Deposits Earth Science Archive
An acclaimed international collection of articles and book reviews on fossils, geology, minerals, palaeontology and earth science
A few slabs of black shale from a South Wales spoil tip may look unremarkable at first glance, but with the right approach, they can reveal the structure of a 310-million-year-old coal-swamp forest. By combining plant fossils with sedimentary clues, collectors can reconstruct the ecosystem that once grew above the coal seams.
This article explores a single landscape – Aberdare – through three interlocking layers: the Carboniferous forests that formed the coal, the industrial system that extracted it, and the lives lived within that system. Each survives only in fragments: fossils weathering from shale, objects preserved in family memory, and traces embedded in the modern landscape. Taken together, these fragments allow the reconstruction of a place in which deep time, industry and lived experience are inseparable.
Michael C Mackiewicz (USA) Minerals have shaped human societies for thousands of years and will do so well into the future. Today, a newer category of materials has moved to the forefront of global attention: critical minerals. These are the elements and minerals that are fundamental components in modern technologies, … Read More
Michael C Mackiewicz (USA) Manganese (Mn) is one of the most widely used metals in modern civilisation, but despite this, Mn has for decades received only passing attention, often overshadowed by headline elements such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and the rare earths. As the twelfth most abundant element in Earth’s … Read More
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
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.
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
Michael Mackiewicz (USA) Gallium is one of those odd minerals that somehow gets people’s attention. Unlike cobalt, lithium or the majority of other critical minerals, you do not find gallium in rich ore bodies that can be mined directly. Instead, it shows up in trace amounts inside common minerals like … Read More
Michael Mackiewicz (USA) In earlier articles of this series, lithium and cobalt from the list of the Top 10 critical minerals – lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, manganese, rare earth elements, tungsten, vanadium, bismuth and antimony – were discussed relative to their value to mineral collectors,advanced technologies and the global economy. … Read More
Michael Mackiewicz (USA) Minerals have shaped human progress for millennia, but the concept of critical minerals is a modern one. As discussed in earlier articles, the Top 10 critical minerals (lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, manganese, rare earth elements, tungsten, vanadium, bismuth and antimony) are essential to advanced technologies, global economy, … Read More
Michael Mackiewicz (USA) Minerals have shaped the direction of human civilisation for thousands of years, from early use of copper and gold in tools and ornaments, to the extraction of iron and tin during the Bronze Age. However, the idea of critical minerals is much more recent. As explained in … Read More
Michael C Mackiewicz (USA) This is the first of several articles on the Top 10 critical minerals. ‘Critical minerals’ is a relatively modern term that will be explained in this article. Minerals that shaped civilizations Minerals have played a central role in human development for thousands of years. From the … Read More
Gary Paton (UK) There are many types of employment that geology may offer, but one in particular that I would like to describe is the wellsite geologist. I have been employed in this position for approximately four years in the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea. This article aims to … 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
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
Tony Forsyth (Australia) Located over 1,100km west of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia is the city of Broken Hill (Fig. 1). Nicknamed Australia’s “silver city”, with a population of over 20,000 people, it is now a prosperous centre for mining, the arts, tourism and film production. However, my wife … Read More
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
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.
Deborah Painter (USA) The breezes from the estuarine Pamlico Sound, which reach the tiny coastal town of Aurora, North Carolina in the USA along a meandering tributary, sometimes carry the evocative and not unpleasant ambiance of salt, mixed with decomposed estuarine life, such as fish, clams, crabs and other “shellfish”. … Read More
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
George Burden (Canada) The rickety taxi bumped and rattled its way southward, into the scenic peaks of the Dominican Republic’s northern cordillera. Frequent washouts from seasonal torrential rains make the going tricky and, at times, even a little perilous. However, we finally arrived at a small community, the site of … Read More
Jon Trevelyan (UK) One rainy afternoon in March, rather than getting wet collecting fossils near Radstock, I abandoned my plans and paid a brief visit to the Wells & Mendip Museum in Somerset. It is not a geology museum, but it does have some great geological exhibitions. The museum (Fig. … Read More
Jon Trevelyan(UK) Contained in what was once the Radstock Market Hall (Fig. 1), this is perhaps one of my favourite local museums. Maybe it is because the museum is close to wonderful relics of the Somerset coal industry and to the Upper Carboniferous plant fossils that were a waste product. … Read More
This is a charming little book, which describes itself as an “admittedly idiosyncratic compendium of [geological] words and phrases chosen because they are portals into larger stories”. It succeeds brilliantly at its professed goal, combining a great deal of information, education, and a gentle sense of fun, brought out very nicely by some attractive and humorous illustrations.
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
Khursheed Dinshaw (India) The first time I saw a mud volcano at close range was in Rotorua in New Zealand. I was fascinated – the raw energy of the erupting mud massively appealed to me. Once back home, I read up on mud volcanoes and learnt that, out of the … Read More
By Jean Tyler One fine Summer’s day in 1564, a group of men on horseback made their way westward from Carlisle along the rough road to Keswick. One of their number rode with the covered wagon that contained clothing, personal chattels and the tools of their trade – mining. These … Read More
Clay Carkin (USA) Thirteen, 11-year-old students in the Freeport Middle School’s sixth grade science class had an opportunity to collect fossils in the state of Alabama, 1,000 miles away from their home state of Maine. Their collecting excursion was one component of an ultimate field trip involving spelunking at Cumberland … Read More
