Rocky Roadshow

Richard Bell's Wild West Yorkshire nature diary, Saturday, 26th May, 2007

IS IT A METEORITE? Is it metal ore? Is it an industrial by-product of the smelting process? Does it deflect the needle of a compass?

It’s heavy, very heavy. The man who brought it in this afternoon says he found it at an industrial site near Knaresborough where formerly some kind of heavy industry took place – although exactly what that industry was isn't known.

Ore Inspiring

Our Rock & Fossil Roadshow at the National Coal Mining Museum, organised by members of the West Yorkshire RIGS geology conservation group for Yorkshire Geology Month, is going well with both children and adults taking a keen interest in the rocks, minerals and fossils on display and bringing in some puzzling specimens for us to identify.

Mystery Fossil

The most mysterious fossil we're presented with is set in a limestone pebble (not illustrated) that was picked up on the Yorkshire coast – the tiny spines in it might be those of a Carboniferous sea urchin from about 350 million years ago.

In between chatting with visitors, and signing copies of my book, Yorkshire Rock, I drew the log-sized fossil of a giant club moss (right), which is one of the exhibits at the Mining Museum and a smaller fossil of Stigmaria; the root of one of the giant club mosses. The small target-shaped scars are where rootlets were once attached.

Links

West Yorkshire RIGS

The National Coal Mining Museum