Wall games are a very geological form of light entertainment and education. I certainly have amused myself by identifying rocks and their features in walls since my days as an undergraduate and before. I was […]
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Fossil fish from the north of Scotland
The north of Scotland is famous to scientists and amateur collectors for its wealth of localities where fossil fish of Devonian age can be collected. From plate tectonics, we know that in Devonian times Scotland […]
Great Plains geology – a personal journey
I grew up in the 1940s and 50s in the eastern US state of Maryland and went to cinemas on my own from the age of six, mostly to see what were then to me […]
Fake fossils by the hundred: the story of Johann Beringer’s ‘lying-stones’
The sorry tale of Johann Beringer has been part of the folklore of palaeontology for almost 200 years. In 1726, Beringer published a book illustrating some extraordinary ‘fossils’ reputedly found in the rocks close to […]
Agate: a mineral that develops with age, water and moganite
Agate is banded or variegated chalcedony and this distinctive appearance allows a ready identification from any source. Many agate thick sections from basic igneous hosts are reminiscent of a series of distorted onion-like rings with […]
A pale white dot
“There’s nothing new under the sun” goes a famous saying and these words are very apt when trying to understand Earth’s climate trends. Thanks to numerous discoveries made about Earth’s ancient past, we now know […]
What’s so special about South Devon?
Take a trip to the South Devon coast around Easter time and you are bound to come across student parties from universities engaged in fieldwork. What is it about this area that makes it so […]
The tongue-twisting horror – or beauty – of the names of organisms: a Linnaean heritage
Sometimes, your name is a tell-tale sign of who you are, or your heritage if you wish. Not too long ago, the surname Andersson logically enough meant “the son of Anders” in my native frozen […]
Siri Scientific Press: A UK-based publisher specialising in palaeontology
I have written this article as a summary of how I established myself in the fossil publishing business because it might be of interest to a general readership. First, a little background about myself is […]
The Anthropocene: should we designate a new epoch? A geologist’s perspective
Whatever your views, this is a subject that will not go away, and the concept of the Anthropocene is gaining more impetus and consideration as time goes by. In a nutshell, the Anthropocene has been […]
Discovering dinosaurs in Britain –the significance of the British dinosaur record
Palaeontology and Britain In its simplest form, palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life, through examination of fossils. Palaeontology is, however, not just dinosaurs. Dinosaurs constitute a miniscule portion of what palaeontology is. After all, […]
The Jurassic Coast (or is it?) with the Geologists’ Association
Since 2012, the Geologists’ Association (GA) has put on annual field trips to the Dorset coast led by Prof John CW Cope (of the National Museum Wales), who is author of the definitive Field Guide […]
The Armboth Dyke, Lake District
The Armboth Dyke makes a good half day geology excursion in a scenic but quiet part of the UK Lake District. Parking is on the west shore of Thirlmere, in a pay-and-display car park accessed […]
Seeing into the ‘Stone Age’: the stone tools of early man
In the early part of his evolution, man made great use of rock and stone to assist him in his activities. The term ‘Stone Age’ has been given to the period of time during which […]
Fulgurites: with the look and shape of lightning bolts
If the characteristics referred to in the title were their only quality, fulgurites would be fascinating. However, they have other unusual qualities that make them even more amazing. For example, some hold ancient air within […]
Folklore of fossil fish
Fish are the most diverse animals with backbones – that is, vertebrates – living today. Bone and teeth of fishes abound in the fossil record, from the armour-plated, primitive fishes of the Devonian, through the […]
The Musée-Parc des Dinosaures (Dinosaur Museum-Park) in Mèze, France
Just a few kilometres inland from the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France, and not too far from Montpellier, is an extraordinary theme park. Driving along the D613 from Mèze towards Pezenas, a life […]
Worm monstrosity – a giant extinct worm
In a new study published in Scientific Reports (Earth’s oldest ‘Bobbit worm’ – gigantism in a Devonian eunicidan polychaete) by Luke A Parry of Bristol University in the UK, David M Rudkin of the Royal […]
Urban geology: a rostroconch in Hoofddorp
Part of my job is to provide service teaching for the University of Leiden. The university lacks a geology department, but my colleagues and I provide tuition in stratigraphy and palaeontology for life science students […]
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) – using geology to fight climate change
Practically everyone has an opinion on climate change by now, although for the vast majority of scientists, the weight of evidence is overwhelming – emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are causing climate […]
Australia’s Polar Cretaceous mammals
The Cenozoic Era is commonly referred to as the ‘Age of Mammals’. That is certainly the time in the history of life when their fossils are most abundant and diverse. However, two-thirds of mammalian history […]
All change at Selsey, West Sussex, UK
Issue 26 of Deposits magazine in the Spring of 2011 included my article on fossil collecting at Bracklesham Bay in West Sussex, following in the footsteps of my guide book on Fossil hunting at Bracklesham […]
The Hans Sloane fossil collection at the Natural History Museum, London
Sir Hans Sloane, the Founder of the British Museum, accumulated a large number of fossilised remains of animals and plants throughout his life. His collection, including curiosities from all around the known world, was acquired […]
The Erzberg Mine in Austria – An iron ore reserve with a long tradition
The Erzberg Mine is situated in the Austrian county of Styria. From a geological point of view, it belongs to the so-called greywacke zone, which represents a band of Palaeozoic metamorphosed sedimentary rocks intercalated between […]
Fossil crustaceans as parasites and hosts
Who would like to carry a parasite? I bet not many people would like to have one or more. They are nevertheless very common in humans and in other organisms, and can affect entire food […]
Hutton’s unconformity and the birth of ‘Deep Time’
I sometimes ask a question to students in an introductory class about geology: “What is the most famous geological site in the world?” For students from the western hemisphere, the Grand Canyon in the USA […]
Humble flint sea urchins and the stories they tell
Flint is a very hard-wearing rock from the chalk of the Upper Cretaceous. Whole beaches made of flint pebbles can be found many miles away from the chalk strata that the nodules originated in, owing […]
Fossil folklore: some myths, monsters, swallows and butterflies
Myths are traditional stories embodying ancient yet false ideas. At the root of many myths lie unusual events, for example, extreme floods, or mysterious objects such as fossils. Numerous myths about different kinds of fossils […]
Cryptic crab in Cenozoic corals
Modern coral reefs harbour a large number of cryptic species: species that are either small and/or well hidden in the nooks and crannies of the reef framework. Examples include certain fish, stomatopods, shrimps and crabs. […]
The Giant’s Causeway (part 2): other volcanic highlights
This is the second and final part of an article on the volcanic highlights of Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway and surrounds. We were in the area for several days and the weather was fairly mixed, […]
