Dinosaur demise in light of their alleged perennial polar residency

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The end-Cretaceous biological crisis is represented by the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs. However, most crucial biologically was the elimination of the...     

Short contribution: Geological and religious factors for subsurface quarrying that formed the Zedekiah Cave in Jerusalem,Israel

The Zedekiah Cave is situated within an area of ancient limestone quarries. The quarried tunnel system extends more than 200 m from the small entrance. Important reasons must have prompted the transition to technically complicated subsurface activity. Quarrying proceeded mainly along a single layer of porous bioclastic limestone. The fresh, wet rock is friable, easily cut and carved. When exposed and dried, the blocks become casehardened from the periphery inward. Such rock was needed for renovation of the Second Temple under the religious restrictions that no iron (metal) tool should be used at the holy site, and these blocks could be finally shaped with nonmetallic tools. These unique geological and religious factors resulted in the subsurface quarrying of the building stones. Hence, the Zedekiah Cave was dug some 565 years after King Zedekiah allegedly fled through the cave out of Jerusalem to Jericho where the Babylonian soldiers captured him. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Cenomanian–Turonian carbonate platform deposits in west central Jordan

We studied upper Albian to Turonian shallow-marine shelf deposits (Ajlun Group) of west central Jordan along a NNE-SSW running transect. The carbonate-dominated succession includes few siliciclastic intercalations, claystones and shales, and can be subdivided into five formations. The Naur, Fuheis and Hummar Formations of upper Albian to upper Cenomanian age represent shallow subtidal to supratidal platform environments. The uppermost Cenomanian to middle Turonian Shueib Formation includes deeper water deposits of the inner/mid-shelf and locally TOC-rich black shales. Shallow-marine platform environments once again dominate the Wadi As Sir Formation (middle-upper Turonian). A new multibiostratigraphic framework is based on ammonites (mainly of the middle Cenomanian rhotomagense Zone to the middle Turonian woollgari Zone) and calcareous nannofossils (biozones CC 9–CC 11), supplemented by benthic and planktonic foraminifers and ostracods. It forms the base of a sequence stratigraphic subdivision, containing eight sedimentary sequences (S1–S8), which are separated by four Cenomanian sequence boundaries (CeJo1–CeJo4) and three Turonian sequence boundaries (TuJo1–TuJo3). This scheme allows the correlation of the platform succession from distal to proximal shelf areas in contrast to previous correlations using lithologic units. Furthermore, comparisons between the platform successions and sequence patterns of west central Jordan and those from neighbouring areas allow to differentiate local, regional, and global controlling factors of platform development within the study area.     

Erratum to: Dinosaur demise in light of their alleged perennial polar residency

International Journal of Earth Sciences -