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Looking at Giant Eurypterid Tracks - Geoheritage Fife Field Trip

Yesterday I went on a coastal walk in the St Andrews area to look at the geology of Fife. Here, on the cliff face, members of Geoheritage Fife are examining the tracks left behind by Carboniferous age Eurypterids around 330 million years ago. There are three different trackways running from upper right to lower left, which were left by the six-legged beasties. They leave double lines of pits, with a single groove left behind by its tail dragging. Eurypterids were extreme predators of their era and the ones here could have been up to 5 ft long. They are described as sea-scorpions, but the illustrations I have seen, remind me of giant bed-bugs with formidable claws. If any of my Fife friends are in favour of bracing walks, whilst having the geology explained to them by St Andrews University geologists, then you could do worse than contact Geoheritage Fife.

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Uploaded on April 29, 2012
Taken on April 28, 2012