Earth Collections: Triassic database

The Triassic Period extended from 250-205 million years ago. At this time, Britain was part of a desert, with limited plant and animal life. British fossils are thus few and far between, and terrestrial rather than marine in nature. Elsewhere, marine conditions prevailed, leading to a more extensive fossil record.

The most significant UK material in the collections is a suite of specimens from Worcestershire presented by L. J. Wills, which includes a number of fossil scorpions as well as the cones of early trees. Also notable is a set of reptile footprints from Cheshire, collected by William Buckland in the early 19th century and recently redescribed by G. Tresise.

Foreign collections include fossils from Burma described by Miss Healey in 1908, and from Spitzbergen described by M. F. W. Holland in 1961. Dinosaurs are represented by a set of casts of plateosaurs from Tubingen, described and illustrated by F. von Huene.

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Enquiries regarding the collections should be sent to: earth@oum.ox.ac.uk