The South Coast has many classic fossil localities - most famously the Jurassic Coast. Here at Barton on Sea the rocks are quite a bit younger - at around 40 million years old - but they still record a time when conditions vere very different from today. The clays here, called the Barton Beds, are very rich in tropical marine fossils, particularly gastropod and bivalve shells, but you can also find shark teeth and other marine vertebrate fossils if you are lucky. The soft clay matrix of the sediments means that the fossils weather out very cleanly and, despite efforts to stabilise the cliffs, fresh material is constanltly being exposed so it is a great place for fossil hunting.