A New Female Cone, Araucaria beipoiaoensis sp. nov. from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation, Beipiao, Western Liaoning, China and Its Evolutionary Significance

A new species of Araucaria, Araucaria beipiaoensis sp. nov., collected from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation, southern hill of Shebudai village, near Beipiao city, western Liaoning is based on a permineralized female cone, which is ovate to elliptical in shape, about 11 cm × 7 cm × 4.5 cm in size. The cone bears rhomboid bracts that are spirally attached, texture thicker, with wings on both sides, with a detached lamina-like apex at the tip. In inner structure the ovuliferous scales are thicker and fused with bracts at the end with a ligular sulcns. There is one wingless ovule/seed per seed-scale complex embedded in the ovuliferous scale tissue, with the micropyle directed toward the cone axis. The ovules/seeds are long ovate or elliptical in shape, 1 cm long and near the base about 3 mm in diameter; the ovule/seed integuments have begun differentiation into 3 layers： the sarcotesta, sclerotesta, and endotesta. The nucellus is free from the enclosing integuments except in the chalazal region where it is fused to the inner layer （endotesta） of integument. Some ovules show cellularized nucellar tissue. Mature seeds exhibit the papery-thin wavy nucellus characteristically near to the micropyle. The embryonic tissue appears to be four cotyledons. The morphology and structure of the cone shows a close relationship to the araucarian cones of fossil and living genera but differs from any known species. The new species is distributed in the Middle Jurassic of the northern hemisphere, especially Asia, and has important significance for the evolution of the Family Araucariaceae.     

New Isophlebioid Dragonflies from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia,China(Insecta:Odonata:Isophlebioptera:Campterophiebiidae)

Three new species of fossil dragonflies assigned to Sinokaratawia Nel,Huang and Lin in family Campterophlebildae,i.e.S,daohugouica sp.nov.,S.magica sp.nov.and S.gloriosa sp.nov.,and new materials of male S.prokopi Nel,Huang and Lin,2007 are described from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou,Inner Mongolia,China.An emended diagnosis of genus Sinokaratawia was proposed.     

大岭子金矿地质特征及选矿浸出率

大岭子金矿V1矿体赋存于中元古界高黎贡山群变质岩中,受韧性剪切带控制,矿石类型以氧化矿石为主。提出选矿依据。     

New specimens of a fossil ostrich from the Miocene of Kenya

Fossilised hind limb bones from the late Middle Miocene (approximately 14 million-year-old [MYA]) Fort Ternan, Kadianga West and Ngorora localities in Western Kenya indicate the presence of a new representative of the ostrich genus Struthio. These new fossils represent some of the oldest known records for Struthio yet described, slightly younger than Struthio coppensi, from the Lower Miocene of Namibia. Because the four sub-species of the modern-day ostrich (Struthio camelus camelus, Struthio camelus australis, Struthio camelus massaicus, and Struthio camelus molybdophanes) inhabit the plains of Africa, and as recently as the 1940s, a fifth sub-species was also present in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia (Struthio camelus syriacus), records of Struthio from Kenya and Namibia testify to the much wider distribution of these cursorial birds in the relatively recent past. This is further supported by the very high frequency of ostrich eggshell fragments found across Africa and Eurasia, which vastly outweighs the amount of skeletal material uncovered over the last century.     

A pronounced dry event recorded around 4.2 ka in brine sediments from the northern Red Sea

Partly laminated sediments were sampled from the brine-filled, anoxic Shaban Deep basin in the northern Red Sea. At about 4200 cal yr BP more than two millennia of anoxic sedimentation is replaced by a sub-oxic facies strongly suggesting the episodic absence of the brine. At the same time stable oxygen isotopes from surface dwelling foraminifera show a sharp increase (within less than 100 yr) pointing to a strong positive salinity anomaly at the sea surface. This major evaporation event significantly enhanced the renewal of deep water and the subsequent ventilation of the small Shaban Deep basin. The timing and strength of the reconstructed environmental changes around 4200 cal yr BP suggest that this event is the regional expression of a major drought event, which is widely observed in the neighboring regions, and which strongly affected Middle East agricultural civilizations.     

Présence d'une mangrove à Avicennia au Miocène moyen dans la région de Digne (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence,France) : implications stratigraphiques et paléoclimatiques

Avicennia pollen grains have been discovered in marine facies from the Middle Miocene deltaic series of Châteauredon (southeastern France). Based on the local stratigraphy, an age between 15.8 and 16.5 Ma is proposed for these grains. The age and the transgressive context of the Avicennia bearing-levels are in agreement with the maximum extension of the mangrove known in the western Mediterranean during interval N8–NN4 pro parte, in relation with the Langhian highstand. This mangrove occurrence at 42°N latitude during Middle Miocene is a more northern witness of the mangrove sites known in Languedoc and Provence areas. It also implies a lower climatic gradient than today. To cite this article: J.-J. Châteauneuf et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

泥河湾与黄土高原地层对比及其旧石器文化序列

泥河湾盆地和黄土高原堆积着我国第四纪划分和对比的标准地层，同时也是古人类活动的重要场所。两者沉积环境不同，但都较为连续地记录了中国北方第四纪气候环境演化历史和古人类活动的信息。在综合前人研究成果的基础上，对这两个重要地区的地层进行了对比，并列出了两个地区的旧石器文化地层序列。     

华北陆块北缘西段中元古代与裂谷作用有关的铁、稀土、多金属矿床特征及成因

华北陆块北缘西段狼山—白云鄂博裂谷系中元古代形成的大型多金属矿床 ,是我国重要的铁、稀土、铜、铅、锌矿产地。矿床为产于沉积岩中热水沉积型多金属矿床。其形成受地层、构造控制 ,与裂谷作用有着密切的关系。裂谷系内外分支的地质环境及矿床矿种不同 ,导致矿床特征及成因具有一定差异。白云鄂博铁、稀土矿床为钾、钠、磷等含量较高的热水沉积型 ,霍各乞铜、铅、锌多金属矿床为与中基性火山岩有关的过渡热水沉积型 ,东升庙和甲生盘等铅、锌多金属矿床为热水沉积型。文中将对上述矿床分别进行论述。     

利用卫星云图估算黄河中游地区平均面雨量

介绍了利用卫星云图资料估算黄河中游面雨量的基本方法：将GMS卫星1h间隔的可风和红外云图作为判别的两个特性进行分类，确定红外光线资料的所有最小值点作为对流核；多参照Negri-Adler的方法，应用斜率参数消除卷云；应用－维云模式确定红外线图上对流核的降水率，层状云降水通过一个温度阈值给出。另外，通过2001年7月26日至28日黄河流域出现的一次较强降雨过程进行应用分析，得出结论－－利用卫星云图估算黄河中游地区平均雨量的方法具有很好的实用价值。