Fossil hunting on Mars

1. Fossil Hunting on Mars and in
Central London
A talk by Michael Morris Franks
For the Astronomical Society of Harringay
20th
May 2010

2. Three types of Rocks
1) Sedimentary
2) Igneous
3) Metamorphic

3. Fossils are found mainly in
sedimentary rocks.
Mars has Sedimentary Rocks

4. Strangely Mars has no Limestone
rocks which is surprising given
that it has CO2 and appears to
have had open water which
should have caused the
formation of limestone. Maria
Zuber , Itay Halevy and Daniel
Scrag of Harvard University have
suggested that thought that the
reason is due to sulphur from
volcanoes which prevented the
formation of limestone.

5. The two Mars Rover, Spirt and Opportunity have a battery of
cameras and have been spending pictures back to earth for
over five years. Some people have claimed to see evidence
of Fossils in the photographs.
Sir Charles W. Shults III has produced a CD with
photographs which he claims show fossils.

6. What is the Evidence
1) Sphercules
2) Rotini
3) Sol 34 object

7. Ockham's Razor
The Knoll criterion, named after Andrew Knoll author of
“Life on a Young Planet. The Knoll criterion is that
anything being put forward as a fossil must not only look
like something that was once alive—it must also not look
like anything that can be made by non-biological means.

9. Preparing for a trip to Mars
By Looking for Fossils in Central London
1) Portland Stone
a) Roach Stone
b) Whitbed
c) Basebed
2)Flint
3) Sandstone
4) Slate

10. Roach Stone
Economist Building 25 St James Street

11. Aptyxiella portlandica (Sowerby), Portland screwstone

12. Caxton House Tuthill Street London SW1
Grove Whitbed
Bivalue Shell Possibly Camptonectes lamellosus

13. Isognomon

14. Red Algae Solenpora grew in Reef Patches
These slides identified by Mark Golden of Albion Stone Plc

15. Portland Stone Traflagar Square

17. An artists' impression of the Jurassic sea bed at the time
of the formation of the Portland Stone.
From The Ecology of Fossils, by Dr Stuart McKerrow as
Editor, Pub. Duckwork. 1978
Key
a. Ostrea - the oyster (Liostrea)
b. Calcareous algal mould (Solenoprara)
c. Boring bivalve, burrowing into the agal (Lithophaga)
d. Ostrea - a small curved species (Pleurotomaria)
e. A fossil Top-shell: a marine snail (Pleurotmaria)
f. a tall spiral marine snail (Protocerithium)
Calcareous algae are rubbery mats which trap fine lime
sand and partly precopate calcite (lime) from sea water.
The algae has no internal structure as such and no
tissue is fossilised.
By kind permission of the author

18. British Library
Fossilised sea sponges in Hauteville limestone located outside the Conference Centre

19. Fossilied Flint 14 Tufton StreeL London SW1

21. A selections of small echinoids preserved as flint

22. Royal Festival Hall London

23. Sandstone Cobble from Faringdon

24. Slate Solitary Horn Coral fossilised in slate could be 350-410 million years old.