Category: Fossils

England Fossils Geology Palaeontology Plate Tectonics

The lost rainforest of the West Cumberland Coalfield (Part 1): A window into the Carboniferous tropics

The fossils described in this series formed during the Carboniferous Period, around 320 million years ago, when Britain lay close to the Equator. The above figure places the Carboniferous within Britain’s wider geological history. During this interval, extensive tropical wetlands covered much of the country, producing the peat deposits that would later become the coal seams of the West Cumberland Coalfield. This series explores one remarkable record of that vanished landscape.

Europe Fossils Geology Museums & societies Palaeontology

Nothosaurus marchicus: A reconstruction of a Sauropterygian from Winterswijk, The Netherlands

Dennis C Nieweg (The Netherlands) and Dick Mol (The Netherlands) In April 2012, the exhibition Zeemonsters in Twente, opened its doors in Museum TwentseWelle in Enschede, The Netherlands (Fig. 2). The exhibition (held until the 28 October) told the story of the Triassic marine reptiles (Sauropterygians) found in the Dutch … Read More

Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Cambrian (Part 10): Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa – an early chordate on the threshold of vertebrates

Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the tenth in my series of short articles on fossils of the Cambrian. Among the richly preserved fossils of the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota, Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa stands as one of the most revealing. Discovered alongside Haikouichthys, and dating to around 518 million years ago, this … Read More

England Fossils Geology Glaciers Northern Ireland Palaeontology Plate Tectonics Scotland Volcanoes Wales

A tectonic history of Britain (Part 4): A quiet crust with a long memory – tectonic inheritance in the modern British landscape

Modern Britain lies far from active plate boundaries. It has no active volcanoes and experiences only minor earthquakes, and is often described as tectonically quiet. Yet its landscape is anything but passive. Hills and lowlands, coastlines and drainage patterns all reflect a deep structural inheritance established during earlier phases of continental collision, collapse and rifting.

BOOK REVIEWS England Fossils Geology Palaeontology Wales

Book review: In Search of Sea Dragons: A Fossil Hunter’s Odyssey, by Matthew Myerscough

Matthew Myerscough’s In Search of Sea Dragons: A Fossil Hunter’s Odyssey begins not with fossils, but with survival. Early in the book, Myerscough recounts how he and his future wife narrowly escaped death in an avalanche on Snowdon. The experience casts a long shadow over everything that follows. What initially appears to be a book about fossil hunting, gradually reveals itself as something rather more personal: a memoir about recovery, obsession, friendship and the strange hold that collecting can exert over people.

Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Cambrian (Part 7): Leanchoilia illecebrosa – the elegant arthropod with extraordinary great appendages

Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the seventh in my series of short articles on fossils of the Cambrian. Leanchoilia illecebrosa is one of the most striking and memorable arthropods from the early Cambrian, known from the Chengjiang biota of China and represented by exquisitely preserved soft tissues. Living around 518 … Read More

Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Cambrian (Part 5): Haikouichthys ercaicunensis – one of the earliest steps on the vertebrate path

Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the fifth in my series of short articles on fossils of the Cambrian. Among the remarkable organisms preserved in the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota, Haikouichthys ercaicunensis occupies a special place. Living around 518 million years ago, this small, fish-like animal is widely regarded as one … Read More

Climate England Fossils Geology Glaciers Northern Ireland Palaeontology Plate Tectonics Scotland Wales

A tectonic history of Britain (Part 2): When mountains fall – collapse, basins and the foundations of Britain’s lowlands

The collision that assembled Britain at the end of the Silurian (see A history of the plate tectonics of Britain (part 1): Britain assembled – oceans, collisions and the making of a geological patchwork) did not mark the end of tectonic influence on the landscape. Instead, it marked the beginning of a new phase – one that is often less intuitively grasped, but just as important. Mountain belts are temporary features. Once continental collision ceases, thickened crust becomes gravitationally unstable. Erosion strips material from the surface, while extension and faulting affect the deep roots of the orogen. The geological record that follows is not one of rising peaks, but of collapse, subsidence and redistribution.

BOOK REVIEWS Climate Fossils Geology Minerals Minerals Palaeontology Plate Tectonics Space Volcanoes

Book review: Geology: an illustrated history, by David Bainbridge

At first glance, Geology: an illustrated history appears to be another entry in the now familiar genre of large-format, image-rich popular science books. In practice, however, David Bainbridge has produced something rather more distinctive: a visually driven history of geology in which images – maps, diagrams and artefacts – take a leading role, with the text providing interpretation and context.

Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Cambrian (Part 1): Agnostus pisiformis and the Agnostids – the minimalist trilobites of the Cambrian Seas

Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the first in my series of short articles on fossils of the Cambrian. Among the most intriguing arthropods of the Cambrian and Ordovician are the agnostids – tiny, simplified, and often beautifully preserved creatures long grouped together with trilobites, but still raising questions about their … Read More

Climate Europe Fossils Geology Minerals Minerals Museums & societies Palaeontology

Geology museums of mainland Europe: The museum national d’Histoire naturelle’s Galerie de Géologie et de Minéralogie, Paris

Jon Trevelyan (UK) The origins of the collection at the Museum national d’Histoire naturelle’s Galerie de Géologie et de Minéralogie in Paris date back surprisingly far. In 1625, under Louis XIII, minerals thought to have medicinal virtues were deposited in the ‘droguier du roi’ (royal drug cabinet) associated with the then … Read More

Climate England Fossils Geology Glaciers Northern Ireland Palaeontology Plate Tectonics Scotland Volcanoes Wales

A tectonic history of Britain (Part 1): Britain assembled – oceans, collisions and the making of a geological patchwork

Britain is often described as geologically quiet. There are no active volcanoes, no subduction zones, and only modest earthquakes. Yet, for its size, few countries display such a concentration of geological variety. Mountain uplands, volcanic terrains, deeply folded rocks, and ancient metamorphic cores all occur within a relatively small area. The explanation for this diversity lies not in Britain’s present tectonic setting, but in a long and complex tectonic history that assembled the country piece by piece from fragments that originated far apart.

Australasia Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Ediacaran Period (Part 10): Tribrachidium – the tri-radial enigma of the Ediacaran seas

Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the tenth of my series of short articles on fossils of the Ediacaran Period. Of all the organisms populating the Ediacaran oceans, Tribrachidium stands out as one of the most geometrically extraordinary. Living around 555 million years ago, it possessed a perfectly tri-radial body plan … Read More

BOOK REVIEWS Climate England Fossils Geology Palaeontology Scotland Wales

Book review: A Field Guide to Collecting British Cenozoic Fossils, by Steve Snowball and Alister Cruickshanks

Books devoted specifically to collecting Britain’s Cenozoic fossils are surprisingly rare. While collectors are well served by guides to the country’s Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossils, the younger deposits that record the last 66 million years of Earth history have received far less attention. A Field Guide to Collecting British Cenozoic Fossils aims to address that gap by providing a practical introduction to the fossils and collecting sites associated with these deposits.

Climate Europe Fossils Geology Minerals Minerals Museums & societies Palaeontology

Geology museums of mainland Europe: The Museo di Storia Natural, geology and palaeontology, Verona

Jon Trevelyan (UK) The geology and palaeontology section at the Museo di Storia Naturale: geology and palaeontology in Verona is one of those museum experiences that perhaps quietly insists you pay attention if you notice it there among the other attractions of this lovely town. It doesn’t shout with flashy … Read More

BOOK REVIEWS Climate Fossils Geology Minerals Minerals Palaeontology Plate Tectonics Volcanoes

Book review: The Oldest Rocks on Earth: A Search for the Origins of Our Planet, by Simon Lamb

The Oldest Rocks on Earth is composed in a consciously popular-science style, making it an enjoyable read, as well as an informative one for readers interested in how geologists reconstruct the earliest history of our planet. This approach allows Simon Lamb to interweave the science with his own research history, particularly his PhD work and later field studies in Swaziland (now renamed Eswatini), where he investigated some of the oldest rocks on Earth.

England Fossils Geology History & biographies Palaeontology

The death of the Upper Greensand: A stratigraphic obituary for a vanished formation

For much of the twentieth century, generations of students (and amateurs like me) learned a tidy, mid-Cretaceous succession for southern England:

Lower Greensand – Gault Clay – Upper Greensand – Chalk.

It appeared in every textbook, diagram and museum panel. There was an appealing symmetry to the sequence, with two sands bracketing the impervious Gault and the Chalk resting neatly above. It seemed so natural that few doubted it.