An acclaimed international collection of earth science articles and book reviews on palaeontology, geology, minerals and more
Michael Mackiewicz (USA) Minerals have shaped human progress for millennia, but the concept of critical minerals is a modern one. As discussed in earlier articles, the Top 10 critical minerals (lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, manganese, rare earth elements, tungsten, vanadium, bismuth and antimony) are essential to advanced technologies, global economy, … Read More
Wayne W Sukow PhD and David L Schuder BA (USA) This is the last of three articles on the beaches of Sedar Bay. The first largely covered the geology of the area, the second discussed collecting minerals from the region, whereas this will cover the collection of fossils. Fossils from … Read More
Michael Mackiewicz (USA) Minerals have shaped the direction of human civilisation for thousands of years, from early use of copper and gold in tools and ornaments, to the extraction of iron and tin during the Bronze Age. However, the idea of critical minerals is much more recent. As explained in … Read More
Wayne W Sukow PhD and David L Schuder BA (USA) This is the second of three articles on the beaches of Sedar Bay. The first largely covered the geology of the area. This article will discuss collecting from the region. Collecting Sedar Bay agates, minerals and fossils The collection of … Read More
Michael C Mackiewicz (USA) This is the first of several articles on the Top 10 critical minerals. ‘Critical minerals’ is a relatively modern term that will be explained in this article. Minerals that shaped civilizations Minerals have played a central role in human development for thousands of years. From the … Read More
Wayne W Sukow PhD and David L Schuder BA (USA) This is the first of three articles about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Here, there are many miles of Lake Superior shoreline, but the three articles will just cover the Keweenaw Peninsula, where you can find agates, copper, silver, datolite, … Read More
Zachary Sepulveda (USA) The subject matter of this short article is a rare, agatised snail fossil from the Jurassic Period, which was found in the Morrison Formation, and a dinosaur bone of an unknown species from the same layers. Both specimens are from Colorado. The Morrison Formation is a sequence … Read More
Dr Neil Clark (UK) The last place most people will associate with amber is Scotland. Yet, it is the place where some of the oldest inclusions (from the Carboniferous) in tree resin have been found. Amber is defined differently by different cultures. Its precise origin is unknown, but is fossilised … Read More
Ru D A Smith (Malaysia, UK) Aragonite is a common mineral in the skeletons of marine organisms (Cusack & Freer, 2008), but is not typically well preserved in the fossil record due to its tendency to recrystallise as its more stable polymorph calcite. Certain circumstances can however enhance the preservation … Read More
Henk Oosterink (The Netherlands) In the past, I have written about fossils from the Muschelkalk of Winterswijk (the Netherlands) (see Diversity of trace fossils from the Anisian (Middle Triassic) of Winterswijk, The Netherlands, Invertebrate fossils from the Lower Muschelkalk (Triassic) of Winterswijk, The Netherlands and Triassic reptiles from the Lower … Read More
Gary Paton (UK) There are many types of employment that geology may offer, but one in particular that I would like to describe is the wellsite geologist. I have been employed in this position for approximately four years in the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea. This article aims to … Read More
Wayne Sukow (USA) Found in situ at the Wolverine #2 Mine in Houghton County, MI is a rare and unique Lake Superior agate. Some of those recovered are infused with varying amounts of massive copper, ranging from flecks visible to the unaided eye to solid stretches of native copper. Some … Read More
Steve Koppes (USA) When the solar system was born 4.5 billion years ago, davisite and grossmanite were soon there. These minerals were two of the first solids to form when an interstellar gas cloud collapsed to form the sun. Found in the Allende meteorite (Fig. 1), they now carry the … Read More
Paul Cox (UK) During the 1980s, the secretary of the local branch of my professional association was famous for arranging field trips to places of interest. By and large, these had nothing to do with my profession, but they were nevertheless interesting places. One day, he had arranged a visit … Read More
Elizabeth Devon (UK) ‘I know it’s Monday when a new Earth leaning idea appears’ – quote from a supporter in India. The Earth learning idea was set up for the International Year of Planet Earth with the intention of reaching as many children throughout the world as possible, particularly those … Read More
Tony Forsyth (Australia) Located over 1,100km west of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia is the city of Broken Hill (Fig. 1). Nicknamed Australia’s “silver city”, with a population of over 20,000 people, it is now a prosperous centre for mining, the arts, tourism and film production. However, my wife … Read More
Wayne Sukow (USA) In Part 1 of this article, I showed how agate begins to form. Starting with tiny bubbles on the surface of a cavity in basalt, a husk forms showing their imprints. These bubbles are implicated in the creation of amorphous silica aggregates. There is also a steady … Read More
Today (14 December 2024), we start a four-part series on the geology and chemistry of Lake Superior agates, by Dr Wayne Sukow (USA), who these days is a retired physicist from the National Science Foundation in the USA. Wayner wrote these articles a while ago for us, and provided some … Read More
Marta Pino Larrío (Spain) In July 2023, I travelled with fellow geologists to Băile Herculane, an ancient Romanian town in the Western Carpathians, situated between the Danube and the Serbian border. Our mission was to analyse the site for a new railway tunnel that will replace the existing one. Băile … Read More
Steven Wade Veatch (USA) Hidden among geological marvels at a mineral show was a cinnabar-bearing chalcedony breccia-specimen (Fig. 1). The term “breccia” refers to a rock composed of angular fragments, while “chalcedony” describes a type of cryptocrystalline quartz. Adding “cinnabar” specifies the presence of mercury sulphide, which creates a distinctive … Read More
