Dr Katie Strang
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palaeokatie.bsky.social
Dr Katie Strang
@palaeokatie.bsky.social
4.6K followers 210 following 150 posts
Curator of Mineralogy & Petrology at The Hunterian 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Engagement for the Scottish Geology Trust & Director of #ScotGeolFest. Researcher of Scotland’s rocks, industrial heritage, coprolites & graveyard geology.
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palaeokatie.bsky.social
Giving a talk in Yorkshire so I got to spend a few days catching up with auld pals at @scarbsmuseums.bsky.social, like this absolute belter of a Middle Jurassic theropod dinosaur footprint (Megalosauripus - Hudson et al, 2023) from Yorkshire 🦖
(equally lovely to see some of my fav human pals too 🖤)
Image of Katie in part of the Scarborough museums store, crouched next to a large piece of sandstone wrapped in a white plaster jacket. In the middle of the block of sandstone there’s a fossilised footprint of a three-toed dinosaur, the print is 80cm in length and 41cm wide. The specimen is assigned to the ichnogenus Megalosauripus, and may have been made by a Megalosaurus-like theropod (described by Hudson et al 2023). The sandstone is pale brownish - cream in colour and the fossil is preserved as a positive impression on what the underside of the sandstone bed. The footprint is slightly paler and cream in colour than the surrounding matrix. The dinosaur would have stepped into wet sand leaving an impression, and the impression was then filled in by overlying sediments (so you’re looking at it upside down now). From the Long Nab Member of the Scalby formation, Cleveden Basin, Yorkshire.
November 19, 2025 at 6:22 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Hello my hair is now matching this calcite on sphalerite from Wanlockhead, held in The Hunterian collections 🖤🤍🖤
#DyingMyHairloMatchRocks
Selfie of Katie wearing an ipecac records T-shirt and sunglasses. The T-shirt is black with “ipecac” in white font. Her hair is dyed black underneath and white blonde on the top. The background is fuzzy and out of focus. Sample of whitish grey calcite on black sphalerite from Wanlockhead. The calcite crystals are shaped like elongated points aka “dog tooth” (scalenohedral) crystals. The sphalerite is a black mass underneath and doesn’t show obvious crystal structure. Specimen is held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.
September 26, 2025 at 8:09 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
NIN - Manchester. GREETIN’ 🔥
June 18, 2025 at 12:50 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Glassjaw x 2 🔥🖤
June 16, 2025 at 11:07 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Glassjaw x 1 🔥🖤
June 15, 2025 at 3:29 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
The latest reincarnation did not run according to plan..
Finally got my absolute favourite vegetarian vampire duck tattooed on me 🔥🖤
Photo of the back of Katie’s leg showing a tattoo of count duckula in black and grey. By @kingofbones (instagram) at Momento Mori, Glasgow.
May 26, 2025 at 7:22 AM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Taps aff in Glasgow today! Head along to Stockingfield & visit our free Make It Glasgow pop up exhibition “Fired Up”! Here until 4pm today & 10-4 Monday (31st). Discover Glasgow’s ghost industry & see the shipwreck plate, recently recovered from the bottom of the sea off the coast of Arran! 🖤
Showing shipping container where the temporary pop up exhibition is being held at Stockingfield. The bridge can be seen in the background. Image showing the back wall of the container in previous photo, with the text “whits hidden in yir midden?”
March 30, 2025 at 12:57 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Had an awesome Saturday looking at some gloriously messy 450 million year old Ordovician sediments around Girvan in preparation for an upcoming Geological Society of Glasgow field trip (Dr Jurassic Clark for scale!)
Photo taken on the beach south of girvan, looking out towards the sea. An outcrop of cascade folded sediments comprised of interbedded sandstones/wacke, shales and siltstones belonging to the Ardwell Farm Formation, deposited around 450 million years ago can be seen in the foreground. The folding is interpreted as cascade folding due to penecontemporaneous (I.e. soon after deposition) slumping of partly lithified sediments from the NW. Neil in the background for scale.
March 10, 2025 at 9:02 AM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Been crawling about the river Kelvin exploring 330 million years of Glasgow's heritage. Looked up and realised I had attracted a group of very confused spectators, so they got treated to an impromptu geology lesson (apologies for ruining your Sunday with my rock patter 😂)
Photo of two fingers holding a small fragment of black coloured Carboniferous shale. There are small circular dimples on the rock - this is the impression of stigmaria, the root system of a Carboniferous lycopod. One of the kelvinbridge arches can be seen in the background.
March 9, 2025 at 3:15 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Limp Bizkit 🔥🔥🔥
March 9, 2025 at 11:54 AM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
I'm gonna suffer for the rest of my life
But I will always find a way to survive
I'm not a failure but know what it's like
I can take it or leave it or die

Stay, you don't always know where you stand
'Til you know you won't run away
There's something inside me that feels
LIKE BREATHING IN SULPHUR 🔥
Photo of a hand palm side up holding a sample of bright yellow native sulphur crystals on greyish coloured calcite. Specimen held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.
March 4, 2025 at 11:38 AM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Head Like A Hole (Copper)
Photo of a hand holding a hand specimen in front of a plain white background. The specimen is a thin leaf like sheet of native copper on a piece of altered basalt from Boyleston Quarry, Renfrew. Held in the collections of The Hunterian.
February 21, 2025 at 5:48 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Head Like A Hole (Opal)
Photo of a hand palm side up holding a selection of opal cabs from Australia which shows vibrant flashes of colour, ranging from green to blue, pink, yellow, peach and orange. Held in collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow. Head Like A Hole (Opal) is the name of a Nine Inch Nails remix version of HLAH, included on the uk version of the album.
February 18, 2025 at 8:18 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Absolute best times as always 😭🖤 #GothsInUngothlyPlaces
February 5, 2025 at 9:33 AM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Tasty looking prehnite from Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire for #MineralMonday 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Photo of a hand palm side up holding a specimen of prehnite against a plain white background. The sample shows a mass of pale yellow coloured spherical crystals with a bubbly grape like (botryoidal) texture. Held in the collections of The Hunterian - GLAHM:M6229. The palm has a tattoo of an ammonite in cross section on it.
January 27, 2025 at 8:47 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Monday you can fall apart x
Mirror selfie of Katie dressed in black with headphones and sunglasses on
January 27, 2025 at 8:23 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Watch the white
Turn to red
It fills up the hole but it grows somewhere else instead
All my life
Yeah yeah yeah yeah, but it just left me dead
The world is over and I realise it was all in my head
Photo of two fingers holding a cut and polished agate half from Montrose against a plain white background. Caption is lyrics from Nine Inch Nails song “please”. The agate displays concentric angular banding which resembles the fortification of a castle viewed from above. The bands show high contrast and range in colour from red to white, orange and brown. Held in the collections of The Hunterian.
January 25, 2025 at 7:39 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Pretty wild how a worker from the Bothwell Park Brickworks put their finger in this brick, which was destined for Kelvin Hall.. and now, almost 100 years later, some wee goth is stood admiring it
Photo showing a close up of a red clay brick from bothwell park brickworks used to build the kelvin hall in Glasgow. On the brick there is a thumb and a fingerprint where the ridges can be made out. Around the brick is a grey coloured repair cement mortar. There’s an index finger at the bottom with a tattooed scale, lines and dots 5mm apart.
January 21, 2025 at 3:44 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Better Lovers 🔥
January 20, 2025 at 11:10 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Baryte and calcite on quartz from Tyndrum 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🖤
January 19, 2025 at 10:34 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Dreamy goth smoky quartz from Glen Rosa, Arran 🖤
Image of a hand holding a large rectanglular shaped specimen of black to dark brown smoky quartz crystals on pale yellow to whitish microcline feldspar. From Glen Rosa, Arran. Held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow. Close up of the sample in previous photo with black to dark brown smoky quartz crystals on pale yellow to whitish microcline feldspar. From Glen Rosa, Arran. Held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.
January 12, 2025 at 2:27 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Pure stoater of an agate from Angus 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Photo of a two finger holding a polished agate half against a plain white background. The agate displays angular concentric (fortification) banding around the outer edges, and banding ranges in colour through red, brown, grey, white, orange and pale blue. There’s also an eye on the right hand edge where there’s banding forming in a concentric circle. The centre exhibits a small vug with white to clear/colourless crystalline quartz and small quartz crystals which point inwards. From south of Arbroath, Angus. Held in the Hunterian Collections, University of Glasgow.
January 3, 2025 at 4:34 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Hello, my hair is now matching this pretty wee amethyst and calcite cluster from Guanajuato, Mexico 💜

#DyingMyHairToMatchRocks
Selfie of Katie with pale violet to white coloured hair, wearing a cut up black satanic planet band shirt with lots of tattoos. The background is her out of focus bedroom. Photo of a hand holding a small palm sized cluster of pale purple coloured amethyst and white calcite from Guanajuato, Mexico. Specimen held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow - GLAHM:M7864.
January 1, 2025 at 9:25 PM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Carboniferous crindroid!
Photo of two fingers holding a cylindrical fossil crinoid stem which resembles a wee one eyed robot shaped pal. The stem is made up of individual ossicles which are disc shaped. At the top of the stem is are some squashed almost disc shaped ossicles which have been preserved sitting on top of the stem. The way they are stacked makes a semicircular shape resembling a smile. Above this is a small circular cirri that resembles a wee bead, which looks like an eye. There’s a row of smaller ossicles/a stem attached to the left hand side. Crinoids are marine animals (echinoderms - related to starfish, urchins etc) and these Carboniferous stalked variety used the stem to attach to the seafloor. These cirri protruded from the stem and are through to be for helping anchor to the substrate, or for swimming/relocating.
December 31, 2024 at 8:37 AM
palaeokatie.bsky.social
Here’s some gloriously garnetiferous pegmatite from near Loch Garve (Ross-shire) for #MineralMonday 🖤
Photo of a hand holding a hand specimen of Precambrian garnet pegmatite from near Loch Garve, Strathpeffer, Ross-shire against a plain white background. The garnets are abundant throughout the rock and exhibit a deep purplish red colour (almandine), in a white to grey coloured quartz and muscovite matrix. Held in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow - GLAHM:100448.
December 30, 2024 at 6:25 PM