A Review of Deposits Magazine (Issue 32)

Deposits magazine is a quarterly publication dedicated to fossil collecting and geology.  Published in the UK, this colourful magazine covers a wide variety of topics in each edition, and issue thirty-two which arrived at our offices yesterday is no exception.

In memory of Dr David Mayhew

This issue is dedicated to the memory of Dr David Mayhew who sadly passed away in October, after a short illness.  The first article in this edition, provides information on the discovery of a Middle Jurassic trace fossil showing crocodilian footprints and a possible Chelonia (member of the tortoise family) track as well.  The fossil was found in Scalby Bay, north of the seaside resort of Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast.  This part of the English coastline is famous for its Jurassic fossils.

Moving to slightly warmer climes, although we acknowledge that Yorkshire was a tropical fluvial delta 160 million years ago, there is an article continuing a series of presentations mapping the geology of Jamaica, there is also the second part of a feature explaining the geology of the Giants’ Causeway in Northern Ireland.

The Front Cover of Deposits (Issue 32)

A magazine for rock fans.

Image credit: Everything Dinosaur

Deposits Magazine

Pictures taken of reader’s fossil finds over the summer months are also included, with a number of successful fossil hunting trips from locations around the British Isles and overseas  being highlighted.  This dovetails nicely with a feature written by one contributor which discusses the invertebrate fossils to be found in the Lower Muschelkalk Formation of the Netherlands.  Brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods and arthropods are all represented by the fossil specimens.

It is hard to believe that around 240 million years ago (Early Triassic), that Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark and north-eastern France was covered by warm, shallow tropical sea that teamed with ancient life.  Some of these prehistoric creatures have left a fossil record to be explored.

Examining Graptolites

Under the title “The Strangest of the Graptolites” there is a highly informative description of  retiolite graptolites with amazing, high magnification electronic microscope images of the structure of these bizarre colonial creatures that lived in marine environments during the Palaeozoic Era.

Packed with news stories concerning fossil finds, the latest research and events this magazine provides an excellent read for anyone with a passing interest in geology, rocks and the fossils that can be found in some of them.  There is even an article highlighting the controversial research into understanding whether or not significant amounts of DNA could survive the fossilisation process.  Any magazine that includes a piece entitled “Could you Receive a Blood Transfusion from a Neanderthal”, gets a big thumbs up from us.

For replicas of prehistoric animals and scale models of dinosaurs: Prehistoric Animal Figures and Dinosaur Replicas.