̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

Into the underworld: the mountains beneath our feet

lkm37 — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:41:16 +0000

Sanne Cottaar is Professor of Global Seismology in Earth Sciences. She wants to understand Earth’s inner structure: how it shaped the surface and allowed life to form.

Report highlights ̽��ֱ��’s under-researched African collections

ta385 — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 06:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ��'s collections include an estimated 350,000 artefacts, alongside natural history specimens and human/ancestral remains, from Africa, according to a new report aiming to promote further research, collaboration and engagement, especially with African scholars and communities. ̽��ֱ��report emphasises that the labour and expertise of countless unnamed African people is hidden in the histories of these collections.

̽��ֱ��Butterfly Effect

jek67 — Wed, 22 May 2024 12:52:00 +0000

New climate-themed art exhibition by local schoolchildren opens its wings at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

World first as Bell Burnell pulsar chart goes on display

sjr81 — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 09:52:27 +0000

Iconic object exhibited for the first time, alongside works by Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking at Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library.

Going underground: Cambridge digs into the history of geology with landmark exhibition

sjr81 — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 00:01:00 +0000

Uncovering how the ground beneath our feet was mapped for the first time – and revealing some of the controversies and tragedies geology brought to the surface of intellectual debate, Landscapes Below opens to the public on Friday, November 24, at Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library.

Featuring the biggest-ever object (1.9mx1.6m) to go on display at the Library: George Bellas Greenough’s 1819 A Geological Map of England and Wales (the first map produced by the Geological Society of London), as well as a visually stunning collection of maps from the earliest days of geology – the exhibition explores how these new subterranean visions of the British landscape influenced our understanding of the Earth. All the maps belonging to the library are going on display for the first time.

“I think the maps are beautiful objects, tell fascinating stories and frame geology in a new light,” said exhibition curator Allison Ksiazkiewicz. “This was a new take on nature and a new way of thinking about the landscape for those interested in nature.

“We show how the early pioneers of this new science wrestled with the ideas of a visual vocabulary – and how for the first time people were encouraged to think about the secretive world beneath their feet.”

As well as maps, Landscapes Below also brings together an extraordinary collection of fossils, artworks and a collection of 154 diamonds, on loan from the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Displayed together for the first time, the diamonds were collected, arranged, and produced by Jacques Louis, Comte de Bournon who later became the Keeper of the Royal Mineral Collection for King Louis XVIII.

Another important exhibit on display for the first time is the first edition of George Cuvier and Alexandre Brongniart’s Researches on the Fossil Bones of Quadrupeds (1811), on loan from Trinity College. It examined the geology of the Paris Basin and revolutionised what was considered ‘young’ in geological terms.

Artists were also keen to accurately depict the geological landscape. After surviving Captain Cook’s ill-fated third voyage of discovery, artist, John Webber returned to England and travelled around the country painting landscapes and geological formations, as seen in Landscape of Rocks in Derbyshire. Christopher Packe’s A New Philosophico-Chorographical Chart of East-Kent (1743), on loan from the Geological Society of London, is a remarkable, engraved map that draws on early modern medicine in the interpretation of the surrounding landscape.

“ ̽��ֱ��objects we’re putting on display show the many different applications of geological knowledge,” added Ksiazkiewicz. “Whether it’s a map showing the coal fields of Lancashire in the 1830s – or revealing how this new science was used for economic and military reasons.”

In many ways, the landscapes the earliest geologists worked among became battlegrounds as a scientific old guard – loyal to the established pursuits of mineralogy and chemistry – opposed a new generation of scientists intent on using the fossil record in the study of the Earth’s age and formation.

Exhibitions Officer Chris Burgess said: “Maps were central to the development of geology but disagreement between its leading figures was common. Maps of the period did not just show new knowledge but represented visible arguments about how that knowledge should be recorded.”

̽��ֱ��exhibition also includes objects from those with rather tragic histories, including William Smith – whose famous 1815 Geological Map of England has been described as the ‘Magna Carta of geology’. Despite publishing the world’s first geological map (which is still used as the basis of such maps today), Smith was shunned by the scientific community for many years, became a bankrupt, and ended up in debtors’ prison.

John MacCulloch, who produced the Geological Map of Scotland, did not live to see his work published after his honeymoon carriage overturned and killed him at the age of 61. He spent 15 summers surveying Scotland, after convincing the Board of Ordnance to sponsor the project. There was some dispute about how MacCulloch calculated his mileage and spent the funds, and the Ordnance only paid for six summers’ worth of work. Five summers were paid for by the Treasury and four from his own pocket.

Added Ksiazkiewicz: “Not only do these maps and objects represent years of work by individuals looking to develop a new science of the Earth, they stir the imagination. You can imagine yourself walking across the landscape and absorbing all that comes with it – views, antiquities, fossils, and vegetation. And weather, there’s always weather.”

Landscapes Below runs from November 25, 2017 to March 29, 2018 at Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library’s Milstein Exhibition Centre. Admission is free. Opening times are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm and Saturday 9am-16.30pm. Closed Sundays.

A box full of diamonds, volcanic rock from Mount Vesuvius, and the geology guide that Darwin packed for his epic voyage on the Beagle will go on display in Cambridge this week as part of the first major exhibition to celebrate geological map-making.

We show how for the first time people were encouraged to think about the secretive world beneath their feet.

Allison Ksiazkiewicz

Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library

A Treatise on Diamonds and Precious Stones, 1813, by John Mawe

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Opinion: Mysterious footprint fossils point to dancing dinosaur mating ritual

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 17:00:59 +0000

Studying dinosaurs is a lot like being a detective. Just as Sherlock Holmes was noted for his ability to interpret the behaviour of victims or criminals using footprints, palaeontologists have a similar practice when looking for evidence of dinosaur behaviour known as ichnology.

This is the study of the traces living organisms leave behind including bones, footprints and even bite marks on leaves. Indeed, Sherlock Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was very well aware of the traces of dinosaur footprints that had been discovered in the rocks of the Weald near his home in south-east England.

Now researchers in the US have discovered some very unusual trace fossils they believe could also be footprints. Although it is far from certain, these markings may provide the first clue as to whether dinosaurs performed dance-like mating rituals similar to those of living birds.

Scratching the surface

̽��ֱ��team from the ̽��ֱ�� of Colorado Denver have unearthed some truly extraordinary trace fossils on the bedding surfaces of sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous age in Colorado. ̽��ֱ��bedding surfaces have revealed an irregular array of large scoop-shaped depressions up to 2m in diameter and adjacent hummocks. Many of the scoops also display clear and unequivocal elongate scratch marks.

Given the geological ages of these rocks, the only large, powerful ground-dwelling creatures likely to be able to make such structures would have been dinosaurs. These curious sedimentary structures are not simply a one-off isolated discovery that can be explained as just a weird bit of geology, but have been found in clusters at a number of discrete sites across Colorado. Each site has a rather similar, comparatively dense, cluster of these scoop-like structures.

At first sight it would be perfectly reasonable to consider that such structures were the remnants of ancient dinosaur nests. Dinosaur nest sites, including eggs, shell fragments and even nestling dinosaur remains are comparatively well known. They have been reported from a range of Cretaceous aged sites that have been found in North America, South America and Asia.

Dinosaur detectives. M. Lockley

But these “scoops and hummocks” differ in their detailed structure when compared to definitive dinosaur nests. Dinosaur nests tend to be circular, rather flat-bottomed, usually have traces of egg shell and are typically surrounded by a rim-like perimeter wall.

In fact, these new and distinctive structures show no evidence of what appear to be conventional dinosaur nest structure or scattered egg shell fragments. They are elongate, concave depressions with sediment clearly heaped to one side. In many instances, they display scrape marks that appear to have been made by dragging claws.

These structures are most comparable to the “leks” produced by living ground-nesting birds. Leks are effectively display arenas in which male birds perform a courtship ritual that can include dancing, showing off their feathers and making calls to attract the attention of nearby females.

̽��ֱ��researchers suggest the geological structures were originally created by theropods, the group of dinosaurs most closely related to living birds and which includes Tyrannosaurus Rex. Theropods may well have been very like modern birds in their behaviour and made the scrapes as part of the production of a display arena for courtship. However, it seems likely that if these marks were leks they would have been next to actual breeding/nesting sites, but so far no trace of nests has been discovered.

Tracking down Cinderella

̽��ֱ��frustrating thing about ichnology is that while the tracks and traces left by living creatures can be matched to observations of their actual behaviour, this is rarely the case when it comes to the fossilised traces of dinosaurs. Trying to tie the identity of fossilised tracks to the original track-maker has been a persistent problem for palaeontologists. It’s rather like the hunt for Cinderella: they have to look for animals that lived at the exact time the tracks were formed, with feet bones the right size and shape to precisely fit the shoe of the fossilised footprint.

Fossilised tracks and traces used to be rather disparaged by palaeontologists because the difficulties surrounding the identity of the actual track-maker seemed more or less insurmountable. However, the past few decades has seen a growing appreciation of the information that can be gleaned from such tracks and traces.

This includes the local environmental conditions when the tracks were made, the texture of the sediments that the creature was walking upon, and the details of foot placement, stride length and stride pattern. These can reveal a surprising amount of information about the way the track-maker walked, its posture and even the likely speed at which it was moving – very reminiscent of the skills demonstrated by Conan Doyle’s heroic sleuth.

Just a few years ago the question of bird-dinosaur affinities was also a topic that was very hotly disputed. ̽��ֱ��discovery of feathered theropods in the 1990s finally proved that theropod dinosaurs were ancestral to living birds. Although we can’t yet be sure, the new research suggests some dinosaurs may have been not just anatomically similar to birds but also have shared some mating behaviours. This gives rise to the amusing possibility of a dancing T. Rex trying to impress his potential mate.

David Norman, Reader in Paleobiology, Curator of Palaeontology, Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

This article was originally published on ̽��ֱ��Conversation. Read the original article.

̽��ֱ��opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author(s) and do not represent the views of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

David Norman (Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences) discusses how palaeontologists can interpret fossil footprints to find clues as to whether dinosaurs performed dance-like mating rituals.

Xing Lida and Yujiang Han

Tyrannosaurus tango

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Opinion: Six amazing dinosaur discoveries that changed the world

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 02:14:22 +0000

Recently, an auction of a dinosaur skeleton, discovered in Jurassic-aged rocks in the US, was held in West Sussex, England. ̽��ֱ��skeleton was that of a largely complete, immature, three-metre long carnivorous dinosaur: Allosaurus fragilis – “delicate strange reptile”. It was anticipated that the specimen would sell for somewhere in the region of £300,000-£500,000. Interestingly, bidding stopped before the reserve price was reached, so the specimen is still on the open market.

Allosaurus Scott Hartman, Author provided

̽��ֱ��price or value of fossils has a history that is practically as long as the science of palaeontology (the study of fossils) itself. Believe it or not, the tongue-twister “she sells seashells on the seashore” has its origin in the work of one of the earliest and most celebrated fossil collectors, Mary Anning. Mary lived during the early decades of the 19th century and had the knack of finding fossils, including those of seashells – bivalves, brachiopods, belemnites and ammonites – along the shores of Dorset and in the crumbling Jurassic cliffs, which she then sold.

Dinosaurs are fossils and do have a value, but I am only really interested in their value as scientific objects. Here are some of the discoveries that really have made a difference to science.

Megalosaurus

Pride of place must go to Megalosaurus bucklandi “Buckland’s big reptile” – because it proved to be the earliest discovered and scientifically described dinosaur.

Megalosaurus jaw Buckland Author provided

It’s remains, though incomplete, began to be collected from quarries at the village of Stonesfield in Oxfordshire in about 1815. ̽��ֱ��bones, teeth and jaws were passed to Oxford ̽��ֱ�� Museum, where they still reside, and were studied by the greatest living anatomist of the time Georges Cuvier, who visited Oxford (and its custodian William Buckland) from Paris to see the material.

William Buckland (with Cuvier’s help) described these fossils in a scientific article published in 1824. Buckland as well as Cuvier deduced that the bones belonged to a gigantic reptile, the like of which had not been seen before. Over the next decade and half more large fossil reptile bones were recovered in England and reviewed by the British anatomist Richard Owen. In 1842 Owen decided that these fossils were so utterly different from any known reptiles that they deserved to be classified as a completely new group of giant fossil reptiles: Dinosauria – “terrible, or fearfully great, reptiles”. Prior to 1842 nobody had heard of dinosaurs, the rest is, in essence, history. And Megalosaurus was the first.

Archaeopteryx

Charles Darwin profoundly disturbed the established Victorian world and galvanised scientific interest in evolution when he published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859. With masterly circumspection, his book laid out the reasons for concluding that organic life had changed or evolved over the immensity of geological time.

Archaeopteryx restored Robert Nicholls. Sedgwick Museum, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

By an astonishing coincidence, a fossil was discovered in a quarry in southern Germany just one year after the publication of Origin. This fossil comprised the major part of the crow-sized, delicately-boned skeleton of a creature that was named by Richard Owen Archaeopteryx lithographica (“ancient wing on writing stone”).

̽��ֱ��fossil was extraordinary because around the bones were seen the impressions of feathers (which of course implied that this was a bird) yet what was also seen in the skeleton were clear traces of teeth (no bird has teeth), hands with three well-developed clawed fingers (no bird has clawed fingers of that type) and its tail comprised a long string of small bones from which radiated a fan of feathers (no bird has a long string of tail bones).

Archaeopteryx NHM Author provided

This animal was an absolutely perfect “missing link” that connected living birds with feathers, to the group of scaly reptiles with teeth in their jaws, clawed fingers and long bony tails. Just a few years after this discovery was announced a friend and colleague of Darwin’s, Thomas Henry Huxley, suggested on the basis of the structure of Archaeopteryx, that birds and dinosaurs (not just any old reptile) were close relatives.

Not many agreed with Huxley at the time, but he has been proved to have been absolutely correct. Its original remains are preserved at the Natural History Museum, London.

Diplodocus

Diplodocus Scott Hartman

Andrew Carnegie was a profoundly wealthy industrialist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the latter half of the 19th century. After he had amassed his fortune, Carnegie began to spend his money philanthropically. News came to him of the discovery of impressive dinosaur skeletons in the American mid-west so he decided he wanted one for his new museum ( ̽��ֱ��Carnegie Museum) in Pittsburgh. So he financed expeditions to northern Wyoming and southern Utah to find some more dinosaurs. And find them they did, including a near complete skeleton of the biggest dinosaur discovered to date.

̽��ֱ��skeleton was named Diplodocus carnegiei – "Carnegie’s double-beam". ̽��ֱ��entire animal, as reconstructed (with just a few additions for completeness, such as “borrowed” front feet from another animal altogether) was over 25 metres long and dwarfed in size and completeness anything discovered up to that date.

Diplodocus at the Natural History Museum Valdiney Pimenta/flickr, CC BY

So proud of this dinosaur was Carnegie that he had many copies cast in plaster and sent to museums around the world. ̽��ֱ��giant dinosaur in the main hall of the Natural History Museum in London is a cast of Carnegie’s Diplodocus.

Deinonychus

In the mid 1960s a young palaeontology professor, John Ostrom from Yale ̽��ֱ�� was exploring the badlands of Montana looking for dinosaur fossils. What he found was to change our understanding of dinosaurs, their biology and behaviour in the most extraordinary way. Ostrom discovered the scattered remains of a medium-sized predatory dinosaur which he studied and then named Deinonychus antirrhopus – “Terrible claw with a counterbalance”.

Deinonychus Scott Hartman, Author provided

He realised that this animal was a fast moving, highly intelligent, keen-sighted predator (not at all the slow, lumbering and slow-witted image of the dinosaur that was current at the time). He also showed that it was remarkably bird-like in its anatomy, and suggested that the bird similarities suggested that birds and small predatory dinosaurs were so closely similar that birds probably evolved from them.

These were highly controversial views at the time, even though they echoed the early ideas of Thomas Huxley in the 1860s. They also posed serious biological questions: if birds and dinosaurs of this type are related could it be that some dinosaurs were more like birds in a biological sense? ̽��ֱ��debate raged for decades.

Scelidosaurus

I include this dinosaur, which is somewhat less heralded than the others, because it really ought to have been a dinosaur that changed the world.

Scelidosaurus Gregory S Paul, Author provided

In 1858 dinosaur bones were discovered in the Jurassic cliffs at Charmouth and soon a nearly complete skeleton of this dinosaur was excavated and given to Richard Owen (the person who invented the Dinosauria) at the British Museum in London.

In the 1860s, Owen named it Scelidosaurus harrisonii – "Harrison’s shoulder reptile", but almost inexplicably failed to grasp the importance of its anatomy, or the way in which it pointed to the divisions between differing dinosaur groups and, in fact, why dinosaurs had proved so difficult to understand at the time.

Owen had the equivalent of a Rosetta Stone before him, yet he failed to grasp its importance. ̽��ֱ��probable reason why such an insightful scientist missed such an important moment is that he was simply too busy, including setting in motion the plans to have an entirely new national museum built. Without Owen the Natural History Museum in London, where the original bones of Scelidosaurus still lie, would not have been constructed. In fact, I am studying them at this very moment – hence my undoubted bias.

Sinosauropteryx

In 1996 an astonishing discovery was made in Liaoning, China. It comprised a virtually complete skeleton of a small, predatory dinosaur (smaller than, but generally similar to, Deinonychus).

Sinosauropteryx Author provided

It was described briefly in 1998 and named Sinosauropteryx prima – “First Chinese reptile wing” – but the most extraordinary feature associated with this fossil was that on the rocky slab upon which the skeleton was displayed there were traces of a wispy, dark-staining material that formed a sort of fringe following the body outline, as well as forming a dark spot in the area of the eye, and also formed a dark mass in the area of the gut/body cavity. ̽��ֱ��conditions of exceptional fossil preservation associated with these rocks in Liaoning seemed to preserve some remnant of the body tissues of the original animal.

Most intriguing was the fringe of tissue around the body: it looked like fur. ̽��ֱ��implication was that it had an epidermal covering (outer coat), perhaps an insulating layer. Given Ostrom’s earlier work on Deinonychus, the suggestion was made that this was indeed an insulated dinosaur that was able to keep its body warm (rather like a modern bird using fine down-like feathers that might have been preserved as a halo-like fringe when fossilised).

Still with us? Danny Chapman/flickr, CC BY

This and subsequent discoveries demonstrated the wisdom of Huxley’s intuition based largely upon Archaeopteryx and the validity of Ostrom’s work on Deinonychus. We now know that many (but not all) dinosaurs were feathered, and that some were capable of flight and some were indeed the progenitors of modern birds.

David Norman, Reader in Paleobiology, Curator of Palaeontology, Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

This article was originally published on ̽��ֱ��Conversation. Read the original article.

̽��ֱ��opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author(s) and do not represent the views of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

David Norman (Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences) discusses the fossil discoveries that really made a difference to science.

David Nicholls. Sedgwick Museum, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Deinonychus

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̽��ֱ��Magna Carta of scientific maps

sjr81 — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 23:01:40 +0000

William Smith’s 1815 Geological Map of England and Wales, which measures 8.5ft x 6ft, demonstrated for the first time the geology of the UK and was the culmination of years of work by Smith, who was shunned by the scientific community for many years and ended up in debtors’ prison.

Today, exactly 200 years since its first publication, a copy of Smith’s map – rediscovered after more than a century in a museum box – will go on public display at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Aside from a copy held at ̽��ֱ��Geological Society in London, the Cambridge map is believed to be the only such map on public display anywhere in the world.

̽��ֱ��iconic map, which is still used as the basis of geological maps to this day, had the greatest influence on the science of geology, inspiring a generation of naturalists and fledgling geologists to establish geology as a coherent, robust and important science. ̽��ֱ��map was so large, that, for practicality's sake, it was often sold in 15 separate sheets, either loose, or in a leather travelling case.

Museum Director Ken McNamara said: “This is the world’s earliest geological map. Smith was working from a position of no knowledge when he began. Nobody had ever attempted this before and it’s really quite staggering what this one man achieved over ten or fifteen years, travelling up and down the country as a canal surveyor.

“It’s incredibly accurate, even now in 2015. If you compare the current geological map of Great Britain today there are amazing similarities. ̽��ֱ��British Geological Survey still uses the same colour scheme that Smith devised. Chalk is green. Limestone is yellow and it’s still done like that to this day.”

“This started geology as a modern science. It’s like the Magna Carta of geology, the beginnings of geology as a modern science and that’s why it’s so important.”

Smith’s map proudly announced itself to the world as: "A DELINEATION of the STRATA of ENGLAND and WALES with part of SCOTLAND; exhibiting the COLLIERIES and MINES; the MARSHES and FEN LANDS ORIGINALLY OVERFLOWED BY THE SEA; and the VARIETIES of Soil according to the Variations in the Substrata; ILLUSTRATED by the MOST DESCRIPTIVE NAMES".

How many of Smith's great maps still exist is unclear. Around 70 are thought to remain worldwide. ̽��ֱ��Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, the oldest geological museum in the world, is lucky enough to have three copies.

For many years the museum knew that it possessed two of Smith's great maps: one a set of 15 sheets bound together as a book; the other, beautifully preserved, nestles in its leather travelling case. Two years ago, in May 2013, a third copy was rediscovered in the collection. Found folded in a box with some other early geological maps, staff believe it had not seen the light of day since Queen Victoria was on the throne.

Despite its decades hidden from view, the hand-coloured map had been exposed to harsh light for many years before being packed away. ̽��ֱ��colours were faded, the paper stained and it carried the stains of faecal deposits from long dead spiders and flies.

̽��ֱ��map was then conserved by experts at Duxford, near Cambridge. Nineteenth century dirt and grime was carefully removed, then the original, faded water-colour paint was given a protective coating and subtly restored to enhance the colour of the rock formations. Only 400 were ever produced over at least a four-year period. During that time, Smith continued his geological research and continually made new discoveries, adapting and amending each new edition as he went along. Each individual map took seven or eight days to be coloured.

McNamara said: “Smith suffered many deprivations in his life. He became a bankrupt and ended up in debtor's prison for a while. Perhaps, almost as galling, he was largely ignored by the geological establishment. However, he gained his due recognition from the Geological Society of London later in life when, in 1831, he was the first person to receive the society's most prestigious medal, the Wollaston Medal.

“Appropriately, given the hanging of his map in the Sedgwick Museum, it was Adam Sedgwick who presented Smith with his medal. We are, we think, the only museum, library or art gallery in the world to have one of Smith’s legendary maps on public display – and we want as many people as possible to come and see this enormous, iconic and beautiful map for themselves.”

One of the most important maps of the UK ever made – described as the ‘Magna Carta of geology’ – is to go on permanent public display in Cambridge after being restored to its former glory.

This is the world’s earliest geological map.

Ken McNamara

big mapv1

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