (can you spot it?) near Ringstead, #Dorset yesterday. Plenty of finds for #FossilFriday including sharks, sea urchins, sponges, belemnites and fish!

A large quarry with a face made of chalk, a dark grey band runs across the center of the face. The sky is blue.

A fossil echinoid with a scale bar and arrow pointing to the fossil.

A fossil belemnite embedded in rock with a scale bar.

A fossil gastropod (snail) with a tape measure for scale.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Great to be in Hannover at the 12th #Cretaceous Symposium! @jdwitts.bsky.social is presenting an overview of our #Chalk project @nhm-london.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk

A poster on the work of the Chalk Sea Ecosystems project.

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Fossils in t'Hills @fossilsinthills.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Picture in your mind a shark tooth... We bet this isnt the shape you were thinking of! The shark Ptychodus had a 'pavement' of these strange teeth for crushing hard-shelled prey. Ptychodus fossils have been found all over the world, including from Hessle near Hull. 🏛️ Sedgwick Museum #FossilFriday

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James Witts @jdwitts.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Some of today's #chalk views at Eastbourne. 🚁 🐚

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

#FossilFriday. In 1950, 10-year-old Stephen found a fossil #sponge on the beach at Seaford, East Sussex & donated it @nhm-london.bsky.social. 75 years later, Stephen visited us to see the specimen! Thanks to all the #ChalkHeroes who donated their finds over the years and make our research possible.

A man holding up an ornately written certificate

A flint nodule containing a fossil sponge in a white box. Two labels identify it as Plinthosella from the upper chalk, Seaford Sussex

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Yesterday was #MicrobalanceMonday. Working at the Bloomsbury Environmental Isotope Facility @ucl.ac.uk weighing out #chalk samples for carbon & oxygen isotope analyses. These will tell us about both temperature and carbon cycling in the chalk sea. UCL campus also has some lovely spots for a break!

A laboratory work bench with a microbalance, some glassware, and tubes filled with white powder

A view looking up through some trees to a blue sky

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

#MolluscMonday a selection of inoceramid bivalves (and bonus sponges!) from the late Cenomanian Plenus Marls at #Eastbourne. These rocks were deposited during a period of #Cretaceous climate change known as 'Oceanic Anoxic Event 2', but these unusual clams don't seem to mind.

A large fossil clam embedded in a grey rock with a black-and-white scale bar.

A large clam fossil embedded in a grey rock with a black-and-white scale bar.

A large clam (labelled 37) and a sponge (38) fossil embedded in grey rock with a tape measure for scale.

Fossils of a large clam (56) and sponge (57) embedded in a grey rock with a yellow tape measure for scale.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Highlighting a new paper from our team for #FossilFriday! On the discovery and diversity of bone-eating worms in historically collected marine reptile specimens @nhm-london.bsky.social from the UK #chalk.

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James Witts @jdwitts.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Looking forward to a fun few days of science and catching up with coclleagues @lifeandplanet.bsky.social @geolsoc.bsky.social. Our @chalksea.bsky.social project has two posters and a talk on #Cretaceous environmental change and effects on marine ecosystems. Come and say hello!

A man stands at a podium in front of a dcreen advertising 'Life and Planet 2025'

Two scientific posters set up in a library.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

It's the final day of the #FossilFestival at Lyme Regis! Still time to join our team in The Hub to learn about our science reconstructing #Cretaceous ecosystems, handle some chalk fossils from @nhm-london.bsky.social, and draw your own #ChalkSea creatures.

A group of smiling people stand behind a table which is covered by fossils and pictures of chalk fossils.

A large poster with a reconstruction of a water column on which people have drawn reconstructions of fossil animals on stickers.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

We had a great first day at Lyme Regis #FossilFestival talking to a lot of visitors from local schools, somem fabulous additions to our #chalk ecosystem! If you fancy drawing your own #Cretaceous creature and learning more about our project, we're in The Hub today!

A group of people working for the Natural History Museum stand behind a table of fossils in a marquee.

A poster representing an ancient seafloor environment covered in drawings of fossils

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Fun few days #fieldwork touring and logging beautiful Cenomanian - Campanian chalk outcrops in North Lincolnshire and Yorkshire with Prof Andy Gale and Paul Hildreth. Including exposures of the 'Black Band', the northern expression of #Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2.

An exposure of rock (chalk) mostly white and grey. A distinctive black and grey layer runs horizontally through the center of the photo. There is a geological hammer for scale at the base.

A sea arch cut into white chalk cliffs with a field of boulders in the foreground. The chalk shows obvious bedding and dark grey flint layers.

A man in a black coat and white hard hat looks at a cliff of white chalk showing obvious layering.

A man in a high visibility jacket uses a geological hammer to expose layers of rock at the base of a low cliff.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Lovely day in the field at Culver Cliff (Isle of Wight) with @echinerd.bsky.social and PhD student Chia-Hsin Hsu. We looked at the beautifully bedded Cenomanian-Turonian #chalk, finding plenty of echinoderms, bivalves, serpulids and even a nice nautilid!

Three people stand talking in front of a cliff made up of distinct bands of light and dark coloured chalk.

A fossil echinoderm in white chalk. A finger for scale!

The impression of a large fossil Nautilus in grey chalk. A black and white scale bar is at the top of the photo.

A tiny star-shaped ossicle from a fossil crinoid in the chalk. With a finger for scale.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

#FossilFriday Chalk Sea fish, big and small! From the amazing historic chalk collections of Booth Museum of Natural History in #Brighton. Part of ongoing research to understand how these fish were affected by #Cretaceous climate change. 🐟🌡

Skeleton of a fossil coelacanth fish (Macropoma mantelli) preserved on a block of chalk. A cm scale bar is present at the top.

A beautifully preserved fossil fish (Ctenothrissa radians) complete with scales, sitting on top of a block of chalk on a white background. A cm scale bar is at the bottom left.

A person measuring a fossil fish skeleton using a pair of digital calipers.

A tiny fossil fish skeleton preserved in a block of chalk. The scale bar above shows it is only 3cm in size.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

#MacropomaMonday - MRes student Kaia Spence is at UCL this week, preparing samples of chalk matrix for stable isotope analysis. By comparing oxygen isotope/temperature data with morphometric measurements from fossils, Kaia is examining how body size in coelacanths was affected by climate change.

A well-preserved fossil fish skeleton sitting in chalk matrix within a wooden box.

Someone using a razor blade to scrape chalk matrix off the side of a fossil skeleton onto a piece of paper.

A fossil fish skeleton set in chalk. A small area of the matrix is visibly whiter where a sample has been taken for stable isotope analysis.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Welcome to new PhD student Chia-Hsin Hsu from @unisouthampton.bsky.social - Chia-Hsin will be studying morphological evolution of echinoids from the #Cretaceous chalk sea. Including these beautiful Hagenowia from #Yorkshire.

A man with dark hair and glasses examines fossils in chalk blocks from a wooden drawer.

Several pieces of chalk containing unusually shaped fossil sea urchins. A label says they are from Yorkshire.

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James Witts @jdwitts.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

First #fieldwork of 2025 ☑️. Good day at #Eastbourne with @chalksea.bsky.social project collaborator Dr Charlie Underwood, collecting samples and surveying the #Cenomanian Plenus Marls. Plenty to think about, & fossil sponges, bivalves, brachiopods, and echinoderms galore!

A man stands in front of a large chalk cliff. A geological hammer rests on the ground.

A large fossil clam in chalk with a scale bar.

A white chalk outcrop with brown structures (fossil sponges!), and grey fossil burrows.

A beach filled with boulders in front of a large white chalk cliffs.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

🐌 are quite rare in the #chalk as their aragonite shells dissolve easily. An exception is the Family Pleurotomariidae or 'slit snails', sometimes with original shiny nacreous shell on display for #FossilFriday

A drawer full of fossil snail shells preserved in white and grey chalk.

More snail shells preserved in chalk in a wooden drawer.

A large fossil snail showing well preserved shell structure.

A fossil snail with original shiny nacreous shell preserved.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Sponges are very common in the #Cretaceous Chalk of the 🇬🇧 and their fossilised skeletons were probably important for silica cycling & formation of #flint nodules. This week we've been databasing and selecting 100 specimens for re-dating, helped by our regular volunteer Neil Ireland. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪

A series of boxes containing fossil sponges - most preserved inside flint nodules.

A man (Neil Ireland) is picking boxes out of a large wooden drawer.

A close-up of a flint nodule containing the detailed impression of a fossil sponge.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

#FossilFriday One of my favourite bryozoans to kick-off 2025, Herpetopora, a runner-like cheilostome here growing across the shell of a Chalk inoceramid bivalve.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

You've heard of Piltdown Man, but how about 'the Piltdown Clams'? (As christened by Dr Jon Todd!). A pair of Upper Cretaceous inoceramid bivalves from the #Chalk were 'found' alongside the discredited hominid specimen at Piltdown, East Sussex. Likely stained artificially and planted? 🤔

A pair of fossil shells, stained brown in white museum specimen boxes. A hand-written note accompanying them says "The Piltdown Clam(s)"!

A square museum label describing specimens of the fossil bivalve Inoceramus inconstans from Pleistocene gravel (derived from the Cretaceous chalk). Presented to the museum by Charles Dawson - now the leading suspect in the Piltdown Man hoax.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Great poster by @plesiosarahs.bsky.social @thepalass.bsky.social related to the ChaSE project. New records and a timeline of bone-eating worms living on marine reptile remains in #Cretaceous #chalk seas of the UK.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Thanks to staff at the Sedgwick Museum (Cambridge) for hosting us today! A fun #FossilFriday spent looking through their extensive UK #Chalk collections. Including this rather nice #Cretaceous reconstruction.

Wooden display cases with glass lids containing fossils preserved in chalk.

A man with blonde hair, glasses, and a stripey jumper looks intently at a wooden drawer. In the background is a large sign for the 'Cretaceous 145 - 65 million years ago'.

A painting showing a Cretaceous-age marine ecosystem made up of fish, sharks, a squid-like organism swimming above a white sea floor containing Sponges, a sea urchin, brachiopods, and a lobster-like crustacean.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Fun day surveying the UK #Chalk collections @britgeosurvey.bsky.social along with project collaborator Dr Charlie Underwood! Couldn't resist also taking a peek at the always amazing core store..

A massive warehouse with floor-to-ceiling racks containing cardboard boxes stacked several storeys high. Each box contains a rock core.

A wooden drawer full or tubes and fossil samples. All neatly labelled and sub-divided using plastic.

A large fossilised skull (of an Icthyosaur) with teeth. A person's hand is visible for scale.

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South Downs National Park @southdownsnp.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

On the face of it, the South Downs doesn't have alot in common with the Alps or Himalaya. However, did you know they formed at the same time? The Alpine orogeny was a geological event in which several continents converged, giving us the great ranges we see today. 📷 Thomas Woolsey 📍 Butser Hill

A landscape of rolling green hills with steep sides and a bright blue sky out towards the horizon

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

A highlight of 2024 was the opening of the new gardens at the NHM London. The #Chalk is represented in the 'Evolution Timeline' with blocks of the Ulster White Limestone Formation from Northern Ireland (which make comfy benches!) and some huge 'Paramoudra' flints from #Yorkshire.

A large block of white chalk with black flints sits outdoors. An information board attached to the block tells you about the Chalk Seas of the Cretaceous Period.

Three large goblet-shaped flints sit in amongst some plants with a black information board.

A close up of a large white chalk block with flint nodules visible. A cup sits on top of the block for scale!

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

We are lucky to have dedicated curatorial support funded on our project at the NHM! Darcy Adhami will be working with us until April 2025. This week, he's been sampling chalk matrix from some large Turonian #ammonites for our colleagues to date using calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy. ⚒️🧪

A man in a white t-shirt standing in a row of museum cabinets. A large fossil made of chalk is on a shelf in front of him, and he's scraping chalk matrix off the fossil using a scalpel blade.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Post a picture you took (no description) to bring some zen to the timeline.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Complete #fossils are actually quite commonly preserved in flint nodules from the #Chalk - check out this amazing echinoid, prepped by a Neanderthal!

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 08/11/2024

#Chalk nautiloid from the Cenomanian Beer Head Limestone of Devon, spotted by our PI Richard on recent fieldwork to Lyme Regis for #FossilFriday.

A block of mottled grey rock containing a spiral fossil shell.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 01/11/2024

We will be taking part in the FREE Geologists Association 'Festival of Geology' tomorrow (2nd November) @ the Geological Society, London. Come along and say hello, see some #chalk fossils, learn why they are important, and help us populate our #Cretaceous seascape! #FossilFriday

A poster for the Geologists Association 'Festival of Geology', a free event on 2nd November 2024 at the Geological Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly.

A series of fossils preserved in chalk and printed information sheets.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

This #FossilFriday we welcome UCL MSci student Kaia Spence! For her research project at the NHM until May 2025, Kaia will be working on the size:temperature relationship in the enigmatic #Cretaceous 'swordfish' Protosphyraena from the UK Chalk. 🐟

A close-up of a large fossilised fish fin in white chalk. A person is measuring the size of the fossil using digital callipers.

A drawer of fossil fish bones and teeth, all in white chalk matrix.

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ChaSE Project @chalksea.bsky.social · 05/10/2024

Check out chalksea.co.uk for three blog posts by Chloe Griffiths, Alex Hand, and Hatty Bohun - three Masters students who have recently completed research projects with ChaSE! They describe their research, as well as the most surprising thing they learned about #chalk.. 🧪⚒️🪨

Two men in blue coats, one of whom is wearing a yellow hard-hat, chip a rock sample out of an outcrop of white chalk using a geological hammer and chisel.

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