A decade ago, a nearly complete elasmosaur skeleton was found near Courtenay on Vancouver Island, in rocks dating from 80 million years ago, and it caused a sensation. Finds like this remind us that British Columbia is home to some of the richest marine fossil beds in the world, most of them on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands which lie along the geographically active "ring of fire" encircling the Pacific Ocean.

Written by two leading paleontologists, this concise and authoritative guide introduces fossils from the area, from delicate insect wings to razor-sharp shark teeth to coiled ammonites the size of truck tires, each of which was once a living part of an ancient ecosystem.

The book includes maps, charts and more than 200 fossil photographs, as well as information for locating, collecting, studying, photographing and preserving fossils, and notes on the ethics of fossil collecting.

Rolf Ludvigsen (1944-2016) was a geology professor at the University of Toronto and an adjunct professor in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at University of Victoria. He was also a consulting paleontologist, and the founding chair of the British Columbia Paleontological Alliance. He co-authored the popular book West Coast Fossils: A Guide to the Ancient Life of Vancouver Island (Harbour Publishing, 1997) with Graham Beard.

Rolf Ludvigsen's profile page

Graham Beard, who has collected fossils for thirty years, runs the Vancouver Island Paleontological Museum in Qualicum Beach.

Graham Beard's profile page