Paramoudras, paramoudra flints, pot stones or potstones are
flint nodules found mainly in parts of north-west Europe:
Norfolk (United Kingdom),
Ireland,
Denmark,
Spain and
Germany. In Norfolk they are known as pot stones and can be found on the beach below
Beeston Bump
Beeston Regis is a village and civil parish in the North Norfolk district of Norfolk, England.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 – Norfolk Coast East''. . It is about a mile (2 km) east of Sheringham, Norfolk and near the coast ...
just outside
Beeston Regis
Beeston Regis is a village and civil parish in the North Norfolk district of Norfolk, England.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 – Norfolk Coast East''. . It is about a mile (2 km) east of Sheringham, Norfolk and near the coas ...
. In Ireland they are known as paramoudras. The term paramoudras was first used by Buckland in 1817 and is a corruption of a Gaelic name, probably padhramoudras "ugly Paddies" or peura muireach "sea pears".
Pot stones are flint nodules with a hollow center and have the appearance of a
doughnut
A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franc ...
(
torus). They can be found in columns resembling a
backbone.
These flints are
trace fossils of the burrows of an organism otherwise unknown except for these relics sometimes referred to as ''
Bathicnus paramoudrae''.
Notes
External links
* geography,or
Paramoudra on chalk outcrop''* Aranzadi Science Society - Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzad
Paramoudras en arenisca de la Formación Jaizkibel''{{geology-stub
Geography of Norfolk
Trace fossils