BOOK REVIEWS dinosaurs geology historical / biographies palaeontology

Rebels, Scholars, Explorers: Women in Vertebrate Paleontology, by Annalisa Berta and Susan Turner

This is certainly a somewhat different sort of book from those I usually review. As it makes clear, women have always played key roles in the field of vertebrate palaeontology, going back centuries. However, other than perhaps the most best known historical female vertebrate palaeontologists comparatively little is known about these women scientists and their true contributions have probably been obscured. In this context, the book aims to reveal this hidden history, thereby celebrating the diversity and importance of women VPs.

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Urban geology: Brush up your neoichnology

Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) It was a dry Saturday in February (2014), but it was blowing a gale such that some gusts stopped me dead in my tracks. My son, Pelham, and I were out for a walk in the Haarlemmermeersebos, which roughly translates as ‘the wood of the lake of Haarlem’. The area where we live, which includes the nearby Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport, is the bed of a lake that was drained over 160 years ago. So it is a flat, featureless, polder landscape (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1985, pp. 10-11), apart from what man has put into it; and is criss-crossed by canals and, less commonly, dotted by lakes. The canals in the Haarlemmermeersebos landscape that are intended for water transport are few; rather, most are part of the water management system in a landscape that is below sea level. In such a landscape, the weekend geologist must look hard for ‘exposures’. Building and decorative stones are always of interest (Donovan, 2014). Beachcombing on the nearby North Sea coast can be rewarding, particularly after storms when Quaternary peat clasts are washed up on the shore (Donovan, 2013). But, in truth, there is more potential for the geomorphologist than the geologist or palaeontologist. The point of our excursion in a gale was to model palaeontological collecting and to hone our observational skills in the open air. I had discovered a path paved with many hundreds of recent sea shells and rare flint pebbles in the Haarlemmermeersebos (Fig. … Read More

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Mary Anning and the Jurassic Dragons

Ray Goodwin (UK) It was a hot and sultry summer afternoon in August 1800. A happy crowd was gathered in the small town of Lyme to watch an exhibition of horse jumping in the nearby Rack Field. No one could have guessed that, before the day was out, tragedy would strike from the skies and three women would lie dead beneath a clump of elm trees. With a little 15-month-old baby in her arms, Elizabeth Haskings and two young friends hurried for shelter as, late in the afternoon, the sky darkened and torrential rain began to pour down from the heavens. Minutes later, a brilliant flash of lightning hit the trees and a terrible thunderclap reverberated around the nearby cliffs. As the rain stopped, a horrified crowd walked towards the trees and, amid the charred remains, they saw the outlines of three huddled bodies lying on the ground. The three women were terribly burnt and had been killed instantly. Sheltered by the body of Elizabeth, the baby lay unconscious but, after bathing in water, soon recovered consciousness. Legend has it that she was transformed from being a quiet, ordinary baby into a child of exceptional liveliness and intelligence. Whether this was strictly true or not, we may never know.  However, it is a fact that the child, whose name was Mary Anning, was destined to become one of the greatest palaeontologists of the early nineteenth century. Mary Anning was born on 21 May 1799 in the small Dorset town of Lyme. … Read More

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Seeds from the London Clay

Joe Shimmon (UK) With good luck and perseverance, some beautiful fossils can be collected from the London Clay, which outcrops in the south east of England. The phosphatic remains of crustacea, fish and other, rarer vertebrates are well known, and information and images of them are easily accessed, particularly on the Internet site: Sheppey Fossils. (See also Fred Clouter’s article, Sheppeyfossils.com: The genesis of a website, for a review of this website.) However, the formation’s hugely diverse floral assemblage is often overlooked, with little easily accessible information to be found on the web. Therefore, in this short article, I aim to introduce the most interesting of the London Clay’s plant fossils – its fossil seeds. Fig. 1. Various seed shapes. The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (Lower Eocene Epoch, about 56 to 49Ma) age. It consists of stiff, bluish-coloured clay, which becomes brown when weathered. And it provides one of the most varied fruit and seed floras in the world, which also happens to be the only diverse flora fossil assemblage from the Lower Eocene in Europe. There are 500 or so recognised species, which would have inhabited mangrove and tropical habitats much like Indonesia or East Africa today – bordering a warm, shallow ocean. Commonly found are specimens belonging to magnolia, vines, dogwoods, palms, laurel and bay, with a third of the fossil species present belonging to genera that are still found living today. Fig. 2. A selection of seeds. London Clay seed fossils … Read More

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Alluvial gold: A geological model (Part 2)

Philip Dunkerly (UK) In A geological model for the alluvial gold environment (Part 1), the first part of this article, I discussed how alluvial gold is found and suggested a geological model for alluvial gold deposits. (Readers are recommended to have another look at that part to remind them of the model.) In this second part, I now turn to the nature of the gold itself. Fig. 1. Gold bullion bars of 400 troy oz. Fig. 2. Sites from around the world. Gulch gold Gulch gold is the coarsest that exists in any part of a river system. If nuggets (pieces of gold weighing more than 0.1g) are present, they will mostly be found in gulches (narrow ravines), provided suitable traps are present, such as irregular bedrock. In gulch alluvium, the vast majority of the gold will be found on, or in crevices within, the bedrock. Gulch gold is often coarse and angular and may contain silicate debris, especially quartz. As examples, gold from Victoria Gulch on the Klondike was described as “sharply angular”. In the Ballarat gullies, some enormous nuggets were found and Canadian Gully yielded nuggets of 50.4, 34.7 and 31.4kg. At Bendigo, White Horse Gully, a 17.8kg nugget (including some quartz) was found. (Interestingly, of a list of 92 Victorian nuggets, 34 came from localities specifically named “gullies”.) Finally, in the Sierra Nevada of California, most of the gold is from gulches or minor streams close to croppings. Fig. 3. Old hydraulicking operation of terrace gravels, note … Read More

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Sheppeyfossils.com: The genesis of a website

Fred Clouter (UK) The Isle of Sheppey is situated at the mouth of the Thames estuary and is a part of the North Kent marshes. The north coast of the island has about 5km of London Clay exposures that are highly fossiliferous. The London Clay here was laid down between 54 and 48mya, during the Eocene epoch, on the shallow shelf of a semi-tropical sea near the estuary of a major river system. I cannot remember just when it was that I decided to embark on the project of building a website about fossils and fossil collecting in the Isle of Sheppey. However, I do know that a combination of factors led to it. The first was my rapidly growing collection of fossils from this area. The second was the book London Clay Fossils of the Isle of Sheppey that the then Medway Lapidary and Mineral Society had decided would make a good Millennium project. Information covering the fantastic fossils found there was not readily available. The only information often could only be found in old and difficultto- obtain monographs written in the Nineteenth Century or books written in French relating to fish fossils found in Britain or in Belgium and Holland where there are deposits of a similar age. As this book was a collective undertaking, my role was to take the pictures. This meant that I would have access to fossils from many private collections as well as some held in various museums. Lastly and most importantly, was … Read More

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Alluvial gold: A geological model (Part 1)

Philip Dunkerly (UK) Mankind almost certainly first found gold when a yellow, glint from the bottom of a stream bed attracted the attention of one of our ancestors in pre- historic Africa. Ever since, the allure of gold – its colour, improbable density, malleability and scarceness – meant it has been prized, and great efforts have been made to accumulate it. Most ancient peoples venerated and coveted gold and used it for decoration, and empires used gold as a store of value and a medium of exchange. The Egyptians are known to have used gold as early as about 5000 BC, followed by many others, including the Romans, the Incas, the Spaniards and, of course, the Anglo-Saxon invaders of North America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Fig. 1. Spectacular Roman paleogravel workings at Las Medulas, NW Spain, now a World Heritage site. The mouth of one of the tunnels through which water was released from a header tank is visible in the shadow. Fig. 2. Panoramic view of Las Medulas, worked by sluicing using water brought through canals up to 60km long. Though gold was won from hard-rock deposits in ancient times, most gold until perhaps 1900 was won from riverbeds, and was traditionally called alluvial or placer gold. Prospecting for alluvial gold required relatively little equipment and always attracted hardy pioneers willing to forego the comforts of society in the hope of ‘getting rich quick’. The gold they found – if they were lucky – could almost instantly be … Read More

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The Deccan Traps, India (Part 4): Quaternary sediments of the Godavari River basin, Maharashtra

Mugdha Chimote (India) The discovery of Quaternary sediments around Godavari River in Maharashtra (Fig. 1) was something of an accident. Sankalia (1952) first encountered these sediments while excavating the Lower Palaeolithic Industry in the region. Upon discovery, Sankalia brought onboard many geologists, such as Prof S N Rajaguru, Shanti Pappu, Gudrun Corvinus and R V Joshi, to bring an interdisciplinary approach to the study. Based on their geomorphic studies, Sankalia et al. (1952) concluded that the Quaternary palaeoclimates differed from present climates: the bedload stream represented wet climates, while the fine-grained sediments represented dry climates. Following this discovery, the Archaeological Society of India conducted similar such studies in the Narmada, Pravara and Tapi basins. Fig. 1. Location map of the study area. Quaternary records of upland Maharashtra include colluvial (material transported by the action of gravity) and alluvial (material transported by river) sediments. Along the river channels, alluvial sediments occur as discontinuous outcrops, whereas those in the basins do not exceed a thickness of 50m. Quaternary sediments account for the recent geological strata, which lie on the uppermost layers of earth and have been exposed relatively to the least amounts of erosion. The Earth underwent dynamic climatic variations in the Quaternary period, from glacial-interglacial events, development of monsoonal wind patterns, the formation of deserts and palaeomagnetic reversals, to mass extinctions. These incidents in turn led to geomorphic processes, such as the rejuvenation of rivers, alteration of those rivers’ courses during each rejuvenation and the occurrence of flash floods. It is … Read More

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A field guide to Barbados (Part 6): Central Barbados

Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) Stop 1. Waterford District, near Codrington Agricultural Station (approx. 59º 36’ 8” W 13º 6’ 49” N; Fig. 1) The area considered in the final part of this guide is outlined in A field guide to Barbados (Part 1): Introduction (Donovan & Harper, 2010, fig. 1e) and Fig. 1 in this article. As with other articles in this series, the starting point is Bridgetown. Fig. 1. Locality map showing the positions of Stops 1 to 6 in central Barbados. Only those roads relevant to this excursion are shown (after Donovan & Harper, 2005, fig. 12). This figure should be used in conjunction with the geological map of Poole & Barker (1983) and any tourist road map. Key: abc = ABC Highway; B = Bridgetown; 1 = Waterford district (Stop 1); 2 = Dayrells (Stop 2); 3 = Harrison’s Cave (Stop 3); 4 = Welchman Hall Gully (Stop 4); 5 = Horse Hill (Stop 5); 6 = Hackleton’s Cliff (Stop 6); coastline stippled. From the ABC Highway, turn southwest towards Bridgetown on Highway 3. In the area of the turnoff towards Codrington Agricultural Station (on the right), in the parish of St Michael, examine the road cutting, starting at the southwest corner and walking northeast. This is Stop 6 of Humphrey & Matthews (1986, p. 101), in the Middle Coral Rock, just above the First High Cliff and dated at 194,000 years old. The succession shows a range of reef-related biologically-determined facies (that is, sedimentary rocks … Read More

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Check those damaged ‘Megalodon’ teeth

Michael E Howgate (UK) Back in the days when I gave my ‘Doctor Dinosaur’ talks to museums, school groups and ‘gifted children’, I would take with me: a plaster cast of the Baryonyx claw; a beach rolled Iguanodon vertebra; and, star of the show, ‘a fossilised dinosaur poo’ (which, in reality, was an Ichthyosaurus coprolite from Lyme Regis). These were some of my collection of props, which helped engage the children through what might otherwise have been a run-of-the-mill slide presentation. Some of the bits-and-pieces I picked up to pass around among the children were a selection of broken and hence dirt cheap Carcharodon megalodon teeth (Fig. 1). (I use Carcharodon instead of the more correct Carcharocles as it is still in common use. The term ‘Megalodon tooth’ is often used by fossil dealers as a short-hand term.) These stood in for the teeth of every child’s favourite dinosaur, the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex. I would pass the teeth round and get the children to feel the serrated edge as a prelude to explaining how a serrated blade was better at cutting steak – or even a loaf of bread – than a sharper carving knife. “Only try this at home if you are supervised by both parents” was my health and safety rider at the end of this explanation. Fig. 1. Half of a C. megalodon tooth. A cheap and cheerful stand-in for a T. rex tooth. Carcharodon (now Carcharocles) megalodon, which used to be considered the ancestor of the … Read More

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A field guide to Barbados (Part 5): The Scotland District

Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) Stop 1. Chalky Mount (approximately 59º 33’ 15” W 13º 13’ 55” N; Fig. 1) The area considered in this part of the guide is outlined in Donovan & Harper (2010, fig. 1d) and Figs. 1 and 2. As with other articles in this series, the starting point is Bridgetown. Those wishing to examine the succession and structure of the Scotland District in considerably more detail than outlined below are referred to Speed (2002). This can be complimented by Patel’s (1995) discussion of the geomorphology. Readers are referred to the glossary in A field guide to Barbados (Part 2): The coastal geology of southeast Barbados Fig. 1 Locality map showing the positions of Stops 1 to 7 in the Scotland District of Barbados (after Donovan & Harper, 2005, fig. 11). Only those roads relevant to this excursion are shown. This figure should be used in conjunction with the geological map of Poole & Barker (1983) and any tourist road map. Key: C = Conset Point; H = Horse Hill; W = Welchman Hall; Stop 1 = Chalky Mount; Stop 2 = Bissex Hill; Stop 3 = Coconut Grove; Stop 4 = exposures on East Coast Road; Stop 5 = oil seep; Stop 6 = Bathsheba; Stop 7 = Bath Cliff; coastline stippled. Fig. 2 Geological map of the Scotland District of Barbados (after Donovan & Harper, 2005, fig. 2; Donovan, 2010, fig. 3; simplified after Speed, 2002, fig. 9). Key: open stipple = basal complex; … Read More

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Book review: Inscriptions of Nature: Geology and the Naturalization of Antiquity, by Pratik Chakrabarti

Maybe it’s a result of my social anthropology and geological background, but I found this difficult but fascinating book a great read. It’s about nineteenth century India. It is not about the modern geological science or social anthropology of the subcontinent, but rather, the geological imagination of India, as well as its landscapes and people, and its history.

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Book review: Fossilien im Alpstein: Kreide und Eozän der Nordostschweiz (Fossils in the Alpstein: The Cretaceous and Eocene of north-eastern Switzerland), by Peter Kürsteiner and Christian Klug

This is clearly one for our German speakers, of which I am glad to say there are many. However, this glossy and excellently produced hardback, covering the fossils of the Alpstein region of Switzerland, may have general appeal to anyone interested in the identification and study of fossils from various parts of the world, despite being written in German.

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India’s ‘Dinosaur Fossil Park’ – Raiyoli

Khursheed Dinshaw (India) Raiyoli is a village near Balasinor in the state of Gujarat, India, which has been attracting palaeontologists because of its dinosaur fossil park (Fig. 1). Curious to know more about the park, I visited Balasinor to meet Princess Aaliya Sultana Babi (Fig. 2), who is also known as the ‘Dinosaur Princess’. I had booked my stay at The Garden Palace, which is the private residence of the royal family of Balasinor. The property also offers guests’ accommodation and signature experiences. While relishing a sumptuous dinner and chatting with the warm and hospitable princess, I learnt about how she got involved with the site: “In the year 1997, Raiyoli was visited by leading palaeontologists from the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan for excavation purposes. They came to our residence for tea and, during the conversation about the site, I realised that it was time to act on my calling. I say “act” because my mother, Begum Farhad Sultana, used to tell me that, as a child when I was learning the alphabet, when it came to the letter ‘D’, it was not D for ‘dog’. Instead I learnt D for ‘dinosaur’. Spellings like Brontosaurus fascinated me even then,” she mentioned nostalgically. Fig 1. The Dinosaur Fossil Park at Raiyoli. The timing to get involved with dino-tourism was right, as foreigners began to express an interest in visiting the site. So, who better than Aaliya to guide and show them around the site? Her passion and dedication … Read More

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Philadelphia fossils and ferns

Paul Murdoch and Clay Carkin (USA) Our hectic, 48-hour adventure had its beginning many years ago, courtesy of the WWW. My friend, Clay, a sixth grade science teacher in Freeport, Maine, had originally contacted the Calvert Marine Museum fossil club’s website about purchasing fossils to use in his classroom. Although I live outside of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, I visit the Calvert County Maryland area quite frequently and have a keen interest in the fossils there. Clay and I chatted a few times, and I subsequently agreed to stop by his school and do a fossil presentation. We also discussed going fossil hunting together. However, our schedules never worked until this year. Clay will tell you that Maine is a poor state to live in, if your passion is fossil collecting. Therefore, he and I planned a 48-hour blitz of the better-known fossil localities within a 100 mile or less radius of my home. My wife and I met Clay and his wife Joye at the airport at noon on Friday and, immediately, Clay and I set off to some fossil-hunting grounds. On Friday, the first and only stop for Clay and me was a trip up I-95 and the New Jersey turnpike to the Cretaceous outcrops of marine fossils in the brooks of Monmouth County, New Jersey. After a short detour due to road construction, we were in the Ramanesson Brook, sifting through the sand and pebbles and finding sharks’ teeth. Clay was a natural, finding a shark’s tooth, Squalicorax … Read More

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A field guide to Barbados (Part 4): Bridgetown and the South Coast

Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) The area considered in this part of the guide is outlined in Donovan & Harper (2010, fig. 1C) and Fig. 1 of this article. As in other articles in this series, the starting point is Bridgetown. Fig. 1. Locality map showing the positions of Stops 1 to 5 on or near the south coast of Barbados (after Donovan & Harper, 2005, fig. 8). Only those roads relevant to this excursion are shown. This map should be used in conjunction with the geological map of Poole & Barker (1983) and any tourist road map. Key: A = Grantley Adams International Airport; abc = ABC Highway; C = Six Cross Roads; O = Oistins; 1 = the Barbados Museum, Bridgetown (Stop 1); 2 = South Point Lighthouse (Stop 2); 3 = Foul Bay (Stop 3); 4 = Woodbourne Oilfield (Stop 4); 5 = Chapel Quarry (Stop 5); coastline stippled.  Stop 1: The Barbados Museum The Barbados Museum and Historical Society was founded in 1933. Its museum occupies St Ann’s Garrison, a nineteenth century British military prison. It is situated in the parish of St Michael, southeast of the central part of Bridgetown, behind the Garrison Savannah racetrack. The museum has displays covering many aspects of Barbadian history and life, including natural history, prehistory and maps. The library is an important research resource, containing 5,000 books, monographs and articles on the culture and natural history of the island. Articles about the island’s natural history, culture and history are … Read More

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Writhlington revisited: A polychrome perspective (Part 3)

Biddy Jarzembowski, Chris Proctor and Ed Jarzembowski (UK) In this concluding part of the mini-series, we show the archaic wet forest at Writhlington (Fig. 9) which is the most familiar palaeohabitat associated with the Carboniferous age of coal. In the absence of flowering plants, the forest was less biodiverse than today’s tropical forest and more varied along the river banks (Fig. 5 in Part 2) than in the swamp. We also look in on the denizens of a forest pool (Fig. 10) and restore an extinct giant millipede (Fig. 11), one of the largest arthropods that ever lived, represented by tracks and body fossils there. An archaeorthopteran insect was seen at a distance in Part 1 (Fig. 3) and a brand-new image of another, but close up, is presented here (Fig. 12). The fossiliferous rock tipped at Writhlington represents only a fraction of Carboniferous time, much more being locked up in the mass of peat that turned into coal. The latter went mainly to fire Portishead Power Station in North Somerset and would have included peatland palaeohabitats not reconstructed here. It is the ancient fresh-water floodplain (making up the miner’s ‘roof shale’) that has been explored in detail so far. More information can be found in:Jarzembowski, E. A. 2004. Atlas of animals from the Late Westphalian of Writhlington, United Kingdom. Geologica Balcanica, 34: 47-50, pls 1-2.  Jarzembowski, E. A. 2018. Writhlington Geological Nature Reserve. In Geological sites of the Bristol Region. BRERC, Bristol.Proctor, C. J. and Jarzembowski, E. A. 1999. Habitat … Read More

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A field guide to Barbados (Part 3): Northern Barbados

Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) Stop 1: Arawak Cement Quarry The area considered in this part of the guide is outlined in Donovan & Harper (2010, Fig. 1b) and Fig. 1. As with other articles in this series, the starting point is Bridgetown. Drive north from the Bridgetown area on Highway 1, the main west (or leeward) coast road, which is constructed on the Lower Coral Rock and overlies superficial deposits. Fig. 1. Locality map showing the positions of Stops 1 to 4 in northern Barbados (after Donovan & Harper, 2005, fig. 7). Only those roads relevant to this excursion are indicated (including the track to Stop 4). This map should be used in conjunction with the geological map of Poole & Barker (1983) and any tourist road map. Key: C = Content; Ch = Checker Hall; G = Greenidge; T = Trents; 1 = Arawak Cement Quarry (Stop 1); 2 = Animal Flower Cave, North Point (Stop 2); 3 = limestone cliffs west of North Point (Stop 3); 4 = Cluff’s Bay (Stop 4); coastline stippled. The First High Cliff and the Middle Coral Rock are close by in the east (Speed & Cheng, 2004). This coast has been developed for tourism and has neither the magnificent sea cliffs of the east coast, nor the impressive Atlantic breakers seen in the previous excursion. To the west, two submerged barrier reefs, at 22m and 70m water depth, are separated from the coast by a submerged wave cut terrace (MacIntyre, 1967). … Read More

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BOOK REVIEWS dinosaurs palaeontology urban, art, anthropology

Book review: Recreating an age of reptiles, by Mark P Witton

I like palaeoart. I recently went to the ‘Dinosaurs of China’ exhibition in Nottingham (reviewed in Issue 51 of this magazine) and bought myself a copy of the Chinese palaeoartist, Zhao Chuang’s ‘The Age of Dinosaurs’ – a veritable picture-fest of up-to-date reconstructions of ancient beasts and plants, complete with fuzzy raptors and other bird-like therapods.

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Writhlington revisited: A polychrome perspective (Part 2)

Biddy Jarzembowski, Chris Proctor and Ed Jarzembowski (UK) In Part 1 of this article (Writhlington revisited (Part 1): A polychrome perspective), we focused on forest arthropods associated with scale trees (Figs. 1 to 4) that were found in the Coal Measures of Writhlington batch, near Radstock, in southwest England. We now move on to other palaeohabitats represented there some 308 million years ago. All too often, reconstructions and restorations of the Carboniferous combine diverse organisms in a single view of the terrestrial realm. (They are frequently likened to the modern Amazon, but apart from being tropical with luxuriant vegetation, the ancient communities differed in composition, species richness and sedimentary environment.) We have departed from this with several different scenes here based on the fossil assemblages and rock lithologies: mixed forest (Fig. 5), river floodplain (Fig. 6) and river channel, the latter with some large (Fig. 7) and small (Fig. 8) animals. Fig. 5. The mixed forest is depicted on drier swamp margins as near the raised river banks (levees). This diverse community is still dominated by scale trees (Lepidodendron and Sigillaria species) but with an understorey of seed ferns (Alethopteris and Neuropteris spp.) and tree ferns (Pecopteris sp.). The more herbaceous cover is provided by horsetails (Sphenophyllum, Calamites and Annularia spp.). The plant names are given generically because the species are based on details of bark and foliage which are too small to see in the painting. Fig. 6. A muddy, upper delta floodplain with temporary shallow lakes and ponds … Read More

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A field guide to Barbados (Part 2): The coastal geology of southeast Barbados

Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) and David AT Harper (Denmark) Introduction This article is the second part of a field guide to Barbados, the first part of which is A field guide to Barbados (Part 1): Introduction. The areas visited by different the excursions outlined in Parts 2 to 6 of this guide are shown in Fig. 1. All itineraries commence from the Bridgetown area and the itinerary outlined in this part is rewritten after Donovan and Harper (2002). The words in italics and bold appear in the glossary at the end of the Part 1. Fig. 1. Relative positions of field excursions described in this field guide (after Donovan & Harper, 2005, fig. 5). (a) Southeast Barbados (Part 2). (b) North Barbados (Part 3). (c) South Barbados (Part 4). (d) Scotland District (Part 5). (e) Central Barbados (Part 6). Charles Taylor Trechmann DSc, FGS (1885-1964) (Fig. 2) was an anachronism, a twentieth century gentleman geologist and archaeologist. He was an amateur with sufficient private means to dedicate his time and use his scientific abilities to make an original contribution to his chosen field of study, an original thinker with a desire to use his observations to interpret broad geological phenomena. He devoted his time to research on Malta, Gibraltar, New Zealand and, particularly, northeast England and the Caribbean. He published over 80 monographs and research papers on geology and archaeology, including at least 40 on the Caribbean (Donovan, 2003, 2008, 2010a). Fig. 2. Charles Taylor Trechmann, DSc, FGS (1884-1964) … Read More

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Book review: Fossils of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, edited by David M Martill and Steve Etches (pictures editor, Robert F Loveridge)

I always wait expectantly for the publication of a new Palaeontological Association guide to fossils and, when they turn up, I am never disappointed. This is undoubtedly another triumph. This guide attempts to bring the diversity of its flora and fauna together in a single work, for the first time.

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Writhlington revisited: A polychrome perspective (Part 1)

Biddy Jarzembowski, Chris Proctor and Ed Jarzembowski (UK) Thanks to ‘King Coal’, it is perhaps all too easy to visualise the Carboniferous Period – and especially the Pennsylvanian Subperiod – in black and white or shades of grey. The Earth’s first tropical forests – which gave us peat which turned to coal – were, however, perhaps no less colourful than some modern forests. The long-term project at Writhlington, near Radstock, currently in Bath and North East Somerset (UK), has produced a rich fossil record from the Farrington Formation dating back some 308myrs BP (to the late Asturian (Westphalian D) subage or late Moscovian). Not only has it produced many specimens, but has also allowed meaningful correlation between fossil assemblages and rock types (lithologies) left discarded on the waste tip (batch) of the former Lower Writhlington Colliery. (The finds at Writhlington can be explored by a list of further reading, which will be given in Part 3.) In the closing years of the last century, one of us (Chris) produced several reconstructions in traditional black and white, which illustrated several learned papers and regional museum displays. These included the palaeohabitat as well as selected species. Here, Biddy has applied paint brush and water colours for the first time to these scientific restorations for a new audience – tantalisingly, due to the remoteness of the age of coal. Ed has composed some explanatory notes to accompany the pictures in this three-part mini-series. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the RJG Savage … Read More

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BOOK REVIEWS england fossils geology historical / biographies mining northern ireland palaeontology scotland urban, art, anthropology wales

Book review: Measures for Measure: Geology and the Industrial Revolution, by Mike Leeder

I sat down to read this over Christmas and what a good read it turned out to be. The appropriate word is ‘eclectic’ – because Measures for Measure is written for all us with an interest in the industrial history of Great Britain, and its impact on the landscape, economy, social history and culture. It’s a great read as it dots about linking places and ideas together, with the link always being the geology.

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Agates: A brief introduction to agates in the UK

P W Forster (UK) I have many years of experience collecting and cutting agates. It was my wife who originally had an enthusiasm for these beautiful semi-precious stones and it was because of her enthusiasm that I developed an interest that has now become an obsessive hobby for the both of us. Cabinets in our home evidence the wide range of specimen stones that an amateur collector can discover. Each specimen has identification labels and is catalogued to show the date and the region where it was found. Before starting my first collecting foray, I obtained as much information on the subject as was available. To this end, I found the book ‘Agates’ by H G McPherson most useful. (This book, together with ‘Agate collecting in Britain’ by P R Rodgers, has been extensively used in the writing of this article.) From my research, it became apparent that the Midland Valley of Scotland contained many of the best deposits of agates in Great Britain. With this in mind, we paid the first of many visits to the region. We started searching along the east coast of Ayrshire. This coast abounds with small coves of pebble beaches and large stretches of andersite larvas that stretch out to sea. During the first year, we amassed a large amount of what we thought were agates, but closer examination revealed that we had collected some colourful specimens of jasper as well as some lovely quartz pebbles. This first attempt had revealed that those agates … Read More

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A field guide to Barbados (Part 1): Introduction

Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) This is the first of six articles that will introduce the geology of the Antillean island of Barbados. It is an expanded and more detailed guide derived from two earlier publications (Donovan & Harper, 2005, 2009). The structure of the guide will include a summary of the geology of the island (in this part) and five, one-day field excursions for the geologically-biased tourist. These excursions will introduce the stratigraphy, structure and geological history of Barbados (Figs. 1 and 2), a small Antillean island shaped like a contorted teardrop, about 34km long by 24km at its widest. Fig. 1. The principal features of the geological history of Barbados summarised in a single section at Spring Bay, parish of St. Phillip, on the southeast coast. Professor David Harper (University of Copenhagen) is looking northwest, towards Ragged Point (Fig. 2) and admiring the angular unconformity between the allochthonous Palaeogene basal complex (=Scotland Beds) and the overlying autochthonous bedded limestones of the Pleistocene Coral Rock. A visitor to the island, who wants to undertake fieldwork, should hire a car. The only other reliable forms of transport are bus and taxi. While cheap, buses tend to stick to the main routes, particularly in the countryside. However, the size of the island means that localities are rarely more than a few kilometres from a bus stop. If money is no object, a taxi driver will be happy to drop you at a site in the morning and collect you at a … Read More

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Bringing the best out of your fossils: Tips on the preparation of fossils

Byron Blessed (UK) As many of us know, a good day’s fossil hunting rarely stops when we leave the beach. However, many people do not know what to do with a fossil once they’ve found it. So, here are a few pointers in the art of fossil preparation. This article will not only outline what equipment you will need but will also give you general guidelines on how to use it. Fig. 1. The various stages of prep-work. Nautilusastercoides, found in the Upper Lias, Sandsend,near Whitby in North Yorkshire, UK. The first thing that any fossil preparator needs (and it isn’t something you can buy) is a lot of patience. The second thing you need is … a lot of patience! This cannot be stressed enough. Fossil preparation is a long, sometimes boring and laborious process and it is all too easy to damage specimens by being too hasty! It must also be noted that fossil preparation is not something that can easily and successfully be taken up overnight. Most of the best preparators have been in the business for decades. To think that you can immediately match their skills over night is naïve to say the least. Like any good hobby or job, practice makes perfect. In addition, it can be very costly to get all the right kit so this can become an expensive hobby. Washing specimens under the tap is a good, first step and will reveal hidden detail by removing unwanted mud and sand. Many clays … Read More

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