Miocene fossil crab discovery in New Zealand


This 8 April 2020 video says about itself:

Man finds 12-million-year-old fossil, then spends 15 hours to expose crab hidden in stone

This timelapse footage shows an amateur palaeontologist uncovering an ancient crab fossil that he says is “12-million-years-old.”

The fossil, found on a beach in Christchurch, is encased in rock and Morne (Mamlambo on YouTube) carefully picks it away revealing the crab’s claws and shell.

Morne told Newsflare: “I found a fossil crab on a beach in New Zealand and then used an air scribe to remove the rock to show the fossil crab. It took about 10 hours and I made a timelapse of it.

“It [the fossil] is dated by the age of the rock it is found in, Miocene era in this case. The rock layers have been dated by some geologists using a variety of techniques, I use that information to date it. It isn’t very specific, rather a range.

“The species is a Tumidocarcinus giganteus. Found in New Zealand.”

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