Tag: UK
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Throwback Thursday #257: RIP Richard Fortey
This is Throwback Thursday #257. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. I was saddened to learn of the passing of Richard Fortey last week. He was a towering…
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Amazing Discovery: Fossil Collector Unearths the Most Complete Dinosaur in the UK Since 1923
An artist’s impression of the dinosaur. Credit: John Sibbick SciTechDaily has a story about a new dinosaur found on the Isle of Wight. The animal, Comptonatus chasei, lived about 125 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. It was found by fossil collector Nick Chase and named for him. Nick has tragically died of cancer. The…
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Paleontologists unearth what may be the largest known marine reptile
Phys.org has a story about the discovery of what might be the largest marine reptile ever found. A father and daughter, Justin and Ruby Reynolds from Braunton, Devon, found pieces of the jawbone of a huge ichthyosaur that lived about 202 million years ago during the Triassic Period. While hunting fossils on the beach at…
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Shattering Preconceptions: Diverse Spinosaur Species Roamed Cretaceous Britain
SciTechDaily has a story about dinosaurs in Britain. A recent paper in the journal Peerj Life & Environment proposes that multiple spinosaur species lived in Britain during the early Cretaceous Period. Baryonyx is the most popularly known species. The researhers looked at spinosaur teeth and found significant differences. The Wealden is famous for its spinosaur…
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Blade-like spikes covered newly discovered dinosaur unearthed in the UK
Live Science has a story about a dinosaur discovery in the UK. The new dinosaur, Vectipelta barretti, was discovered in 1993 on the Isle of Wight. It belongs to the sub-order Ankylosauria, which are low, wide, armored, plant-eating dinosaurs. This animal lived about 140 million years ago during the early Cretaceous Period. The description of…
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New biography of famous palaeontologist Mary Anning unearthed from University of Bristol archives
Newswise has a story about a new biography of Marry Anning. Mary Anning (1799-1947) live in Lyme Regis, England. She is famous for the fossil specimens she discovered in the eroding Jurassic cliffs in southern England. Some of those specimens were spectactular… including pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and countless ammonites. The biography was written during the last…
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Archaeologists Begin First-Ever Excavation of Tomb Linked to King Arthur
Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting article about Arthur’s Stone. Researchers hope to find clues to who used the chambered tomb, was it the actual Neolithic Britons? According to popular lore, Arthur’s Stone, a roughly 5,000-year-old tomb in the West Midlands of England, boasts ties to King Arthur, the mythical leader of Camelot. One legend holds that Arthur found…
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Fossil Friday #93: Pyritized ammonite fossils from the Jurassic Coast in England
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #93. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! For this week, we have a tale…
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Never-before-seen ammonite muscles revealed in 3D from Jurassic fossil
Phys.org has a story about an amazing ammonite fossil. The 165 million year old fossil has revealed never-before-seen soft body detail in an ammonite. It was found about 20 years ago in Gloucestershire, UK. Researchers at Cardiff University and Imperial College London, who published their study in the journal Geology, found evidence of muscles and…
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Mazon Monday #23: Interesting Pennsylvanian Fossil Sites: Crock Hey, Lancashire, UK
This is Mazon Monday post #23. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. In Mazon Monday #10, we discussed localities where siderite preservation of Pennsylvanian fossils has been found. There were a few localities listed. Here is more information about the site called Crock Hey (also Crockhey). This site was located near Lancashire in…
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Fossil Friday #2: Whitby Ammonites
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #2. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! The following pictures are from Whitby, which…
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Three Ferocious Dinosaurs Featured on New U.K. Coins
Smithsonian Magazine has a story about some new coins in the U.K. There are three new coins that have Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Hylaeosaurus, which were the first dinosaurs discovered in modern-day Britain. Over the years, the United Kingdom’s 50 pence coin has paid tribute to an array of intriguing figures who have made an important…
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‘Cthulhu’ fossil reconstruction reveals monstrous relative of modern sea cucumbers
This is a 3D reconstruction of Sollasina cthulhu. Tube feet are shown in different colors. Credit: Imran Rahman, Oxford University Museum of Natural History ScienceDaily has a story about an ancestor of modern sea cucumbers. The animal, called Sollasine cthulhu, lived 430 million years ago during the Silurian Period in what is now Herefordshire in…
