Fossil localities of the Santa Cruz Formation (Early Miocene,Patagonia, Argentina) prospected by Carlos Ameghino in 1887 revisited and the location of the Notohippidian

Between January and September of 1887 Carlos Ameghino carried out his first geologic and paleontological expedition to the Río Santa Cruz, Patagonia. Based on the fossils and geologic information compiled, in 1887 and 1889, Florentino Ameghino named more than 120 new species of extinct mammals and his Formación Santacruceña and Piso Santacruceño (Santacrucian stage). Data published by both brothers state that the specimens were collected in outcrops by the Río Santa Cruz, between 90 and 200 km west of its mouth. However, information in the posthumously published letters and Travel Diary of C. Ameghino allows us to recognize a fourth locality, Río Bote, at about 50 km further southwest. In 1900, 1902, F. Ameghino divided the Piso Santacruceño in a younger étage Santacruzienne and older étage Notohippidéen, restricting the geographical distribution of the latter to Kar Aiken locality, northeast of Lago Argentino. However, 15 of the 54 species that F. Ameghino listed as exclusively Notohippidian stage already had been named on specimens collected South to the Río Santa Cruz in 1887, two year prior to C. Ameghino's first visit to Kar Aiken. Based on historical information and several expeditions to the Río Santa Cruz and its environs, in this contribution we establish the geographical locations of the 1887 localities, formalize their names, evaluate the stratigraphic position of the fossil-bearing levels, and analyze the geographic extension of the Notohippidian, inferring that Río Bote is where C. Ameghino first collected species that came to define the Notohippidian.     

试论碳酸盐岩上覆红土的形成模式及演化趋势

据长期对岩溶及红土化作用等的研究成果,本文全面系统地分析了碳酸盐岩上覆红土的形成及演化规律,提出了一个新的碳酸盐岩上覆红土的形成模式,进而深入阐明了碳酸盐岩上覆红土的演化规律及其在现代气候条件下的演化趋势等,在解决岩溶及红土学术界存在的碳酸盐岩上覆红土的形成、碳酸盐岩与上覆红土之间的相互关系及其发展演化规律等一系列重大疑难问题上向前迈进了一步,对相关学科的发展将产生积极的推动作用.     

Researches on Plants from the Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation in the Qujing District, Eastern Yunnan

Fossil plants Hedeia sinica Hao et Gensel 1998, Huia gracilis Wang et Hao 2001 and Guangnania cuneata Wang et Hao are described from the Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation, the Qujing district, eastern Yunnan, China. They contribute to our knowledge of the flora in this district. Based on the occurrence of common plants (Hedeia, Huia, Guangnania and Zosterophyllum australianum) and their horizons, it is proved for the first time that the mid-lower assemblage of the Xujiachong flora is comparable with the Early Devonian ((late) Pragian) Posongchong flora of southeastern Yunnan and the upper Baragwanathia flora of Australia. In view of this fact and the stratigraphic sequence, the mid-lower part of the Xujiachong Formation is considered to be of (late) Pragian age. Through comprehensive analyses of plant, bivalve and fish assemblages and the lithology, the upper part of the Xujiachong Formation is dated to be of early Emsian age. The Xujiachong flora belonged to the northeastern Gondwana palaeophytogeogr     

地质时期生物与自然协调演化及化石燃料资源的分布规律

从更广泛和较高的层次对地质时期地球表层的生命活动和环境变化进行多学科的综合性研究，在全球系统分析的基础上为“协调人类与自然关系”的战略主题提供决策依据。以高分辨率地层学框架的研究的基础，综合多种学科对事件、间事件及其载体和介质的定量研究，为生物与环境的耦合机制的认识及有关模式的建立提供科学依据。化石燃料作为事件产物，其分布规律亦为重要研究内容之一。     

鄂尔多斯盆地南部昆虫化石

鄂尔多斯盆地南部下白垩统环河－华池组昆虫化石，共有９个属种，其中有３个新属５个新种，包括未正式发表的１个属种的模式标本。这些昆虫化石在鄂尔多斯盆地是首次发现与公布的，不但丰富了该盆地的化石门类，也为地层划分与对比提供了新资料。     

Sedimentary processes,stratigraphic sequences and middens: the link between archaeology and geoheritage—a case study from the Quaternary of the Broome region,Western Australia

The cliffed and active dune coastal region of Broome provides an excellent record of Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphy of desert environments interfacing with the Indian Ocean. The Mesozoic Broome Sandstone is the basal stratigraphic unit in the area and is overlain by Pleistocene red desert quartz sand (Mowanjum Sand). Modern coastal processes of waves, wind and tide have resulted in distinctive sedimentary bodies (stratigraphic units) clearly linked to the sedimentary environment. The Mowanjum Sand, reworked by coastal winds, generates the landward-ingressing orange quartzose Churchill Sand, or reworked by waves and abraded to white sand with the addition of carbonate grains that form the beaches (Cable Beach Sand) and with eolian action, coastal dunes or inland-ingressing white dunes (Shoonta Hill Sand). These sedimentary bodies and stratigraphic units form a template with which to locate and interpret archaeological middens and Indigenous occupation over the past 5000?years in a context of coastal occupation, coastal stability, mean sea-level changes, climate changes, and availability of marine food and freshwater. Shell middens and stone artefacts form definitive layers or horizons in relation to the stratigraphy, in places in situ, and elsewhere reworked as sheets and plumes; understanding their inter-relationships has enabled the unravelling of the archaeological history and relating Indigenous occupation to biofacies and lithofacies. The array of sedimentary, biofacies and stratigraphic units are of national geoheritage significance in their own right. The addition of archaeological deposits as stratigraphic units provides a link between geoheritage and archaeology, where the archaeological materials are viewed as part of the complex stratigraphic story, part of the coastal history, and part of the geoheritage story.     

从化石记录看古人类起源和演化

古人类的起源及演化是一个极其复杂而远未解决的问题，目前掌握的重要化石材料包括：距今约5600万年的灵长类，约1700万年的人猿超科代表，620万年(?)-440万年的人科动物，以及约350万年(?)-200万年的古人类和人造石器等。中国是世界上古人类及与之演化相关的化石发现最多的国家之一，先后找到已知最早的高级灵长类——约4500万年前的曙猿化石，人猿超科的早期代表——l400万年和800万年前的古猿化石，240万年-200万年前的人造石器，200万年前的能人(?)化石，170万年前的直立人及28万年-20万年前的智人化石等。拟从迄今的化石记录人手勾勒出古人类起源及演化的大致轮廓。     

腾冲上新统芒棒组地质时代及沉积环境

摘要：腾冲地区新生代地层分布广泛，其中又以芒棒组出露较为完整，由河流相、湖泊相及沼泽相碎屑岩夹火山岩中火山沉积岩组成，含丰富的植物化石和硅藻化石。依据化石研究及用K-Ar、Rh-Sr法测获同位素年龄，芒棒组应属新近纪上新世。植物化石显示腾冲地区上新世时期气候，比现今亚热带炎热干燥气候较温凉而湿润，反映该区从新近纪上新世至第四纪，气候有从凉变暖的演变趋势。     

New Early Cretaceous shrimp (Decapoda) from the Sidi Aïch Formation of the Northern Chotts Range,southern Tunisia: Taxonomy,biostratigraphy, and palaeoenvironmental implications

The fossil dendrobranchiate shrimp Macropenaeus was originally described from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) limestones of Hadjoula, northwest Lebanon. A new species, M. sidiaichensis sp. nov., was recovered from the Sidi Aïch Formation in the Northern Chotts Range, southern Tunisia. The Barremian occurrence of the genus in Tunisia suggests that Macropenaeus most likely originated in northern Africa and then migrated to Arabia in the Cenomanian. The association of the fossil shrimp with conchostracans, plant fragments, and fish indicates the interaction of freshwater and marine conditions that characterized the northern African margin as part of widespread coastal complex, paralic environments during the Barremian.     

A new gigantic lacewing species (Insecta: Neuroptera) from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil confirms the occurrence of Kalligrammatidae in the Americas

Makarkinia kerneri sp. nov. is described from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil, based on an incomplete but very well-preserved hind wing (Neuroptera: Kalligrammatidae). The previously presumed attribution of the genus is confirmed, based on the diagnostic characters of its wing venation (e.g., dense crossvenation; the anteriorly directed branches of MP) and the presence of a distinct eye-spot on the wing. Makarkinia is the only American representative and youngest known genus of Kalligrammatidae. With an estimated wing length of 100–160 mm, it has the largest wings amongst all fossil and extant Neuroptera.