Deposits Earth Science Archive
An acclaimed international collection of articles and book reviews on fossils, geology, minerals, palaeontology and earth science
Hans-Henrik Meyer (Denmark) This article was written in 2011. While some of it is clearly out of date, hopefully it is still relerant for those wishing to visit the museum. The Möns Klint GeoCenter continually strives to improve the understanding of life in the Chalk Sea of 70mya. Therefore, a … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The red line(s) indicates the geological … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The red line(s) indicates the geological … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The red line(s) indicates the geological … Read More
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
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The highlighted box indicates the geological … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The red line(s) indicates the geological … Read More
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.
Heather Middleton, Mike Harvey and Steve Snowball (UK) This article describes a series of pliosaur remains recovered from the Lower Kimmeridge Clay Formation at Smallmouth Sands, Weymouth (Dorset). The material, collected as isolated elements from a single locality within the Rasenia cymodoce Biozone, includes cervical and caudal vertebrae, ribs and … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The red line(s) indicates the geological … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The red line(s) indicates the geological … Read More
Steve Snowball (UK) This article is a response to a request by the editor of Deposits to write about my inspiration and reasons for writing a series of fossil collecting guides, the latest of which is A Field Guide to Collecting British Cenozoic Fossils, by myself and Alister Cruickshanks, and … Read More
Rosalind Jones (France) Here’s a conundrum. How is it that a mountain composed of schist has a topping of Larvikite granite which is surrounded by a deposit containing Iona Marble, Old Red Sandstone and Triassic pebbles? Furthermore, why did it make global news? How did it inspire students to become … Read More
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
Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the eleventh and last of my series of short articles on fossils of the Ediacaran Period. Yorgia is one of the most distinctive members of the Ediacaran biota – a broad, quilted, segmented organism that thrived on the shallow seafloors of the White Sea region … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The red line(s) indicates the geological … Read More
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
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.
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
Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the ninth of my series of short articles on fossils of the Ediacaran Period. Spriggina is one of the most iconic animals of the late Ediacaran Period, living around 550 million years ago, just before the Cambrian explosion transformed life on Earth. Known from beautifully … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the eighth of my series of short articles on fossils of the Ediacaran Period. Rangea is one of the most distinctive and important members of the Ediacaran biota. Dating to roughly 550 million years ago, it is amongst the earliest organisms to exhibit complex, modular … Read More
Luke Sattler (USA) I recently took a field trip to the Hartsel and South Park area of Colorado with my brother, grandparents, Steven Veatch (the Pikes Peak Pebble Pups Leader) and his wife, Shelly. We went to look at two pieces of real property owned by Steven Veatchin South Park, … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the seventh of my series of short articles on fossils of the Ediacaran Period. Kimberella is one of the most influential fossils from the Ediacaran period, living around 555 million years ago and preserved primarily in the White Sea region of northwest Russia. Unlike the … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The red line(s) indicates the geological … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the sixth of my series of short articles on fossils of the Ediacaran Period. Funisia dorothea is one of the most revealing fossils from the late Ediacaran Period, offering a rare glimpse into the behaviour of early animals rather than only their anatomy. Found in … Read More
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
Robert J Williams (UK) To the north-east of London lies the county of Essex, which extends out to the east coast of England. Although not noted for its geology, it does have quite a bit to offer the amateur geologist. In addition, there is a significant body of published geological … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) Simplified summary of Britain’s geological history from the Precambrian to the present day. The coloured timeline shows the major geological periods discussed throughout this series, while the illustrations above represent some of the dominant landscapes and environments that characterised each interval. The red line(s) indicates the geological … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the fourth of my series of short articles on fossils of the Ediacaran Period. And among the most intriguing organisms of the late Ediacaran Period is Ernietta, a sack-shaped, partly infaunal creature that lived around 548-541 million years ago in the shallow seas of what … Read More
Stephen K Donovan (UK) If asked what is my favourite fossil collecting site, I would have to say the Farquhar’s Beach oyster bed on the south-central coast of Jamaica. I taught at the University of the West Indies for over 12 years and this locality was an easy drive. In … Read More
