The Geology at the Naze can appear to be quite complicated, But think of the cliff as a book, when you are looking at them you are reading 53 - 55 Million years of Earths history. At the base of the cliffs extending out on to the wave cut platform, (foreshore) is the Bluish grey London Clay so called because it is found throughout the London basin from the North Kent coast right the way up to South Suffolk.

The London clay was laid down in the delta of a large river in a sub tropical climate to the east of a large landmass, this is thought to have been some 250-300 Kilometres to the south west of the modern shoreline. The clay is extremely fossiliferous containing many fossils of marine origin, the commonest of these are the teeth of the Six gilled sand Shark (Striatolamia macrota), also occasionally are the larger teeth of the fossil Mackerel Shark (Otodus obliquus). It also contains much plant
material derived from rafts of material drifting out to sea from the heavily forested mainland, this is nearly all preserved as Iron Pyrites (Ferrous Disulphide)

Sitting directly on top of the London clay is the Waltonian sub-stage of the late Pliocene early Pleistocene Red Crag. This is much younger than the underlying clay being a mere 2.6 Million Years old, all the strata between the clay and the Crag being removed by Glacial action in the intervening period.

The Red crag is the colour it is because of the Iron Pyrite in the underlying clay when eroded out and weathered 2.6 million years ago formed Ferrous bisulphate which turned the sand and Shells of the Crag the brilliant orange colour they are today.

The Crag can be separated into two distinct layers, first comes the Red Crag Basement or Nodule bed this lays directly on the planed upper surface of the clay which in some areas is covered with the burrows of fossil invertebrates now in filled with the spherical crystals of Glauconite a green coloured mineral. There is some argument about the exact age of this Basement bed some authorities saying it could be 5--22.5 Million years in age, that is Miocene, which would give the Naze the only Miocene rocks in Great Britain. This bed contains examples of Mineralised Bone mostly of Cetacea.

Next comes the Red Crag proper, this consists of a sandy matrix with many partially decalcified and Broken shells the
commonest being those of the Bivalve Glycymeris glycymeris, the common Dog cockle, the other shell the crag is well known for is the Neptunia contraria or Left handed whelk. It is thought the Red crag was laid down as a sandbank to the East of a large landmass.

Above the Red Crag there occurs a series of orange silts with highly cryoturbinated greyish green clays laid down in the course of a large river that ran in a north easterly Direction. These are thought to be an Early forerunner of the Medway/Thames when it was a tributary of the Rhine, the rivers joined each other somewhere near the present day Dogger bank in the North sea. This deposit dates to the Anglian Glaciation which occurred 450-500 thousand years ago.

At the top of the cliff in the Glacial sand and gravels there occurs ice wedge pseudomorphs, (ice wedges) these are a fairly common feature at the top of the cliff and are indicative of tundra conditions. They date from the Devensian Glaciation 17 thousand years ago.

EARLY MAN

Over the years many worked flints have been picked up at the Naze, everything from Hand axes to arrowheads and scrapers. The earliest piece I have personally found is a small piece of broken Mesolithic blade more common are pieces of late
Neolithic/Early Bronze age mostly arrowheads and blades. The flint from which the later pieces are made came here from Grimes Graves in what is now Thetford Forest on the Norfolk/Suffolk border near Brandon. In the Summer of 2005 the remains of a Middle Bronze age Devereux / Rimbury Ardleigh type Urn burial came to light at the Naze, the perforated rimmed bucket urn just over 30 Cm in height contained the cremated remains of a person from a nearby settlement.

Also found May 2007 was a Cornish Greenstone axe found on the old Bronze age land surface at the Northern end of the Naze. This was an interesting find as normally stone tools found at the Naze are made from Flint.

The Axe head shown to the left was found at the Naze during the Summer of 2011 and is a
particularly nice example.

The most important beach for fossils at the Naze is the 1 Kilometre section from the A frame breakwater
opposite the Tower to the end of the cliff section by the Seawall. Fossils can be found on other beaches right the way through to the town, these consist mostly of fossil teeth and fossil wood from the London clay.

The teeth which come out of the wave cut platform (foreshore) and not the cliff are probably the
commonest fossils. There are many different species found at the Naze the commonest species is
Striatolamia a now extinct species of six gilled sand shark these are generally found in good numbers in the patches of shingle on the beaches, a larger but regularly found species at the Naze is Otodus this is the
largest of the teeth to come from the London clay and is also found in the shingle. Also found are the
vertebrae of sharks.

Fossil Crabs and Lobsters can also be found on the beach, these are normally found in phosphate nodules which are greyish brown in colour the animal being picked out in black. A selection of remains of Bony fish can also be found at the Naze such as teeth vertebrae and nose spines. Ray teeth and Chimaeroid (Rabbit Fish) teeth can also be found. There is also a slight chance you may find examples of Bird bones but this is
extremely rare as they are  very fragile.

The other thing you are bound to find is the fossil plant remains these are mostly in the form of fossil twigs preserved as iron pyrite, larger pieces are normally preserved as carbon or as a mixture of both, you can also find a number of fossil seeds. Another thing you will find on the beach are large nodules of Septaria an
argillaceous  Limestone that quite often contains fossil wood but always check the nodules out as they can contain other fossils such as fish or turtle remains.

The other fossils we find at the Naze are the late Pliocene early Pleistocene fossils from the Red Crag. These consist mostly of various species of shellfish, the commonest being the Dog cockle a bivalve frequently found on the beach, another species is the Left handed Whelk a gastropod which is also found on the beach. The bottom most bed of the Crag called the Basement bed also contains pieces of Whale bone and very
occasionally the teeth from two species of giant shark  Megladon and Cosmopolitodus, both of which if you are extremely lucky you could find, this material tends to occur randomly on the beach.

Please remember the Naze cliffs are a Site of Special Scientific Interest so therefore collecting from the
actual cliff face is not allowed you can only look for fossils on the beach. To identify your finds either look on our museum page or contact us with a photograph or pop up and see us at our stall next to the Naze links café from March to October.