The Passionate Collector - George Rae Fossils

GLOSSARY

AGE – A fairly definite period dominated by a prominent figure or feature, e.g. the age of the dinosaurs.

AMMONITE –Ammonites had a spiral shell similar to the closely related Nautilus. They are also related to squid and octopus. Their name comes from the Egyptian god Ammon (Amun) who is sometimes associated with ram horns similar in shape to ammonites.  They appeared around 400 million years ago and evolved very quickly, making them useful for dating rocks. Ammonites became extinct at the same time as the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago.

AMPHIBIAN - Animals that live in water during early life but usually on land as adults.  Includes frogs, newts, etc.

ARTHROPOD – An invertebrate animal with a segmented body, jointed limbs and an external skeleton – e.g. trilobites, insects, crustaceans (lobster, etc.).

BELEMNITE – An extinct marine animal with a solid bullet-shaped skeleton and a chambered internal shell at the open end. They are related to squid, cuttlefish and octopus. Named after the Greek storm god Belemnos, they used to be called thunderbolts. These animals became extinct at the same time as the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. 

CAMBRIAN - 570-510 million years ago.                                      

CARBONIFEROUS - 363-290 million years ago.

CONIFER - Type of tree with thin, shiny needle-like leaves.  Most are cone-bearing but exceptions include yew and juniper.

CRETACEOUS - 146-65 million years ago.

CRINOID – A marine animal with a cup-shaped body with arms.  It was usually attached to the sea bed by a stem made of many disks.  Still surviving to this day, it is also known as the feather star.

DEVONIAN - 409-363 million years ago.

DINOSAUR – Now extinct, land-dwelling reptiles of the Mesozoic Era.  The name means “terrible lizard”.

ECOLOGY – The study of the relationship between an organism, other organisms, and its environment.

EOCENE - A period within the Palaeogene part of the Tertiary.  

ERA – A period of history marked by a new or distinct order of things.

EVOLUTION - The way in which living things change and develop over millions of years.

EXTINCT – A species which no longer exists; has died out.

FOSSIL – The remains, impression or cast of a prehistoric plant or animal, preserved in rock.

GIRVAN – A town in Ayrshire, 21 miles (34 km) south of Ayr.

GRAPTOLITE – “writing on rock”.  An extinct group of marine organisms.  They appeared in the Cambrian period (c.520 Ma) and became extinct between the Permian and Triassic periods, 248 million years ago.  They are found all over the world and evolved very quickly – this means they are important for dating rock sequences.

HARRIER JUMP JET – One of the world’s most original aircraft; its most important feature is its ability to take off and land vertically.  It was the first fixed wing aircraft to introduce this capability into service.

IAPETUS OCEAN – Sometimes called the “Proto-Atlantic Ocean”, this ancient body of water disappeared around 400 million years ago when the European and American continents started to close in.  The join where Scotland and England converged is not far from Hadrian’s Wall.  The rocks in Scotland are very similar to those in North America.

INVERTEBRATE – A creature without a backbone.

JURASSIC - 208-146 million years ago

MOLLUSC - Invertebrate with a soft body, usually in a shell, e.g. limpet.

MOULTING - The shedding of an animal's skin or shell.

MULTICELLULAR - Having more than one cell.

NICHE – The role of an organism in the life of a community and its position in the ecosystem.

ORDOVICIAN - 510-439 million years ago

PANGAEA - The 'supercontinent' that included all the earth's landmass before the Triassic when it split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland.

PERIOD – Can be used to describe a stretch of time of any length.

PERMIAN - 290-245 million years ago.

POLLINATE - Carry pollen from one flower to another.

PRECAMBRIAN - 4,560-570 million years ago.

PRIMITIVE - At a very early stage of development.

PULSE DOPPLER RADAR (PD RADAR) – A very useful radar system which can determine the speed, distance and angle of a target.  It is most valuable when in a situation with many small moving targets.  PD radar also has the capacity to concentrate only on moving targets.

QUATERNARY - The last two million years.

SEDIMENT – Material formed by particles settling on the sea-bed.

SEDIMENTARY - Rocks formed from pressure on material deposited by water, wind or ice.

SILICIFIED - Combined with or impregnated with silica or silicon.

SILURIAN - 439-409 million years ago.

SPECIES - The lowest group of creatures in the tree of life.  The hierarchy is as follows: Kingdom; Phylum; Class; Order; Family; Genus; Species.  The species is the group of creatures which share a great number of similarities and share a common name with other groups.

TERTIARY - 65-0.85 million years ago.

TESSERAE - Small cubes of materials such as glass, marble or earthenware, used for making flooring.

TETRAPOD - Vertebrate animal with four legs or feet.

TRIASSIC - 245-208 million years ago.

VERTEBRATE - An animal with a backbone.

WOODLOUSE/SLATER - A small arthropod which lives under rocks and logs.  They can be recognised by their grey to white colour, segmented body and seven pairs of legs.