Tebay Methodist Church, sits on the road out of the village. We are here to look at the stones that form the building, or to be more specific the fossils in the stone, namely, the limestone lintels. There are plenty of EarthCaches about limestone and the process of fossilisation, we are here to be more specific to look at a certain type of fossil, which are quite well preserved. Do not however expect anything the size of T-Rex, this is micro-geology 
.
We have come to look at a certain type of fossil which forms this limestone. Namely an extinct brachiopod.
So what are Brachiopods?
Brachiopods have a long history of life on our planet, bascially they were and still are filter feeders, with their organs enclosed with their shell. Their shells are known as valves , with one being the dorsal and the other the ventral. When they were alive the two valves were aligned together, but in death, as the organic matter decomposed, the shells became disarticulated, so their evidence is commonly just one shell. At times the fossil valves may be seen as a transverse section, when they appear to have the an oval shape, whilst at others times, the valves may be seen in cross section, in which case they appear as a curling line. Some brachiopods attached themselves to the sea floor by the form of a pedicle, which was a fibrous anchor. Here there is preserved evidence of pedicles insitu.
This being an EarthCache, in order to log it, I ask that you answer the below questions. Please send them to me, and do not include them in your log. You can send them to me by using the message facility or email, both of which can be found by looking at my profile.
1. Please find the brachiopod fossils with the pedicle attached, how many are there?
2. Are the brachiopod fossils articulated or disarticulated?
3.Please measure the brachiopod fossils, how wide are they?
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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