Fossils, geology and minerals. Highly acclaimed international earth science blog with over 850 articles and book reviews.
Stephen K Donovan (UK) The south of England in the late 1940s and 1950s must have been a wonderland for the field palaeontologist. There were still many working or recently discarded quarries. Transport was easy and affordable by rail and bus. Visits to quarries were rarely difficult. It was a … Read More
At first glance, the title might mislead you into expecting a simple guide to finding fossils while strolling along the beach – a sort of field companion for holiday rock-hunters. But Stephen Donovan’s Fossils on the Seashore is a very different creature. It’s not about collecting curiosities for the mantelpiece. It’s about understanding the dynamic relationship between the living and the fossil record, and how coastlines act as natural laboratories for palaeontological and neoichnological study
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
There are few books (and indeed writers) that have managed to bring fossils, fieldwork anecdotes, scientific rigour and humour together as effortlessly as The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs, Dean R Lomax’s newest offering (with art word by Bob Nicholls). It is more than just a compendium of strange fossils – it’s an invitation to look behind the display cases, to the lives of creatures long vanished (and not just dinosaurs as the title suggests).
Have you ever wished to time-travel to the Miocene while armed with a PhD and a GPS unit? Well, At the Foot of the Himalayas is your next best thing. This sweeping but masterfully integrated volume brings the Siwalik Hills – the sediment-rich, fossil-packed foothills of the Himalayas – into sharp scientific focus.
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
Stephen McLoughlin (Sweden) and Vivi Vajda (Sweden) Among the rolling green hills of Skåne in southern Sweden lies the valley of Fyledalen. The valley lies about 27km north of Ystad – best known as the setting of the Wallander detective novels and television series. Today, most of the valley has … 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
John St James Stewart Buckeridge (Australia) It is through observation and categorisation of the living and inanimate objects around us that we develop an acceptable world-view of our environment. But what happens when something we observe does not fit a recognised category? This is less common today perhaps, because we … Read More
Dr Ross Barnett (UK) Could you receive a blood transfusion from a Neanderthal? The question, as strange as it sounds, gets to the crux of our yearning to truly understand extinct species of the past. What did they look like? How did they live? What blood flowed through their veins? … Read More
Denis Bates and Anna Kozłowska (Poland) Graptolites (grapto + lithos = writing in the rocks) are common Palaeozoic fossils – found from the Cambrian to the Carboniferous. Usually, they are preserved as flattened and altered remains in mudrocks, particularly the black shales or slates known as “Graptolitic Shales” (Fig. 1), … Read More
WAJ Rutter (UK) On 2 June 2011, a large slab of faunal tracks was found in Scalby Bay, north of Scarborough (Fig. 1). These footprints were immediately recognised as not being dinosaur footprints due to the size, shape and distribution of the tracks. They were in a fallen block, which … Read More
Jason Sherburn, (UK) Living near the coast is amazing. Or, at least, that’s how I imagine it to be for budding fossil collectors intent on unlocking the mysteries of the ancient world. However, I live about 50 miles from the coast and, while my own area is not topographically dull, … Read More
Deborah Painter (USA) Why is there a reef in a cavern under a hill in south-central Pennsylvania in the USA? My good friends Richard Hedges and David Hawk and I wanted to know the answer. We had seen various websites which describe an amazing commercial cave with one wall composed … Read More
Dick Mol (The Netherlands) The first finds of mammoth fossils and other representatives of the ice age megafauna occurred in 1874. It was assumed then that there must have been a mammoth graveyard offshore of the province of Zeeland in The Netherlands. To date, many thousands of megafaunal remains have … Read More
Vivi Vajda (Sweden) In a valley in the Andes, at 2,500m above sea level, is Bolivia’s third largest city – Cochabamba. The town is beautifully surrounded by snow-capped mountain peaks of which the highest is Tunari at 5,088m. For a palaeontologist, the town is an excellent base camp, as it … Read More
It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Roy Bullard, who died on the 12th of May 2025 after a long and courageous battle with health issues. Roy was the joint founder and former editor of Deposits magazine, a publication he helped launch with Alister Cruickshanks in 2004. Together, they built a platform that became a valued voice in the geological and palaeontological communities—one that welcomed contributions from professional academics, undergraduate students, and dedicated amateurs alike. Roy retired from Deposits and its parent company UKGE in 2016 due to health reasons, but his legacy and influence have remained ever-present.
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Recently, I spent a few days on my own down at one of my favourite fossil hunting sites – Copt Point and East Wear Bay in Folkestone. As readers probably know, the Gault Clay at Folkestone is a marine sedimentary deposit from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) period, … 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
Mike Viney (USA) Introduction The Front Range of the Colorado Rockies is not a place one would expect to find a residence designed in the style of a European castle. So, for me, it was a delightful surprise to learn about the existence of Cherokee Castle in Sedalia, Colorado (Fig. … Read More
I reviewed Paul Taylor’s book, A History of Life in 1000 Fossils, a while ago and really enjoyed it and its format. And I should note that Paul is a long-time contributor to Deposits, in part due to his ability to write great English to explain palaeontology to amateurs and experts alike.
