“Megalosaurus cf. superbus” from southeastern Romania: The oldest known Cretaceous carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for earliest Cretaceous Europe-Gondwana connections

Some of the best records of continental vertebrates from the Cretaceous of Europe come from Romania, particularly two well-known occurrences of dwarfed and morphologically aberrant dinosaurs and other taxa that lived on islands (the Cornet and Haţeg Island faunas). Substantially less is known about those vertebrates living in the more stable, cratonic regions of Romania (and Eastern Europe as a whole), particularly during the earliest Cretaceous. We describe one of the few early Early Cretaceous fossils that have ever been found from these regions, the tooth of a large theropod dinosaur from Southern Dobrogea, which was discovered over a century ago but whose age and identification have been controversial. We identify the specimen as coming from the Valanginian stage of the Early Cretaceous, an incredibly poorly sampled interval in global dinosaur evolution, and as belonging to Carcharodontosauridae, a clade of derived, large-bodied apex predators whose earliest Cretaceous history is poorly known. Quantitative analyses demonstrate that the Romanian tooth shows affinities with a derived carcharodontosaurid subgroup, the Carcharodontosaurinae, which until now has been known solely from Gondwana. Our results suggest that this subgroup of colossal predators did not evolve vicariantly as Laurasia split from Gondwana, but originated earlier, perhaps in Europe. The carcharodontosaurine diversification may have been tied to a north-to-south trans-Tethyan dispersal that took place sometime between the Valanginian and the Aptian, illustrating the importance of palaeogeographic ties between these two realms during the largely mysterious early–mid Early Cretaceous.     

Spinotoma ruicheni: A new Late Cretaceous genus and species of wedge-shaped beetle from Burmese amber (Coleoptera,Ripiphoridae, Pelecotominae)

A new genus and species of ripiphorid beetle is described based on a female specimen preserved in Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian, ca. 99 Ma) amber from northern Myanmar, under the name of Spinotoma ruicheni gen. et sp. nov. It belongs to the extant Pelecotominae and represents the second documented occurrence of this subfamily in the Late Cretaceous. This new taxon is morphologically distinguishable in Pelecotominae by the combination of following characters: eyes oval, without incision; antennomeres V–X serrate, with XI fusiform; maxillary palpi unmodified; protarsi shorter than protibiae; tibiae sparsely provided with spines; tibial spurs formula 2-0-2. Together with other previously reported fossil ripiphorids, it highlights the species diversification of wedge-shaped beetles during their early evolution. On the other hand, a morphological similarity between Spinotoma and modern pelecotomines and the occurrence of xylophagous beetles in the Burmese amber suggest a similar host preference in wood-boring beetles for this species, shedding lights on an ancient host-parasitoid relationship in the late Mesozoic. This paper also provides a brief discussion on the taxonomy and evolution of Mesozoic wedge-shaped beetles. The wedged-shaped body form and fully-developed elytra in Recent Pelecotominae and Ptilophorinae are considered to be derived from their early ancestors rather than evolved with the onset of flowering plants during the Cretaceous as commonly thought.     

开鲁盆地钱家店凹陷早白垩世义县组孢粉组合及其古气候演变

研究白垩纪植物演替与气候变化对认识现今生态环境形成过程与演变具有重要意义。开鲁盆地义县组孢粉学的研究不仅丰富了该地区早白垩世孢粉学资料,也为该地区早白垩世地层划分与对比提供了依据。通过对开鲁盆地东北部钱家店凹陷钻孔QIV-65-136底部泥岩样品分析,获得了丰富的孢粉化石,并建立了Cyathidites-Pinuspollenites-Protoconiferus组合。根据典型分子时代分布、重要种属含量上的变化及横向组合对比,确定其地质时代为早白垩世早期,层位相当于义县组。孢粉植物群反映的植被景观为在湖盆的周围山地生长着松科高大乔木,伴有罗汉松科、杉科及少量苏铁科、南美杉科、掌鳞杉科等植物,林下、湖岸地区生长着桫椤科、紫萁科及莎草蕨科等蕨类植物。整体面貌以针叶植物为主,所处的气候环境为湿润的暖温带-亚热带。     

The Chalk sea-urchin Micraster: microevolution, adaptation and predation

Serial variation between Micraster populations from successive zones in the Upper Cretaceous Chalk of Europe is widely cited as evidence for evolution at the species level, whether changes between species are interpreted as gradual or punctuational. That these changes were adaptive and represent an improved functional efficiency with time is also now widely agreed, if not whether the changes were independent of environmental change or a response to it. Dead specimens of Micraster were commonly encrusted by a wide variety of small invertebrates, presumably because they provided islands of hard substrate on an otherwise soft, muddy sea floor. Less commonly, there is evidence that living specimens of Micraster were susceptible to predation by gastropods and other organisms, one of the natural selection pressures favouring adaptation to a burrowing mode of life.     

北黄海盆地中侏罗世-早白垩世构造体制转换期的古气候演化及元素地球化学响应

中侏罗世-早白垩世华北地台东部的北黄海盆地受古亚洲构造体制向滨太平洋构造体制转换的影响,其构造演化经历了伸展-反转挤压-伸展的转变.构造体制的差异不但表现在大地构造性质及其产生的地质效应上,也表现在盆地沉积特征、古生物及古气候等方面.本文以北黄海盆地东部坳陷X1井中侏罗统至下白垩统为研究对象,利用泥岩元素地球化学特征对...     

北疆侏罗系与白垩系泥质砂岩物理力学特性对比分析及其能量损伤演化机制研究

特殊的地理、气候条件及工程地质的复杂性决定了在北疆地区软岩地层中修建引水隧洞的设计施工难度较大。隧洞成拱效应与围岩自稳能力差,围岩渗透性强,遇水软化特性显著,极易产生软岩大变形甚至坍塌失稳灾害。为进一步研究北疆地区侏罗系与白垩系泥质砂岩的物理力学性质、遇水软化特性与能量损伤演化机制,开展了二者的单轴压缩、常规三轴与单轴蠕变试验。研究结果表明：两种岩石均富含黏土矿物,白垩系泥质砂岩的粒径分配更好,但其胶结程度较差,导致其强度稳定性与地层波速相对较低。低围压条件下,两者均以环向变形与体积扩容为主,但随着围压升高,其破坏模式由体积扩张过渡到体积压缩类型。高围压加载会造成岩石内部损伤,从而导致其抗压强度的降低。遇水后,两种岩石的延塑性与应变软化特性均明显增强,白垩系泥质砂岩的遇水软化特性更为显著。白垩系泥质砂岩的蠕变特性更为显著,两者的长期强度接近其单轴压缩损伤应力值。两种泥质砂岩的能量损伤演化过程均呈现S型变化规律,侏罗系泥质砂岩的能量硬化特性更为显著,白垩系泥质砂岩会更早地进入到能量硬化与能量软化阶段。     

鄂尔多斯盆地渭北隆起岐山－麟游地区中新生代构造热演化及地质响应——来自裂变径迹分析的证据

本文通过对渭北隆起西南缘岐山-麟游地区构造变形特征进行研究,结合磷灰石、锆石裂变径迹测试分析及热史模拟,探讨了研究区中新生代构造热演化过程及地质响应。结果表明,燕山运动对研究区影响最大,使得研究区发生大规模构造变形及抬升,研究区中生代以来至少包括三次构造抬升:晚侏罗-早白垩世早期(138~128Ma)、早白垩世末以来,主要是晚白垩世(86~69Ma)和始新世(50~40Ma)。AFT年龄的空间分布暗示了研究区抬升冷却具有南早北晚、后期整体抬升的特点。热史模拟结果表明研究区南部在158Ma达到最大古地温,158~130Ma,样品快速抬升至部分退火带,130~40Ma为缓慢抬升,40Ma以来抬升速率明显加快。研究区中新生代构造热演化过程与相邻构造单元的相互作用具有密切的联系,晚侏罗世构造抬升与秦-祁造山带此时进入强烈多旋回陆内造山过程相对应,早白垩世稳定沉降期是鄂尔多斯盆地油气成熟的关键时期,晚白垩世以来的构造抬升与秦岭造山带抬升具有一致性,始新世以来的快速隆升,与渭河盆地北缘翘倾作用有关。     

Avian extinction at the end of the Cretaceous: Assessing the magnitude and subsequent explosive radiation

Debate on the magnitude of Cretaceous extinctions and timing of modern bird origins has sharply coalesced over the past two decades into contested models, gradualistic or explosive. Molecular clocks, bolstered by phylogenetic, biogeographic, and vicariance models, support an Early Cretaceous origin for birds and mammals over 100 million years ago. Yet, although numerous new Chinese fossils of archaic ornithurine birds have been discovered in the Jehol Biota of the Early Cretaceous of China, none shows close affinity to modern neornithines; it is not until the latest Cretaceous when some fossils show more advanced ornithurine morphology, and are possibly Neornithes. In contrast to mass survival scenarios, most paleontological evidence appears to support an explosive radiation following the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction event, closely paralleling the geometry of mammal evolution. Gradualistic models ignore recent evidence of cataclysmic worldwide events following the impact event. How could mass survival of the environmentally sensitive birds have occurred following cosmopolitan environmental destruction, when other terrestrial vertebrates, particularly ectotherms, suffered dramatic loss? Given the paucity and scrappy nature of avian fossils immediately prior to and after the K–Pg boundary, it is prudent to use mammalian and other biotic evolution in the Paleogene as a guidepost for avian evolution. Our continued inability to produce a veracious phylogeny of higher avian taxa is likely related to a Paleogene explosive burst or ‘big bang’ evolution of bird and mammal evolution, resulting in short ordinal internodes.     

FORMATION OF COAL DURING THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD AND ITS ROLE IN THE GLOBAL PROCESSES OF COAL ACCUMULATION

P. I. Stepanov suggested that during the Cretaceous there probably took place a considerable accumulation of coal, although that time was always considered to have been a period of attenuation of coal accumulation. The analysis of facies of the Cretaceous deposits in the far east maritime region of the U. S. S. R. as well as of those of Alaska led the author to conclude that coal accumulation during the Cretaceous was tremendous. This conjecture has now been confirmed: the new estimate of coal reserves of the U. S. S. R. has shown the Cretaceous Lena coalfield to be the largest in the world. Tremendous reserves of coal are also concentrated in the Bureya, Maritime, Anadyr and Sakhalin Cretaceous coal bearing basins of the U. S. S. R. in the Ryōseki basin of Japan and in the Cretaceous coal deposits of North America, particularly in Alaska where a major coalfield very likely exists. Thus it may now be considered that during the Cretaceous there accumulated reserves of coal comparable in immensity to those accumulated during the Tertiary and undoubtedly much larger than those of the Permian, Carboniferous and Jurassic. It may be asserted that rate of coal accumulation kept ever increasing in the course of geological time, and the Cretaceous may be regarded as a period of very intensive coal accumulation. Following up Stepanov's idea we can point out the knots of Cretaceous coal accumulation: Lena, Alaska, Anadyr, Sakhalin — Maritime. The new data on the Cretaceous coal accumulation should be taken into account in any reconstruction of the history of geological development of the earth and of the evolution of the organic world. --Author's English Summary.     

Post Gondwana breakup evolution of the SE Australia rifted margin revisited

Low‐temperature thermochronology (LTT) is commonly used to investigate onshore records of continental rifting and geomorphic evolution of passive continental margins. The SE Australian passive margin, like many others, has an elevated plateau separated from the coastal plain by an erosional escarpment, presumed to originate through Cretaceous rifting prior to Tasman Sea seafloor spreading. Previous LTT studies have focused on reconciling thermal histories with development of the present‐day topography. New apatite LTT data along an escarpment‐to‐coast transect define a classic “boomerang” (mean track length vs. fission‐track age), indicating variable overprinting of late‐Palaeozoic cooling ages by a younger, mid‐Cretaceous cooling event. Regionally, however, the boomerang trend diverges NNW away from the coast and crosses the escarpment, implying the underlying thermal history pre‐dates escarpment formation and is largely independent from post‐breakup landscape evolution. We suggest that Cretaceous cooling might relate to erosion of Permo‐Triassic sedimentary cover from a formerly more extensive Sydney Basin.     

北京地区的白垩系

<正> 北京地区的白垩系主要出露于西山坨里—大灰厂一带,层序清楚,化石丰富,为华北晚期中生代著名的陆相断陷沉积盆地之一(图1)。坨里—大灰厂白垩系沉积盆地位于华北地台燕山台褶带西山拗陷区之东南缘。盆地北、西缘为著名的八宝山—南大寨与黄庄     

长羽毛恐龙及翼龙研究新发现

在江西赣州地区晚白垩世地层中发现的窃蛋龙类化石——赣州华南龙,属于进步窃蛋龙类,其独特的头部特征为研究窃蛋龙类恐龙的颅面演化、古地理分布及古生态环境提供重要信息;在辽西早白垩世义县组地层中发现的大型、前肢短的驰龙类恐龙——孙氏振元龙,为大型、短前肢类型的驰龙类提供羽毛形态学方面的重要信息,为研究驰龙类的多样性、鸟类羽毛以及飞行起源提供了重要依据;在辽西发现的喙嘴龙类翼龙——朝阳东方颌翼龙,是该地区晚侏罗世地层中发现的第一件翼龙标本,不仅填补了时代上的空白,同时对于印证晚侏罗世喙嘴龙类的辐射演化具有重要作用。这些重要发现对于研究窃蛋龙类的演化、驰龙类羽毛演化及鸟类羽毛起源等热点与难点问题提供了重要的参考依据,尤其在发现华南龙的基础上,命名了赣州恐龙动物群。     

新疆乌恰早白垩世孢粉植物群及其环境意义

基于新疆乌恰地区下白垩统克孜勒苏群51属77种孢子花粉化石的研究,建立了研究区早白垩世早期和晚期两个孢粉植物群。早期孢粉植物群以裸子植物松柏纲松杉目为主,包括掌鳞杉科、松科、罗汉松科、南美杉科和杉科;晚期孢粉植物群的主要成员与早期孢粉植物群基本一致,不同的是掌鳞杉科植物含量大幅度下降。根据孢粉植物群的特征,探讨了该区早白垩世古生态、古气候、沉积环境及古地理意义。研究结果表明乌恰地区早白垩世气候属于亚热带干燥或半干燥型,早期气候温暖干燥,晚期气候暖热半干燥。孢粉学资料显示乌恰地区早白垩世孢粉植物群成员多样,既有来自山地的松杉目植物,又有生长于沼泽湿地的苔藓植物,反映了当时古地理景观复杂多样、植物群落地理分布有明显的垂直分带现象。     

Cretaceous and Eocene lignite deposits, Jackson Purchase, Kentucky

Lignites occur in the Cretaceous McNairy Formation and the Eocene Claiborne Formation in the Jackson Purchase region of western Kentucky. The lone Cretaceous lignite sample has over 18 percent inertodetrinite and 32 percent humodetrinite which, along with the abundant mineral matter, suggests a possible allochthonous origin for the deposit. The Claiborne Formation lignites have higher humic maceral contents than the Cretaceous lignites. Palynology suggests that there was considerable variation in the plant communities responsible for the Claiborne deposits. Differences in the preservation of the various plants is also seen in the variations between the humic types, particularly in the ulminite and humodetrinite contents. Potter and Dilcher (1980) suggested that the Claiborne lignites in the Jackson Purchase and west Tennessee developed in the abandoned oxbows of Eocene rivers. Significant short-distance changes in the peat thickness, flora, and other depositional elements should be expected in such an environment and could easily account for the observed variations in composition.     

SIMS zircon U–Pb dating of the Late Cretaceous dinosaur egg-bearing red deposits in the Tiantai Basin,southeastern China

Dinosaur eggs or fragments are abundant and extensively distributed in China. They can be very informative in biostratigraphic division and correlation of continental strata where other fossils are relatively lacking. Despite remarkable discoveries of vertebrate fossils, particularly dinosaur eggs and skeletons from the middle and Late Cretaceous of both northern and southern China, there is hardly any direct evidence for the ages of the vertebrate-bearing terrestrial deposits. To constrain their depositional ages, here we have obtained SIMS U–Pb zircon ages from the tuffs interbedded with dinosaur egg-bearing sediments from the Laijia and Chichengshan formations of the terrestrial red deposits of the Late Cretaceous in the Tiantai Basin, Zhejiang Province, southeastern China. The SIMS zircon U–Pb ages from the Laijia and Chichengshan formations are about 96–99 Ma (Cenomanian) and 91–94 Ma (Turonian), respectively, providing direct time constraints on the vertebrate and dinosaur egg evolution in the Late Cretaceous as well as a basis for correlation with terrestrial Cretaceous deposits in other regions of southern and northern China.     

贵州赤水地区晚白垩世古流向特征及构造意义

贵州赤水地区位于四川盆地西南缘,晚白垩世时期该地区沉积了一套厚达1300m的陆相地层。本文通过地表露头的古流向野外观测和室内分析,详细研究赤水地区晚白垩世沉积充填过程及构造意义。赤水地区晚白垩世早期辫状河的古流向为自北东向南西,表明碎屑物源主要来自盆地北侧和东侧。根据物源、地层分布及区域地质背景推断,赤水地区晚白垩世的陆相沉积盆地属于陆内前陆盆地,陆内造山带位于盆地东侧。晚白垩世陆内前陆盆地的形成,可能受控于此阶段华南的构造挤压事件形成的陆内造山作用。     

内蒙古银根盆地下白垩统沉积相

在对盆地周缘大量野外地质剖面详细测量的基础上结合室内分析，研究了银根盆地下白垩统巴音戈壁组的沉积相类型及其分布、演化。银根盆地下白垩统为典型的内陆湖盆沉积，形成了厚度达2000m以上的砂砾岩、泥岩夹碳酸盐岩、中基性火山岩，局部见油页岩和蒸发岩沉积，发育冲积扇、河流（以辫状河为主）、扇三角洲、三角洲、湖泊等沉积相类型。沉积体系的分布及演化主要受区域构造的影响，大致可以划分为三个沉积阶段，反映了断陷湖盆由发生、发展直至萎缩的一个完整旋回。早白垩世早期为湖盆初始断陷阶段，中期为强裂断陷阶段，晚期为湖盆萎缩阶段，每一沉积阶段在湖盆的不同部位发育了特定的沉积相类型及组合。     

四川剑门关侏罗—白垩系红层分子化石的古环境和古气候意义

利用气相色谱－质谱仪从四川剑门关侏罗－白垩系红层中检测出包括正构烷烃、类异戊二烯烃、长链三环萜、霍烷及甾烷等系列分子化石。分析了这些分子化石的分布特征及其来源，利用分子化石的多项参数（如w(C21^-)/w(C22^ ),w(Pr)/w(Ph),w(Pr)/w(nC17),w(Ph)/w(nC18)，伽马蜡烷指数、甾烷等）对沉积环境的盐度、氧化－还原条件、陆相标志等方面作了探讨。这些分子化石参数证实中侏罗世－早白垩世，剑门关－带的沉积环境应为低盐度淡水、弱氧化的陆相沉积环境，所研究的陆相样品高碳数正构烷烃均以本植物有关的C27，C29为主峰，未出现草本植物的C21主峰，反映了研究区总体格局是一种以木本植物占绝对优势、温暖湿润的气候环境，与红盆发育的气候条件吻合，充分体现了分子化石在恢复古环境、古植被和古气候方面有极大潜力。     

大兴安岭北段地壳左行走滑运动的时代及其对中国东北及邻区中生代以来地壳构造演化重建的制约

中国东北及邻区 ,在中生代期间是否经历了大规模走滑运动而发生向东的逃逸和地壳加厚 ,是该区乃至碰撞造山带后碰撞地壳构造演化的一个重要问题。在对已有资料的综合分析基础上 ,大兴安岭北段中生代以来的构造变形可以划分为四期 :( 1 )可能发生在侏罗纪晚期的向南逆冲推覆运动 ;( 2 )平行蒙古—鄂霍茨克造山带的左行韧性走滑剪切作用 ;( 3)切割上述韧性走滑剪切带和蒙古—鄂霍茨克造山带的向南东的逆冲断裂作用 ;( 4)新生代北北东走向的正断作用。根据时空展布和运动学特征 ,推测前两期变形与蒙古—鄂霍茨克造山带的形成演化有关 ,第三期变形与古太平洋板块在亚洲大陆下的俯冲有关 ,第四期变形与现今太平洋板块的俯冲有关。对采自第二期构造变形带内的同构造变质矿物黑云母的Ar Ar定年 ,获得了 1 2 7～ 1 30Ma的坪年龄和等时线年龄 ,据此确定该区地壳左行走滑运动的主要活动时期为白垩纪初期。这一研究成果与中国东北南部燕山地区走滑运动资料的结合 ,揭示出在白垩纪初期 ,中国东北及邻区地壳被向东挤出加厚。根据已有的区域地质资料 ,中国东北中生代以来地壳构造演化可以划分为 4个阶段 :( 1 )三叠纪期间与古亚洲洋关闭和杭盖—肯特洋及古太平洋收缩有关的地壳挤压与伸展变动 ;( 2 )侏罗纪至白垩纪初     

Anatomical Study of Cretaceous, Permineralized, Bennettitalean Fossils from Heilongjiang Province, NE China

Well-preserved Cretaceous trunk fragments of Cycadeoidea (Cycadeoidaceae) were recently found in Keshan County, Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China. These fossils represent important evidence of the distribution of this group of plants in East Asia. In these trunk fragments, the stem cortices and leaf bases with cones are preserved. The leaf bases are rhombic with cones infrequently distributed among leaf bases. The cortex is broad and consists of fundamental parenchyma cells, numerous secretory ducts and C-shaped leaf traces with adaxial secondary xylem and abaxial secondary phloem. The genus Cycadeoidea, which is widely distributed in the Cretaceous deposits of East Asia, North America and Western Europe, was an important component of Cretaceous floras. Bennettitalean trunk fossils with well-preserved anatomical structures are rarely known from China. These fossils are important for studies of the evolution of genus Cycadeoidea and for stratigraphic correlation.