MineArchivePhosphatic nodules dug in eastern England from the 1840s, misnamed coprolites after the fossilised dung they were first taken for — most are in fact phosphatised fragments of older rock and fossil material reworked into a basal marine bed. They were dug from shallow open pits, washed, and dissolved in sulphuric acid to make superphosphate, the first artificial chemical fertiliser. The industry ran for about fifty years before cheaper imported phosphate rock ended it.
Coprolite
Mines
| Mine | Region | Worked |
|---|---|---|
| Felixstowe and Trimley Coprolite Diggings | Suffolk | Nodules identified in the Felixstowe cliffs in 1842; commercial digging from about 1845, reaching the Trimley parishes by the early 1870s–Worked out in this area by the 1880s; some Suffolk pits continued into the early 1890s |