Magnetostratigraphy and revised chronology of the late Miocene mammal localities of Samos,Greece

The late Miocene mammalian record in Samos Island, Greece, is extremely important for the Eurasian Neogene mammalian history and chronology. However, due to the mixed nature of old fossil collections and controversies on the stratigraphic position of fossil quarries, great confusion has arisen concerning the recognition of distinct faunal assemblages, their age(s) and biostratigraphic significance. This paper presents the magnetostratigraphy of the late Miocene continental deposits of the fossiliferous Mytilinii Basin, Samos Island, Greece. Old and new sites are stratigraphically controlled with accuracy and correlated with each other. The magnetostratigraphy of seven individual sections, covering the entire Mytilinii Formation, provides good correlation with the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS). These results, as well as the relocation and precise litho- and magnetostratigraphic correlation of the old and new mammal localities, combined with new and reviewed paleontological data and thorough studying of the numerous radiometric dates, allowed us to define five biostratigraphic horizons. Their correlation with, and implications to the European Neogene mammal chronology ages and zones make up the following discussion and provides a modified determination of the middle Turolian (MN 12) boundaries.Abbreviations GPTS Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale - IPGP Institute de Physic du Globe de Paris - MGL Musée Cantonal de Géologie, Lausanne - MNHA Museum of Natural History of the Aegean, Samos - BMNH Natural History Museum of London - Q quarries - Fm Formation     

Post-collisional rapid exhumation and erosion during continental sedimentation: the example of the late Variscan Salvan-Dorénaz basin (Western Alps)

The Salvan-Dorénaz intramontane basin formed between ca. 308–293 Ma as an asymmetric graben along crustal-scale transtensional fracture zones within the Aiguilles-Rouges crystalline massif (Western Alps) and represents a feature of the post-collisional evolution of the Variscan orogens. It contains 1.5–1.7 km of continental clastic deposits which were eroded from granitic, volcanic, and metamorphic rocks. Textural and compositional immaturity of the sandstones, and the numerous lithic fragments with low chemical and physical stability suggest only short-range transport. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses of detrital muscovite are interpreted to represent cooling of the crystalline basement below the respective closure temperatures. Ages from detrital muscovite range between ca. 280–330 Ma. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar white mica plateau ages from granitic boulders range between 301–312 Ma and suggest rapid cooling. The very short time interval recorded between the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling ages and the stratigraphic age of the host sediment suggests that considerable portions of the upper crust were removed prior to the formation of the basin. Late Variscan granitic boulders document surface exposure and erosion of Late Carboniferous granites during early stages of the infilling of the basin. Therefore, unroofing of basement units, magmatic activity, and formation of the fault bounded Salvan-Dorénaz basin were acting concomitantly, and are highly suggestive of extensional tectonics. When compared with other orogens, this situation seems specific to the Variscan, especially the exclusively young ages of detrital material, however, modern analogous may exist.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article if you access the article at . A link in the frame on the left on that page takes you directly to the supplementary material.     

The late Quaternary evolution of the Negro River, Amazon, Brazil: Implications for island and floodplain formation in large anabranching tropical systems

The Rio Negro has responded significantly in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene to lagged environmental changes largely associated with activity during the last glacial in the Amazon basin. On the basis of geological structure, the Rio Negro can be divided into six distinct reaches that each reflects very marked differential processes and geomorphological styles. No deposits of the Upper Pleniglacial were recognized in the field. The oldest recognizable Late Pleistocene alluvial unit is the Upper Terrace of Middle Pleniglacial age (ca. 65–25 ka) (reach I), tentatively correlated with the oldest terrace identified on the left bank of reach III. At that time, the river was mainly an aggradational bed load system carrying abundant quartz sand, a product of more seasonal conditions in the upper catchment. The late glacial (14–10 ka) is represented by a lower finer-grained terrace along the upper basin (reach I), which was recognized in the Tiquié, Curicuriarí, and Vaupes rivers. At that time, the river carried abundant suspended load as a response to climatic changes associated with deglaciation.Since about 14 ka, the river has behaved as a progradational system, infilling in downstream series a sequence of structurally controlled sedimentary basins or ‘compartments,’ creating alluvial floodplains and associated anabranching channel systems. Reach II was the first to be filled, then reach III, both accumulating mainly sand. Fine deposits increase downstream in reach III and become predominant in some anabranch islands of the distal reach. The lowermost reaches of the Negro (V and VI) have been greatly affected by a rising base level and associated backwater effect from aggradation of the Amazon during late glacial and recent times. Reach V has acted almost entirely as a fine sediment trap. The remarkable Anavilhanas archipelago is the product of Holocene deposition in the upper part of this sedimentary basin; however, suspended sediment load declined about 1.5 ka, prior to the lower part of this basin becoming infilled.The progradational behavior of the Rio Negro, filling tectonic basins as successive sediment traps with sand in the upper basins and fines in the downstream ones, illustrates how a large river system responses to profound changes in Late Quaternary base level and sediment supply. The most stable equilibrium conditions have been achieved in the Holocene in reaches IIb and IIIa, where an anabranching channel and erosional–relictual island system relatively efficiently convey water and sediment downstream. Reaches IIIb and V never achieved equilibrium conditions during the Holocene, characterised as they are today with incomplete floodplains and open water.     

Prospects for interregional correlations using Wisconsin and Holocene aridity episodes, northern Gulf of Mexico coastal plain

Luminescence dating of extensive dune fields and associated eolian sandsheets provided a chronology of recently recognized Pleistocene and early Holocene dry climate episodes in the currently humid warm temperate northern-northeastern Gulf of Mexico region. Scattered parabolic dunes and clusters of intersecting parabolic dunes, along with elongated shore-transverse and shore-parallel dunes, developed. These landforms occur in a 390-km-long and 2- to 3-km-wide, semicontinuous belt in southeast Alabama and northwestern Florida. Dune elevations reach ± 22 m. Sangamon coastal barrier sectors were the primary source of the eolian sand. Deflation was coeval with early Wisconsin to mid-Holocene marine low sea-levels and associated distant shorelines. Early Holocene dune dates were synchronous, with indications of a hypsithermal dry interval in southeast Louisiana, the Yucatan, and the south Atlantic seaboard. Overlapping with dry episodes in Yucatan and the High Plains, Texas dunes and Louisiana and Texas prairie mounds, especially in the southwest Texas coast still dominated by dry climate, suggests intervals of early to late Holocene drought. The dates provide the basis for identifying and correlating Wisconsin, early, and late Holocene climate phases between currently semiarid and humid, coastal and interior areas. They contribute to future studies, including interregional paleoclimate modeling. Although Pleistocene coastal eolian deposition coincided with glaciation in the northern interior and with cooler temperatures of a reduced Gulf of Mexico, Holocene aridity phases may have been related to major variations in the position of high-pressure cells, storm tracks, and branches of the jet stream, and even to prolonged La Niña conditions.     

莱州湾南岸滨海平原晚更新世以来古环境演变的孢粉记录

依据莱州湾南岸A1钻孔孢粉分析，结合14C、热释光测年、沉积物粒度、岩性等资料，对A1钻孔自下而上划分为7个孢粉组合带，并概括它们的主要特征。利用孢粉组合，探讨了120 ka BP 以来莱州湾南岸咸水入侵区的植被发展以及气候的冷暖、干湿交替变化。在85～76 ka BP、50～24 ka BP和10～4 ka BP出现三次暖湿期，分别对应于“羊口海侵”、“广饶海侵”和“垦利海侵”。在三次暖湿期中发生海陆交互相滨岸沼泽或湖泊相沉积，植被类型为落叶阔叶林或针阔叶混交林滨岸草原。在76～50 ka BP和24～10 ka BP两次冷干期为陆相沉积环境，前者出现以针叶林为主的草原植被类型，后者出现干冷的针叶林干旱草原或荒漠草原植被类型，它们分别对应于早大理亚冰期和晚大理亚冰期。孢粉组合所反映的莱州湾南岸晚更新世以来的环境演化同全球性的气候事件及渤海沿岸环境变化具有很好的可比性。     

新疆阜康—吉木萨尔断层晚第四纪活动与变形特征的新认识

阜康—吉木萨尔断层是博格达山体与山前冲洪积平原的分界断层，全新世以来仍在活动，山前的冲洪积平原和河流低级阶地均发生了不同程度的拱曲变形，断层剖面揭示了该断层晚更新世末期有3次古地震事件。断层近地表后倾角变缓，地表的陡坎地形主要是由地层的拱曲变形形成的，反映了断层近地表位错的消减和分配规律。     

Relationships between bacterial-algal proliferating and mass extinction in the Late Devonian Frasnian-Famennian transition: Enlightening from carbon isotopes and molecular fossils

The five major mass extinctions which occurred in the transition of the Ordovician-Silurian (440 Ma), Late Devonian Frasnian-Famennian (F-F) (370 Ma), Permian-Triassic (250 Ma), Triassic-Jurassic (205 Ma) and Cretaceous-Paleogene (65 Ma) are significant phenomena in the Phanerozoic global environment and organic evolution. Their corresponding extinction rates of marine invertebrate at the level of genus and family are 60% (genus) and 26% (family), 57% and 22%, 82% and 51%, 53% and 22%, …     

辽河断陷古潜山古生界的厘定及其地质意义

辽河断陷以碳酸盐岩和砂页岩为主的古潜山地层一直全部划归中、新元古界。由于在该套地层的部分岩石薄片中发现交代残余的动物化石碎片，因此提出辽河断陷有古生界存在的新观点。通过牙形石、微古植物、动物化石和岩性组合的研究，对这套地层进行了重新厘定，建立了古生代寒武纪、奥陶纪、石炭纪和二叠纪地层层序。研究成果表明，辽河断陷存在古生界储层，古生代潜山并非单斜．而是由被断裂改造的褶皱组成的断块。这一成果为重新认识潜山的内幕构造特征和油气储层分布规律奠定了基础。     

太原西山七里沟晚古生代腕足动物群落及其古环境意义

太原西山七里沟晚古生代剖面含有丰富的腕足动物化石，共可识别出13个底栖生物群落。个体生态、行为习性、群落结构和岩性、岩相组合特征的研究表明，这些群落的生态位介于BA1-BA3之间。控制腕足动物群落分布和相互取代的最主要因素是相对海平面变化。由于海平面升、降变化的速度、幅度和持续时间的不同，群落之间的这种相互更替既有突变的，也有渐变的，既可以发生在不同的旋回之间，也可以发生在同一个海水进、退旋回内。根据这些底栖生物群落生态位所显示的水深变化和剖面相序结构，该剖面本溪期至山西期共经历了11次海水进、退旋回，其中以庙沟期海侵规模最大，最大估水深10-20m，毛儿沟下灰岩与庙沟灰岩均为这一旋回的产物。