Book review: The Abyss of Time, by Paul Lyle
For anyone like me who finds the immensity of geological time (‘deep time’) both fascinating and fundamentally difficult – both emotionally and intellectually – this is a great book.
Fossil fishes of the Old Red Sandstone, Scotland
Dr Neale Monks (UK) While they can be found in many other parts of the British Isles, Scotland is uniquely associated with Palaeozoic fossil fishes. That Scotland’s fossil fishes are so well known is largely thanks to a remarkable man from Caithness, called Hugh Miller. Where scholars had dismissed the … Read More
Coccoliths: Tiny fossils with immense paleontological importance
Robert Sturm (Austria) Microfossils, such as foraminifera, diatoms, ostracods and conodonts, are usually studied using a magnifying glass or under a stereo-microscope. However, nannofossils, such as coccoliths – with sizes measured in micrometres – are way beyond the resolving power of these optical tools. In general, coccoliths are very regularly … Read More
Geology museums of Britain: Whitby Museum, Yorkshire
Dean Lomax and Jon Trevelyan (UK) By the early nineteenth century, geology in England had started to appeal to the public at large. For instance, in 1824 the Reverend William Buckland of Oxford University named the first dinosaur (Megalosaurus bucklandii) and, after this, it seems that this awe inspiring group … Read More
Book review: Introducing Sedimentology (1st edition), by Stuart Jones
Dunedin Academic Press has once again added a title to its series of introductions to scientific subjects. As you will probably be aware, in the past, I have positively reviewed a large number of them for this magazine. This one is a short introduction to an essential subject to any budding geologist .
Rose and blue quartz
Steven Wade Veatch (USA) Quartz (SiO2) is a common mineral found in all three classes of rocks (igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary), in many environments and in a range of colours. However, rose and blue quartz are less common than some of the other varieties. This article discussed these two extraordinary … Read More
Monster nautiluses of the Palaeozoic
Neale Monks (UK) The handful of nautilus species found in seas today are small, retiring animals that scavenge about at night, foraging for carrion and crustacean moults. However, nautiluses were not always so insignificant and, during the first half of the Palaeozoic Era especially, nautiluses were major predators, occupying the … Read More
Field trip to the building stones of Canterbury
Trevor Devon (UK) Eleven members of the Hastings and District Geological Society (HDGS) assembled in front of the Canterbury Law Courts on a fine Sunday morning in June 2010 to meet up with our guide for the day, Geoff Downer. Geoff had previously given a talk to HDGS in the … Read More
Some fossil finds in the Hastings area
Ken Brooks (UK) This specimen was found in blue-grey clay on the beach at Bulverhythe, near Bexhill, by a local fossil collector in May 2008 (Fig. 1). This fish, Scheenstia mantelli, was previously known as Lepidotes mantelli (Lepidotes coming from the Greek, ‘lepidotos’, meaning ‘scaly’). Between 145 and 125Ma, there … Read More
Real ‘Southend Rock’
Bob Williams (UK) Chert and flint are crystalline (perhaps more accurately described as microcrystalline) forms of rock that man has made use of from Stone Age times. The crystals consist of a microcrystalline form of silica, more commonly known as quartz (silicon dioxide). Flint is the better-known form of this … Read More
Visiting Zigong Dinosaur Museum
Michał Zatoń (Poland) During the 8th International Congress on the Jurassic System 2010, which was held in Shehong, Sichuan Province in China, I had an opportunity to visit several palaeontological museums, exhibitions and geoparks. However, one of them exerted on me incredible impression – the Zigong Dinosaur Museum. The Zigong … Read More
Sharks of Whale Valley: Or should that be whales of Shark Valley?
Dr Charlie Underwood (UK) Leaving behind the noise and pollution of Cairo, the drive across the monotonous buff desert comes almost as a relief. After passing through the lush farmlands of the Fayum Oasis and back out onto the desert plains, the first sign of the fossils to come is … Read More
I, a Geologist (Part 1): The geology of Charles Darwin
Stephen K Donovan and Cor F Winkler Prins (The Netherlands) Darwin … devoted 1383 pages of notes to geological topics, compared with only 368 pages to biological topics.” – (Rhodes 1991, pp. 194-195) Like the writer, Johann Goethe, who inscribed himself in the guest book of Karlsbad – present day Karlovy Vary, … Read More
Moeraki Boulders: The giant marbles of New Zealand
Tasman Walker (Australia) Scattered over Koekohe Beach on the South Island of New Zealand, dozens of huge spherical boulders look like the remains of a monster game of marbles. These were recently featured on the cover of Issue 22 of Deposits. The grey, stone balls are a fascinating tourist attraction, … Read More
Coping with coprolites
Carl Mehling (USA) Generally, we have no use for it, or at least we convince ourselves we don’t, conveniently ignoring the fact that faeces of one kind or another (even our own) have fertilised our food for millennia. Organic waste products are an integral part of the living system and … Read More
On the origin of agate: A 300-year-old enigma
Terry Moxon (UK) Quartz has been estimated to occupy around 12% of the earth’s crust and can be found in many forms, ranging from the massive, clear crystals of quartz and amethyst to the microcrystalline quartz that is to be found in jasper, agate, chalcedony, chert and flint. World-wide, the … Read More
Fossil fakes and their recognition
Joan Corbacho and Consuelo Sendino (Spain) Ever since fossils first attracted the attention of mankind, they have been traded and, with the emergence of this commerce, so fossil fakes have appeared. The number of such fakes and their geographical origin has increased with time. On the one hand, this parallels … Read More
New predator ‘Dawn runner’ discovered in early dinosaur graveyard
Steve Koppes (USA) A lanky predator roamed South America in search of prey as the age of the dinosaurs began, approximately 230Ma. This dinosaur, named Eodromaeus (the “dawn runner”), sported a long neck and tail, and weighed only 4.5kg to 6.8kg. A team of palaeontologists and geologists from Argentina and … Read More
Fossils in amber (Part 2): Preparation and study
Dr David Penney and Dr David Green (UK) This is the second in a series of articles concerning fossils in amber. In the first, we focused on the biodiversity of organisms in the major deposits of the world, including the techniques available for distinguishing genuine fossils from fakes (see Fossils … Read More
Urban geology (Part 15): Palaeontology at the Wagamama restaurant, Amsterdam
Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) A misconception shared by many non-palaeontologists is that fossils are rare. For example, when governments pass legislation to protect their fossil heritage, they are stopping the export of complete and well-preserved specimens, such as those of Mesozoic dinosaurs, hominids and Ice Age mammoths. There can … Read More
Fossils in amber (Part 1): Biodiversity
Dr David Penney and Dr David Green (UK) It is almost two decades since the original blockbuster movie, Jurassic Park, brought the existence of fossil insects in amber (fossilised tree resin) into the limelight. Since then, numerous books and research papers have been published. Fossiliferous amber deposits are still being … Read More
The Ashdown maniraptor: The world’s smallest dinosaur?
Dr Steven C Sweetman (UK) Most palaeontologists now accept that birds are descended from non-avian dinosaurs and are therefore the only living representatives of otherwise terrestrial animals that ruled the world during the Mesozoic. That being the case, the Cuban bee hummingbird, which measures just 5cm in length and weighs … Read More
Urban geology (Part 16): Boulders and the Dutch
Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) My late wife, Dr Trina MacGillivray, was a geomorphologist. She loved the Netherlands and the Dutch landscape, but more than once made astute comparisons with the scenery of other northern European countries. The Dutch landscape, if it has a fault, is too organised, too well … Read More
Guide to minerals: Amazonite
Steven Marquez (USA) The specimen displayed is a variety of microcline feldspar, referred to as amazonite. Many jewellers love this mineral for making cabochons because of its brilliant colour, which is thought to be caused by traces of lead and water. The gemstone is called the “Stone of Hope”, because … Read More
Collecting minerals around the world
Trevor Devon (UK) At some time, I suppose we have all collected rocks or minerals when we were travelling to new places, mostly as mementos, but nothing quite beats the buzz of collecting specific minerals from classic locations with like-minded colleagues. This type of collecting implies you know something of … Read More
Geological expedition along the southwest coast of Scotland
Dr Robert Sturm (Austria) Compared to the geological architecture of other European countries not exceeding a total area of 100,000km², the geology of Scotland is characterised by an unusual diversity of geological features. Due to its tectono-metamorphic complexity Scotland attracted numerous earth scientists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, whose … Read More
Thirty five years of fossil collecting
Brian Day (UK) I first got interested in Fossils by accident… I was an engineer by profession and worked lots of hours travelling to Germany etc. So I took my family on holiday at every opportunity. My family comprised my Wife, Son and Daughter. I enjoyed an early morning walk … Read More
Guide to minerals: Amethyst
Steven Marquez (USA) Amethyst is the violet to purple variety of quartz. It is often associated with albite and orthoclase in pegmatites. Fine specimens of amethyst can be classified as semiprecious gemstones. This specimen was found in Cripple Creek Colorado, as a near surface deposit on the David Leighton gold … Read More
Rival theories by English amateurs: Matley, Trechmann and the geological origin of Jamaica
Stephen K Donovan (The Netherlands) The two most significant geologists to visit Jamaica and study its geology between the two World Wars were both British: Charles Alfred Matley (1866-1947) and Charles Taylor Trechmann (1885-1964). Both had active research programmes in Jamaica and the Antilles in the 1920s and 1930s, mainly … Read More
Geology and fossils of the Spilsby Sandstone Formation of Nettleton, Lincolnshire
The Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary interval is represented in Lincolnshire by the Spilsby Sandstone Formation, a shallow water marine deposit that spans the Volgian stage of the Jurassic to the Berriasian stage of the Cretaceous (Hopson et al. 2008). The ammonite faunas of this formation are of particular interest, exhibiting affinities with correlative forms in both Russia on the Siberian plain, as well as Greenland and Canada (for example, Casey, 1973; Mikhail Rogov, personal communication 2015).