Dinosaurs from the Yorkshire coast and their global significance
by Professor Phil Manning | University of Manchester
The Yorkshire Coast offers great access to the Jurassic succession that has fuelled industry, science and the hearts and minds of those who have worked or visited there for centuries. The splendid publication by John Phillips in 1829 (Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire) confirmed Yorkshire’s position as a pivotal place in the ‘Heroic Age of Geology’. But the global relationships between the geology of Yorkshire and the wider world were very much in their infancy at the beginning of the 19th Century. This talk will not, sadly, review the stunning Lower Jurassic marine succession that is beautifully exposed between Staithes and Robin Hood’s Bay, but will instead focus on the terrestrial Middle Jurassic (Aalenian) of the Saltwick Formation. I aim to widen the Jurassic geological net and capture palaeontological patterns of the ‘organic remains’ of Yorkshire in the context of a more global palaeobiogeographic framework.
The focus on this package of time (Middle Jurassic) aims to resolve key events at this tipping-point in Earth’s history, both in terms of geological and biological evolution. The interplay between the break-up of Pangaea that resulted in smaller continents, conversely saw sauropod dinosaurs dramatically increase in size, begging the question: could the break-up of Pangaea have driven such colossal adaptations, or were less obvious vicarious pressures being exerted on life and how do these relate to the fossils found on the Yorkshire Coast.
Speaker Bio:
Prof. Phil Manning is Chair of Natural History and Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life at the University of Manchester (UK). Phil has been elected a Fellow of the Explorer’s Club (New York), is a Fellow of the Geological Society (London) and is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His research is both broad and interdisciplinary with active research projects including: Dinosaur biomechanics, taphonomy of soft tissue in the fossil record and elemental analysis of fossils (particularly specialising in synchrotron-based imaging techniques). Prof. Manning and his team continue to undertake field-based research in the Hell Creek and Morrison Formation’s of South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, but his fieldwork also includes sites in South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, but most importantly Yorkshire (UK). Prof. Manning has presented multiple television series for National Geographic Channel, BBC, History Channel and Channel 4. He continues to play an active role in public outreach for the University of Manchester, contributing to open-days, public lectures and workshops. He has authored books for children, as well as popular science books and is a regular contributor to public speaking events around the world, promoting the public engagement of science.