Early Jurassic palaeoenvironments in the Surat Basin,Australia – marine incursion into eastern Gondwana

Interpretations of palaeodepositional environments are important for reconstructing Earth history. Only a few maps showing the Jurassic depositional environments in eastern Australia currently exist. Consequently, a detailed understanding of the setting of Australia in Gondwana is lacking. Core, wireline logs, two-dimensional and three-dimensional seismic from the Precipice Sandstone and Evergreen Formation in the Surat Basin have been used to construct maps showing the evolution of depositional environments through the Early Jurassic. The results indicate the succession consists of three third-order sequences (Sequence 1 to Sequence 3) that were controlled by eustatic sea level. The lowstand systems tract in Sequence 1 comprises braidplain deposits, confined to a fairway that parallels the basin centre. The strata were initially deposited in two sub-basins, with rivers flowing in different orientations in each sub-basin. The transgressive systems tract of Sequence 1 to lowstand systems tract of Sequence 3 is dominated by fluvio–deltaic systems infilling a single merged basin centre. Finally, the transgressive and highstand systems tracts of Sequence 3 show nearshore environments depositing sediment into a shallow marine basin. In the youngest part of this interval, ironstone shoals are the most conspicuous facies, the thickness and number of which increase towards the north and east. This study interprets a corridor to the open ocean through the Clarence–Moreton Basin, or the Carpentaria and Papuan basins, evidence of which has been eroded. These results challenge a commonly held view that eastern Australia was not influenced by eustasy, and propose a more dynamic palaeogeographic setting comprising a mixture of fluvial, deltaic and shallow marine sedimentary environments. This work can be used to unravel the stratigraphic relationships between Mesozoic eastern Australian basins, or in other basins globally as an analogue for understanding the complex interplay of paralic depositional systems in data poor areas.     

First Lower Cretaceous record of Podocarpaceae wood associated with dinosaur remains from Patagonia,Neuquén Province,Argentina

The first Podocarpaceae wood record is described from the Mulichinco Formation (Valanginian, Lower Cretaceous), Neuquén Basin, Argentina. The specimen was directly associated with a middle caudal vertebra of a diplodocid sauropod dinosaur. A new species – Podocarpoxylon prumnopityoides – is proposed based on features that include the presence of abietinean wood type (tracheid radial pitting), plus podocarpoid (cupressoid type) and some dacrydioid (taxodioid type) cross-field pits, diffuse axial parenchyma and low rays. This combination of anatomical characters is comparable to both Prumnopitys and Podocarpus, whereas the type of pits in the cross-fields resembles some members of the extant Prumnopitys. This is the first unequivocal record of the Family Podocarpaceae in the Valanginian of South America and confirms the hypothesis that the divergence between the “Podocarpoid-Dacrydioid” and “Prumnopityoid” clades occurred earlier than the Early Cretaceous.     

吉林省通化县迎门岔一带白垩系下统火山碎屑岩稀有稀土矿找矿前景浅析

通化县迎门岔一带1∶20万水系沉积物测量,圈定出“通通-84-HS-10”号异常,异常区内出露的岩性主要为白垩系下统林子头组灰绿色、紫色流纹质凝灰岩、角砾凝灰岩、流纹质晶屑岩屑凝灰岩、灰紫色流纹岩、安山岩等火山碎屑岩。在1∶20万异常区内开展了1∶5万水系沉积物测量工作,圈出重点找矿前景区,并在该区内开展1∶1万土壤测量、高精磁测等工作,通过槽探工程验证,发现含铌钽矿化蚀变带,显示出该地区具有较好的稀有稀土矿找矿前景。     

Evolution of species diversity of Cretaceous radiolarians from high-latitude paleobiochores

Cretaceous radiolarians of the Boreal regions are considered. Their minimal diversity and low abundance are recorded in stratigraphic intervals corresponding to anoxic events. Paleogeographic and ecostratigraphic distribution trends of Cretaceous radiolarians are established for families Heliodiscidae, Prunobrachidae, Pseudoaulophacidae and some others. The most significant turnovers in evolution of radiolarians are confined to the latest Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous, Albian-Cenomanian, Cenomanian-Turonian, terminal Santonian-earliest Campanian transitions and to the terminal Late Cretaceous.     

Pes shape variation in an ornithopod dinosaur trackway (Lower Cretaceous,NW Spain): New evidence of an antalgic gait in the fossil track record

Trackways can provide unique insight to animals locomotion through quantitative analysis of variation in track morphology. Long trackways additionally permit the study of trackmaker foot anatomy, providing more insight on limb kinematics. In this paper we have restudied the extensive tracksite at Barranco de La Canal-1 (Lower Cretaceous, La Rioja, NW Spain) focussing on a 25-m-long dinosaur (ornithopod) trackway that was noted by an earlier study (Casanovas et al., 1995; Pérez-Lorente, 2003) to display an irregular pace pattern. This asymmetric gait has been quantified and photogrammetric models undertaken for each track, thus revealing distinct differences between the right and the left tracks, particularly in the relative position of the lateral digits II–IV with respect to the central digit III. Given that the substrate at this site is homogenous, the consistent repetition of the collected morphological data suggests that differences recorded between the right and the left tracks can be linked to the foot anatomy, but more interestingly, to an injury or pathology on left digit II. We suggest that the abnormal condition registered in digit II impression of the left pes can be linked to the statistically significant limping behaviour of the trackmaker. Furthermore, the abnormal condition registered did not affect the dinosaur's speed.     

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.     

Tidally dominated, rimmed-shelf facies of the Picún Leufú Formation (Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary) in southwest Gondwana, Neuquén Basin, Argentina

A palaeoenvironmental model for the Picún Leufú Formation (Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary), which crops out in the Neuquén Basin, Argentina, on the southwestern margin of Gondwana, is presented in this paper for the first time. Detailed stratigraphic sections exposed along National Road 40 where it crosses the Picún Leufú Creek (type locality) and in the Cerrito Caracoles area, were examined and sampled. Based on a combination of the sedimentological data obtained (facies/microfacies analysis) and the relationship between benthic macrofaunas and their taphonomic attributes, it is concluded that the formation reflects a tidally dominated, rimmed-shelf setting characterized by prograding bars dissected by channels and thick lagoonal facies with shoal developments. In the Cerrito Caracoles area, where only the basal part of the formation is exposed, it is interpreted to have been deposited in a shallow subtidal marine environment in which shelf margin facies with patch reefs have been recognized.     

柴北缘东段及周缘侏罗系发育特征及其对构造活动的响应

为研究柴北缘东部及周缘侏罗系发育特征及其对构造活动的响应,笔者等基于柴北缘东段红山、霍布逊及德令哈凹陷侏罗系野外地质调查,通过地层接触关系追踪、二维地震资料解释以及岩性岩相突变特征分析,同时与中国西北地区其他典型的盆地侏罗系发育特征进行对比分析,研究表明,在中国西北多个板块的相互作用的构造背景之下,柴北缘东段燕山期构造运动Ⅰ幕发生在早—中侏罗世,以古地理与古构造环境较为均一、发育粗碎屑凹陷、每个凹陷内具有幕式沉积充填特征,与中国西北其他盆地对比,此幕构造运动波及面大,但强度较弱,推测与中国西北周边各板块碰撞造山之后的伸展作用相关;燕山期构造运动Ⅱ幕发生在晚侏罗世—早白垩世,此幕构造运动导致古地理与古构造环境向新的环境转变,以中—上侏罗统之间的角度不整合、白垩系及晚侏罗统的残缺不全为特征,推测与拉萨地块与欧亚板块碰撞以及蒙古—鄂霍茨克洋的关闭及Kolyma—Omolon地块的碰撞有关。     

松辽盆地榆树林油田下白垩统泉头组扶余油层浅水三角洲沉积特征及其演化

松辽盆地榆树林油田下白垩统泉头组四段扶余油层沉积时期发育大型浅水三角洲沉积。本文基于12 口探井岩心与
2268 口钻井资料,通过单井岩心相分析、测井相分析、连井相对比和平面沉积微相研究,认为研究区发育浅水三角洲平原、
内前缘、外前缘和前三角洲亚相,以浅水三角洲平原亚相为主,平原分流河道和内前缘水下分流河道为主要沉积微相。在
扶三段（F Ⅲ）早期,研究区主要为浅水三角洲内前缘亚相,物源只来自北部 ;其后,三角洲向南进积,全区变为平原亚
相 ;F Ⅲ 3 小层沉积时期,南部物源进入,并与北部物源交汇,一直持续至扶一段（F Ⅰ）末期;在 F Ⅰ 3 小层沉积末期,湖
平面快速上升,南北两个三角洲退积,研究区中部依次出现浅水三角洲内前缘、外前缘和前三角洲。