Carbon isotope stratigraphy and depositional oxia through Cenomanian/Turonian boundary sequences (Upper Cretaceous) in New Zealand

Stratigraphic sections across the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary (C/T boundary) are identified in New Zealand and were deposited in southern high latitudes of the palaeo-Pacific. Lithological evidence for Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2), which preceded and spanned the C/T boundary, is lacking in these sections. The correlative interval is identified, however, from a positive 2‰ carbon isotope excursion (CIE) and from clustered highest occurrences of Cenomanian-restricted dinoflagellate taxa together with the lowest occurrence of Turonian Heterosphaeridium difficile. A zone lacking benthic macrofossils encompasses the CIE. In some sections, this interval is also characterized by distinctive red mudstone beds; the thickest such red bed (6–18 m thick) may overlap or just overlie the main part of the CIE interval. Shelly macrobenthos, notably inoceramid bivalves, disappeared >500 kyr prior to the CIE. This suggests that environmental deterioration associated with OAE2 may have preceded the inferred volcanic trigger that has been identified from other regions. Strong intermediate water depth oxia during OAE2, which contrasts with oceanic anoxic conditions that occurred elsewhere on the globe, apparently prevailed during the later phase of OAE2 in the southernmost Pacific. New data from New Zealand indicate that causal mechanism(s) of OAE2 may be complex.     

Mesofossil flora from the Late Cretaceous of New Zealand

This study presents the first report of mesofossils of flowers, fruits and seeds found in the Cretaceous of New Zealand. The specimens were recovered from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian, ca. 70 Ma) at Kai Point Mine, South Island in a sequence of floodplain sediments sampled just below the Barclay Coal Seam. Angiosperm flowers, fruits and seeds occur in the sample. The most common form is an actinomorphic flower with two whorls of three tepals. Anther bases are preserved and the ovary develops into a drupe, all features that are consistent with placement in the Lauraceae. Reproductive structures including seeds of conifers are also described, with some allied to the Podocarpaceae. This contrasts with interpretations of the flora based on macrofossils that indicate abundant Araucariaceae and highlights the different perspectives that mesofossil floras give to any assemblage. The results of the present study support a Late Cretaceous flora at this site mainly dominated by conifers with affinities to Podocarpaceae but also including lauraceous angiosperms.     

Mid-cycle condensed shellbeds from mid-Pleistocene cyclothems, New Zealand: implications for sequence architecture

Richly fossiliferous and disconformity-bounded facies successions, termed Mid-Cycle Condensed Shellbeds (MCS), occupy a mid-cycle position within depositional sequences in the Castlecliff section (mid-Pleistocene, Wanganui Basin, New Zealand). These shell-rich intervals (0.1–4.5 m thick) comprise the upper of two loci of shell accumulation in Castlecliff sequences. The lower disconformable contacts are sharp and variably burrowed, and are interpreted as submarine transgressive surfaces formed by storm or tidal current erosion at the feather-edge of contemporary transgressive systems tracts. Above (i.e. seaward) of this erosion surface, macrofossil remains (mainly bivalves and gastropods) accumulated, with little reworking, on the inner-shelf under conditions of reduced terrigenous sediment supply. The upper contacts are sharp transitions from shell-rich to relatively shell-poor lithofacies; parautochthonous shell accumulation was ‘quenched’by downlapping highstand systems tract shelf siltstones and muddy fine sandstones. Castlecliff MCS, together with the basal shell-rich part of overlying highstand systems tracts, occupy a stratigraphic position which corresponds to the condensed section that forms at the transgressive/highstand systems tract boundary in the sequence model of Haq et al. (1987). Palaeoenvironmental analysis indicates that Castlecliff MCS are substantially, if not entirely, transgressive deposits. This study therefore shows that the ‘condensation maximum’within a depositional sequence does not necessarily bracket the transgressive systems tract/highstand systems tract boundary.     

The molecular composition of ambers

Bulk (elemental composition, IR, CP/MAS ¹³C NMR) and molecular (GC-MS) analyses have been performed on a series of ambers and resins derived from different locations (Dominican Republic, Philippines, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Chile) having diverse botanical affinities (Araucariaceae, Hymenaea) and variable age (from Holocene to Early Cretaceous). No major differences have been observed from the elemental composition and the spectroscopic data; however, the molecular analyses of the solvent extractable fraction show that a specific mixture of components is present in each sample. These are mainly diterpenoid products that in general are also found abundantly in the higher plants from which the ambers and resins originate. Nevertheless, a direct relationship between major terpenoid constituents in fossil resins and precursor plant materials can only be established for the younger samples.Irrespective of the geographical or botanical origin of the ambers and resins, several common age-dependent molecular transformation trends can be recognized: (1) progressive loss of olefinic bonds (especially those located in exocyclic positions), (2) decrease of functionalized products, and (3) increasing proportion of aromatized components. However, even in the samples of older age (Cretaceous) the degree of aromatization is very low when compared with that of other higher-plant related materials such as fossilized woods or low rank coals. This indicates that maturation must involve essentially olefin polymerization processes instead of extensive aromatization.     

Radiolarian faunal turnover through the Paleocene-Eocene transition,Mead Stream,New Zealand

The Mead Stream section, northern Clarence Valley, is the most complete Paleocene- early Eocene record of pelagic sedimentation in the mid-latitude (~55° S paleolatitude) Pacific Ocean. Integrated studies of sediments, siliceous and calcareous microfossils and carbon isotopes have shown that major global climate events are recorded by distinct changes in lithofacies and biofacies. The consistent and often abundant occurrence of siliceous microfossils in the section provides a rare opportunity to undertake quantitative analysis of highlatitude radiolarian population changes through the late Paleocene and early Eocene. Late Paleocene assemblages are dominated by spumellarians, although the nassellarian species Buryella tetradica is the most abundant species. The Paleocene-Eocene boundary (= base of Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum) in the Mead Stream section is marked by major faunal turnover, including an abrupt decrease in B. tetradica, first occurrences of several low-latitude species (e.g. Amphicraspedum prolixum s.s., Lychnocanium auxilla, Podocyrtis papalis, Phormocyrtis turgida, Theocorys? phyzella) and increased abundance of large, robust spumellarians relative to small actinommids. Above an 18-m thick, lowermost Eocene interval in which radiolarians are abundant to common, radiolarian abundance declines progressively, falling to <10 individuals per gram in the marl-dominated unit that is correlated with the early Eocene climatic optimum. These trends in siliceous microfossil populations signal major changes in watermass characteristics along the northeastern New Zealand margin in the earliest Eocene. Assemblages typical of cool, eutrophic, watermasses that dominated the Marlborough Paleocene were replaced in the early Eocene by assemblages more characteristic of oligotrophic, stratified, subtropical-tropical watermasses.     

Tethyan Crinoids in the Panthalassa Ocean

Three late Anisian (Etalian) and five late Ladinian (Kaihikuan) crinoids are known to occur in a sequence exposed at Caroline Cutting, Oreti Valley, Southland, New Zealand - ‘Isocrinus’ carolinensis, ‘Isocrinus’ balrnacaanensis, Dadocrinus gractlis (late Anisian - Etalian), Holocrinus trechmanni, Encriniis undatus, Encrinus ternio, Holocrinus quinqueradiatus, Tollmannicrinus sakltbelensts (Late Ladinian - Kaihikuan). Crinoids D. gracilts, E. ternto, H. quinqueradiatus, and T. saklibelensis are known to occur elsewhere, albeit in the Northern Hemisphere. These species are also known from intermediate migratory points on a Tethys Ocean route between New Zcaland and Europe. ‘Isocrinus’ occurs at Caroline Cutting about thc time when it has been proposed that thc Isocrinidae radiated from the Holocrinidae. It is suggested that the offshore Gondwanaland environment of Caroline Cutting was the locus of some of the earliest Isocrinidae known in the Southern hemisphere. This biogeographic situation suggests an ongoing interchange of migratory crinoid faunas from Northern Hemisphere basinal peri-Tethys, along a Tethys Ocean route, to an offshore Gondwanaland Middle Triassic point now called Caroline Cutting.     

Tertiary plate tectonics and high-pressure metamorphism in New Caledonia

The sialic basement of New Caledonia is a Permian-Jurassic greywacke sequence which was folded and metamorphosed to prehnite-pumpellyite or low-grade greenschist facies by the Late Jurassic. Succeeding Cretaceous-Eocene sediments unconformably overlie this basement and extend outwards onto oceanic crust. Tertiary tectonism occurred in three distinct phases.

1. (1) During the Late Eocene a nappe of peridotite was obducted onto southern New Caledonia from northeast to southwest, but without causing significant metamorphism in the underlying sialic rocks.

2. (2) Oligocene compressive thrust tectonics in the northern part of the island accompanied a major east-west subduction zone, at least 30 km wide, which is identified by an imbricate system of tectonically intruded melanges and by development of lawsonite-bearing assemblages in adjacent country rocks; this high-pressure mineralogy constituted a primary metamorphism for the Cretaceous-Eocene sedimentary pile, but was overprinted on the Mesozoic prehnite-pumpellyite metagreywackes.

3. (3) Post-Oligocene transcurrent faulting along a northwest-southeast line (the sillon) parallel to the west coast caused at least 150 km of dextral offset of the southwest frontal margin of the Eocene ultramafic nappe.

At the present time, the tectonics of the southwest Pacific are related to a series of opposite facing subduction (Benioff) zones connected by transform faults extending from New Britain-Solomon Islands south through the New Hebrides to New Zealand and marking the boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates. Available geologic data from this region suggest that a similar geometry existed during the Tertiary and that the microcontinents of New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand all lay along the former plate boundary which has since migrated north and east by a complex process of sea-floor spreading behind the active island arcs.     

中国晚前寒武纪的宏体化石概观

本文综述了目前中国晚前寒武纪地层中所发现的宏体化石,从18亿年起直到6亿年左右。蓟县剖面高于庄组(14亿年)中发现Grypanta等大化石,再次证明生物演化大阶段的世界性。包括后生动物实体化石在内的淮南生物群可能是前冰期的,也就是先伊迪卡拉期的。震旦纪晚期的西陵峡生物群,现有伊迪卡拉期的典型分子,又有丰富的蠕虫管和高级的红藻、绿藻类。蠕虫管的大量出现预告了带硬部动物时代的到来。     

Delineation of potentially auriferous quartz reefs by analysis of the bark of Pinus radiata (Monterey pine)

Rocks and bark samples of Pinus radiata from Union Hill, Waihi, New Zealand were analyzed for 19 elements to establish whether the elemental content of bark could be used to delineate subterranean auriferous quartz reefs and veins. Three elemental concentrations in bark (chromium, nickel and sodium) show sufficiently great differences (P < 0.05) between populations growing on or off the reefs (i.e. on quartz reefs or on andesites), to be diagnostic of subterranean potentially auriferous quartz. Gold in the bark not diagnostic although it was correlated with arsenic and iron. It is concluded that the technique should be applicable elsewhere in New Zealand or overseas where P. radiata is to be found growing over potentially auriferous ground.     

Stevns Klint Fish Clay (FC-1): Preparation of, and Preliminary Results for, a Candidate Reference Material

The collapse of a section of the cliff at Stevns Klint, Denmark in 1986 provided a unique opportunity to collect about 50 kg of Fish Clay representing the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary layer. In this paper, details of the preparation of this sample are presented, together with preliminary analytical results to support the development of this sample as a reference material, particularly for the determination of iridium and the other platinum-group elements in clays and sediments associated with K-T boundary studies and in other environmental samples collected to study the effects of automobile exhaust catalysts.     

Holocene vegetation and climate change in southern New Zealand: linkages between forest composition and quantitative surface moisture reconstructions from an ombrogenous bog

This paper presents a Holocene pollen record from an ombrotrophic bog in Southland, New Zealand, together with multiproxy data (testate amoebae, peat humification and plant macrofossils) from the same core to establish an independent semiquantitative record of peatland surface moisture. Linkages between reconstructed peatland surface moisture and regional forest composition are investigated using redundancy analysis of the forest pollen data constrained with predicted bog water‐table depths. Over 32% of the pollen data variance can be explained by surface moisture changes in the bog, suggesting a common cause of water‐table and regional vegetation change. Water tables were higher during the early to mid‐Holocene when the forest was dominated by podocarp taxa. Water tables lowered after about 3300 cal. yr BP coevally with the expansion of Nothofagus species, culminating with the dominance of Nothofagus subgenus Fuscospora in the past 1200 cal. yr BP. This is in apparent opposition to the warm/dry to cool/wet trend suggested by subjective interpretation of pollen data alone, from this and other studies. We suggest that during the late Holocene, drier summers associated with shifts in solar insolation caused reduced surface wetness and summer humidity, which together with a trend to cooler winters, apparently favoured the regeneration of Nothofagus species. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Taxonomy,Zonation and Correlation of the Graptolite Fauna across the Lower/Middle Ordovician Boundary Interval in the Yangtze Gorges Area,South China

The graptolite fauna across the Lower and Middle Ordovician boundary at the Huanghuachang GSSP section,Yichang and the Jianyangping section,Xingshan County is described. The taxonomy of the pendent didymograptids,the graptolite zonations across the base of Middle Ordovician and their correlations are discussed in this paper.The two revised graptolite zones,the Didymograptellus bifidus Zone and the Azygograptus suecicus Zone,can be well correlated to their equivalents elsewhere in the world.     

Palynoassemblages associated with a theropod dinosaur from the Snow Hill Island Formation (lower Maastrichtian) at the Naze,James Ross Island,Antarctica

The Cape Lamb Member of the Snow Hill Island Formation at The Naze on the northern margin of James Ross Island, east of the Antarctic Peninsula, yielded a theropod dinosaur recovered near the middle of a 90 m thick section that begins at sea level, ends below a basalt sill, and is composed of interbedded green–gray massive and laminated fine-grained sandstones and mudstones. Sixteen palynoassemblages were recovered from this section, which yielded moderately diverse assemblages with a total of 100 relatively well-preserved species. The principal terrestrial groups (32%) are represented by lycophytes (8 species), pteridophytes (15 species), gymnosperms (13 species), angiosperms (21 species) and freshwater chlorococcaleans (3 species). Marine palynomorphs (68%) belong to dinoflagellates (61 species), chlorococcaleans (6 species), and one acritarch. The vertical distribution of selected species allows the distinction of two informal assemblages, the lower Odontochitina porifera assemblage from the base to its disappearance in the lower part of the section, and the remaining section characterized by the Batiacasphaera grandis assemblage. The global stratigraphic ranges of selected palynomorphs suggest an early Maastrichtian age for this section and the entombed dinosaur that is also supported by the presence of the ammonoid Kitchinites darwinii. These assemblages share many species with latest Campanian–early Maastrichtian palynofloras from Vega and Humps Islands, New Zealand, and elsewhere in the Southern Ocean, establishing a good correlation among them. The dominance or frequent presence of dinoflagellates throughout the section supports the general interpretation of a shelf marine depocenter. The consistent presence of terrestrial palynomorphs suggests contributions from littoral/inland environments.     

The Paleocene of Antarctica: Dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy,chronostratigraphy and implications for the palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana

The Paleocene (66–56 Ma) was a critical time interval for understanding recovery from mass extinction in high palaeolatitudes when global climate was warmer than today. A unique sedimentary succession from Seymour Island (Antarctic Peninsula) provides key reference material from this important phase of the early Cenozoic. Dinoflagellate cyst data from a 376 m thick stratigraphical section, including the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, is correlated with biozones from New Zealand, the East Tasman Plateau and southeastern Australia. A detailed age model is suggested for the López de Bertodano (LDBF) and Sobral (SF) formations based on dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy and U–Pb dating of zircons, supported by correlated magnetostratigraphy and strontium isotope values from macrofossils. The top of the LDBF is confirmed as latest Maastrichtian to earliest Danian (~ 66.2–65.65 Ma) in age. The overlying SF is mostly Danian in age, with an inferred hiatus near the top overlain by sediments dated as ?late Thanetian. Rare Apectodinium homomorphum first appear in the uppermost SF; the earliest in situ record from Antarctica. The distribution of marine and terrestrial fossils from uppermost Cretaceous to Eocene sediments in Patagonia, Antarctica, New Zealand and Australia required both sea and land connections between these fragments of Gondwana. Fossil evidence and reconstructions of Antarctic palaeogeography and palaeotopography reveal evidence for persistent embayments in the proto-Weddell and Ross Sea regions at this time. We conclude that a coastal dispersal route along the palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana could explain the fossil distribution without requiring a transAntarctic strait or closely spaced archipelago. A region in the West to East Antarctic boundary zone, elevated until the early Paleogene, perhaps acted as a site for high elevation ice caps. This supports fossil, geochemical and sedimentological evidence for cold climate intervals and significant sea level falls during the Maastrichtian and Paleocene.     

白垩-第三纪界线样品异常铱的赋存状态及其地质意义

通过对地质样品中铱的赋存状态研究及对残渣相中微粒的透射电镜分析,得出:在K-T界线样品中铱主要存在于残渣相中,不利于地球化学过程富集铱;铱在残渣相的富集与有机不溶物的存在没有必然联系;白垩-第三纪的生物绝灭事件中有火山活动参与;K-T界线事件的触发物为地外物质撞击。最后提出了K-T界线样品异常铱来源于地外物质撞击和火山喷发的混合模型。     

白垩-第三纪界线样品异常铱的赋存状态及其地质意义

 通过对地质样品中铱的赋存状态研究及对残渣相中微粒的透射电镜分析,得出:在K-T界线样品中铱主要存在于残渣相中,不利于地球化学过程富集铱;铱在残渣相的富集与有机不溶物的存在没有必然联系;白垩-第三纪的生物绝灭事件中有火山活动参与;K-T界线事件的触发物为地外物质撞击。最后提出了K-T界线样品异常铱来源于地外物质撞击和火山喷发的混合模型。     

Microbial ecology and geochemistry of soils containing iron pans

Soils in New Zealand, and elsewhere, often contain substantial zones of ferro-manganese concretions and pans (laterally continuous layers) that can affect soil quality and management. Soils containing concretions and pans from Southland, New Zealand, were investigated to determine links between microbial ecology and geochemistry. Three soil profiles were sampled at 100-mm intervals to a depth of 1 m and then assayed for nine different populations of bacteria using selective media. Geochemical analysis was performed on the soils at the same intervals, and on shallow groundwater from nearby wells. The largest concentrations of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) coincide with concretions. Nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) are not correlated with Fe and Mn but may be depleted due to bacterial metabolism. Fe and Mn concentrations in groundwater are low, suggesting that the source of these elements in the concretions and pans is in situ weathering rather than groundwater. Numbers of iron oxidising organisms increase where concretions and pans are encountered, but manganese-oxidising organisms decrease. Heterotrophic, sulphur-oxidising, and anaerobic populations have relatively consistent numbers at all depths within the profiles. Fifty organisms were selected for phylogenetic characterisation, of which only Pseudomonas sp. is known to have significant interactions with Fe and Mn. These results suggest a link between concretion development and iron-oxidising microbial populations.     

Planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and faunal turnover events during the Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary along the Red Sea Coast, Egypt

Planktonic foraminiferal assemblages from the Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary sedimentary sequence in Quseir (Hammadat section), Safaga (Wasif section) and Esh El-Mellaha (Esh El-Mellaha section) areas along the Red Sea Coast, provide a database for biostratigraphical subdivisions and marking of faunal changes. Ten planktonic foraminiferal zones were found. There are, from base to top, the Late Cretaceous Globotruncana ægyptiaca and Gansserina gansseri Zones and the Early Tertiary Parasubbotina pseudobulloides, Praemurica trinidadensis, P. uncinata, Morozovella angulata, Igorina pusilla, Globanomalina pseudomenardii, Morozovella velascoensis and M. edgari zones.Two intervals of non-deposition of sediments (hiatuses) in the study areas are recorded, indicating tectonic events. The first hiatus occurred all over the study areas near the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. The second hiatus is restricted to the Late Palæocene of the Safaga area.Two global planktonic foraminiferal faunal turnover events are identified, reflecting major palæoceanographic changes. The faunal turnover event I occurred near the M. angulata/I. pusilla boundary near the Palæocene/Eocene boundary. These turnovers are characterised by the appearance and disappearance of species and changes in relative abundance, diversity and richness of species. Oscillation in the mean sea level in the study areas during the Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary may be related to a true eustatic change in addition to the evidence for local tectonic control.     

Extinct mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni) in Southeastern Utah

The extinct Harrington's mountain goat (Oreamnos harringtoni Stock) is predominantly known from dry cave localities in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, in addition to two sites in the Great Basin, Nevada, and from San Josecito Cave, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. A dry shelter in Natural Bridges National Monument, on the central Colorado Plateau, southeastern Utah, preserves numerous remains of the extinct mountain goat in addition to pack rat middens. Remains from a 100-cm stratigraphic profile indicate that O. harringtoni lived on the plateau >39,800 yr B.P., the oldest directly dated find of extinct mountain goat. Plant macrofossils indicate that Engelmann's spruce (Picea engelmannii), limber pine (Pinus flexilis), rose (Rosa cf. woodsii), and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) grew during the late Pleistocene where a riparian and a pinyon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus osteosperma) community now predominates; Douglas fir are found only in mesic, protected, north-facing areas. Limber pine, Douglas fir, bark, and grasses were the major dietary components in the dung. A springtime diet of birch (Betula) is determined from pollen clumps in dung pellets.     

Cretaceous climate, volcanism, impacts, and biotic effects

Cretaceous volcanic activities (LIPs and CFBPs) appear to have had relatively minor biotic effects, at least at the generic level. Major biotic stress during the Cretaceous was associated with OAEs and related to nutrient availability largely from weathering, greenhouse warming, drowning of platform areas, and volcanism. The biotic effects of OAEs were often dramatic at the species level, causing the extinction of larger specialized and heavily calcified planktonic foraminifera (rotaliporid extinction) and nannoconids (nannoconid crises), the temporary disappearances of other larger species, and the rapid increase in r-selected small and thin-walled species, such as the low oxygen tolerant heterohelicids and radially elongated taxa among planktic foraminifera and thin walled nannofossils. Biotic diversity increased during cool climates, particularly during the late Campanian and Maastrichtian, reaching maximum diversity during the middle Maastrichtian. High biotic stress conditions began during greenhouse warming and Deccan volcanism about 400 ky before the K-T boundary; it reduced abundances of large specialized tropical planktic foraminiferal species and endangered their survival. By K-T time, renewed Deccan volcanism combined with a large impact probably triggered the demise of this already extinction prone species group.Evidence from NE Mexico, Texas, and the Chicxulub crater itself indicates that this 170 km-diameter crater predates the K-T boundary by 300,000 years and caused no species extinctions. The Chicxulub impact, therefore, can no longer be considered a direct cause for the K-T mass extinction. However, the K-T mass extinction is closely associated with a global Ir anomaly, which is considered too large, too widespread, and too concentrated in a thin layer to have originated from volcanic activity, leaving another large impact as the most likely source. This suggests that a second still unknown larger impact may have triggered the K-T mass extinction.