Hands-on Palaeontology

Stephen K. Donovan

Description

A comprehensible reference manual for palaeontologistson many aspects oftheir science. Topics discussedrange from the esoteric,such as palaeoecologyand preservation, to the practical, such as the storing of specimens and photography.

Sujets

• Sciences et techniques
• Paleontology

Informations

• Publié par: Dunedin Academic Press
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781780466644
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

HANDS-ON PALAEONTOLOGY
a practical manual
Stephen K. Donovan
For the Palaeontographical Society, 175 years young in 2022 and an inspiration for all palaeontologists everywhere
Contents
Acknowledgements
Sources
Foreword (by Professor David A.T. Harper, Durham University)
Introduction
Getting started
Chapter 1 How to collect
Chapter 2 Where to collect
Chapter 3 What to collect
Chapter 4 The field notebook
Chapter 5 Measuring sections (and why)
Chapter 6 The Law of Superposition
Chapter 7 Fossiliferous sedimentary rocks: Siliciclastics
Chapter 8 Fossiliferous sedimentary rocks: Limestones, flints, cherts and coals
Chapter 9 Reworked fossils
Chapter 10 Fossils as way-up structures
Chapter 11 Fossils as current indicators
Chapter 12 Your palaeontological library
Chapter 13 Fossils in caves
Chapter 14 Beachcombing
Chapter 15 Common sense in the field
Chapter 16 Collecting with a camera
Chapter 17 Buying specimens
Some theoretical aspects
Chapter 18 Palaeoecology 1: The organism
Chapter 19 Palaeoecology 2: Organism meets organism
Chapter 20 Palaeoecology 3: Getting more information from the bed
Chapter 21 Preservation 1: Fossilization
Chapter 22 Preservation 2: Death
Chapter 23 Preservation 3: Disarticulation, transport and residence
Chapter 24 Preservation 4: Burial and diagenesis
Chapter 25 Trace fossils
Working on your collection at home
Chapter 26 Storage
Chapter 27 Labelling
Chapter 28 Photography at home
Chapter 29 Drawing
Chapter 30 Specializing in your favourite fossil group
Chapter 31 Writing descriptions
Chapter 32 Casting from natural moulds
Chapter 33 Problems with preservation
The wider field: getting involved
Chapter 34 Collaboration
Chapter 35 Scientific societies
Chapter 36 Conferences
Chapter 37 Journals and magazines
Chapter 38 Offprints, PDFs and filing
Chapter 39 Visiting museums
Chapter 40 Ideas for further involvement
Chapter 41 Publishing I: Persuading you to get involved
Chapter 42 Publishing II: The hard work of self-editing
Chapter 43 Publishing III: How to publish a new species
Fossils in many fields
Chapter 44 The field guide
Chapter 45 Field trip: Den Haag, the Netherlands
Chapter 46 Field trip: The Piltdown Trail
Chapter 47 Field trip: Overstrand to Cromer, Norfolk
Chapter 48 Field trip: Cleveleys, Lancashire
Chapter 49 Field trip: Queen Victoria’s bathing beach, Isle of Wight
Chapter 50 Field trip: Salthill Quarry, Clitheroe
Chapter 51 Field trip: Hurdlow, Derbyshire
Chapter 52 Field trip: Antigua
Chapter 53 Field trip: Aktuo-Paläontologie of Southport Beach, Merseyside
Glossary
Index
Acknowledgements
My first acknowledgement must go to the Government of the Netherlands. I worked in Leiden. Safe in the knowledge that my retirement date was 2nd June, 2021, I wrote the proposal for this book, which was accepted by Dunedin Academic Press (DAP). About two years to complete the book looked ample. And then the Government changed my date of retirement to 2nd October, 2020. Lopping eight months off the time available to write was not really welcomed as such, but it did concentrate the mind wonderfully. Book writing was something that occurred at lunchtimes and weekends, which had to become more focused. Then came the Covid19 pandemic and I was writing at home every day. The last ten or so chapters were written in weeks, not months, thanks to my focused approach. Thanks, too, to the anonymous reviewer of this early incarnation for their constructive comments. Special thanks to Patrick N. Wyse Jackson (Trinity College, Dublin) for reading a later version of the text and spotting too many gremlins, all minor, but enough to make me say ‘Oops’!
Many thanks to all the colleagues, reviewers and editors of almost 40 years, many of which I am proud to call friend, who have supported, criticized, corrected and debated my ideas on palaeontology and geology. Anthony Kinahan at DAP and his external assessor both liked my book proposal, and said full steam ahead. I have not been too much of a strain on the children, Hannah and Pelham, during the course of this writing project, mainly because they have been living and studying in Manchester for most of this period. Similarly, my partner, Karen, although providing support and encouragement from across the North Sea, saw me only once or twice a month, at best, and then came Covid19.
Most of the first draft of each chapter was written in one or more café. The Vascobelo Café in Scheltema bookstore in Amsterdam was the place of choice for breakfast and writing on Saturday mornings. I miss those scrambled eggs and coffee now I have retired and moved back to the UK. Lunchtimes in Leiden were shared between Subway (steak and cheese), Wok Your Way (beef teriyaki) and the Hotspot Central (beef Szechwan), which were my favourite places for lunch and writing at lunchtime. McDonald’s and, particularly, Subway in Hoofddorp were favourites for scribbling during a light evening meal. All of the above were indispensible, providing a table and coffee (usually more than a coffee) to grease my writing. It is not an exaggeration to say all were essential as I wrote this book.
Stephen K. Donovan Thursday, 18th March, 2021
Sources
With few notable exceptions, all the illustrations in this book are mine, either new or reproduced from my published papers. Full bibliographic references are provided in the captions of each and every image or diagram that has been previously published. My own illustrations, reproduced herein, appeared in the following research journals and magazines, some sadly no longer with us, which I am grateful to acknowledge for publishing my research papers and more general articles.
Atlantic Geology ( Fig. 1.1 )
Bulletin of the Geological Society of Norfolk ( Fig. 47.2A , B )
Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum ( Figs 8.1B , 10.1 , 23.2 , 28.1 , 32.3 , 47.3A , B )
Caribbean Journal of Science ( Figs 5.2 , 7.1 , 25.1C )
Cave Karst Science ( Fig. 13.1 )
Contributions to Tertiary Quaternary Geology ( Table 20.1 , Figs 20.2 , 22.1 )
Publication of the Craven Pendle Geological Society, UK ( Fig. 50.4A - C , E )
Deposits ( Figs 16.1 , 24.2 , 25.1D , 30.1 , 52.2C , 52.3 )
Fossil Forum ( Fig. 29.3 )
Geological Curator ( Fig. 17.1 )
Geological Journal ( Figs 24.1 , 25.1B )
Geological Magazine ( Figs 13.2 , 23.3 , 32.1 )
Geology Today ( Figs 6.1 , 16.2 , 45.2 – 45.7 , 52.1 )
Ichnos ( Figs 14.2 , 24.4 )
Journal of Paleontology ( Fig. 20.1 )
Journal of the Geological Society of Jamaica ( Figs 29.1 , 29.2 )
Lethaia ( Figs 3.1 , 5.3 , 9.1 , 9.2 , 52.6 )
Mercian Geologist ( Fig. 50.4 )
Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society ( Fig. 29.4 )
Netherlands Journal of Geoscience ( Fig. 10.2 )
North West Geologist ( Figs 26.1 , 50.1 )
Palaeontology ( Fig. 19.1 )
Palaeoworld ( Fig. 22.2E )
Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington ( Fig. 2.1 )
Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association ( Figs 3.2 , 22F , 31.2 , 31.3 , 31.4 , 46.4 , 46.5 , 51.3 , 51.4 , 52.2A , B , 52.4 )
Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society ( Figs 8.1A , 11.1 , 11.2 , 14.1 , 22A–D , 25.1A , 47.2C , D , 48.2 , 48.5 , 50.4F )
Scripta Geologica ( Figs 47.1 , 47.4 )
Swiss Journal of Palaeontology ( Figs 10.3 , 47.3C , D )
Tertiary Research ( Figs 13.3 , 13.4 )
Wight Studies: Proceedings of the Isle of Wight Natural History Archaeological Society ( Figs 49.1 , 49.3 , 49.4 )
Permission to reproduce one figure ( Fig. 18.1 herein) from the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association was kindly granted by the Professor David R. Bridgland, Chair, Geologists’ Association Publication Committee.
Foreword
By Professor David A.T. Harper (Durham University)
Life has been evolving on our planet, and as far as we know, nowhere else, for over 3.8 billion years. Our knowledge and understanding of the increasing complexity and diversity of life through time are based on the remains of once-living organisms, fossils. The assiduous collection and careful extraction and preparation of fossils, be they the soft-bodied wonders of the Cambrian, giant dinosaur skulls or the more humble ammonites, brachiopods, crinoids and trilobites, are the fundament of life’s history. Yes, there are many good textbooks that explain the science of palaeontology at various levels of detail, but none quite like this one. Stephen Donovan has, based on over 40 years of experience in the field, provided a refreshingly different and lively dimension to this, the most exciting of the earth sciences.
Why is this book so special? Steve, through 52 short chapters (a successful format adopted in his admirable and highly recommended Writing for Earth Scientists ), has covered virtually everything you need to know to be a practising palaeontologist. Drawing on his own personal experience, that of colleagues, and the literature, the book both educates and entertains. The first cluster of 17 chapters covers some basic and important concepts: fossils should be carefully collected, properly documented, with detailed locality and stratigraphic data, and with common sense. With each fossil there is a context, be it a sedimentary environment, a stratigraphic section or a historical perspective. Moreover, there are occasions where a photograph rather than the specimen itself will serve as a collection. Once you have built up a fossil collection, now is the time to use it and interpret it. A second group of chapters, 18 – 25 , is more focused on the theoretical background to our subject, introducing the reader to various strands of palaeocology (the study of life of the once-living organism and its associated communities), its preservation and the myriad of behavioural patterns or the traces that organisms produced in life. Chapters 26 – 33 remind us that there is much to be done at home preparing material, managing it and providing adequate storage. Then, t