从浙江天台白垩纪蛋化石复原恐龙类群

浙江天台盆地白垩纪地层中,已发现了甲龙类及慢龙类等恐龙骨骼化石及数以千计的蛋化石,其中许多为恐龙蛋化石。根据国内外相同类型的蛋化石中迄今已发现的恐龙胚胎化石研究成果,可大致确定其中一部分蛋化石分别是由鸭嘴龙类、巨龙类、慢龙类、盗蛋龙类、伤齿龙类和暴龙类等恐龙所产。并发现鸭嘴龙类、巨龙类和慢龙类的圆形蛋、副圆形蛋在数量上占绝大多数,盗蛋龙的长形蛋和伤齿龙的棱柱形蛋较少,暴龙类的巨型长形蛋最少,从而反映了他们各自在生态金字塔中的位置。     

辽东半岛南部晚先寒武纪宏体生物序列

辽东半岛市部上先寒武系自下而上划分为4群15组,其中细河群的三个组即钓鱼台组、南芬组、桥头组产宏观藻类化石;五行山群的长岭子组、南关岭组产蠕虫和宏观藻类化石;金县群兴民村组产类水母化石,葛屯组产蠕虫、宏观藻类化石,上覆的下寒武统碱厂组产三叶虫和古杯动物化石。上先寒武系7个宏体生物化石层位构成一个连续的、完整的宏体生物序列,可分为4个演化阶段:①细河期宏观藻类发生发展阶段;②五行山期蠕虫发生发展阶段和宏观藻类发展阶段;③兴民村期类水母发生发展阶段;④葛屯期蠕虫和宏观藻类新的发展阶段。据此可以划分为4个生物群,即细河生物群(800Ma前)、五行山生物群(800—700Ma)、金县生物群(677Ma)、满家滩生物群(600Ma)。另外早寒武世三叶虫和古杯动物组成葫芦套生物群,为早寒武世晚期。辽东半岛与苏皖北部晚先寒武纪地层不仅沉积序列相同,而且宏体生物序列也基本相同,两区生物地层完全可以对比。辽东半岛南部晚先寒武纪宏体生物序列的建立及其在同一地层区的延展性,提高了本区晚先寒武纪地层剖面的地位。使其可能成为全球晚先寒武纪生物地层层型剖面。     

辽西中生代含鸟层及上下层位的划分和时代

辽宁西部中生代地层发育,在国内外同期地层研究中占有重要地位。辽西中生代鸟化石的发现,具有重要的科学价值。含鸟层位包括上侏罗统义县组含鸟层和下白垩统九佛堂组含鸟层。现共鉴定出鸟类化石１１个属１４个种,其中义县组鸟化石４个属６个种,地位最为重要。鉴于此,将义县组下部的沉积层划分出来,并建立了四合屯组,该组对寻找鸟类的祖先具有重要的意义。原土城子组一段具有组级岩石地层单位意义称为蒙古营子组。     

成矿古水热系统与热液铀矿床研究历史,现状与展望

介绍了成矿古水热系统与热液铀矿床研究的历史与现状。指出了以往研究只强调水及溶质起源，而对热源重视不够的欠缺。同时，结合热液铀 矿床的研究情况，对成矿古水热系统研究的下一步发展方向进行了展望。     

The first record of a bryophyte in Upper Cretaceous amber from Taimyr,northern Siberia: Taimyrobryum martynoviorum gen. et sp. nov. (Bryopsida)

Cretaceous bryophyte fossils are known only from a few localities and only a few are known in ultrastructural fidelity. We describe a fossil moss gametophyte from Upper Cretaceous Taimyr amber and place it in the fossil genus Taimyrobryum martynoviorum gen. et sp. nov. (Bryopsida). Its unbranched, somewhat zig-zagged stems with distantly spaced, spreading, narrowly lanceolate leaves and the unbranched costa match the gross morphology of Dicranidae; however, the uniformly prosenchymatous leaf cells contradict an affiliation to this subclass. The Yantardakh in the Taimyr Peninsula is the fourth and northernmost Cretaceous amber locality yielding inclusions of bryophytes.     

50,000 years of vegetation and climate history on the Colorado Plateau, Utah and Arizona, USA

Sixty packrat middens were collected in Canyonlands and Grand Canyon National Parks, and these series include sites north of areas that produced previous detailed series from the Colorado Plateau. The exceptionally long time series obtained from each of three sites (> 48,000 ¹⁴C yr BP to present) include some of the oldest middens yet discovered. Most middens contain a typical late-Wisconsinan glaciation mixture of mesic and xeric taxa, evidence that plant species responded to climate change by range adjustments of elevational distribution based on individual criteria. Differences in elevational range from today for trees and shrubs ranged from no apparent change to as much as 1200 m difference. The oldest middens from Canyonlands NP, however, differ in containing strictly xeric assemblages, including middens incorporating needles of Arizona single-leaf pinyon, far north of its current distribution. Similar-aged middens from the eastern end of Grand Canyon NP contain plants more typical of glacial climates, but also contain fossils of one-seed juniper near its current northern limit in Arizona. Holocene middens reveal the development of modern vegetation assemblages on the Colorado Plateau, recording departures of mesic taxa from low elevation sites, and the arrival of modern dominant components much later.     

Late Cretaceous Kholokhovchan Flora of Northeastern Asia: Composition,age and fossil plant descriptions

The Kholokhovchan Flora comes from tuffaceous – terrigenous deposits of the Vetvinskaya Member (Chalbugchan Group) in the Penzhina and Oklan rivers interfluve, Northeastern Russia. The depositional environment of the plant-bearing deposits is interpreted to have been a freshwater lake. The Kholokhovchan Flora hosts 42 fossil plant species belonging to Marchantiopsida, Polypodiopsida, Ginkgoales, Leptostrobales, Bennettitales, Pinales and Magnoliopsida. It is characterised by diverse angiosperms, less diverse conifers and ferns, by the presence of relatively ancient Sphenobaiera, Phoenicopsis and Pterophyllum together with advanced Late Cretaceous Taxodium, Glyptostrobus and angiosperms, among which platanoids are quite diverse. The Kholokhovchan Flora is most similar to Penzhina and Kaivayam floras of the Anadyr-Koryak Subregion and Arman Flora of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt (Northeastern Russia) and should be dated as Turonian–Coniacian. The Kholokhovchan Flora, that populated volcanic plateaus and intermontane valleys, are characterised by a mixture of ancient “Mesophytic” plants with typical Late Cretaceous “Cenophytic” taxa. This peculiar composition probably reflects a gradual penetration of new angiosperm-dominated plant assemblages into older floras: during the Late Cretaceous, “Cenophytic” assemblages migrated along river valleys and other disturbed habitats into the interior of Asia, eventually occupying volcanogenic uplands, and in places replacing the “Mesophytic” fern-gymnospermous communities that existed there. Two new angiosperm species, as well as four the most characteristic conifers of the Kholokhovchan Flora, are described: Cupressaceae gen. et sp. indet. cf. Widdringtonites sp., Taxodium cf. olrikii, Taxodium sp., Glyptostrobus sp., Ettingshausenia vetviensis sp. nov. and Parvileguminophyllum penzhinense sp. nov.     

Magnetic field fossilization and tail reconfiguration in Titan's plasma environment during a magnetopause passage: 3D adaptive hybrid code simulations

We present a hybrid simulation study (kinetic ions, fluid electrons) of Titan's plasma interaction during an excursion of this moon from Saturn's magnetosphere into its magnetosheath, as observed for the first time during Cassini's T32 flyby on 13 June 2007. In contrast to earlier simulations of Titan's plasma environment under non-stationary upstream conditions, our model considers a difference in the flow directions of magnetospheric and magnetosheath plasma. Two complementary scenarios are investigated, with the flow directions of the impinging magnetospheric/magnetosheath plasmas being (A) antiparallel and (B) parallel. In both cases, our simulations show that due to the drastically reduced convection speed in the slow and dense heavy ion plasma near Titan, the satellite carries a bundle of “fossilized” magnetic field lines from the magnetosphere in the magnetosheath. Furthermore, the passage through Saturn's magnetopause goes along with a disruption of Titan's pick-up tail. Although the tail is not detached from the satellite, large clouds of heavy ion plasma are stripped of its outer flank, featuring a wave-like pattern. Whereas in case (B) under parallel flow conditions there is only a small retardation of about 5 min between the passage of Titan through the magnetopause and the reconfiguration of the pick-up tail, the tail reconfiguration in the case (A) scenario is completed not until 25 min after the magnetopause passage. The lifetime of fossil fields in the moon's ionosphere is approximately 25 min, regardless of whether parallel or antiparallel flow conditions are applied.     

Eocene fauna of Messel Pit Fossil Site, Germany

The paper reports sunthetically the Cocene fauna of the Messel Pit Fossil site of Germany, in detail, including its rich taxanomic compositions, geological and paleogeographic backgroud, and the studying and applying history.