The shell fossil beach (also known as ‘Susan Hoi’ or Shell Cemetery in Thai) is located at Laem Pho, near Ao Nam Mao, Krabi Province, which is around 17 kilometres away from Krabi city (about 10 kilometres from Ao Nang beach). It looks like broken “slabs of concrete” flooring from afar.
These ‘concrete slabs’ are in fact cemented fossilized snail shells, dwellers of the freshwater swamp that covered this area approx. 35-40millions of years ago. A rise in the sea level killed all the snails and other aquatic life that existed here. The shells have piled up on top of one another and were cemented together by silicic matter and is about 40cm thick in places. 10cm thick lignite coal underlies these slabs and a layer of shales underlies the coal. Due to geologic upheaval, this shelly limestone is now distributed in broken slabs on the seashore. Presence of laterite, lateritic soil, river and beach sands overlying fossil beds indicate the existence of fresh-water lakes.
One of the sites is located to the west of the visitor centre and it crops out as a rocky beach and is clearly exposed during maximum low tide. The pan shaped outcrop is resulted from sinking of underlying claystone beds. A second site is exposed as a 1-2m thick limestone bed, located near the visitor centre. This limestone bed contains millions of compacted gastropods and is underlain by 20-40cm thick lignite and claystone beds. These beds are easily eroded by waves resulting in collapsing of gastropod beds. A third site is located approximately 1km to the east of the visitor centre and can be accessed through tracks during low tide. Mollusk beds at this site are approximately 3m thick, consists of gastropods and bivalves.
How to reach
The shell fossil beach can be reached by a mini-bus or a motorcycle taxi from Ao nang area or Krabi city. There is an entry fee of 200 baht for foreigners, to access the site. However, the ticket booths close after 4.30pm and you can walk in without paying for the ticket.
I drive to the fossil beach in the morning without knowing that it was high tide and the site cannot be accessed during that time. Later in the evening around 5pm, I came back after visiting the tiger cave temple and emerald pool. The ticket booths were closed at that time and I happily walked to the site without paying and spend the entire evening there. It was an amazing site, especially for a geology student. The fossil slabs were very slippery and after a few initial steps, I took extra care for each steps as I didn’t want to fall down and bang my camera on to that strong fossil beds and damage the geological wonder under my feet. I overheard many people authoritatively saying that these are concrete slabs.
Please ake a few hours and visit this place, if you are in Krabi. This is a geological miracle, one of only three such sites in the entire world (others are in Japan and Chicago, US)
