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By the onset of the Quaternary Period the continents were close to their present positions, although the mid-Atlantic ridge was continuously spreading. At this time, 2.5 million years ago ( <a class="cLink"... more
By the onset of the Quaternary Period the continents were close to their present positions, although the mid-Atlantic ridge was continuously spreading. At this time, 2.5 million years ago ( <a class="cLink" queryStr="?_fmt=high&_origin=article&_docanchor=defaultINDEX_LINK_ANCHOR&_xRefDocId=bb0225m it carved the landscape of northern Canada, with meltwaters carrying the debris south as far as the Great Lakes.
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Most major recent advances in understanding the history of life on Earth have been through the study of exceptionally well preserved biotas (Fossil-Lagerstätten). These are windows on the history of life on Earth and can provide a fairly... more
Most major recent advances in understanding the history of life on Earth have been through the study of exceptionally well preserved biotas (Fossil-Lagerstätten). These are windows on the history of life on Earth and can provide a fairly complete picture of the evolution of ecosystems through time. This book follows the success of Evolution of Fossil Ecosystems by the same authors which covered Fossil-Lagerstätten around the world. The success of the first book prompted this new book which draws on four localities from the original book ...
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The papers published here in this volume of The Geological Curator form a thematic set on the commercial trade in fossils and were originally presented at a one-day GCG Conference held on 23rd May 2001 at The University of Manchester. The... more
The papers published here in this volume of The Geological Curator form a thematic set on the commercial trade in fossils and were originally presented at a one-day GCG Conference held on 23rd May 2001 at The University of Manchester. The idea for such a conference initially stemmed from discussions between staff at The Manchester Museum over the rights and wrongs of a museum acquiring unique and scientifically important palaeontological specimens, when it could not always be proved that those specimens left their country of origin entirely legally. Which was more important - the ethics or the science?
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SUMMARY Two new species of Siphonodendron have been discovered in the Visean of Great Britain and Ireland. S. scaleberense sp. nov., recorded from the Holkerian and Asbian of northern England, North Wales and Ireland, is the largest... more
SUMMARY Two new species of Siphonodendron have been discovered in the Visean of Great Britain and Ireland. S. scaleberense sp. nov., recorded from the Holkerian and Asbian of northern England, North Wales and Ireland, is the largest Siphonodendron known in western Europe. S. multiradiale sp. nov., recorded from the ?Holkerian/Asbian of South Wales, has the highest number of septa known in this genus.
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The present work is a supplement to the catalogues published by Jackson (1952) and Nudds (1992 a ). It includes all specimens referred to or figured in publications or designated as types since 1990, up to the end of 2003 when the... more
The present work is a supplement to the catalogues published by Jackson (1952) and Nudds (1992 a ). It includes all specimens referred to or figured in publications or designated as types since 1990, up to the end of 2003 when the Manchester Museum Keeperships were terminated. It does, however, exclude those non-marine bivalves published by R.M.C. Eagar which form the basis of a separate catalogue (Nudds 1992 b ; 2004). The present catalogue also includes type, figured and referred specimens published prior to 1990, but which were not previously recognized as such or which have only recently been acquired. It is inevitable when dealing with old collections that this catalogue will be similarly incomplete and the Museum would be grateful to receive references to material that has been omitted. The following are included as explanatory notes: (1) Specimens are listed by the latest name under which they have been described in publication, but are cross-referenced under all earlier names published for that specimen. (2) Stratigraphical and locality information have been updated from the original label or catalogue entry wherever possible. For specimens from Great Britain, National Grid References, where known, are given in square brackets following the locality information. (3) Some specimens included in the earlier catalogues (Jackson 1952; Nudds 1992 a , b ) have since been refigured or referred to again in subsequent publications. Only the new reference is given herein, but a cross-reference to the earlier catalogue entry is included. (4) Manchester Museum Geology Department palaeontological specimens are registered in 5 series [‘L’ …
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SUMMARY Aulina botanica sp. nov. is described from the Namurian Botany Limestone of Teesdale, Co. Durham.
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The Glaswegian botanist, George Gardner, made extensive collections of fossil fish from the Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Chapada do Araripe in northeast Brazil between 1836 and 1841. Two of Gardner's specimens have been... more
The Glaswegian botanist, George Gardner, made extensive collections of fossil fish from the Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Chapada do Araripe in northeast Brazil between 1836 and 1841. Two of Gardner's specimens have been rediscovered in the collections of the Manchester Museum, UK, and are shown to be the original syntypes of Vinctifer comptoni (Agassiz 1841) and Notelops brama (Agassiz 1841), which have been "lost" for more than a century. Replica casts of these specimens have been presented to the Universidade Regional do Cariri and the Departamento Nacional de Produ��o Mineral (in Crato, Brazil). Gardner's original type locality of Mundo Novo was possibly in the vicinity of Sitio Miquirina, near the village of Barra do Jardim, on the southern side of the Araripe Plateau.
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Research Interests: Geology and Carboniferous
JOHN R. NUDDS, PAULO M. BRITO, and JANE WASHINGTON EVANS, Palaeontology Research Group, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom,... more
JOHN R. NUDDS, PAULO M. BRITO, and JANE WASHINGTON EVANS, Palaeontology Research Group, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom, john.nudds@manchester.ac.uk; Departamento de Biologia Animal e Vegetal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rua São Francisco Xavier 524, Maracanã, 20550-013, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, pmbrito@uerj.br; Department of Geology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom, jane_w_evans@hotmail.com
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From an initial isolated position as the oldest evolutionary prototype of a bird, <i>Archaeopteryx</i> has, as a result of recent fossil discoveries, become embedded in a rich phylogenetic context of both more and less... more
From an initial isolated position as the oldest evolutionary prototype of a bird, <i>Archaeopteryx</i> has, as a result of recent fossil discoveries, become embedded in a rich phylogenetic context of both more and less crownward stem-group birds. This has prompted debate over whether <i>Archaeopteryx</i> is simply a convergently bird-like non-avialan theropod. Here we show, using the first synchrotron microtomographic examination of the genus, that the eighth or Daiting specimen of <i>Archaeopteryx</i> possesses a character suite that robustly constrains it as a basal avialan (primitive bird). The specimen, which comes from the Mörnsheim Formation and is thus younger than the other specimens from the underlying Solnhofen Formation, is distinctive enough to merit designation as a new species, <i>Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi</i> sp. nov., but is recovered in close phylogenetic proximity to <i>Archaeopteryx lithographica</i>. ...
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Possibly every palaeontologist, before and after Charles Darwin, has been well aware that the fossil record is very incomplete. Only a tiny percentage of the plants and animals alive at any one time in the past get preserved as fossils,... more
Possibly every palaeontologist, before and after Charles Darwin, has been well aware that the fossil record is very incomplete. Only a tiny percentage of the plants and animals alive at any one time in the past get preserved as fossils, both in terms of numbers of individuals and in terms of numbers of species. The palaeontologist attempting to reconstruct ancient ecosystems is therefore, in effect, trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box lid and for which the majority of pieces are missing. Under normal preservational conditions probably only around 15 per cent of the species composing an ecosystem are preserved. Moreover, the fossil record is biased in favour of those animals and plants with hard, mineralized shells, skeletons or cuticles, and towards those living in marine environments. Thus, the preservational potential of a particular organism depends on two main factors: its constitution (better if it contains hard parts), and its habitat (better if i...
The depositional environment of the upper strata of the Ashfell Sandstone Formation in east Cumbria is investigated. By recording the sedimentary sequence, we have determined a series of facies and facies associations from which we have... more
The depositional environment of the upper strata of the Ashfell Sandstone Formation in east Cumbria is investigated. By recording the sedimentary sequence, we have determined a series of facies and facies associations from which we have interpreted the conditions of sedimentation during late Arundian (Visean, Mississippian) times. The most likely interpretation is that sedimentation occurred in a shallow equatorial sea, close to a shoreline, and possibly in a lagoon environment that was subject to periodic monsoonal storms.
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A deep borehole drilled at Rookhope in Weardale, Co. Durham in 1960–61 proved the Weardale Granite below Carboniferous sediments at a depth of 390 m; an account of the Carboniferous rocks is presented. The boring commenced in the basal... more
A deep borehole drilled at Rookhope in Weardale, Co. Durham in 1960–61 proved the Weardale Granite below Carboniferous sediments at a depth of 390 m; an account of the Carboniferous rocks is presented. The boring commenced in the basal Namurian Great Limestone and entered the Dinantian at the bottom of the limestone at 25 m. Most of the ten Brigantian cyclothems sectioned in the borehole are compound and average 30 m thick. They consist of an initial cycle often more than 20 m thick and overlying minor cycles that are usuallyless than 6 m thick. Each of the cycles, both initial and minor, are coarsening upwards sequences from marine limestone or mudstohe to deltaic and fluvial mudstone, sandstone, seatearth and occasionally a thin coal seam. The underlying Asbian consists of seven cyclothems averaging 8 m thick. By contrast they are simple coarsening upwards sequences similar to the Brigantian initial cycles, but no minor cycles are developed.Marine fossils are abundant in the major...
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SUMMARY Two new species of Siphonodendron have been discovered in the Visean of Great Britain and Ireland. S. scaleberense sp. nov., recorded from the Holkerian and Asbian of northern England, North Wales and Ireland, is the largest... more
SUMMARY Two new species of Siphonodendron have been discovered in the Visean of Great Britain and Ireland. S. scaleberense sp. nov., recorded from the Holkerian and Asbian of northern England, North Wales and Ireland, is the largest Siphonodendron known in western Europe. S. multiradiale sp. nov., recorded from the ?Holkerian/Asbian of South Wales, has the highest number of septa known in this genus.
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SUMMARY Aulina botanica sp. nov. is described from the Namurian Botany Limestone of Teesdale, Co. Durham.
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Discovery of the Carboniferous rugose coral Dorlodotia briarti in the upper Scandal Beck Limestone of Ravenstonedale, Cumbria suggests that these beds should be correlated with the Belgian Cf4δ Foraminifera Zone (late Arundian) to which... more
Discovery of the Carboniferous rugose coral Dorlodotia briarti in the upper Scandal Beck Limestone of Ravenstonedale, Cumbria suggests that these beds should be correlated with the Belgian Cf4δ Foraminifera Zone (late Arundian) to which this species is confined. The base of the Arundian Stage in Ravenstonedale should therefore be lowered. The genus Dorlodotia is considered to be the fasciculate equivalent of Lithostrotionella and the columellate equivalent of Thysanophyllum.
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... Tel: +44(0)20 8905 5150 Fax: +44(0)20 8201 9233 Website: www.mansonpublishing.com Commissioning editor: Jill Northcott Project manager: Paul Bennett Copy-editor: Ruth Maxwell Cover design: Cathy Martin Book design and layout: Cathy... more
... Tel: +44(0)20 8905 5150 Fax: +44(0)20 8201 9233 Website: www.mansonpublishing.com Commissioning editor: Jill Northcott Project manager: Paul Bennett Copy-editor: Ruth Maxwell Cover design: Cathy Martin Book design and layout: Cathy Martin Colour reproduction ...
... M'Coy) subsp. nov. was found in Longcleugh surface No. 2a boring in the Single Post Limestone. The coral has extremely limited stratigraphical range in the Brigantian and is found in the lateral equivalents of the Single Post... more
... M'Coy) subsp. nov. was found in Longcleugh surface No. 2a boring in the Single Post Limestone. The coral has extremely limited stratigraphical range in the Brigantian and is found in the lateral equivalents of the Single Post Limestone on the Askrigg and Alston Blocks of the ...
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ABSTRACT
Introduction In February 2014 we circulated and solicited responses to a Google Docs survey aimed at investigating stakeholder requirements from the GCG. The survey was not aimed specifically at GCG membership, but those managing... more
Introduction In February 2014 we circulated and solicited responses to a Google Docs survey aimed at investigating stakeholder requirements from the GCG. The survey was not aimed specifically at GCG membership, but those managing geological collections or with an interest in the management of geological collections. We circulated an invitation to fill out the survey on both the GCG and Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA) JISCmail lists, on our Facebook and Twitter feeds as well as by e-mailing all members that we have on our 77 Miller, C.G. et al. 2014. Geological Curators' Group Survey 2014: results and a vision for the future. The Geological Curator 10 (2): 77-92. In early 2014 the GCG carried out an on-line survey to investigate: the present status of geological curators, potential networking with other groups, support levels for electronic delivery of our journal and newsletter, subjects requested for future workshops/training events, the need for a database of...