Landforms and landscapes vary enormously across the Earth, from high mountains to endless plains. At a smaller scale, Nature often surprises us by creating shapes which look improbable. Many physical landscapes are so immensely beautiful that they have received the highest possible recognition—they hold the status of World Heritage properties. Apart from often being immensely scenic, landscapes tell stories which not uncommonly can be traced back in time for tens of million years and include unique events.

'A good collection of well-arranged trilobites looks better in the cabinet than perhaps any other fossils', wrote J.E. Taylor in Our Common British Fossils, published in 1885. Such is their popular appeal that trilobites have always been some of the most eagerly sought after of all fossils. Their name, suggested by their singular three-lobed appearance is derived from 'Trilobitae', introduced by the German naturalist Johann Walch in 1771 in his Der Naturgeschichte der Versteinerungen ('Natural History of Petrefactions'). The study of trilobites has particularly long associations with Wales, and the ancient rocks which crop out over much of the Principality have been well known as a rich source of them for nearly 300 years. This article outlines some of the history of their investigation in the area, describes their occurrence there, and discusses aspects of their nomenclature and morphology which are well illustrated by Welsh examples. <...>

Магнетитовым железным рудам без ясно выраженной слоистой текстуры обычно приписывают эндогенное происхождение. Чаще всего их считают образовавшимися на глубине в результате гидротермальных или пневматолитовых процессов. Некоторые авторы рассматривают магнетитовые руды как результат инъекции особой «рудной магмы», образовавшейся при дифференциации богатых летучими кислых магматических расплавов. Мнение об эндогенном происхождении магнетитовых руд особенно широко распространено среди советских геологов, так как крупнейшие магнетитовые месторождения СССР имеют именно такой генезис (горы Магнитная, Высокая и Благодать на восточном склоне Урала, Соколово-Сарбайское в Кустанайской области, Коршуновское в Иркутской и др.). <...>

This publication is the outcome of collaborative research between the British Geological Survey (BGS) and Rothamsted Research. BGS is a research institute partly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Rothamsted Research receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The analyses presented in this atlas were funded from the NERC core grant provided to the British Geological Survey. Details of the availability of the geochemical data are available from the website:

www.bgs.ac.uk/gbase/advsoilatlasEW