The Pelecypods Undulomya,Cosmomya and Palaeocosmomya in the permian of India and Western Australia

Goniomya sp. ind., and Goniomya sp. ind. aff. G. kasanensis (Geinitz), described by Diener (1903) from the Permian of the Central Himalayas, are shown to belong to Undulomya. Goniomya uhligi Holdhaus, 1913, thought by Holdhaus to be of Jurassic age, is also regarded as an Undulomya and con‐specific with or closely related to the above species. Cosmomya egregaria Holdhaus, 1913, the type species of Cosmomya Holdhaus, 1913, which comes from the same locality as Undulomya uhligi, is regarded as congeneric with Palaeocosmomya Fletcher, 1946. Palaeocosmomya therefore, becomes a synonym of Cosmomya, but is retained at the subgeneric level. The evidence now available indicates that Undulomya uhligi and Cosmomya egregaria are of Late Permian age.

Undulomya and Cosmomya are regarded as two quite distinctive genera which also differ from the Jurassic genus Goniomya, in which species of both have hitherto often been included. Undulomya and Cosmomya have so far been recorded from Australia, India, Madagascar and the Soviet Union and Cosmomya, in addition, from Greenland.     

The fenestrate bryozoan Septopora carbonaria (Etheridge Jun. 1873a) from the Carboniferous of Great Britain

The Carboniferous fenestrate bryozoan Synocladia carbonaria Etheridge Jun. (1873a) is redescribed. Originally assigned to Synocladia and subsequently diagnosed as a variety of Synocladia biserialis Swallow by Etheridge Jun. (1873b), S. carbonaria is here considered to be a distinct species. Synocladia(?) scotica Young and Young (1878) is conspecific with S. carbonaria, as suggested by Graham (1975). Graham (1975) established the new genus Lanarkopora, naming S. carbonaria and S.(?) scotica in synonomy, with S. carbonaria, the senior synonym, being selected as the type species. Re-examination of the type material of S. carbonaria and S.(?) scotica has shown that they are referable to the genus Septopora Meek, and Lanarkopora is herein designated a junior synonym of Septopora.     

Bonding in eight ordered clinopyroxenes isostructural with diopside

Bond distances and angles in isostructural, ordered clinopyroxenes are compared for eight compositions, based on five new and three published crystal-structure refinements from X-ray diffraction data. Unit-cell parameters and configuration of the silicate chains are directly correlated with cation composition and distribution in the M2 and M1 sites.Publication authorized by the Director, U. S. Geological Survey.Our thanks go to D. B. Stewart, C. Milton, and C. S. Ross, U. S. Geological Survey, who supplied crystals of the minerals, to D. B. Stewart for synthesis of iron spodumene, to Dr. L. Fuchs, Argonne National Laboratory, for synthesis of ureyite, and to Dr. B. Mason, U. S. National Museum, who transmitted the ureyite crystals.     

Notes on Paleozoic Malacostraca of USSR. Pygocephalomorpha

The classification of higher crustacea is reviewed and the family Tealliocaridae is considered to be a synonym of Pygocephalidae of the order PygocephalOmorpha. Hitherto only two representatives of Paleozoic higher crustacea have been known from the USSR. A new genus and species of pygocephalid, Brooksocaris aisenvergi, is described from the Carboniferous of the Ukraine, and another unnamed form from the Devonian of Kaluga is reported. Burkenroad's (1963) hypothesis of a polyphyletic origin of the Pygocephalomorpha is rejected. Based on material now available, the order is regarded as a single, natural grouping, the ancestors and progeny of which cannot for the moment be confidently identified. — R. A. Robison.     

Refinement of the synthetic hydroxyapatite cell parameters

High-precision, computer-refined values of the cell parameters of calcium hydroxyapatite, Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂, have been determined with an X-ray diffractometer, internally standardized by means of sodium chloride. The results obtained are as follows: a ₀=9.4192 Å c ₀/a ₀=0.731 c ₀=6.8867 Å volume=529.2 ų The apatite work was supported by a research grant DE-02105 from the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. I am very grateful to Dr. W. R. Liebenberg, Dr. S. A. Hiemstra and Dr. H. V. R. von Rahden of National Institute for Metallurgy, South Africa for their valuable help and interest and Prof. Nelson Fuson and Prof. James R. Lawson for advice and discussion.     

Spores from a carboniferous section in the hunter valley,New South Wales

In this initial systematic study of Carboniferous spores from New South Wales, Australia, fifteen species (all but one of them new) are formally described and are distributed among eight established genera and two new genera (Rattiganispora, a distally annulate trilete form, and Psomospora, an inaperturate or proximally hilate form). The species were selected as being the most characteristic and distinctive forms found in the Italia Road Formation at its well‐exposed type section in the Hunter Valley, east‐central New South Wales. The formation is a cyclical non‐marine unit, over 300 metres (1,000 ft) thick, consisting of lithic arenites together with carbonaceous shales, claystones, and siltstones; its age is regarded as West‐phalian‐Stephanian. The microfiora is compared with those known from sediments of similar age elsewhere and its place in the Australian Palaeozoic palynostratigraphic record is discussed.

New specific institutions are as follows: Punctatisporites lucidulus, P. sub‐tritus, Verrucosisporites aspratilis, V. italiaensis, Raistrickia accincta, R. radiosa, Reticulatisporites asperidictyus, R. magnidictyus, Foveosporites pellucidus, Rattiganispora apiculata (type species), Kraeuselisporites kuttungensis, Grandispora maculosa, Psomospora detecta (type species), and Wilsonites australiensis.     

The status of Dollodon and other basal iguanodonts (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe

Dollodon bampingi was recently named based upon a specimen from the Bernissart Quarry that had previously been referred to Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis. The initial diagnosis of Dollodon did not adequately distinguish it from Mantellisaurus or from other basal iguanodonts, necessitating a reassessment of the material. Firsthand examination of the holotypes of the two taxa and numerous other basal iguanodont specimens, as well as a principal components analysis of basal iguanodont dentaries, did not find any morphological features to justify the distinction of Dollodon from Mantellisaurus. D. bampingi is thus best considered a junior synonym of M. atherfieldensis. Furthermore, the recent referral of the species Iguanodon seelyi to the genus Dollodon is not supported; I. seelyi is indistinguishable from Iguanodon bernissartensis, and is considered a junior synonym of that species. Finally, the recently named taxon Proplanicoxa galtoni, also based upon a specimen formerly attributed to M. atherfieldensis, is considered a nomen dubium and probable junior synonym of M. atherfieldensis. Thus, only two species of large-bodied basal iguanodont should be recognized from the Barremian-Aptian of England and Belgium: M. atherfieldensis and I. bernissartensis.     

Revision of the Carboniferous cystoporate bryozoan Fistulipora incrustans (Phillips, 1836), with remarks on the type species of Fistulipora M'Coy, 1849

The type species of the Palaeozoic cystoporate bryozoan genus Fistulipora M'Coy, 1849 is redescribed. Fistulipora minor M'Coy, 1849 is the type species, and was the first species described under the genus Fistulipora. Quantitative assessment of type and figured specimens of Calamopora incrustans Phillips, 1836 and F. minor has shown them to fall within the range of morphological variation exhibited by abundant comparative material collected at several horizons and they are referable to one morphologically variable taxon. F. minor is the junior subjective synonym of C. incrustans and the form can be quoted as F. minor M'Coy, 1849 = C. incrustans Phillips, 1836 with a valid name of F. incrustans (Phillips, 1836). However, this does not alter the name of the type species, which is F. minor M'Coy, 1849. The type specimen of Berenicea megastoma M'Coy, 1844 has also been examined, and this form is also conspecific with F. minor M'Coy, 1849 = C. incrustans Phillips, 1836. Examination of the type specimen of F. major M'Coy (1849) has shown it to be referable to the tabulate coral genus Chaetetes. A lectotype and paralectotypes are designated for F. minor and the status of the type specimens of F. incrustans is clarified.     

Book reviews

Book Review in This Article.
The North-West European Shelf Seas: the Sea-Bed and the Sea in Motion. I. Geology and Sedimentology , Ed. by F. T. Banner, M. B. Collins and K. S. Massie.
A Dynamic Stratigraphy of the British Isles, a Study of Crustal Evolution, by R. Anderton, P. H. Bridges, M. R. Leeder and B. W. Selwood.
The Caledonides of the British Isles—Reviewed , ed. by A. L. Harris, C. H. Holland and B. E. Leake.
The Caledonides in the U.S.A. , ed. by D. R. Wones.
Magnetic Stratigraphy of Sediments , Benchmark Papers in Geology, 54, Ed. by James P. Kennett.
Hypersaline Brines and Evaporitic Environments , Developments in Sedimentology, 28, Ed. by A. Nissenbaum.     

Encyclopaedic vision: Speculating on The Dictionary of Human Geography

Since the turn of the millennium, human geography has witnessed the publishing of an increasing number encyclopaedias and dictionaries as well as books under the headings of “handbooks”, “readers” and “companions” to different fields within the discipline. In the present paper, I take as a point of departure this encyclopaedic “frenzy” in order to speculate on the works and values of a long-standing and authoritative geographical companion, The Dictionary of Human Geography (DHG) [Johnston, R.J., Gregory, D., Haggett, P., Smith, D.M., Stoddart, D.R. (Eds.), 1981. The Dictionary of Human Geography. Blackwell, Oxford; Johnston, R.J., Gregory, D., Smith, D.M. (Eds.), 1986a. The Dictionary of Human Geography, second ed. Blackwell, Oxford; Johnston, R.J., Gregory, D., Smith, D.M. (Eds.), 1994. The Dictionary of Human Geography, third ed. Blackwell, Oxford; Johnston, R.J., Gregory, D., Pratt, G., Watts, M. (Eds.), 2000a. The Dictionary of Human Geography, fourth ed. Blackwell, Oxford]. Apart from being subject to regular book reviews, the DHG has escaped attention from geographers critically engaged in debating the works of the discipline. It is argued here that this is due to the fact that the DHG appears to have established itself as an apparently objective recording of human geographers’ myriad of interests. The DHG is, however, a product of complex webs of subjective, situated concerns and thus a version of the discipline deserving of debate.     

Minute members of Baissinae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae) from the upper Mesozoic of China and limits of the genus Manlaya Rasnitsyn, 1980

A brief review and discussion of baissine wasps of Gasteruptiidae, Hymenoptera is given. Eight fossil specimens of wasps from the Laiyang Formation in Laiyang, Shandong, China are described. One new genus, Mesepipolaea, and four new species, M. nanligezhuangica, Humiryssus specialis, H. cancellatus and H. vulgatus are established, and two new combinations are proposed: Humiryssus laiyangensis (Hong and Wang, 1990) (originally Aulocopsis laiyangensis Hong and Wang , 1990), H. oculatissimus (Rasnitsyn and Jarzembowski, 1998) (originally Manlaya oculatissima Rasnitsyn and Jarzembowski, 1998). Sinowestratia communicata Zhang and Zhang, 2000 is a junior synonym of Manlaya flexuosa (Ren et al.,1995) (originally Manlaya flexuosus Ren et al.,1995). Stratigraphic inferences from these finds are briefly discussed.     

中国南方泥盆系发现颗石藻

颗石藻作为一种超微远洋浮游生物,出现于侏罗纪里阿斯世(Lias),繁盛于晚白垩世至第三纪。最近又有所进展。哈克(Hag,1981)面告,最老的颗石藻出现于石炭纪和二叠纪。本文所报道之颗石藻发现于晚泥盆世,是截至目前为止最老的颗石藻化石。 颗石藻演化迅速,分布广泛,形态特征明显,而且数量众多,对划分对比海相地层有一定的意义。本文只对研究区所采标本的颗石藻进行鉴定、描述和分类。     

Inoceramid bivalves from the Turonian/Coniacian (Cretaceous) boundary in Romania: revisions of Simonescu's (1899) material from Ürmös (Ormenis), Transylvania

Simionescu's (1899) inoceramid material from the topmost Turonian/Lower Coniacian of Ürmös (Ormenis), Transylvania, Romania contains ten species which are for the first time photographically illustrated. Of four new forms described by Simionescu (1899a), three referred here toMytiloides carpathicus(Simionescu),Cremnoceramus globosus(Simionescu), andC. transilvanicus(Simionescu), represent valid species. The type of the fourth species,Inoceramus kilianiSimionesu, represents a deformed specimen of an undetermined Late Turonian mytiloid, while the name is formally a junior synonym ofVolviceramus involutus(J. de C. Sowerby). The assemblage is time equivalent of the inoceramid association described from the Krebitz-Zittauer (Saxony, Germany) Cretaceous by Andert (1911) but, contrary to suggestions of Heinz (1930), the forms described by Andert and Simionescu are not conspecific.     

Hydrogeochemical processes in closed and open water-rock systems

Numerical simulations of water-rock systems based on D.S. Korzhinskii’s hypothesis of the openness-closedness of natural systems indicates that the composition of groundwaters evolves into Cl-Na-Ca brines at increasing R/W ratios (rations of reacting rock and water masses) and when the system becomes closed (a decrease in the CO₂ partial pressure) or into HCO₃-Cl-Na brines at a decrease in the R/W ratio and the opening of the system with respect to CO₂ (increase of P _{CO 2}).     

Paper II – Dirt,dates and DNA: OSL and radiocarbon chronologies of perennially frozen sediments in Siberia,and their implications for sedimentary ancient DNA studies

Arnold, L. J., Roberts, R. G., MacPhee, R. D. E., Haile, J. S., Brock, F., Möller, P., Froese, D. G., Tikhonov, A. N., Chivas, A. R., Gilbert, M. T. P. & Willerslev, E. 2010: Paper II – Dirt, dates and DNA: OSL and radiocarbon chronologies of perennially frozen sediments in Siberia, and their implications for sedimentary ancient DNA studies. Boreas, Vol. 40, pp. 417–445. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00181.x. ISSN 0300‐9483 The sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) technique offers a potentially invaluable means of investigating species evolution and extinction dynamics in high‐latitude environments. An implicit assumption of the sedaDNA approach is that the extracted DNA is autochthonous with the host deposit and that it has not been physically transported from older source deposits or reworked within the sedimentary profile by postdepositional mixing. In this paper we investigate whether these fundamental conditions are upheld at seven perennially frozen wetland sites across the Taimyr Peninsula and coastal lowlands of north‐central Siberia. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dating are used to constrain the ages of both the inorganic and organic fractions of perennially frozen deposits from which sedaDNA of extinct and extant species have been recovered. OSL and ¹⁴C age/depth profiles, as well as single‐grain equivalent dose (D_e) distribution characteristics, are used to assess the stratigraphic integrity of these sedaDNA sequences by (i) identifying the presence of primary or reworked organic and inorganic material, and (ii) examining the types of depositional and postdepositional processes that have affected specific sedimentary facies. The results of this study demonstrate that even though DNA preservation and stratigraphic integrity are commonly superior in perennially frozen settings, this does not, in itself, guarantee the suitability of the sedaDNA approach. The combined OSL and ¹⁴C chronologies reveal that certain perennially frozen sites may be poorly suited for sedaDNA analysis, and that careful site selection is paramount to ensuring the accuracy of any sedaDNA study – particularly for ‘latest appearance date’ estimates of extinct taxa.     

Treasure!

The word ‘treasure’ conjures an image of objects of silver and gold, perhaps encrusted with gemstones, and some treasures dug from the ground certainly match this image (Fig. 1 ). However, a theme that ran through the recent exhibition of Treasure at the British Museum was that the archaeological value of treasure does not depend only on its content of precious metals or gems. Many items recovered from archaeological sites are made from or include natural rocks, minerals and gemstones, so that geological and mineralogical techniques and interpretative approaches often make an essential contribution to their study. This article explores the role of scientific examination in realizing the full archaeological value of treasure.

Figure 1 Open in figure viewer PowerPoint Group of items from a Roman hoard, found at Thetford. These objects are not in Treasure but may be seen in Gallery 49 of the British Museum.