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The oldest rocks are the wealdon clays formed when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The yellow, brown and grey rocks exposed in the bays of Compton, Brook and Brighstone contain fossilised trees and dinosaur bones! Giant casts of dinosaur footprints in stone are a famous feature at Hanover Point. Dinosaur fanatics will be fascinated by the exhibits on show at the Isle of Wight Museum of Geology in Sandown and the Dinosaur Farm along the Military Road, where you can watch geologists working on the Island's biggest ever dinosaur find, a giant Sauropod!
Later, these ancient marshy environments were covered by deep tropical seas. In these oceans lived millions of minute plankton, shellfish and plants. When they died, their shell cases fell to the seabed and built up over millions of years to form chalk. When you walk on top of St Boniface Down (the Island's highest point), would you believe that you were treading on the floor of an ancient sea over 70 million years old?
Iguanodon feed in the river Medina just outside Newport
All these ancient layers were buried, compacted and then uplifted to be exposed in the rocks. The importance of the Island's strata was recognised in Victorian days when famous scientists, including the evolutionist, Charles Darwin, examined the cliffs to study the fossil remains.
Hanover Point where dinosaur footprints can be seen in the petrified forest, but only at low tide.
The natives are much more friendlier theses days.
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Ammonite
Read Martin the Fossil man's book in the house, then go and meet him at Blackgang Chine. His fossil hunts are great fun.
Did you know...
The biggest Iguanodon ever found was found in the Isle of Wight.
Ammonites, which are millions of years old, are often found on the Island beeches. The best time to look for fossils is after a stormy sea. Many get washed up from the seabed
Ventnor has the only known colony of Mediterranean Wall Lizards in the UK. These are our very own modern day Reptiles living in our garden and in the walls of Ventnor. Very quick and timid they are best seen warming themselves on walls in the autumn sun.
