THE GEOLOGISTS' ASSOCIATION TOUR TO MOROCCO, APRIL 2018

Day 3 - Wednesday 4th April 2018

 

After yesterday when we saw where the trilobites came from, today was the day to see what happens to them afterwards. First stop was at the house of a fossil preparator where we saw some of the stages of preparing trilobites. And we were given the chance to purchase our very own trilobite.

 

Then we moved on to Alnif to look at the market and the trilobite shops. More fossils were bought! Mohamed kept telling us that we would have a better choice when we got to his brothers place - he may well have been right but that did not stop us!

 

There was then a long drive to Merzouga by way of an outcrop full of orthocones and a workshop making fantastic furniture and objects out of highly fossiliferous limestone. And then on to our hotel.

 

 

Preparing a slab of Ordovician(?) trilobites at our first stop - the Preparators workshop.

 

A prepared and very spiny trilobite.

 

A selection of the preparators stock.

 

A rather nice slab.

 

We moved on to Alnif and saw this selection in one of the fossil shops. And there was more and better in the back room!

 

 

Like this spiny monster, exquisitely prepared.

 

Or this one with a trident. The skill to release this creature from the enclosing rock is amazing.

 

We had some coffee and wandered round the market. this guys spice and herb stall caught my attention.

 

Then it was back into the buses and continue on our way. As lunchtime approached we were in the middle of nowhere but Mohamed saw a shady spot some way off the road in the middle of a dried up lake bed. As the buses crawled over the rough ground we were overtaken by a man on a bicycle carrying a large flat box. When we stopped he had set up his stall selling fossils and a few other things. Where he came from and how he knew that we were likely purchasers, I do not know. but he had some good stuff and made several sales!

 

The bicycle entrepreneur making a sale.

 

After lunch we drove a short way to an outcrop - as ever, in the middle of nowhere, and found the rocks to be full of orthocones and goniatites. An interesting discussion on how the orthocone maintained equilibrium was had. The creature lived in the largest compartment at the end of the fossil. The compartments at the far end became solid and would tend to sink. To maintain equilibrium the creature had to regulate the amount of air in the intermediate compartments so that it could keep an even keel. An interesting problem.

 

The outcrop with the orthocones and goniatites. The road is on the far right.

 

Eventually we came to Rissani and the factory making things with fossiliferous limestone.

 

A table top. In the centre the fossils have been partially exposed and then covered in glass. The limestone can take a good polish but is not a true marble.

 

Every self-respecting hotel has something like this in reception. The skill of the workers at this factory was considerable. It was only matched by their disregard for their personal safety. Moving large slabs of heavy limestone about by hand while wearing sandals is not advisable. It quite gave me the willies.

 

We soon arrived at our hotel which seemed to be built out of mud and straw but was very comfortable. Half of the party stayed at the hotel while the rest went on to camp in the desert. And they went by camel. It would be our turn tomorrow.

 

Introduction

Arrival

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

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