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fossil collectors in the South East of England,
and a valuable site due to the lack of
permanent fossiliferous exposures in this part
of the country.
The Naze is a promontory stretching northwards
from the town and forming the most easterly
part of the Essex coast. Most of the Naze is
a public open space, the land terminating in a
line of steep cliffs facing the sea where
varied and well preserved fossils can be
collected.
The cliffs are most famous as the type section
of the southern Waltonian Red Crag; these are
sandy, shelly beds deposited at the very
beginning of the Pleistocene period about 11/2 to
2 million years ago. They were laid down as
sea bed dunes in water depths of 50—80 feet and
are deep red in colour due to the oxidation of
iron compounds. When collecting fossils here
it is almost impossible to avoid ending the day
with clothes and hands stained red.
The Red Crag lies unconformably on the London
Clay which is considerably older (some 60
million years); this shows that much erosion
has taken place before the deposition of the
Crag. This area during London Clay times (the
Eocene period) was a tranquil sub-tropical sea
and remains of animals and plants that lived in
the sea and on the adjoining land are often
found as fossils in the clay.
Because of the structure of the cliffs frequent
erosion takes place and extensive slumping is
evident. Although it is doubtful whether