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Fossils in Your Grow Medium — The Ancient Ocean Under the Western Cape
The soil you grow in was once an ancient ocean floor.
The Bokkeveld Sea (Devonian, ~400 million years ago) left a rich fossil record:
- Brachiopods: Australospirifer, Australocoelia, Lingula — Malvinokaffric Province (cold-water fauna unique to SA, South America, Antarctica)
- Trilobites: Homalonotus (large), Astarte
- Pelecypods: Nuculites, Palaeonotoile
- Gastropods: Bellerophon
- Trace fossils: Zoophycos (polychaete worm feeding spirals)
Why this matters for growers:
- Calcium carbonate from shells affects soil pH
- Trace minerals from ancient seawater
- Phosphate from bone material
The Cederberg Formation at Porterville has Late Ordovician brachiopods: Eostropheodonta discumbata and Marklandella africana.
The geological record is literally in your grow medium.
Source: Trusswell. Has anyone found fossils in their soil?