Home Locations Location Mogenstrup, Denmark

Location added:
Last Update:

august 2004
february 2008

Location Description:

At the Limfjords coast in the Jutland region in Denmark you can find various fossils. The exposed layers are from the upper Oligocene (Chatt B) (part of the Paleogene period) and consist of grey sand / clay(Brejningklei) with concretions (crab balls). These are round and have a light grey color. Actually there a three separate collecting locations. From South to North: Lyby Strand, Øster Grønning Strand and Mogenstrup Klint.

Warning: At these locations fossils are becoming quite rare unfortunately...

An concretion in the clay.

Besides the "crab balls" you can find fossils on the beach which were transported here in the iceages. These fossils originate in the limestones from the Danian and Cretaceous period.

Lyby Strand is the best accessible location, but also the most frequently visitted one. When there is a strong northernly wind, the water is pushed towards Skive, and the collecting locations become inaccessible.

Unfortunately, nothing inside.

A nice geological tip for a trip in the surroundings are the former underground limestone mines in Mønsted (in Daugbjerg there are similar mines). The mines are located west iof Viborg, not far from Skive. Je can wander around in the underground mines and there is a museum about the exploitation of the limestone. The limestones are from the Danian (part of the Paleogene period), but unfortunately no fossils can be collected here. The limestones were pushed to the surface due to saltlayers in the deep underground.

Directions:

Lyby and Mogenstrup are located north of Skive in the Jutland region in Denmark. Somewhat north of Lyby beach there is a hill where the various sedimentary layers can be seen and fossils can be found. The "crab ball concretions" are washed out by the sea. You have to split the balls with a hammer. Because of the solid rocks the fossils are mostly well preserved.

• 1 Lyby strand
  From Skive take road 551 to the north. After about 8 kilometres go to the right in direction Lyby strand. Park at the beach before the road goes inland. Walk to the north alang the coast for about 100 metres.

  
  The cliff at Lyby strand.

  
  The cliff at Lyby strand. © Photo: Gunther Everaert

• 2 Øster Grønning Strand
  From Lyby strand go north. In Øster Grønning go right in direction for the coast. From the carpark follow the path. First path to the right until the beach. On the beach walk north for about 400 metres.

  
  Øster Grønning © Photo: Taco Geertsema

• 3 Mogenstrup Klint
  From Skive take road 551 to the north. In Breum go right in direction Mogenstrup. Follow the road until you reach the coast. From the carpark walk to the beach. North from here you can look for fossils.

  
  From here, walk to the coast and walk north.

  
  The cliff at Mogenstrup.

  
  Also on the beach the clay is exposed.

Map of the area.

Topographical map of the area.

Drawing of the location.

Google Earth:

Using the free program Google Earth it is possible to view the collecting location from the air. You first have to Download and Install Google Earth. After this, you can use the links below to view the location. Placemark Mogenstrup
Placemark Mogenstrup 2
Placemark Mogenstrup 3

Finds:

Crabs, (regular) sea urchins, bivalves (i.e. Nucula, Astarte, Isocardia, Pecten) and gastropods (i.e. Drepanocheillus speciosus, Drepanocheillus cassis, Astraea, Saearlesia and Semicassis rondeletti) are most common. More than 10 species of crabs have been found here. Shark teeth and bones of dolphins are rare. Many microfossils like ostracods, foraminifers en gastropods are found here.

The crab balls are not very numerous. About one in 10 contains fossils. The best period to collect fossils here is after the winter or after heavy rain. The erosion will expose new material. In the summer I only found a few fossils here myself.

You can also find fossil sea urchins between the pebbles on the beach. These originate from the limestones from the Danian and Cretaceous period.

Crab: Coeloma sp. © Photo: Taco Geertsema

Identification:

Thare are 1 photographs of fossils from this location in the Fossil Photo database. View the Photographs to identify your own finds!

Thanks to Taco Geertsema for his contribution to this description.

Everybody using the fossil collecting location descriptions from this site has to respect the Collecting Rules!