A wall of Cretaceous ammonites

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–On our way back from Eilat this afternoon, Will and I took a short hike to see the “Ammonite Wall” on the southern outside beds of Makhtesh Ramon. It is an impressive tilted array of large ammonites in the Tamar Formation (Cenomanian). Current thoughts are that this represents a massive death assemblage. The ammonite conchs, which all seem to be of the same species, washed into an embayment and were buried. This is not uncommon as ammonite conchs probably filled with gases after death and floated great distances. They are all preserved as internal molds, with a few, such as the one below, showing their suture patterns.