Collection News
An overview of recent activities in the Earth Science Collection - new acquisitions, publications, projects and discoveries.
Etching an Iron Meteorite
Find out how we revealed the inner beauty of our largest meteorite sample.
New fossil sites around Bristol Parkway Station
Emma Landon's recent paper describes the first sea lily and squid remains from the British Triassic period, an unexpected find from fossil sites around Bristol Parkway. Some specimens are part of our Mike Curtis collection and others were collected during her fieldwork in 2015.
Further information
Paper:
‘The first discovery of crinoids and cephalopod hooklets in the British Triassic’ by E. Landon, C. Duffin, C. Hildebrandt, T. Davies, M. Simms, and M. Benton in Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.
Public seminar on Archetypes, Ancestors and Novelty in Evolution
Our dinosaur skull models were one of the highlights of Dr. Judith Sasson public seminar on "Archetypes, Ancestors and Novelty in Evolution" whicht took place in May at the Ruskin Mill Field Centre in Nailsworth. The seminar offered enthused attendees the opportunity to comparing skeletal elements of dinosaurs and the famours Archaeopteryx.
New publication on conchostracans from the British Late Triassic
Recent paper on the use of conchostracans (clam shrimps) as a biostratigraphical tool to determine the age of British Triassic fissure deposits using specimens from Cromhall Quarry, Gloucestershire.
Further information
Paper:
‘Biostratigraphy and geometric morphometrics of conchostracans (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) from the Late Triassic fissure deposits of Cromhall Quarry, UK’ by M. Jacob, D. Whiteside, D. I, H. Manja and M. Benton in Palaeontology.
New discoveries of terrestrical reptile fossils in Holwells, Somerset.
The fissure localities of the Bristol region and South Wales have yielded some of the most important Late Triassic and Early Jurassic small tetrapods. The ‘Microlestes’ quarry fissure at Holwell, which has produced the most diverse overall fauna, was originally investigated in the 1850s by the renowned amateur geologist, Charles Moore. Since then mammal-like and marine fish fossils have been well documented, but there were few reports and barely any descriptions of the terrestrial small reptile fossils - until now.
Further information
Paper:
'Late Triassic terrestrial microvertebrates from Charles Moore’s ‘Microlestes’ quarry, Holwell, Somerset, UK’ by D. Whiteside and C. Duffin in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
New Ichthyosaur species discovered in the Earth Sciences Collection
This story has recently appeared in the BBC and the Daily Mail, amongst many other news sites.