A new azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) of Lebanon

A new pterosaur, Microtuban altivolans gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Sannine Formation of northern Lebanon. The specimen is the first pterosaur from the Early Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) locality of Hjoûla and is regarded as the most complete pterosaur fossil discovered from Africa. While postcranial characters indicate a possible relationship with members of the Thalassodromidae or Chaoyangopteridae, the specimen possesses an exceptionally short wing-finger phalanx 4, forming only 1.1% of the total length of the wing-finger. Its appearance along with an unnamed ornithocheiroid from the slightly younger locality of Hâqel suggests that a number of pterosaur taxa existed within the local area, perhaps living on exposed carbonate platforms.     

Diagenesis of plattenkalk: examples from the Solnhofen area (Upper Jurassic,southern Germany)

The Upper Jurassic (Tithonian) plattenkalk successions in the Solnhofen/Eichstätt area consist of alternations of thin‐bedded, laminated, fine‐grained, very pure limestones (so‐called ‘flinz beds’) and softer interlayers with slightly lower carbonate contents that are also laminated and show a foliaceous weathering appearance (‘fäule beds’). These successions are world famous for their exceptionally well‐preserved fossils. In contrast to the well‐studied wealth of fossils, little is known about the origin and diagenesis of the host rock. The reason for this discrepancy might lay in the monotonous appearance of these fine‐grained mudstones that require electron microscopical examination. Study of samples from the Solnhofen–Eichstädt area implies that flinz and fäule beds have undergone differential diagenesis. The ultrastructure of the flinz beds is characterized by interlocking microspar crystals, whereas the fäule beds show smaller and less interlocking crystals. The ratios of diagenetically inert trace elements lack clear differences between the two interlayered lithologies. While most authors agree that the flinz–fäule rhythm reflects rhythmically changing environmental conditions, primary rhythms can be taken as proven only where statistically significant differences in diagenetically resistant proxies are found. The absence of clear primary differences between flinz and fäule beds, however, leaves the question of primary differences unsolved. It is concluded that diagenesis has had a strong influence on the genesis of the lithological rhythm, and that any primary rhythm underlying the diagenetically mature rhythm is less clear than generally assumed.     

德国南部索伦霍芬石板印灰岩中翼龙纤维状头骨脊连续矿物化的证据

The Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone and other Upper Jurassic “Solnhofen type” plattenkalks of southeast Germany are famous for pterosaur fossils with soft tissue preservation. Flight membranes, integumentary structures such as pedal scales and bristles as well as pedal webbing are known from these deposits.     

Cyclic nature of lamination in the Tithonian Solnhofen Plattenkalk of southern Germany and its palaeoclimatic implications

In the Tithonian Solnhofen Plattenkalk (Malm + 2) of southern Germany, layers of purely micritic limestone are rhythmically interbedded with ones of marly micritic limestone. It appears that this alternation was formed under control of the Tithonian orbital variations. The Fourier spectral analysis shows that, on a decimetric to metric scale, the long-term cyclicities in the number of laminae per centimetre are in agreement with those found in the bed-thickness series, varying from 0.7 to 1.3 m cycles. The number of laminae of the Solnhofen Formation ranges from about 5,800 to about 12,800 laminae per main cycle. This indicates that, under an assumption that the main cycle of the Solnhofen Formation corresponds to the Tithonian precessional one, a single lamina represents a multi-year time interval. Particularly, in the short-term cyclic domain, the laminated sequence contains clearly millimetric cycles consisting of about two to three cyclic components. It implies that laminae formation may result from the composite effect of two or three distinct climatic processes.     

The fish fauna of the Late Jurassic Solothurn Turtle Limestone (NW Switzerland)

The surroundings of Solothurn (NW Switzerland) have been known for their fossil marine turtles since the beginning of the nineteenth century. In more recent history, access to the fossil bearing layers i.e. the Rätschenbank (Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic) has not been possible until 1986 when one of the old quarries in the area re-opened. A series of excavations from 1986 to 1989 provided new material and a unique opportunity to re-investigate the fish fauna of the Solothurn Turtle Limestone that has not been dealt with since Agassiz (1833–1844). Examination and classification of the Solothurn specimens, mainly jaw fragments and teeth, furnished 11 species in 6 major groups: chimaeras (Ischyodus), selachians (Hybodus, Paracestracion, Asteracanthus), semionotids (Lepidotes), pycnodontids (Gyrodus, Proscinetes), caturids and oligopleurids (Caturus, Callopterus, Ionoscopus), and aspidorhynchids (Belonostomus).     

A late Jurassic pterosaur (Reptilia, Pterodactyloidea) from northwestern Patagonia, Argentina

A small to medium-sized pterodactyloid pterosaur (wingspan approximately 1.10 m) from the Upper Jurassic (middle-late Tithonian) marine deposits of the Vaca Muerta Formation of Patagonia (Los Catutos area, central Neuquén Province, Argentina) is reported. The specimen lacks the skull but constitutes a nearly complete postcranial skeleton, which includes cervical and dorsal vertebrae; a few thoracic ribs; both pectoral girdles; the left pelvic girdle; a proximal right wing (humerus, ulna, and radius) and metacarpal IV; a left wing that lacks only wing phalanx four; and both hindlimbs, the right one without the foot. Ontogenetic features suggest that the new fossil corresponds to a relatively mature individual, probably a subadult. Observed characters support its assignment to the Archaeopteroactyloidea, a basal clade within the Pterodactyloidea. This specimen is the second pterosaur from Los Catutos and the most complete Jurassic pterosaur so far known from South America.     

The Late Jurassic Tithonian, a greenhouse phase in the Middle Jurassic–Early Cretaceous 'cool' mode: evidence from the cyclic Adriatic Platform, Croatia

Well‐exposed Mesozoic sections of the Bahama‐like Adriatic Platform along the Dalmatian coast (southern Croatia) reveal the detailed stacking patterns of cyclic facies within the rapidly subsiding Late Jurassic (Tithonian) shallow platform‐interior (over 750 m thick, ca 5–6 Myr duration). Facies within parasequences include dasyclad‐oncoid mudstone‐wackestone‐floatstone and skeletal‐peloid wackestone‐packstone (shallow lagoon), intraclast‐peloid packstone and grainstone (shoal), radial‐ooid grainstone (hypersaline shallow subtidal/intertidal shoals and ponds), lime mudstone (restricted lagoon), fenestral carbonates and microbial laminites (tidal flat). Parasequences in the overall transgressive Lower Tithonian sections are 1–4·5 m thick, and dominated by subtidal facies, some of which are capped by very shallow‐water grainstone‐packstone or restricted lime mudstone; laminated tidal caps become common only towards the interior of the platform. Parasequences in the regressive Upper Tithonian are dominated by peritidal facies with distinctive basal oolite units and well‐developed laminate caps. Maximum water depths of facies within parasequences (estimated from stratigraphic distance of the facies to the base of the tidal flat units capping parasequences) were generally <4 m, and facies show strongly overlapping depth ranges suggesting facies mosaics. Parasequences were formed by precessional (20 kyr) orbital forcing and form parasequence sets of 100 and 400 kyr eccentricity bundles. Parasequences are arranged in third‐order sequences that lack significant bounding disconformities, and are evident on accommodation (Fischer) plots of cumulative departure from average cycle thickness plotted against cycle number or stratigraphic position. Modelling suggests that precessional sea‐level changes were small (several metres) as were eccentricity sea‐level changes (or precessional sea‐level changes modulated by eccentricity), supporting a global, hot greenhouse climate for the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) within the overall ‘cool’ mode of the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous.     

Distinctive azhdarchoid pterosaur jaws from the mid-Cretaceous Cambridge Greensand of eastern England and the Kem Kem Group of Morocco

An isolated jaw fragment from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Cambridge Greensand Member of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation previously identified as a cestraciontid shark fin spine is referred to the pterosaur clade Azhdarchoidea on account of its lateral and occlusal foramina and edentuly. The specimen differs from the azhdarchoid Ornithostoma sedgwicki from the same deposit in having flat lateral surfaces and an acute dorsal/ventral apex. The specimen is similar in overall morphology to CAMSM B40085 from the same horizon and probably represents the corresponding jaw but from a different individual. Likely these specimens represent a new taxon but are considered too fragmentary to diagnose at present. A remarkably similar and distinctive morphology is found in unnamed pterosaur jaws from the Kem Kem Group (?Albian-Cenomanian) of Morocco, supporting the idea of faunal similarity between these two distant localities.     

藏南贡嘎晚侏罗世—早白垩世海相地层地球化学特征与古海洋环境演化

西藏南部有出露良好的海相侏罗纪—白垩纪地层。本研究针对采自藏南贡嘎东拉剖面的样品进行了常量、微量和稀土元素分析,探讨晚侏罗世—早白垩世海洋沉积环境的演化。Fe_2O_3+MgO与TiO_2、Al_2O_3/SiO_2关系判别图显示,从晚侏罗世维美组到早白垩世桑秀组,研究区经历了从大陆岛弧到大洋岛弧的构造演化。Mn、Fe、V、Co、Ni、REE等指标元素,和U/Th、V/Cr、Sr/Ba、Lan/Ybn、V/(V+Ni)等比值结合显示:沉积条件也从维美组浅海富氧、低盐、高沉积速率的环境演化为早白垩世桑秀组深海、水体分层、盐度升高、沉积速率降低,具有明显深海沉积特征的环境。地化数据分析结果总体上与岩性成因分析相一致,即维美组砂岩所指示的浅海相沉积,桑秀组从下部的粉砂岩到上部钙质泥岩,经历了水体由浅到深的变化过程。     

A possible azhdarchid pterosaur from the Crato Formation (Early Cretaceous,Aptian) of northeast Brazil

The partially articulated, distal portion of a left wing finger of a pterosaur from the Crato Formation of northeast Brazil has a T-shaped cross-section to the second and third phalanges. This cross-sectional shape is one of several characters diagnostic of the pterodactyloid pterosaur family Azhdarchidae (Unwin & Lu 1997). Until now, this family of pterosaurs was known exclusively from the Late Cretaceous. The specimen described here may be the first recorded azhdarchid from the southern hemisphere and the earliest recorded member of the family.     

The oldest tylosaurine mosasaur (Reptilia; Lacertilia) from the Late Cretaceous of Belgium: Hermann von Meyer (1860) revisited

A mosasaurid parietal from the Late Cretaceous of Belgium, originally described by Von Meyer (1860), turns out to be assignable to the tylosaurine Hainosaurus cf. bernardi Dollo 1885. A small sediment sample, extracted from the bone, was analysed for coccoliths and revealed its early Late Campanian age. This is thus the earliest record of a tylosaurine mosasaur from Belgium.     

Calibrating the Early Toarcian (Early Jurassic) with stratigraphic black holes (SBH)

Cyclostratigraphic analyses of Upper Pliensbachian and Lower Toarcian carbon-13 isotope (δ¹³C) data, together with radiometric dating, are used to calibrate biozones and magnetic chrons in the Astronomical Time Scale (ATS). In turn, the ATS is used to date sea-level and climate cycles in relation to the Early Toarcian carbon-isotope excursion (T-CIE) and the Karoo-Ferrar Large Igneous Provinces. The resulting chronology however is insufficiently accurate to determine if these global-scale events are causally related. In particular, cyclostratigraphic analyses typically underestimate the durations of biozones by failing to account for hiatuses in depositional discontinuities. To account for hiatuses this paper constructs a δ¹³C reference curve consisting of correlative segments from several localities and dates them with ammonite zones and subzones. By comparing the reference curve to those from numerous localities, four major discontinuity-prone intervals were identified and named ‘stratigraphic black holes’ (SBH). SBH 1 occurs in the Late Pliensbachian P. spinatum Zone. Early Toarcian SBH 2 occurs in a δ¹³C maximum interval in middle D. tenuicostatum Zone. The T-CIE is characterized by a decreasing δ¹³C trend (c. 0.4 myr falling limb) in D. semicelatum Subzone, a minimum δ¹³C interval (c. 0.4 myr valley) and an increasing δ¹³C trend (c. 0.4 myr rising limb) in the E. elegantulum Subzone. SBH 3 occurs at base T-CIE rising limb and SBH 4 near its top or above it in a c. 0.4 myr, post-T-CIE plateau in upper E. elegantulum Subzone. Comparisons to published floating chronologies resulted in an Early Toarcian timescale with ~1.0 myr for the D. tenuicostatum Zone, and ~1.6 myr for the H. serpentinum Zone. Initial volcanism in the Karoo Province correlates with the Pliensbachian/Toarcian boundary at ~183.6 Ma, while its second phase was coeval with the T-CIE. Volcanism in the Ferrar Province correlates with the T-CIE.     

中国晚侏罗世多瘤齿兽类哺乳动物的发现及其意义

多瘤齿兽是一类已绝灭的哺乳动物,其以后部牙齿上有很多小瘤(小的隆起,或者小尖)来适于咀嚼植物为特征。总的来说,它们的门齿和臼齿与那些啮齿类相似,但在演化时间上多瘤齿兽比新生代的啮齿类早的多。多瘤齿兽是杂食者,或者说是成功开拓了其它脊椎动物无法开拓的植食生境的植食者(可以树叶、种子、蕨类、裸子植物,再加上蠕虫和昆虫为食)。由于它们多种食性和运动方式,多瘤齿兽成为中生代数量最多的哺乳动物,几乎占侏罗纪和白垩纪时期所有哺乳动物种类的一半。它们的支系是哺乳动物历史上生存时间最长的支系,出现于170 Ma前,大约绝灭于35 Ma。但是,因为多瘤齿兽具有很多独特的、高度特化的牙齿和头骨特征,古生物学家们长期困惑于它们的进化起源。最近,中国辽西发现了一件产自晚侏罗世髫髻山组的多瘤齿兽类哺乳动物。由于其牙齿上发育明显的纹饰,如很多小的脊、沟、凹槽等,新发现的哺乳动物被命名为皱纹齿兽(Rugosodon)。另一方面,由于与皱纹齿兽亲缘关系最近的哺乳动物产自西欧的侏罗纪地层,因此其种名被命名为欧亚皱纹齿兽(Rugosodon eurasiaticus)。新发现为晚侏罗世时期欧洲和亚洲的哺乳动物具有高度的相似性提供了最新的证据。皱纹齿兽是一种夜行的哺乳动物,生活于气候温和的湖滨,与长羽毛的恐龙近鸟龙、翼龙类达尔文翼龙、大量节肢动物、其它几种哺乳动物共同生活于一起。根据与现生哺乳动物的比较,并依据欧亚皱纹齿兽手部比例、末端指节的形态等,推论欧亚皱纹齿兽很可能是地栖哺乳动物,或者说地栖比攀爬的可能性更大。这一发现对于研究多瘤齿兽早期的演化、食性分异、运动适应起源等具有重要的科学意义。     

鄂尔多斯盆地东部晚侏罗世-早白垩世应力场

鄂尔多斯盆地是近年研究的热点区域.以鄂尔多斯盆地东部上古生界在燕山运动主幕期间 (晚侏罗世-早白垩世) 的应力场量化研究为目标,以期为应力场数值模拟及储层裂缝预测提供边界条件.通过盆地边界同构造期构造形迹应力反演和地层剥蚀量恢复结果探讨了晚侏罗世-早白垩世三轴应力状态及水平最大主应力方向;基于泥岩压实曲线及Newberry力学模型计算了附加构造应力及垂直地应力,进而获得了研究区上古生界在晚侏罗世-早白垩世的三轴主应力大小及差应力值.研究结果显示,研究区在燕山运动主幕期间最大主应力近水平,方向为SEE98°,中间主应力近竖直,最小主应力为NWW方向;上古生界储层 (平均恢复埋深为4 600 m) 在燕山运动主幕的三轴主应力大小分别为93.2~101.3 MPa、65.8~67.2 MPa、53.1~53.6 MPa,差应力为40.1~48.0 MPa.研究结果为区域构造应力场数值模拟、储层裂缝预测及裂缝型油气藏有利区优选等油气勘探工作提供了必要的基础.      

Evidence for Jurassic subduction from the Northern Calcareous Alps (Berchtesgaden; Austroalpine,Germany)

The closure of the western part of the Neotethys Ocean started in late Early Jurassic. The Middle to early Late Jurassic contraction is documented in the Berchtesgaden Alps by the migration of trench-like basins formed in front of a propagating thrust belt. Due to ophiolite obduction these basins propagated from the outer shelf area (=Hallstatt realm) to the interior continent (=Hauptdolomit/Dachstein platform realm). The basins were separated by nappe fronts forming structural highs. This scenario mirrors syn-orogenic erosion and deposition in an evolving thrust belt. Active basin formation and nappe thrusting ended around the Oxfordian/Kimmeridgian boundary, followed by the onset of carbonate platforms on structural highs. Starved basins remained between the platforms. Rapid deepening around the Early/Late Tithonian boundary was induced by extension due to mountain uplift and resulted in the reconfiguration of the platforms and basins. Erosion of the uplifted nappe stack including obducted ophiolites resulted in increased sediment supply into the basins and final drowning and demise of the platforms in the Berriasian. The remaining Early Cretaceous foreland basins were filled up by sediments including siliciclastics. The described Jurassic to Early Cretaceous history of the Northern Calcareous Alps accords with the history of the Western Carpathians, the Dinarides, and the Albanides, where (1) age dating of the metamorphic soles prove late Early to Middle Jurassic inneroceanic thrusting followed by late Middle to early Late Jurassic ophiolite obduction, (2) Kimmeridgian to Tithonian shallow-water platforms formed on top of the obducted ophiolites, and (3) latest Jurassic to Early Cretaceous sediments show postorogenic character.     

Asterozoan ichnofossils (Asteriacites lumbricalis von Schlotheim) from the Middle Jurassic (Aalenian) Birdlip Limestone Formation (north Cotswolds,central England)

Well preserved asterozoan ichnofossils (Asteriacites lumbricalis von Schlotheim) are documented from calcareous sandstone lenses within the upper part of the Harford Member of the Middle Jurassic (Aalenian) Birdlip Limestone Formation, in the north Cotswolds, central England. The ichnofossils are interpreted as undertraces, generated by the activity of small ophiuroids in a storm-influenced muddy coastal lagoon or bay margin setting.     

Multistage dolomitization and distribution of dolomitized bodies in Early Jurassic carbonate platforms (Southern Alps,Italy)

The Early Jurassic dolomitized carbonates are a hydrocarbon exploration target in Northern Italy. Of these carbonates, the Liassic Albenza Formation platform and the overlying Sedrina Formation shelf were studied to define a pervasive dolomitization model and to shed light on dolomite distribution in the sub‐surface. Field work, as well as analyses of well cores, stable isotopes, trace elements and fluid inclusions, was carried out on the outcropping thrust belt and sub‐surface deformed foreland of the Southern Alps. Petrographic analyses showed a first, pervasive, replacement dolomitization phase (D1) followed by volumetrically less important dolomite cement precipitation phases (D2, D3 and D4). The δ¹⁸O values fall between ?8·2‰ and 0·1‰ Vienna‐Pee Dee Belemnite with the more depleted samples belonging to dolomite cement‐rich dolostones; the δ¹³C ranges from 2·6‰ to 3·7‰ Vienna‐Pee Dee Belemnite. Analysis of trace elements showed different Fe and Mn contents in the sub‐surface and outcropping dolostones, and a higher Fe in the younger dolomite cements. An increase in the precipitation temperature (up to 130 °C from fluid inclusion data) and a decrease in diagenetic fluid salinity (from sea water to brackish) are observed from the first pervasive replacement dolomite to the dolomite cement phases. Field observations indicate that, in the Albenza Formation, dolomitization was limited to palaeohighs or faulted platform margins in the Early Jurassic carbonates. The pervasive replacement phase is interpreted based on a ‘compaction model’; the formation fluids expelled from compacting basinal carbonates could have funnelled along faults into permeable palaeohighs. The high homogenization temperature of the dolomite cements and decreased salinities indicate precipitation at great depth with an influx of meteoric water. These data, along with the thermal history, suggest that the dolomite cements precipitated according to the ‘tectonic squeegee’ dolomitization model. The dolomite precipitation temperature was set against the thermal history of the carbonate platform to interpret the timing of dolomite precipitation. The dolomite precipitation temperatures (90 to 100 °C) were reached in the studied formations first in the thrust fold belt (Early Tertiary, 60 Ma), and then in the foreland succession during the Late Tertiary (10 Ma). This observation suggests that the dolomite precipitation fronts moved southwards over time, recording a ‘diagenetic wave’ linked to the migration of the orogenic system. Observations suggest that the porosity increased during the first phase of replacement dolomitization while the dolomite cementation phases partially occluded the pores. The distribution of porous dolomitized bodies is therefore linked to the ‘compaction dolomitization’ model.     

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous volcanism of Hong Kong: Insights from the Ping Chau Formation

The vast expanse of Mesozoic igneous rocks in Hong Kong contain important geological records of late Mesozoic magmatic events and tectonic processes from the coastal region of Southeast China. Of these,the Ping Chau Formation in the northwestern New Territories is the youngest known stratum. We perform a detailed study of the volcanic rocks of the Ping Chau Formation utilizing zircon U-Pb dating,with major and trace elements geochemistry. LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb data reveal Early Cretaceous age from two volcanic rock samples, with zircon crystallization from magmas at 140.3 ± 0.8 Ma and 139.3 ± 0.9 Ma,respectively. These rocks have high contents of total alkalis(Na_2O + K_2O = 5.58-9.45 wt.%), high-field-strength elements and light rare earth elements, conspicuous negative Eu anomalies, and depletions in Nb, Ta, Ti, Sr, Ba and P. Using this data, in combination with previous studies on the late Mesozoic volcanic belt in Southeast China, we propose that the volcanic rocks of the Ping Chau Formation probably originated from deep melting of the crust in a back-arc extensional setting induced by the subduction of the paleo-Pacific Plate. This formation represents the final stages of Early Cretaceous volcanic activity in Hong Kong, as associated with large-scale lithospheric extension, thinning and magmatism. Our results provide new information that can be used in evaluating the significance of Early Cretaceous volcanism and tectonics in Southeast China.     

A new pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Santana Formation (Cretaceous) of Brazil

A partial skull comprising fused maxilla/premaxilla and palate of a ctenochasmatoid pterosaur from the Santana Formation of the Araripe Basin in NE Brazil is named as the new genus and species Unwindia trigonus gen. et sp. nov. on account of its long slender rostrum, isodonty with raised dental alveoli and dentition of seven tooth pairs restricted to the portion of the rostrum anterior to the nasoantorbital fenestra. Unwindia is assigned to the Ctenochasmatoidea, and is probably basal within the clade.     

西藏南部下鲁硅岩晚侏罗世罩笼虫(放射虫)新材料

下鲁硅岩为藏南日喀则地区雅鲁藏布蛇绿岩南侧的晚侏罗世—早白垩世硅质岩系。本文补充描述了该岩系中 4块标本的罩笼虫亚目放射虫化石 1 6属 2 3种 ,包括 8个新种。加上这些标本原已描述过的 1 8属 3 3种 ,共有 3 4属 56种。所有的属和近一半的种见于北美西部 ,可与那里的晚侏罗世放射虫分带很好地对比 ,它们分别相当于那里牛津期的 2 γ亚带和晚启莫里期—早提索期的 3 β亚带。动物群具特提斯生物地理区特征 ,但与西特提斯的地中海地区同期动物群显然不同 ,可能当时东特提斯与太平洋联系密切。