宁城中生代道虎沟生物群中两类具原始羽毛翼龙的发现及其地层学和生物学意义

本文实事求是地介绍了道虎沟生物群的组成及相关地层的岩性,并根据长尾型嘴口龙类(Rhamphorhynchoidea)翼龙与短尾型翼手龙类(Pterodactyloidea)翼龙同期共生的特点,确信道虎沟生物群的地质时代为晚侏罗世。此外,本文还研究了道虎沟生物群中翼龙身上发育的皮肤衍生物,初步认为它们是原始羽毛(protofeathers),至少是与羽毛同源的(feather-homologous),这对于了解羽毛(广义)的演化历史和早期的形态结构将具有十分重要的意义。     

云南罗平生物群产出层位沉积微相及其化石富集规律

云南罗平上石坎剖面是产出罗平生物群的代表性剖面。参考Wilson的标准微相模式,从产化石层位识别出6种沉积微相:灰泥灰岩、生屑粒泥灰岩、粪球粒-生屑泥灰岩、纹层状泥晶灰岩、生屑泥粒灰岩和砾屑灰岩。通过在化石采掘现场对化石富集层位的统计,将产化石层位细分为生物群上层段UFH(Upper Fossil Horizon)和生物群下层段LFH(Lower Fossil Horizon),并进一步探讨了每个层段中沉积微相与化石富集规律的关系,发现化石富集程度高的层段主要发育灰泥灰岩、生屑粒泥灰岩、粪球粒-生屑泥灰岩、纹层状泥晶灰岩等4种沉积微相。这种沉积微相组合主要发育在深水、低能的台内盆地环境中,环境水体的滞留、缺氧给生物埋藏提供了良好的条件。     

辽宁西部及邻区中侏罗世燕辽生物群脊椎动物化石研究进展

近年来,在中国辽宁西部、内蒙古东南部、河北北部中侏罗世髫髻山组和九龙山组中发现了丰富的脊椎动物、无脊椎动物和植物化石,这一化石群被称为燕辽生物群。燕辽生物群已正式命名的脊椎动物26属28种,包括鱼类1属1种、两栖类4属4种、有鳞类1属1种、翼龙类10属12种、兽脚类恐龙5属5种、哺乳类5属5种。燕辽生物群的脊椎动物化石对研究长羽毛兽脚类恐龙的演化、翼龙类的分类演化、滑体两栖类的分异等具有重要意义。虽然辽宁西部及邻区燕辽生物群脊椎动物的多样性不及同一地区早白垩世的热河生物群,但它为认识这一地区晚中生代生物群的演替提供了极为重要的依据。     

A Pleistocene succession from beneath Chelford Sands at Oakwood Quarry,Chelford, Cheshire

A thin sequence of in situ fossiliferous gravels and silts overlain by a glacigenic bed is described from a temporary exposure in a working silica sand quarry. The sequence directly overlies unweathered Mercia Mudstone. Locally the bedrock surface forms a shallow palaeovalley some 15 m deep and almost 1 km wide. The sequence in question lies close to the valley axis. The silts, pollen, plant macrofossils, Mollusca, Coleoptera, and Ostracoda assemblages each suggest a similar environment of sedimentation: a shallow pool within a treeless open landscape. Much of the bedrock within the working quarry appears to be draped by the Oakwood till and this unit is co-extensive with the glacigenic sediments over the silts and gravels. In parts at least, the till has been subject to redeposition and its upper surface has scattered ventifacts. Above this wind-deflation horizon lies the Chelford Sands Formation, in the middle of which is the Chelford Interstadial stratotype, the Farm Wood member. The biota preserved in the gravels and silts suggest a stadial prior to the Early Devensian Chelford Interstadial. This is the first unambiguous stratigraphic evidence from Cheshire of a glacial event antedating the Chelford Interstadial.     

贵州清镇寒武系底部首次发现埃迪卡拉型盘状化石：生物学、埋藏学及其古地理意义

盘状化石是埃迪卡拉纪（Ediacaran, ≈震旦纪）最早被描述的生物分子,也是全球埃迪卡拉生物群最重要的组成部分,对于重建埃迪卡拉纪—寒武纪过渡时期的生态系统,了解“寒武纪大爆发”时期生物的早期演化至关重要。Aspidella是埃迪卡拉纪圆盘状化石的一个形态属,也是全球分布的埃迪卡拉纪沉积物中的典型化石。本文描述了在贵州清镇埃迪卡拉系—寒武系桃子冲组下部硅质岩中,首次被记录的埃迪卡拉纪疑似Aspidella盘状化石（cf. Aspidella）,表现为以同心圆环、中央凸起和凹痕为特征的圆盘,三维结构扫描观察到其明显的阶梯状圈层变化。我们倾向于认为桃子冲组cf. Aspidella作为底栖软躯体叶状生物的固着器,其内部沉积物是在海水正常沉积作用下形成的,并发现了含Fe、Al物质的固着器生物膜碎片。证实生物固着器官受到微生物席的影响优先保存,而茎干和复叶却消失不见,黏土和砂砾的差异压实作用导致死亡后的生物固着器的球壁上产生了阶梯状的轮廓。结合贵州清镇埃迪卡拉系—寒武系桃子冲组地层中出现的生物组合与华北、柴达木地块的埃迪卡拉纪生物地层的相似性,以及埃迪卡拉纪到寒武纪过渡时期的全球古地理格局,华南板块由中纬度持续地向华北、柴达木地块所处的低纬度区域漂移,环境的改变可能是导致埃迪卡拉纪晚期生物分子在华南寒武系地层中得到种群延续的诱导因素,并进一步扩展了经典埃迪卡拉型化石在时间和空间的分布。     

贵州遵义松林寒武系底部热液喷口及与喷口相关生物群特征

贵州遵义寒武系底部黑色页岩中含Mo、Ni、U等重金属的富集层，它们一直被认为与热水沉积作用有关。本文通过对贵州遵义松林小竹一带的寒武系底部地层的系统的岩石、矿物、地球化学研究，认为遵义松林小竹一带寒武系底部黑色页岩中富含Mo、Ni、U等重金属层属于热液（水）喷流沉积，主要依据有：①含大量的黄铁矿、针镍矿、硫钼矿及较多的锑硫镍矿、黄铜矿、闪锌矿、重晶石、石英、石膏等矿物；②具有大量的同生砾屑，砾屑成分为黑色碳质体和碎屑状黄铁矿、针镍矿、硫钼矿等矿石，它们堆积成层状结构，碎屑呈被撕裂状、棱角状、熔蚀港湾状等结构，球状、脸盆状、枕头状等构造，它们类似海底喷流沉积；③硅同位素、锶同位素、Re／Os值、Th／Sc值、Th／U值都表明有深部物质加入；④黑色岩系中夹碳酸盐岩透镜体，碳同位素具有强烈负异常特征，表明有热液作用；⑤超强富集元素Mo、As、Se、Re和T1都属于典型的气相迁移元素，而钼是典型的高温气相迁移元素，暗示了可能存在火山射气作用；而强富集的Ni、U、Au、Ag、PGE元素组合是超基性岩浆活动的产物，表明有热液活动。研究发现在热液（水）喷流沉积形成的富集Mo、Ni、U等重金属硫化物层之上，产出丰度大、分异度低、含大型海绵类、双壳类、菌藻类和少量大型蠕虫化石的生物群，它的特征与现代太平洋海底热喷口附近的生物群类似，因此认为遵义小竹一带寒武系底部生物群属于与海底热喷口相关生物群，这一新发现对研究寒武纪生态和生物爆发具有重要意义。     

Vase-shaped microfossils from the Ediacaran Weng'an biota, Guizhou, South China

Vase-shaped microfossils (VSMs) are described from the Ediacaran Doushantuo phosphorites (ca. 599–584 Ma) of Guizhou Province, South China. They are morphologically attributed to two genera and three species, and thus expand our knowledge of the Neoproterozoic protozoans in the Weng'an biota. They resemble to the VSMs from the Lower Cambrian pre-trilobitic Kuanchuanpu Formation of southern Shaanxi Province in terms of the microstructures and chemical composition of the fossil walls. Microscopic observations indicate that the VSMs from both the Weng'an biota and the Kuanchuanpu Formation are preserved in either single-layered or multi-layered walls, and composed of calcium phosphate in chemical composition. The present fossils also share similarities, in size and general contour, to the VSMs previously described from the Gaojiashan Member, middle part of the Dengying Formation (ca. 551–542 Ma) in southern Shaanxi. The discovery of the VSMs from the Doushantuo phosphorite is an important contribution to the Weng'an biota, and may throw much light on the early evolution and diversification of protozoans during Precambrian–Cambrian interval.     

Distribution and facies patterns of Lower Cretaceous sediments in northern Germany: a review

Marine sediments of Early Cretaceous age (Berriasian–Albian) have a widespread distribution in the Lower Saxony Basin of northern Germany. This basin, which is about 400 km long and 100 km wide, formed the southernmost extension of the North Sea Basin. Sediments attaining a maximum thickness of up to several hundred metres are represented by shallow marine siliciclastics in the west, south and easternmost part of the basin. These interfinger with the basin facies represented by dark mudstones up to 2000 m thick. The distribution and facies patterns of the sediments as well as thicknesses are related to three factors: differential subsidence, local tectonics and sea-level changes. For various parts of the basin and certain stratigraphic intervals it is possible to distinguish between these causes. Sedimentary thicknesses are clearly a result of differential subsidence from Kimmeridgian to Albian times onwards, being controlled by tectonic movements along northwest–southeast trending faults. These result in an asymmetric trough, bound to the north and south by synsedimentary faults with sedimentation rates highest in the north. Local tectonics are clearly caused by salt diapirs mainly in the eastern part of the basin and along the western, southern and eastern margins. These areas in particular include parts of the western Emsland and the Salzgitter area. Sedimentary patterns vary considerably over less than a kilometre, showing an extreme range of different lithologies. This is ideally observed in the Salzgitter area. Sea-level changes finally are reflected by widespread facies patterns and particularly by fossils of different provenance. The following sea-level-related events can be followed throughout the basin: the Wealden regressive phase, the Early Valanginian transgression, the early Late Valanginian transgression, the mid Hauterivian transgression, the Barremian regression, deposition of the Early Aptian anoxic sediments, and accumulation of the mid Albian hemipelagic marls.     

Inorganic and methylmercury: do they transfer along a tropical coastal food web?

Methylmercury (MeHg) and inorganic mercury (Hg_inorg) were evaluated in the water of a Brazilian estuary, with two size classes of plankton and seven fish species of different feeding habits. Water partition coefficients (PCs) in microplankton were fourfold higher for MeHg than for Hg_inorg; and water PCs in mesoplankton were 26 times higher for MeHg than Hg_inorg. Difference between microplankton and mesoplankton MeHg bioaccumulation factor (BAF) was higher (0.60 log units) than Hg_inorg BAF (0.24 log units), indicating that trophic transfer of MeHg between planktonic organisms is more efficient than Hg_inorg transference. MeHg concentrations, proportion of mercury as MeHg and its biotransference factors (BTFs) in the microplankton, mesoplankton and fish increased with increasing trophic level while biotic concentrations of Hg_inorg and proportion of mercury as Hg_inorg decreased thus indicating that MeHg was indeed the biomagnified species of mercury. MeHg reflected the vertical trophic guilds distribution, due to the fact that the top predator fish presented the highest concentration (0.77 μg g⁻¹ d.w.), followed by the less voracious species (0.43 μg g⁻¹ d.w.); while planktivorous fish presented the lowest concentrations (0.044 μg g⁻¹ d.w.). Hg_inorg did not present the same behavior. Results suggest that feeding habits and trophic guild are important parameters, influencing biotransference and biomagnification processes.