A Review of Issue 36 (Winter 2013/14) of Deposits Magazine

The latest edition of Deposits magazine arrived at Everything Dinosaur the other day and what a jam-packed edition it is.  In the previous issue there was an article all about Pliocene micro-fossils and a beautiful image of the foraminifera Polystomiella vuispa, can be seen on the front cover.

Inside, there is an eclectic mix of articles on fossils, geology and palaeontology from a number of international contributors.  For example, there is a brief feature summarising the latest research into Late Cretaceous elasmosaurid fossils from Morocco and the preceding pages detail a successful fossil hunting trip to Abereiddy Bay (Pembrokeshire, Wales) to study those enigmatic, bizarre graptolites.  Graptolites are/were (see below) a group of tiny animals that lived in colonies and built minute tubular homes for themselves.

Deposits Magazine

Graptolite fossils look like pencil markings or saw-blades preserved in strata and a number of species are important in helping to identify geological biozones.  If you thought that the graptolites were extinct then this article is worth reading as it proposes a link between Graptolites and extant Pterobranchs.

Deposits Magazine Issue 36

Issue 36.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A Trip to Iceland

Geologists will get their kicks from a very informative article from Dr Trevor Watts and his trip to Iceland to journey down the emptied-out magma chamber of a volcano.  For those of us who stay closer to home there is an article all about classifying ammonites as well as a super article all about Doncaster (South Yorkshire) and this part of Yorkshire’s hidden treasures in terms of geology and palaeontology.  Lots of fossil finds, a number of news snippets and an update on a series of articles on how the tropics drives speciation.  All in all, this magazine makes a wonderful read, and with the dark nights and long days in the Everything Dinosaur offices, it is a welcome magazine, one that will help us plan a few fossil hunting excursions of our own.

Visit the website of Everything Dinosaur: Everything Dinosaur.