FossilHub – PALAEONTOLOGY (AND GEOLOGY) CENTRAL

August 21, 2022

Creatures of Curiosity

This summer’s man-made heatwave has provided us with the hottest temperatures seen in Britain for more than 120,000 years, returning North Yorkshire to a time when hippos wallowed in its rivers, elephants grazed its grasslands, and hyaena clans made their homes in its limestone caves. I will be exploring this revelation – and how it began with the discovery of...

Outreach/Teaching

August 8, 2022

The Yorkshire Fossil-Finder’s Guide

Fossils are the preserved remains of ancient life, and show how life on Earth has changed over time. Fossils can be found by anyone, of any age or experience, and fossil-finding can bring enormous pleasure. The scientific study of fossils is called palaeontology, and all people, of all ages and experience, can contribute to this science. Many parts of Yorkshire,...

Outreach/Teaching

July 22, 2022

Yorkshire Fossils Week 2022

With absolutely no county authority, and with no approval from Alan Bennett, Betty Boothroyd, or Judi Dench, I have declared the first week of August to be Yorkshire Fossils Week! If you want to join me in celebrating Yorkshire fossils, here’s the list of activities I’m involved with, or that I know about, so far: Monday August 1st (Yorkshire Day)...

Outreach/Teaching

June 10, 2022

Fossiliam’s Upcoming Events – 2022

Below are some of the events I’m involved with during the summer of 2022: Creatures of Curiosity – Nunnington Hall – Saturday July 16th to Sunday September 4th 2022. – I’ll be appearing there in person to run some fossil roadshows on the 23rd and 25th of August. Yorkshire Fossils Week – Monday 1st to Friday 5th of August. From...

Outreach/Teaching

April 17, 2022

Digging into Yarcomb Sand’oil

I realised Acomb must be vaguely scientifically interesting when I found it mentioned in Martin Lister‘s 1683 Royal Society paper “An ingenious proposal for a new sort of Maps of Countrys, together with Tables of Sands and Clays, such chiefly as are found in the North parts of England…” Lister’s idea was that rocks and sediments should be mapped, for...

Outreach/Research

March 19, 2022

Jurassic geology of Yons Nab, North Yorkshire

I was going through some papers in the loft and I came across a sedimentary log of Yons Nab, North Yorkshire, which I drew up in 2009 after visiting the site with Prof. Duncan McIlroy. As I’m never going to do anything with it, I thought I’d simply publish it here. If you’d like to explore the Middle and Upper...

Outreach/Research/Teaching

March 15, 2022

Ancient crustaceans as ecosystem engineers

In the last few months, I’ve given two public online talks with this title. They attempt to explain that the fossil record shows that marine crustaceans have been engineering new habitats for millions of years. Should you wish to watch the version I gave to the Geologists’ Association meeting in honour of Joe Collins, you can view it here:

Outreach/Research/Teaching

February 20, 2022

Rock, stone, or pebble?

I’ve been running quite a few primary school rock and fossil classes in Yorkshire this half-term. At Crofton Junior School near Wakefield, one of the girls in the class asked an excellent question: “What’s the difference between a rock, a stone, and a pebble?” I started with the easy bit, which is ‘pebble’ as that’s a particle between 4mm and...

#StratumYoung/Outreach/Teaching

January 7, 2022

The education of Miss Phillips

A few years ago, with Dr Tori Herridge, I wrote a Trowelblazers article about the marvellous Anne Phillips. As Anne’s Wikipedia page makes clear, geologist and science historian Dr Nina Morgan has been crucial in uncovering many details of Miss Phillips’ life and work, including important contributions to geological science. I very much enjoyed Nina’s recent article explaining how rail...

Research

November 25, 2021

The Big Brigg GeoBlitz!

Filey Brigg, on the North Yorkshire coast, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its Jurassic geology and its importance as a wintering habitat for small purple dinosaurs. It has much more to offer, though – something for almost every species of natural scientist, it transpires: Like palaeontology? Filey Brigg has body and trace fossils! Like sedimentology? Filey Brigg...

Outreach/Teaching