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A lonely OAP got involved in branch of earth science (13)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

palaeontology

'branch of earth science' is the definition.

'a lonely oap got involved' is the wordplay.
'involved' is an anagram indicator (involved can mean confusing or complex).
'a'+'lonely'+'oap'+'got'='alonelyoapgot'
'alonelyoapgot' with letters rearranged gives 'PALAEONTOLOGY'.

'in' acts as a link.

(Another definition for palaeontology that I've seen is " The study of fossils".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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