Microvertebrates from the Rhaetian basal bone bed of Saltford,near Bath,SW England

The famous Rhaetian bone bed (Late Triassic, 205 Ma) is well known because it marks a major switch in depositional environment from terrestrial red beds to fully marine conditions throughout the UK and much of Europe. The bone bed is generally cemented and less than 10 cm thick. However, we report here an unusual case from Saltford, near Bath, S.W. England where the bone bed is unconsolidated and up to nearly 1 m thick. The exposure of the basal beds of the Westbury Formation, Penarth Group includes a bone bed containing a diverse Rhaetian marine microvertebrate fauna dominated by sharks, actinopterygian fishes and reptiles. Despite the unusual sedimentary character of the bone bed, we find similar proportions of taxa as in other basal Rhaetian bone beds (55–59 % Lissodus teeth, 13–16 % Rhomphaiodon teeth, 12–14 % Severnichthys teeth, 6–9% Gyrolepis teeth, 3–4% undetermined sharks’ teeth, 1–3% undetermined bony fish teeth, and < 1% of each of Hybodus, Parascylloides, and Sargodon), the only differences being in the proportions of Rhomphaiodon teeth, which can represent 30–40 % of specimens elsewhere. This suggests that taphonomic bias of varying Rhaetian bone beds may be comparable despite different sedimentary settings, and that the proportions of taxa say something about their original proportions in the ecosystem.     

A Rhaetian microvertebrate fauna from Stowey Quarry,Somerset, U.K.

Rhaetian bone beds have been described from many locations in south-west England, around Bristol. One site that has never been reported is Stowey Quarry, some 13?km south of Bristol. This quarry yielded Lias, and revealed thin Rhaetian units in the quarry floor, including two bone beds, the basal Rhaetian bone bed, and a second, higher bone bed, also within the Westbury Formation. The fossil fauna of both includes elements typical of Rhaetian bone beds elsewhere, but showing differences in faunal composition between the two. The basal bone bed yielded more specimens and more species, with three taxa (Sargodon tomicus, Rhomphaiodon minor and Hybodus cloacinus) exclusive to this bed and eleven identified in total. Severnichthys acuminatus accounts for more than 50% of the countable teeth from the basal bone bed, followed by Gyrolepis albertii with 20%, Lissodus minimus with 14% and Rhomphaiodon minor with 9%. The basal bone bed, as ever, is dominated by chondrichthyans, whereas the upper bone bed is dominated by osteichthyans, which form 90% of the non-dental remains. The only unique taxon is Dapedium, and Gyrolepis albertii is the most abundant species with 45% of countable teeth, followed by Severnichthys acuminatus with 38% and Duffinselache holwellensis with 11%. These faunal differences, and the equally good condition of specimens between both samples confirms that the upper bone bed is independent of the basal bone bed, and is not a reworked subsample.     

The first discovery of crinoids and cephalopod hooklets in the British Triassic

The Late Triassic Rhaetian stage is perhaps best known in south-west Britain for the bone beds of the Westbury Formation, but there are other fossil-rich horizons within this and the underlying Blue Anchor Formation. Samples from a borehole drilled at the Filton West Chord, and collected from exposures near Bristol Parkway railway station, have yielded significant fossil material from both of these formations. The assemblage recovered from the Blue Anchor Formation is similar to those from the lower Westbury Formation, yielding roughly equal proportions of chondrichthyans and osteichthyans. Assemblages recovered from the Westbury Formation are typical of those from the upper Westbury Formation, in being dominated by osteichthyans. The borehole samples have produced the first recorded evidence of crinoids in the British Triassic, and the first evidence of coleoid cephalopods, in the form of grasping hooklets, from the Rhaetian, and indeed the first from the British Triassic.     

Compound quartz and feldspar overgrowths from the Helsby Formation (Triassic) of Cheshire,northwest England

A polycrystalline grain of granitic composition with compound feldspar and quartz overgrowths is described from the continental Helsby Sandstone Formation (Triassic; Sherwood Sandstone Group) of the Cheshire Basin, northwest England. Overgrown phases, as seen by thin section and scanning electron microscopy, are in crystallographic continuity with respective components of the host grain and have mutual relationships which indicate the quartz to be the later diagenetic phase. Energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) of the grain surface and of the earlier formed overgrowths indicates the feldspar to have a potassium aluminosilicate composition which is in accordance with the adularia-habit crystal form of the authigenic phase.     

New symmetrodonts (Mammalia, Theria) from the Purbeck Limestone Group, Lower Cretaceous, southern England

Le genre Spalacotherium Owen fût initialement créé à partir de spécimens provenant du Groupe de Purbeck en 1854. Cet article décrit une nouvelle espèce, S. evansae, provenant d'un site purbeckien découvert en 1986; celle-ci est représentée non seulement par des molaires inférieures et supérieures mais peut-être aussi par des molaires de lait. Le genre Tinodon n'était, jusqu'à maintenant, connu que dans la Formation Morrison du Wyoming, USA, un peu plus ancienne que celle de Purbeck; quelques molaires inférieures et surtout une molaire supérieure du même gisement sont attribuées à une nouvelle espèce, T. micron, ce qui ajoute un genre à la liste des taxons communs aux deux formations. La molaire supérieure de T. micron est particulièrement intéressante en ce qu'elle fournit des indications sur un taxon occupant une position clé dans la phylogénie des symmétrodontes, tout en soulevant le problème d'homologie des tubercules.     

华北克拉通南缘洛峪群-汝阳群属于中元古界长城系——河南汝州洛峪口组层凝灰岩锆石LA—MC-ICPMSU—Pb年龄的直接约束

运用LA—MC—ICPMS方法,对河南汝州阳坡村附近洛峪口组中部层凝灰岩夹层开展了锆石U-Pb同位素年代学研究,获得了1611±8Ma的高精度年龄。这一年龄第一次精确标定了该地区洛峪口组的形成时限,并显示该组顶界应接近1600Ma。由于洛峪口组位于华北克拉通南缘原划归“新元古界青白口系”洛峪群的最顶部,洛峪群又覆于“中元古界蓟县系”汝阳群之上,因此,这一新的年代学进展实际上同时也将洛峪群和汝阳群都下压到了中元古界长城系,并将洛峪群顶界限定为该地区长城系与蓟县系分界。结合区域资料,特别是熊耳群(下伏于汝阳群)火山岩近年来的年代学标定(多集中于1750~1780Ma),可初步将该地区汝阳群一洛峪群的形成年代限定为1750~1600Ma之间,对应于国际固结纪(Statherian。1800~1600Ma)即中国长城纪中晚期。华北南缘洛峪口组形成年龄的直接约束及相关地层划分的重新厘定,为中元古代华北克拉通南北缘的准确对比及其与哥伦比亚超大陆关系、早期生命演化等重大地学命题提供了新的重要的年代学证据。