Category: INTERESTS

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 Geology Minerals Minerals Plate Tectonics Volcanoes

Book review: Explaining the Earth: An Introduction to the Earth and its Systems, by Paul Binns

Paul Binns’ Explaining the Earth: An Introduction to the Earth and its Systems is an attractive and highly accessible introduction to the planet and its major systems. Beautifully illustrated throughout with full-colour photographs and clear explanatory diagrams, it offers a brisk survey of the familiar territory of introductory Earth science – rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, oceans and atmosphere, the Earth’s interior, mountains, deserts and so on, and the processes that shape them.

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.

Geology Minerals Minerals Mining Urban, art & anthropology

Critical minerals (Part 9): Tungsten – the minerals, geology, technology roles, and collector appeal of a strategic metal

Michael C. Mackiewicz (USA) Tungsten as an element is well-known for its extreme physical characteristics. It melts at a higher temperature than any other metal, is unusually dense, and remains hard and stable even under extreme heat, thereby making it crucial in both scientific and industrial settings. Even though tungsten … Read More

Fossils Geology North America Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Ediacaran Period (Part 5): Fractofusus – the dominant rangeomorph of the Mistaken Point biota

Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the sixth of my series of short articles on fossils of the Ediacaran Period Fractofusus is one of the most abundant and ecologically revealing organisms of the Ediacaran Period, flourishing around 565 million years ago in the deep-marine settings of the Mistaken Point Formation, Newfoundland. … Read More

BOOK REVIEWS Climate Dinosaurs Palaeontology Volcanoes

Book review: What Did Dinosaurs Think About? by Ronan Le Loeuff

At first glance, What Did Dinosaurs Think About? looks like a slightly mischievous title attached to a familiar subject. Dinosaurs, after all, have been thought about endlessly; whether they themselves did much thinking is another matter. Ronan Le Loeuff’s book makes no claim to settle that question definitively, but it does something arguably more interesting – it asks what sort of sensory world dinosaurs inhabited, and how that might have shaped their behaviour.

BOOK REVIEWS Geology Minerals Minerals Plate Tectonics Space Volcanoes

Book review: Planetary Geology: An Introduction (3rd ed), by Dominic Fortes and Claudio Vita-Finzi

Planetary geology occupies an awkward but fascinating position between disciplines. It draws its physical framework from physics and astronomy, its observational tools from remote sensing and space missions, and its interpretative instincts from terrestrial geology. Planetary Geology: An Introduction by Dominic Fortes and Claudio Vita-Finzi has, since its first appearance, sought to bring these strands together into a coherent teaching text.

Climate Europe Fossils Geology Glaciers Minerals Minerals Museums & societies Palaeontology Plate Tectonics

Geology museums of mainland Europe: The Naturmuseum Südtirol Bolzano, Austria

Jon Trevelyan (UK) The Naturmuseum Südtirol is housed in an historic building in the old town of Bolzano and was opened in 1997 in its current form. Its major theme consists of the geology of South Tyrol, that is, the region’s rocks, minerals (Fig. 1) landscapes, tectonics, its natural habitats … Read More

Climate England Europe Fossils Geology Palaeontology Plate Tectonics Volcanoes

Volcanoes, monsoons and a flooded supercontinent (Part 1): The climate engine of the Carnian Pluvial Event

This is the first of three articles on the Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE), often referred to as an ‘event’, although increasingly recognised as a prolonged episode, as I will discuss) of the Triassic that seems to have grown in importance and interest, and only become more widely known in relatively recent times. In this article, I will introduce the topic, concentrating on what might be called the “climate engine” driving what was happening.

England Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Ediacaran Period (Part 2): Charniodiscus – a frond in the quiet depths of the Ediacaran seas

Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the second of my series of short articles on fossils of the Ediacaran Period. Charniodiscus is one of the most characteristic frondose organisms of the Ediacaran Period, living around 560-555 million years ago in the quiet, low-energy seafloors that preceded the Cambrian explosion. With its … Read More

BOOK REVIEWS England Fossils Geology Minerals Minerals Mining Palaeontology Plate Tectonics

Book review: The Southern Pennines, by John Collinson and Roy Rosen (Classic Geology in Europe 13)

The Classic Geology in Europe series has, over many years, established a distinctive and reliable identity: authoritative regional syntheses written by specialists, designed for geologists who want to understand landscapes through field observation rather than armchair generalities. The Southern Pennines sits comfortably within that tradition and, in several respects, exemplifies the mature strengths of the series.

Geology Minerals Minerals Mining Urban, art & anthropology

Critical minerals (Part 6): Nickel – a mineral of beauty, industry and strategic value

Michael C Mackiewicz (USA) Minerals have shaped human societies since ancient times, but the idea of ‘critical minerals’ is fairly recent. As explored in earlier articles in this series, the Top Ten critical minerals, lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, manganese, the rare‑earth elements, tungsten, vanadium, bismuth and antimony are central to … Read More