Site of a great geological discovery
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Site of a great geological discovery by Richard Sutcliffe as part of the Geograph project.
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Site of a great geological discovery
Image: © Richard Sutcliffe Taken: 27 Mar 2022
This ordinary-looking, rather overgrown burn is the site of a great geological discovery in the early 1980s. In 1981, Stan Wood, who lived nearby, was investigating the rocks in the Manse Burn in his spare time. Stan worked in the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow at the time as a geological technician and realised that the Carboniferous age rocks in the burn were special. He discovered some very interesting fossils and as a result the Hunterian Museum obtained permission from the local council to mount an excavation. During 1982 a systematic excavation of the site uncovered a wide variety of extremely well-preserved fossils, particularly shrimps and fish, including what is now known as Akmonistion zangerli, but is better known as the 'Bearsden Shark'. The specimen of the first complete example is on display in the Hunterian Museum. The site is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). See Image Stan Wood later became a professional fossil dealer and opened Mr Wood's Fossils Image in Edinburgh.
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Image Location
Latitude
55.929542
Longitude
-4.352698