We have never seen this before when Twente channels were expanded.

2 enthusiastic scientists

At Gemeentekade in Delden, we installed a new quay wall behind the existing old quay wall. The material that lies between these two walls was excavated during this renovation. The question of whether fossils can be found here, and how deep they are, preoccupied biologist Eric Mulder and geologist Paul Kuipers.

Mulder (former curator and educator of the Natura Docet Museum of Nature) and Kuipers (head of Stichting Geopark Twente) were given the opportunity to conduct their research in the excavated sediments separately. It has previously been shown that it may be a fossil-rich layer from the Tertiary Age tens of millions of years ago.

This prediction turned out to be correct: fossilized shells about 20 million years old were found in the sediments!

European Amazon

Mulder talks about fossils with great passion. Delden used to be by the sea, before Holland slowly expanded due to deposits of mud and the receding of the sea. This clay was later covered with sand, because Holland formed a delta of a large river system, which is also called the “European Amazon”.

He continues: “During the Ice Age, glaciers created moraines here, and as a result, the layers of mud appeared on top of the sand again. We know from experience that beautiful surprises can be found in these layers of higher education. Huge tuna shells and whale bones were found here in the 1930’s! “

Collaboration with Rijkswaterstaat

Mulder says he is very satisfied with the collaboration between himself, Kuipers and Rijkswaterstaat. “Although the discovery wasn’t that great, it’s still a very positive thing of course that we got the space to do our research.”

Ancient shells can be seen at the Nature Museum Natura Docet in Denekamp, ​​along with a slew of other fascinating fossil finds.