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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

October 4, 1836, after 5 years geologizing around the world, Charles #Darwin returns back home in Shrewsbury. Darwin's first geologcial map ever shows his hometown's surroundings & it seems he was especially interested in Carboniferous-Permian rocks⚒️

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

4 October 1825: back in Lyme Regis after a tour of SW England, geologist Roderick Murchison noted in his journal, 'Accompanied by Mary Anning rode to Dowlands & dismounted there'. They spent the day exploring the geology of the landslipped cliffs and foreshore to the west of Lyme.

Top left, portrait of Roderick Murchison as a young(ish) man with long sideburns; bottom left, portrait of Mary Anning in a green cloak and straw bonnet; top right, extract from Murchison's journal 'Oct 4th 1825 Accompanied by Mary Anning rode to Dowlands & dismounted there'; bottom right, extract of Henry De la Beche's geological map of Lyme Regis, showing Dowlands to the left, 4 miles west of Lyme.

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

In 1812, Mushet drew an impressive section of the strata across the the Forest of Dean coal basin. But his general order of strata had Forest Coals placed above 'Derbyshire Coal' using lithology & not fossils to correlate the strata in a reasoned but flawed mistake. See doi.org/10.17704/194....

Image of Mushet's 1812 section from Lewis, C. 2016. Earth Sciences History 35 (1): 167–196.

Part of Mushet's order of Strata from Lewis, C. 2016. Earth Sciences History 35 (1): 167–196.

Table showing Mushet's flawed order of strata - from Lewis, C. 2016. Earth Sciences History 35 (1): 167–196.

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This very week HOGG field meeting followed in the footsteps of James Hutton and John Clerk of Eldin on their 1786 Journey to the South Alpine part of Scotland, exactly 240 years later! We visited localities using original sources to observe and evaluate their "proofs and illustrations". 1/5

Cairnsmuir Burn - as they crossed Hutton and Clerk of Eldin noticed the abundance of rounded granite boulders although the bedrock is 'schistus' (greywacke) - so they conjectured the geological junction would be found up in the mountains above.

The HOGG field party viewing the 'schistus' and granite boulders in Cairnsmuir Burn

In consequence of their discovery of granite boulders in Cairnsmore Burn Hutton and Clerk of Eldin decided to hire horses and a guide in Creetown to take them up to find the schistus - granite junction along the foot of Cairnsmore mountain.
The following day ( 21st September 1786) Clerk of Eldin drew this image of Creetown, with the mountain in the background. The HOGG field party found the location where Clerk of Edlin sketched this view - then, as Hutton and Clerk of Eldin did back in 1786 , we proceeded to the foot of mountain.

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

September 25, 1749, birthday of German mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner ...

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British Geological Survey @bgs.ac.uk · 26/09/2026

The BGS maps portal provides access to over 45,000 high-res viewing images of almost all maps produced by BGS since mapping started in 1832. This sheet is from 1852. It shows North part of Anglesey, and part of Holyhead Island Mineral Lodes. Access the portal: www.bgs.ac.uk/information-...

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Greg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

L: Color print magazine advertisement for Pennsalt DDT products. This ad appeared in Time Magazine, June 30, 1947. Science History Institute. R: Photo of children being spayed with DDT in a public swimming pool. Date and photographer unknown. 🌱🐋 # HistSTM 🧪🌎 #philsci #philsky #WomeninSTEM

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Dr Susan Newell @sue-newell.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

@hoggroup James Hutton Tercentenary field meeting to Dumfries & Galloway. Day1 Clints of Dromore 😍

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Greg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

OTD in 1854, Charles Darwin began sorting his notes in preparation for writing a treatise with the working title “Natural Selection.” He would never publish the book, instead publishing a short “abstract”—titled “On the Origin of Species”—in 1859. 🐋🌱 #HistSTM #evolbio 🧪

Manuscript title page of On the Origin of Species, in Charles Darwin’s hand.

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Matt Friedman @friedmanlab.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The reconstructed skull from Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins' mount of Hadrosaurus (1868), formerly displayed at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Photo from my last visit to ANSP in 2021. #FossilFriday

Large plaster skull with a vaguely iguana-like appearance. The jaw is placed separately on a shelf with the rest of the cranium. They are both painted a shade of greenish-gray.

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

September 6, 1802, birthday of French naturalist Alicide d'Orbigny, pioneer of the study of microfossils 🦠🔬 paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/a...

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Lapworth Museum of Geology @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Did you know tiny #fossils once helped solve one of geology's biggest debates? Charles Lapworth used graptolites to establish the Ordovician and end a long-standing dispute. Learn more at the #Museum! Content: Jin Yu. Image: Andy Jones. #LapworthRocks #ThrowbackThursday #geology #geologyrocks

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

September 4, 1795, birthday of German mining engineer and geologist Friedrich August von Alberti ...

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Alberti didn't use only the appearance of the rocks to separate this unit from the Permian and Cretaceous, but also fossils. In later publications he described rocks and fossils from the United States and Asia, showing that "the Triassic Formation" can be found worldwide ...

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Interesting obituary of art historian Peter Cannon-Brookes in today's Times. It was he who spotted the original watercolour of Henry De la Beche's Duria antiquior in the window of a London art dealer in 1980, recognising what it was from the later oil copy he knew @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social. 1/3

A watercolour painting of a reconstructed prehistoric scene showing ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs and other animals all eating one another.

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phlevig @phlevig.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Il y a tout juste 100 ans, dans le manuel de géologie de Marcelin Boule pour les classes de 4eme A et B, esquisse des continents et des mers pendant l'ère Primaire

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Nigel Monaghan @nigelmonaghan-nh.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Visit the RDS in Dublin this Heritage Week for an exhibition and talks on the manuscripts of Donald Stewart, the first prospector to document Ireland’s rich mineral deposits. /1 www.heritageweek.ie/event-listin...

heritageweek.ie

'Minerals, Museums, and Mines' - RDS Exhibition and Talk | National Heritage Week 15th – 23rd August 2026

For National Heritage Week 2026, the RDS Library & Archives is hosting the pop-up exhibition 'Minerals, Museums, and Mines: The History of the RDS and Irish Geo...

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Only just heard about this now, but for anyone interested in the history of geology and Hutton, this looks like an interesting programme, if you’re in or around Perth (the Scottish one, not the one in Australia). @hoggroup.bsky.social

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

HOGG is delighted to see a date set for publication of this book, having know about it for some time, as Gordon Chancellor is a HOGG member. We are in no doubt that it will be a very useful and informative addition to recognising and understanding Darwin's geological work on his Beagle voyage.

This image is from: Stone & Rushton 2024 Charles Darwin's discovery of Devonian fossils in the Falkland Islands, 1833, and its controversial consequences. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP543-2022-190

A specimen collected by Charles Darwin at Port Louis, East Falkland. The brachiopods Australospirifer hawkinsii (labelled b) and Schellwienella sulivani (labelled c and named after Lieutenant Bartholomew Sulivan of HMS Beagle) are associated with a scattering of crinoid columnals (B17794). The Falkland Islands 2 pence coin is 25 mm in diameter.
Source: © Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, reproduced under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC-BY 4.0).

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Delighted to say that The Fossil Woman A Life of Mary Anning has been reprinted and is available once again. It can be ordered through your local bookshop, or uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-... If you’re lucky enough to visit Lyme Regis you’ll find it at the Lyme Regis Bookshop and Lyme Regis Museum.

Book cover in greens and yellows with a fossil skeleton and a silhouette of a woman, and the title The Fossil Woman A Life of Mary Anning by Tom Sharpe.

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ppflieger 🇺🇦🇬🇱🇪🇺 @ppflieger.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

It truly is a plesiosaur-eat-pterosaur (& everybody-eat-everybody-else) world, with a worried-loking turtle, in Elements of Geology, by Samuel St. John (1851) #paleoart #fossilfriday #bookhistory

In a large lagoon, a plesiosaur drags a pterosaur from the sky. Behind it, an ichthyosaur eats a large fish, and behind IT, a small plesiosaur swims. Two pterosaurs swoop through the sky. On the bank, two crocodiles confront each other, while a tiny turtle bites into a plant. A larger turgle looks on the scene, its mouth gaping in what appears to be astonishment.

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

This 1901 BAAS meeting had a strong programme of geology, & John Horne, President of the Geology Section, gave an excellent summary of progress in Scottish geology. It was at this meeting that the NW Highlands controversy was really laid to rest, a triumph for Nicol, Lapworth & Peach & Horne.

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Here he notes the granite rock forming the summit - an original sample from that day is now hosted in the @TEYLERS Museum, Netherlands. Photo by @HOGGroup ...

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

After retirement from India R.D. Oldham lived in Kew with his sister, spending summers in the south of France, where he studied the geomorphological history of the Rhone delta. His latter years were spent at the Gawlia Hotel, Llandrindod Wells & in France. He died 15 July 1936 in the Welsh spa town.

Map of the Rhone Delta in R.D. Oldham's 1926 paper THE POST-ROMAN HISTORY OF THE RHONE DELTA in: Science Progress in the Twentieth Century (1919-1933), Vol. 20, No. 79 (JANUARY 1926), pp. 487-496

The Gwalia Hotel, Llandrindod Wells, where Richard Dixon Oldham, geologist and seismologist, spent his latter days and he died here on 15 July 1936. The spa and spa gardens are to the left of the hotel.

Recent photo of the Gwalia Hotel, Llandrindod Wells, the last residential home of geologist R.D. Oldham, who died here in July 1936. The spa and spa gardens are just off to the left of the hotel building. The building was occupied by Powys County Council, but they sold it to a developer and (as of 2026) it has not yet been redeveloped. There is no plaque commemorating the important achievement of the former resident.

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

July 31, 2023, died on this day aged 87 American geophysicist W. Jason Morgan. In the 1960s he helped to develop the modern theory of plate tectonics ...

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

HOGG members visited The Lapworth Museum 29/07/26 when we viewed & discussed a range of historical objects in the archive behind the scenes. The Museum is uniquely valuable in holding artefacts & documents charting the work & life of the geologist it is named after, Charles Lapworth (1842–1920).

Photograph portrait of Charles Lapworth in the Lapworth aAchive of The Lapworth Museum, University of Birmingham (UK).

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angerj.eurosky.social @angerj.eurosky.social · 23/07/2026

This was fabulous. So interesting. You can watch it on Youtube www.youtube.com/live/RIbdjhI...

youtube.com

Public Lecture - Mineral and Earth Pigments in Art and Architecture

YouTube video by The Geological Society

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

While attention at Sotheby's in New York today was focused on the sale of a dinosaur, someone picked up Henry De la Beche's wonderful 1830 anti-Lyellian lithograph, Awful Changes, with Professor Ichthyosaurus lecturing to a class of fellow saurians for just $5,000 hammer, so about £4,800 with fees.

A mounted skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex.

An 1830 lithograph of an ichthyosaurian professor lecturing to a class of other ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs on the inadequacies of the human skull.

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NHM Library and Archives @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Out now! The Summer 2026 issue of the Museum's Magazine, free to Museum members & subscribers of Apple News+ & Readly. Featuring articles on the creation of the #NaturalHistoryMuseum, by Karolyn Shindler, & tales of the Abominable snowman from the #Archives, by Assistant Archivist, Rebecca Keddie.

Man in 19th-century formal attire—black suit with a red academic gown—stands with one hand on his hip and the other resting on a large fossilized thigh bone displayed on a draped table.

Coiled bright green pit viper with textured scales and a vertical pupil against a black background, overlaid by large white headline Beauty balance bite and small Natural History Museum branding promoting a Summer 2026 feature about snakes.

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

John Phillips marked this landslip on the 5th edition of his 'New Index Geological Map of the British Isles', published in 1840, such was its fame amongst geologists & public alike, & it continued to be marked on Phillips' maps up to the 11th edition in 1862.

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

John Phillips marked this landslip on the 5th edition of his 'New Index Geological Map of the British Isles', published in 1840, such was its fame amongs geologists and public alike, and it continued to be marked on Phillips' maps up to the 11th edition in 1862.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

A curious feature of Mary Anning's sparse notes on her 1829 visit to Charlotte Murchison in London is that part way through a sentence describing what they did on Saturday 11th July, Mary's writing gives way to that of Charlotte who goes on to describe their visit to church on Sunday 12th.

Left, portrait of Mary Anning wearing a green cloak and a straw bonnet, with a basket over her arm and holding a hammer; right, extract from Mary Anning's notes on her 1829 visit to London, part written by Mary, the remainder by Charlotte Murchison.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

3 July 1824: a meeting of two icons of early 19th century geology, Mary Anning and Charles Lyell who called at her shop in Lyme Regis. He saw a large ichthyosaur which she had found 2 weeks earlier and was preparing, 'her cleaning the specimen a great instance of skill & knowledge of Osteology'.

Top left, portrait of Mary Anning in a green cloak and straw bonnet; top centre, Anning's house where she met Lyell, a 3 storey house with ground floor bow windows and a central door with stairs leading to it, and a basement; top right, portrait of Charles Lyell, a young man, balding, with long sideburns; bottom, extract from Lyell's journal: '3d July Saty. Lyme. Called on Mary Anning. Large Ichthyosaurus Tenuirostris ? found a fortnight ago. Ten feet long. M. Prevost sketched it '

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

And we hope you paid homage to EB Bailey, C.T.Clough & H.B. Maufe who, 120 years ago, mapped the Gelocoe geology & recognised as a downfaulted block within an oval ring fault representing a collapsed caldera - the first detailed analysis of an eroded subaerial caldera. zenodo.org/records/2346...

E. B. Bailey ca/ 1910.
Image ©BGS (NERC) GeoScenic Assetbank ID 33766

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Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

So disappointed that our tour to Staffa/Fingal's Cave was canceled today 😭 but still enjoyed wandering around Glencoe. ⚒️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

First stop on geology tour: an import spot in the history of science en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schieha... #HPS ⚒️

A historical plaque with text "IN THE SUMMER OF 1774 THE REVEREND NEVIL MASKELYNE ERS, ASTRONOMER ROYAL, SET UP OBSERVATORIES ON EITHER SIDE OF SCHIEHALLION TO MEASURE BY HOW MUCH PLUMBLINES WOULD BE PULLED OUT OF THE VERTICAL AND TOWARDS THE MOUNTAIN BY THE GRAVITATIONAL FORCE DUE TO ITS MASS. AT THE TIME, THIS WAS CALLED THE ATTRACTION OF MOUNTAINS! IN EFFECT, NEWTONS TUNIVERSA DEGRAVITATION OLD CONSTANT.
THE MOUNTAIN WAS SURVEYED
BY
REUBEN BURROW OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY
GREEN WICH.
THE CALCULATIONS WERE
MADE BY THE MATHEMATICIAN CHARLES HUTTON FRS, DURING WHICH HE WAS THE FIRST TO USE LAND SURFACE CONTOUR LINES, NOW UNIVERSALLY EMPLOYED IN MAP MAKING.
THIS PLAQUE WAS SET UP BY THE
ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON AND THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY IN 1982, THE
250th
ANNIVERSARY OF MASKELYNES BIRTH."

The symmetrical Mt Schiehallion with green field & yellow blossoms in foreground.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Lovely! Not seen these before, but one has clear Duria antiquior and Thomas Hawkins' Sea Dragons roots, even though the plesiosaur? seems to have wings! And I love the expression of the beast to the right of what looks like an ichthyosaur. @tetzoo.bsky.social - you familiar with these?

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

June 23, 1750, birthday of French mineralogist Diedonnè-Silvain-Guy-Tancrede de Gvalet de Dolomieu ...

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

23 June 1814: At a meeting of @royalsociety.org Sir Everard Home of @collegeofsurgeons.bsky.social reads his paper on a fossil discovered between Lyme Regis and Charmouth by Mary Anning and her brother several years earlier. Home thought it was some kind of fish, but not 'wholly a fish'.

Left, portrait of Mary Anning in her green cloak and straw bonnet; top centre, title of Home's paper ' Some Account of there Fossil Remains of n Animal nearly allied to Fishes than any of the other Classes of Animals'; bottom centre, fossil skull with a large eye and long snout with many pointed teeth; right portrait of Sir Everard Home, balding, grey hair.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

19 June 1828: newspapers carry a report from Lyme Regis, noting several ichthyosaurs in Mary Anning's shop, her discovery of a large ammonite and some coprolitic news. She often featured in newspaper reports, written probably by her friend George Roberts who seems to have handled her PR.

Left, portrait of Mary Anning in a green lock and a straw bonnet, holding a hammer and with a basket over her arm; right extract from a newspaper: 'Miss Mary Anning has now a treat for the fossilist, and admirers of the wonders of the antediluvian world, in three beautiful specimens lately found : on an Ichthyosaurus Intermedius, two Ichthyosauri Vulgares. Dr Buckland will be much pleased at a confirmation of his opinions respecting the excrement of those and other animals which has been by some considered to be the Bezoar Stone now clearly ascertained. Miss Anning has found a Cornua Ammonis if unusual size and beauty.'

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Smith's debt was to John Conolly who had invested in & loaned cash for Smith's Kingham Stone Quarry venture, near Tucking Mill. It was this that ruined him & not his map directly. Ironically the stone proved defective; cambering & rock fracture extended wider than Smith had anticipated- see sketch.

WIlliam Smith's Sketch section of Kingham Stone Quarry (in archives at @morethanadodo.bsky.social (OUNHM) A and B mark the location of his tunnel to quarry the ‘Prime Freestone’ and ‘Bottom Beds’ shown in the lower right-hand of his sketch. In November, 1812 he realised that he would only get access to and egress from these beds if he removed, or cut a short tunnel through the fallen blocks on the left-hand (southern) side of the sketch. This was the only way he could transport the quarried stone via the railway to Tucking Mill, where blocks were sawn into shape. The depiction of flat and evenly bedded prime freestone suggests that he anticipated no more ‘faulting’, or ‘gulling’, as he followed and extracted the stone underground. This turned out to be an unfortunate error of judgement.
(info. from Richard Irving 'William Smith and his Venture into ‘Stone Manufacture' https://rb.gy/ybx6cl )

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

I admire a certain perverse need some people have to reiterate that the @cpdinosaurs.bsky.social are not accurate by the standards of current (or 1970s) science, no matter the context.

'Hawkins' models of the Iguanodon mistakenly portray the large thumb spike as a nose horn; also, the dinosaurs are shown as quadrupeds rather than bipeds and these mistakes are faithfully reproduced in the book. The book is no longer in print.'

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

10 June 1835: WJ Broderip reads his paper on some Lias fossils from Lyme Regis at a meeting of the Geological Society. Amongst those he describes is a new genus and species of fossil lobster, Coleia antiqua, illustrated by two specimens found by Mary Anning.

Top left, title of a paper, 'Description of some Fossil Crustacea and Radiate, found at Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire by W J Broderip'; centre left, extract from the paper crediting Mary Anning with the discovery of some of the fossils illustrated; bottom left, portrait of Mary Anning in her green cloak and straw bonnet; bottom centre, portrait of W J Broderip, seated, with his hand to his chin; top right, extract from the plate accompanying the paper, with an illustration of two fossil lobster specimens; bottom right, the same specimens, both found by Mary Anning, in museum collections today.

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

“At about 25,500 feet I came upon a limestone band which to my joy contained fossils – the first definite forms found on Everest!” June 6, 1924, mountaineer and geologist Noel Ewart Odell is searching for fossils during the British expedition trying to reach the summit of Mount Everest ...

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

5 June 1832: Oxford geologist William Buckland writes to Joseph Anning, who was involved in the family fossil business, about fossils he'd bought, telling him that some fossil sepia & coprolites can wait until 'your sister comes home'. Mary was away from Lyme Regis, probably collecting in Somerset.

Top left, portrait of Mary Anning in a green cloak and straw bonnet; top right, portrait of William Buckland, a young balding man in a dark coat and white shirt and collar; bottom right, address on Buckland's letter to 'Mr J Anning Cabinet Maker, Lyme Regis, Dorset'; bottom left, extract from Buckland's letter: 'The Sepias and Coprolites you have for me had better wait to be packed & sent when your sister comes Home. Let them come by Coach & desire her to be most careful in packing them.'

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

On June 5, 1799, naturalist Alexander von Humboldt and botanist Aimé Bonpland set sail aboard the Pizarro from the harbor of Coruña in Spain, beginning a five-year expedition that covered more than 9.600 kilometers (6,000 miles) across South America, Mexico, and the United States ...

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History of Geology @historyofgeology.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

June 4, 1889, birthday of German-American geophysicist & seismologist Beno Gutenberg. Born in Darmstadt, he studied there meterology first, but after attending a course on how to use geophysical instruments he changed to physics in Göttingen ...

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

3 June 1726, Edinburgh: birth of geologist James Hutton, not looking a day over 50 in this picture in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery painted by a young artist called Henry Raeburn who went on to make a bit of a name for himself as a portrait painter.

Oil painting of James Hutton by Sir Henry Raeburn. A bald Hutton sitting, wearing a brown suit and with his hands clasped, at a green cloth-covered table on which are some rock specimens and a manuscript.

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History of Geology Group @hoggroup.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

James Hutton was born #OTD 300 years ago. His seminal work 'Theory of the Earth' (1798) made popular by his friend John Playfair's 'Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory' (1802) sparked a debate on geological processes, on the formation of strata and about (geological) time. 1/2

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