Africa & Middle East – DEPOSITS MAGAZINE

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology Palaeontology

Microbial worlds in stone: Stromatolites from Tizaghte, Morocco

24/10/2026

In the dry valleys of the Anti-Atlas Mountains, some of the oldest sedimentary rocks in North Africa are exposed in spectacular detail. Along winding desert roads near the village of Tizaghte, folded bands of dark and pale rock emerge from the hillsides in sweeping patterns visible even from satellite imagery. Closer inspection reveals something potentially even more intriguing: structures that may preserve traces of ancient microbial communities that once lived in shallow seas during the latest Precambrian or earliest Cambrian.

Africa & Middle East Europe Fossils Geology North America Palaeontology United Kingdom

The weird and wonderful of the Ordovician (Part 9): Orthoceras – the straight-shelled icons of Ordovician Seas

14/10/2026

Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the ninth in my series of short articles on fossils of the Ordovician. The long, tapering shells of Orthoceras are among the most evocative fossils of the Ordovician. As straight-shelled nautiloids inhabiting the open oceans, these cephalopods represent early experiments in mobility, buoyancy control and … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Ediacaran Period (Part 11): Yorgia – the segmented enigma of the late Ediacaran seafloor

25/03/2026

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

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Ediacaran Period (Part 8): Rangea – a fractal frond from the dawn of complex life

04/03/2026

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

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The weird and wonderful of the Ediacaran Period (Part 4): Ernietta – the buried basket of the Ediacaran seafloor

28/01/2026

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

Africa & Middle East Australasia Europe Fossils Geology Glaciers Palaeontology

DNA from fossils

26/07/2025

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

Africa & Middle East Geology Minerals Minerals Museums & societies Volcanoes

Hell’s Gate (Part 2): Return to Hell’s Gate

12/04/2025

Africa & Middle East Geology Minerals Minerals Museums & societies Plate Tectonics Volcanoes

Hell’s Gate (Part 1)

05/04/2025

Africa & Middle East Geology History & biographies Minerals Minerals Urban, art & anthropology

Ancient artefacts: Ornamental beads from Egyptian tombs

14/09/2024

Africa & Middle East Geology Minerals Minerals Mining

Mali’s many minerals

16/12/2023

Deborah Painter (USA) Mali is frequently associated with the Tuareg rebel insurgents, poverty and the desertification we see in the 2023 news items about the country. I also think of Mali in terms of the healthy recipes using fish, green pepper, sorghum, spinach, rice, peanut butter, and other ingredients in … Read More

Africa & Middle East BOOK REVIEWS Climate England Europe Fossils Geology Palaeontology

Book review: Functional Inference in Paleoanthropology: Theory and Practice, by David J Daegling

11/10/2023

This is a difficult but nevertheless extremely interesting book. It is written, I think, for academics, but interested amateurs (like I did)will certainly find it stimulating – a mixture of palaeoanthropology and the philosophy of science.

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology Mining Palaeontology

Sharks of the Moroccan phosphates

01/01/2023

Dr Charlie Underwood (UK) Shark teeth are amongst the most iconic and sought after of fossils. However, for most of us, collecting them can be a difficult or even unpleasant task. I am sure that most collectors in northern Europe are familiar with picking their way over slipped cliffs of … Read More

Africa & Middle East Climate Fossils Geology Palaeontology

From sea to sand: Ancient marine reptiles from the deserts of Saudi Arabia

09/10/2022

Benjamin Kear (Australia) The hot, dry deserts of modern Saudi Arabia are not renowned as a source of ancient marine reptile fossils. Indeed, only a few years ago, virtually nothing was known beyond a few unidentified scraps of bone recovered by petroleum geologists searching for oil. However, recent exploration by … Read More

Africa & Middle East Europe Geology History & biographies Minerals Minerals Plate Tectonics South America

Building stones of the Ancient World

29/05/2022

By Ken Brooks (UK) Local stone was an essential element in the development of early civilisations, as its availability and quality determined the building styles that they created. The effective working and use of stone as a building material was a skill acquired by man at an early stage of … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology Palaeontology

The ‘trident’ trilobites of Morocco

10/11/2021

Dr Kendal Martyn (UK) Spectacular “spiny” adaptations of the Devonian (about 380Ma) trilobites of Morocco are well known. Free-standing spines, sometimes up to one hundred on a single specimen, make for spectacular (if fragile) specimens. Historically, similar species were first recognised way back in the 1880s by the classic work … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology Palaeontology

Identifying North African (Moroccan) mosasaur teeth

03/11/2021

George Corneille (Ireland) I have been a collector of marine reptile and dinosaur fossils for many years and started to sell on a small scale a few years ago. This editorial is specifically to help collectors identify teeth that they may have in their collections and to better understand these … Read More

Africa & Middle East Dinosaurs Fossils Geology Glaciers Museums & societies Palaeontology

Travelling through time: The roadmap for Namibia is in the rocks

15/09/2021

Patricia Vickers-Rich , Peter Trusler, Steve Morton, Peter Swinkels, Thomas H Rich, Mike Hall and Steve Pritchard (Australia) The “road map” allowing (time) travellers to move across more than 1,000 million years in Namibia is recorded in the rocks of this land. And, it is on display in several museums … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology Glaciers Palaeontology Urban, art & anthropology Volcanoes

Take me to the rocks: Making films about rocks

15/04/2020

Dr Sebastian Lüning (Germany) I am a geologist by profession. Everyday of my working life, I have worked with rocks, from nine to five, for 19 years, looking for oil and gas in the Sahara. Sometimes this is stressful, sometimes really enjoyable and sometimes simply annoying – just like any … Read More

Africa & Middle East Geology Minerals Minerals Urban, art & anthropology Volcanoes

La Gomera: A short geological guide

16/01/2019

Ken Madrell (UK) The island of La Gomera has an area of 370km2, it is 25km in diameter, has a maximum altitude of 1,487m (Alto Garajonay) and is situated approximately 40km west of Tenerife. Unlike the other Canary Islands, La Gomera has experienced a long and continuing eruptive break and … Read More

Africa & Middle East Climate Geology Glaciers Minerals Minerals Museums & societies Palaeontology Plate Tectonics

Geological transformation of Sharjah, UAE

11/01/2019

Khursheed Dinshaw (India) In this article, I will briefly deal with the fascinating and relatively recent geological transformation of the Sharjah region of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Sharjah needs no introduction in terms of it being a popular tourist destination, especially for families. However, very few know how it … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Museums & societies Palaeontology

West Coast Fossil Park, Western Cape, South Africa

15/08/2017

Margaret A Dale (UK) While planning a touring holiday, which encompassed part of the west coast of South Africa, I spotted the words “fossil park” on the map, about 150km north of Cape Town, some distance from a village called Langebaanweg. Intrigued to find out more, I searched the Internet … Read More

Africa & Middle East Dinosaurs History & biographies Palaeontology

First description of dinosaur fossils by Al-Andalusī in the twelfth century

10/08/2017

Dr Ahmed K Al-Rawi (The Netherlands) Western sources refer to a few scholars who were the pioneers in describing huge fossilised animals that are now known to be the remains of the long extinct dinosaurs. Around 1677, the British scholar, Robert Plot, was widely believed to have written the first … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology History & biographies Palaeontology Urban, art & anthropology

Encountering desert deposits in Oman

20/07/2017

Clarissa Wright (UK) Oman is a geologically fascinating country, where the bedrock beautifully exposes a one-billion-year history. I had the opportunity to explore this country in a group expedition, during which we pursued our own scientific studies from January to March 2014. My geological observations during the expedition were opportunistic … Read More

Africa & Middle East Dinosaurs Mining Palaeontology

Dinosaur mines of the Kem Kem

23/02/2017

M’Hammed Segaoui and Dr Charlie Underwood (UK) The great transgressions that occurred in the mid part of the Cretaceous have had a profound influence on the geology of many parts of the world. In North America, the seas flooded the central part of the continent to produce the Western Interior … Read More

Africa & Middle East Plate Tectonics Volcanoes

Pico Partido: Volcanic perfection in the Canaries

31/01/2017

Dr Trevor Watts (UK) Lanzarote is the easternmost island of the Canaries, less than 100 miles (about 150km) off the coast of Morocco. It is part of Spain, but not officially in the European Union and Pico Partido is a sharp, prominent peak near the centre of the island, between … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Palaeontology

Shedding light on an isolated skull: A new elasmosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco

13/12/2016

Dean Lomax (UK) The bodiless plesiosaur In 2011, a plesiosaur specimen, consisting of an isolated and crushed skull, was described. The collected skull sadly lacked any postcranial remains, but was identified as an elasmosaurid plesiosaur and considered to be something new. Therefore, it was given the name Zarafasaura oceanis. The … Read More

Africa & Middle East Geology Minerals Minerals Plate Tectonics

Triassic salt in the High Atlas of Morocco

17/11/2016

Chellai El Hassane (Morocco), Ghanmi Mohamed (Tunisia) and Doblaas Miguel (Spain) The Triassic terrestrial deposits at the northern edge of the High Atlas near Marrakech are mainly represented by thick sequences of massively layered, red sandstone. These are topped by a formation of silt and pink-brown clay containing large deposits … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Glaciers Palaeontology Plate Tectonics

Living fossils in a petrified forest

09/08/2016

James O’Donoghue (UK) It’s a Welwitschia! Nestling among 280 million year old fossil tree trunks, this is the rare plant I have been searching for. Two wonders of the natural world – the living, sprawling Welwitschia and the ancient, petrified trees – have fortuitously come together here in Namibia. Separated … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Geology Glaciers Minerals Minerals Palaeontology Plate Tectonics

Natural wonders of the Maghreb, Morocco

07/06/2016

Sebastian Lüning (UK) Morocco is a popular tourist destination. Most people travel to the white beaches of Agadir to sunbathe and relax, to watch the magicians on Djemaa el-Fna square in Marrakech, or to go shopping in the UNESCO-protected Osouk of Fes. However, Morocco has much more to offer. Some … Read More

Africa & Middle East Fossils Mining Palaeontology Urban, art & anthropology

Farming for fossils in Morocco

08/03/2016

Charles Underwood (UK) Fossil sites are generally the result of happy coincidence. It may be that this is the result of natural processes, when the sea or a river has eroded into cliffs of fossil bearing rocks. It could also be the result of human activity, where a quarry opened … Read More