Category: LOCATIONS
An early specimen of ‘AMMONITES Walcotii’ and Sowerby’s ‘Mineral Conchology’
Ru D A Smith (Malaysia) A fascinating aspect of palaeontology is the history of early descriptions and the process of assigning and revising the scientific names of fossils. A recently discovered nineteenth century ammonite specimen discussed here provides a vivid illustration of the sometimes tortuous process and can be connected … Read More
Băile Herculane: Field notes of a geologist in Romania
Marta Pino Larrío (Spain) In July 2023, I travelled with fellow geologists to Băile Herculane, an ancient Romanian town in the Western Carpathians, situated between the Danube and the Serbian border. Our mission was to analyse the site for a new railway tunnel that will replace the existing one. Băile … Read More
The hand-beast of Blackwaterfoot, Isle of Arran
Neil D L Clark (UK) In about 1999, a single, fossilised footprint was discovered on the Isle of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland (Fig. 1). It was known of before this, but kept secret in case it was vandalised. At that time, it was the first, and only … Read More
Geological anomalies: Chalcedony breccia in a cinnabar matrix and the disappearance of Michigan’s geology professor
Steven Wade Veatch (USA) Hidden among geological marvels at a mineral show was a cinnabar-bearing chalcedony breccia-specimen (Fig. 1). The term “breccia” refers to a rock composed of angular fragments, while “chalcedony” describes a type of cryptocrystalline quartz. Adding “cinnabar” specifies the presence of mercury sulphide, which creates a distinctive … Read More
Fossils from Denmark (Part 3): Getting exercise walking the beaches of Denmark
Niles Laurids Viby (Denmark) I have written a few articles for this magazine on specific formations here in Denmark. However, a lot of local fossil collecting is done simply by walking along the seashore. Some beaches are fronted by cliffs – and some of those are base rock, like the … Read More
De Kuilen: A Dutch treasure trove of Neogene vertebrates
P Formanoy and HJ Ahrens (The Netherlands) De Kuilen is a wet sandpit forming a lake and recreational area located near the small village of Langenboom, about 15 miles south of Nijmegen, in the eastern part of the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant (Fig. 1). Among fossil collectors, the site is … Read More
Does the ground sloth, Mylodon darwinii, still survive in South America?
Dr Ross Barnett and Simon Sylvester In Zoology, nothing is more exciting than the rediscovery of an animal previously thought long extinct. The coelacanth (Latimera chalumnae) and the ivory-bill woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) are two famous recent examples of ‘Lazarus’ taxa. Well-publicised rediscoveries like these promote the idea that refugia containing … Read More
Fossils of the West Somerset coast
Neale Monks (UK) The West Somerset coastline, between Blue Anchor and Lilstock, exposes an almost complete succession of strata from the latest Triassic well into the Early Jurassic (Fig. 1). Fossils are abundant throughout, mostly invertebrates such as ammonites, brachiopods and oysters, but also with vertebrate remains at certain horizons. … Read More
Iron from the sky
Michael D Johnson It has now been 63 years since a huge iron meteorite impacted the Sikhote-Alin Mountains of the former USSR. Imagine what it must have been like on that cold morning of 12 February 1947 – the tremendous smoke trail, the thunderous crash and the roaring sound it … Read More
Providing deep benefits to the deep Pocomoke River
Deborah Painter (USA) The famed English explorer of the “New World”, Captain John Smith, led expeditions during the early 1600s to create charts and plan settlements along the east coast of the United States, from what is now Virginia to Maryland and, on a subsequent voyage, New England. Smith’s map … Read More
Trace fossils of Redhill Ridge’s Dakota sandstones
Chris Retzlaff (USA) The Redhill Ridge area in Park County, Colorado is a hogback composed of Dakota Sandstone. This fine-grained, Cretaceous sediment – near the town of Fairplay – contains trace fossils (Figs. 1 and 2) that help palaeontologists understand what the environment was like there, more than 65 million … Read More
A personal view of the strange horizons of bear, hyena, cro-magnon and neanderthal in the caves of Soyons
Rob Hope (Franc) I worked over several summer seasons as a museum assistant and bilingual guide in the karstic cavern system of Soyons, in France’s rocky Ardéche region. Here, seven large caves hide a fantastic kaleidoscope of ancient organic reminders from the later shadows of the Pleistocene (Quaternary). Running parallel … Read More
Barrow Hill: An ancient very British volcano
Dr Trevor Watts Barrow Hill (Fig. 1) is a little gem. It is virtually unknown, very accessible and in the middle of a large town – Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Nowadays, it is almost swallowed up in the western suburbs of Birmingham (Fig. 2). A brief summary … Read More
Fabulous Fossils exhibition at Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
Dean Lomax (UK) Dr Dean Lomax is now well known from his books, television appearances and especially for his work on marine reptiles. However, before all this, he wrote this article for Issue 21 of Deposits. After returning from a long summer working in the USA at the Wyoming Dinosaur … Read More
Book review: Geologists’ Association Guide No. 77 – Cumbria, compiled and edited by Richard Wrigley
In many ways, this updated guide is exactly what I want from a GA guide – extensive coverage, well written, and oodles of colourful photos and graphics. I liked and used the previous edition (GA No. 2), and it’s a shame that, for example, the Ordovician site of Stockdale Quarry has disappeared, but it – and no doubt other locations – has been replaced by, what I suspect, are just as good, if not better, sites.