Capybaras (Rodentia,Hydrochoeridae, Hydrochoerinae) and their bearing in the calibration of the late Miocene–Pliocene sequences of South America

Fossil capybaras were long regarded as composed of numerous taxa, each one endemic to a particular area, a scenario completely different from the one shown by the living species. The interpretation of the record according to new criteria of ontogenetic change has demonstrated that they are useful for biocorrelation because their members have short biochrons with wide geographic distribution. The levels with capybaras of each locality would represent a short lapse within the bearing lithostratigraphic units. In turn, they would also represent short intervals within the temporal extension proposed for each Stage/Age or SALMA. All the late Miocene–Pliocene records of capybaras were analyzed and a chronological scheme was built mainly for Argentina, where records are most abundant. Numerical ages and magnetostratigraphic studies contribute to correlate this scheme with the global time scale. The Chasicoan SALMA would be correlated with part of the Tortonian Stage/Age; the Huayquerian SALMA with the late Tortonian-Messinian, and it could even extend to the earliest Zanclean. The Montehermosan SALMA would be restricted to the Zanclean. The Chapadmalalan SALMA would be correlated with the late Zanclean-early Piacenzian.     

The age of the oceanic accretionary wedge and onset of continental collision in the Sicilian Maghrebian Chain

New biostratigraphic data from the formations unconformably lying above the tectonic units resulting from the Flysch Basin Domain (FBD) in the Sicilian Maghrebids are here reported. The FBD constituted a southern branch of the western Tethys, separating during the Jurassic to Paleogene a Mesomediterranean Microplate from the African Plate.

The age of the youngest sediments involved in the nappes and that of the unconformable terrains deposited in thrust-top basins on these tectonic units, allow to define both the age of deformation of the oceanic realm and the onset of the continental collision. The deformation migrated from internal to external areas of FBD starting from the latest Burdigalian-Langhian to Serravallian. Therefore, the previously proposed Eocene-Oligocene mesoalpine deformation of the Maghrebian FBD cannot be supported. The continental collision started during the Serravallian and it was accomplished in the late Tortonian, when clastic deposits sealed the boundaries of the tectonic units originated from all the paleogeographic domains of the Maghrebian Chain.

The steps of the tectonic evolution in the Sicilian Maghrebids are now very well constrained and the proposed tectonic evolution may be extended to the whole Maghrebian Chain, as far as to the western Betic Cordilleras and to the southern Apennines, where most of the tectonic events show highly similar features and ages.     

Identification of the source caldera for the Middle Miocene ash-flow tuffs in the Kii Peninsula based on apatite trace-element composition

A large caldera cluster consisting of at least four calderas (Omine, Odai, Kumano-North and Kumano calderas) existed in the central–southern part of the Kii Peninsula approximately 14–15 Ma. On the other hand, thick Middle Miocene ash-flow tuffs, referred to as the Muro Ash-flow Tuff and the Sekibutsu Tuff Member, are distributed in the northern part of the Kii Peninsula. Although these tuffs are considered to have erupted from the caldera cluster in the central-southern Kii Peninsula, identifying the source caldera in the cluster has been controversial because of similarities in the petrological characteristics and identical radiometric ages of the volcaniclastic rocks of these calderas. We successfully discriminated the characteristics of the eruptive products of each caldera in the caldera cluster based on the apatite trace-element compositions of the pyroclastic dikes and ash-flow tuffs of the calderas. We also demonstrated that the source caldera of at least the lower main part of the Muro Ash-flow Tuff and the Sekibutsu Tuff Member was the Odai Caldera, which is located in the central Kii Peninsula. Our findings show possible correlations among the pyroclastic conduits and ash-flow tuffs of the caldera-fill and/or outflow deposits, even in cases where they have been densely welded and diagenetically altered. This method is useful for the study of deeply eroded ancient calderas.     

Age and paleoclimatic implication of middle to upper Miocene plant-bearing strata in the southern Kanazawa area,Ishikawa Prefecture,Central Japan,based on refined Neogene palynostratigraphy in the Hokuriku district

13–8 Ma (middle to late Miocene) is a key period for understanding how the unique vegetation was established in Japan. Palynostratigraphy is useful for estimating the ages of plant-bearing strata deposited in shallow-marine and non-marine environments, but has low temporal resolution for this key period in Japan. We compiled Neogene and early Quaternary palynological records for the Hokuriku district of Central Japan to clarify palynostratigraphic events that may improve the temporal resolution. Our results showed that palynoassemblages changed considerably during 10–6.4 Ma in the Hokuriku district, following a relatively stable period during 13–10 Ma. We found that evergreen Quercus abundance increased at 11.5–10 Ma. We used these palynostratigraphic signatures, along with other biostratigraphic markers, to infer the ages of the Miocene plant-bearing Saikawa and Koderayama Formations in the southern Kanazawa area of Ishikawa Prefecture in the Hokuriku district. The ages of the Saikawa and Koderayama Formations were inferred as ~13 and 10–6.4 Ma, respectively. The palynoflora of the Koderayama Formation shows floristic similarity to that of present south China, implying that the unique flora of Japan established after the age of the Koderayama Formation.     

Chronological and paleoceanographic constraints of Miocene to Pliocene ‘mud sea’ in the Ryukyu Islands (southwestern Japan) based on calcareous nannofossil assemblages

The Cenozoic sedimentary succession in Okinawa‐jima, including the upper Miocene to Pleistocene siliciclastic deposits (Shimajiri Group) and the Pleistocene reef to shelf deposits (Ryukyu Group), suggests a drastic paleoceanographic change from a ‘mud sea’ to a ‘coral sea.’ To delineate the paleoceanographic evolution of the mud sea, we quantified the stratigraphic distribution of the calcareous nannofossil assemblages from the Shimajiri Group in a 2119.49 m‐deep well (Nanjo R1 Exploratory Well) drilled in southern Okinawa‐jima (Ryukyu Islands, southwestern Japan). Four late Miocene and Pliocene datum planes were found in the studied interval: the first occurrence of Amaurolithus spp. (7.42 Ma), the last occurrence of Discoaster quinqueramus (5.59 Ma), the first occurrence of Ceratolithus rugosus (5.12 Ma), and the last occurrence of Reticulofenestra pseudoumbilicus (3.70 Ma). The calcareous nannofossil assemblages from the Tomigusuku Formation and the lower part of the Yonabaru Formation are characterized by a lower total number of coccoliths and abundant Sphenolithus abies that is associated, at times, with common Discoaster spp. Overall, these suggest the existence of oligotrophic conditions between 5.3 and >8.3 Ma. The total number of coccoliths increased and small Reticulofenestra spp. became more common in the middle part of the Yonabaru Formation, suggesting that eutrophic conditions were present between 3.5 and 5.3 Ma. The rare occurrence of calcareous nannofossils in the upper part of the Yonabaru Formation indicates a return to oligotrophic conditions at 3.5 Ma. Micropaleontological evidence suggests that these oceanographic changes were likely caused by local tectonic movement (shallowing of the sedimentary basin in which the Shimajiri Group was deposited).     

PALEOBOTANY

正20140965Jia Gaowen(School of Earth Sciences,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730000,China);Liu Kenan Pod and Leaflet Fossils of Dalbergia(Leguminosae)from the Upper Miocene of Lincang,Yunnan Province(Acta Palaeontologica Sinica,ISSN0001-6616,CN32-1188/Q,52(2),2013,p.213-222,6     

Palaeomagnetic study of the Kepezdağ and Yamadağ volcanic complexes, central Turkey: Neogene tectonic escape and block definition in the central-east Anatolides

The Anatolian accretionary collage between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia is currently subject to two tectonic regimes. Ongoing slip of Arabia relative to Africa along the Dead Sea Fault Zone in the east is extruding crustal blocks away from the indenter by a combination of strike-slip and rotation. This zone of compression gives way to an extensional province in western Turkey, which also includes the eastern sector of Aegean Province. Although it is now well established that rotational deformation throughout Anatolia is distributed and differential, the sizes of the blocks involved are poorly understood. As a contribution towards evaluating this issue in central-east Turkey, we report palaeomagnetic study of the mid-Miocene Kepezda? and Yamada? volcanic complexes in central-south Anatolia (38–39.5°N, 37.5–39°E). A distributed sample through the Yamada? complex identifies eruption during an interval of multiple geomagnetic field reversals (40 normal, 36 reversed, 8 intermediate sites) with a selected mean defined by 63 sites of D/I = 335.4/51.1° (α₉₅ = 4.4°). The smaller Kepezda? complex (8 reversed, 4 normal and 1 intermediate site) yields a comparable mean direction from 12 sites of 338.7/49.8° (α₉₅ = 14.1°). In the context of a range of radiometric age evidence, two thick normal polarity zones within the Yamada? succession probably correlate with zones C5ACn and C5ADn of the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale and imply that the bulk of the volcanic activity took place between ∼15 and 13.5 Ma. Comparison of the palaeomagnetic results with the adjoining major plate indenters shows that the Yamada? complex has rotated CCW by 29.3 ± 5.2° relative to Eurasia; the much smaller dataset from the Kepezda? complex indicates a comparable CCW rotation of 26.0 ± 11.8° with respect to Eurasia. The Arabian Indenter has also been rotating CCW since mid Miocene times, and the block incorporating these two volcanic complexes north of the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) is determined to have rotated 18.2 ± 6.0° CCW relative to the northern perimeter of Arabia. Comparison with data to the north identifies quasi-uniform rotation across a ∼200 km wide block extending from the Central Anatolian Fault Zone in the northwest to close to the East Anatolian transform fault zone in the south east. Although absence of suitable younger rocks does not permit the timing of this rotation to be determined in the study area, analogies with results from the Sivas Basin suggest that it is young, and followed establishment of the major transform faults. Rotation has evidently taken place around bounding arcuate faults and accompanied westward expulsion as the accretionary collage north of Arabia has been subject to ongoing post-collisional indentation.     

珠江口盆地白云凹陷早中新世深水层序模式

近年来深水勘探已成为寻找油气的重要领域,白云凹陷在早中新世经历了复杂的构造沉积环境,解剖深水层序模式有利于揭示深水沉积演化规律。通过井震结合及属性分析对白云凹陷早中新世层序地层进行研究,识别出3个层序界面:ZJSB1(23.8 Ma),ZJSB2(22Ma),ZJSB3(21Ma)。其中ZJSB1、ZJSB3为重大不整合面,ZJSB2为水道下切侵蚀面。与之对应的界面发育3套层序:ZJSQ1,ZJSQ2,ZJSQ3。由于白云凹陷构造运动及古地貌的差异性,总结了2套深水层序模式:水道—深海披覆泥层序模式与块状搬运复合体—砂质碎屑流深海扇—水道—深海泥层序模式,在不同的演化阶段,前者主要受海平面的变化控制,而后者是受构造和海平面双重影响的。而同一地质时期古地貌又控制了沉积发育,高地势区发育下切水道,而低洼区发育深海披覆泥岩。因此,深水层序模式下研究深海沉积单元,对指导深水沉积和油气勘探具有极其重要的意义。     

澳大利亚波拿巴盆地北部中新统硅质碎屑与碳酸盐混合沉积特征及控制因素

波拿巴盆地油气资源十分丰富.新生界千余米的浅海碳酸盐岩背景下,中新统底部发育一套12～52 m硅质碎屑与碳酸盐混合沉积,其中硅质碎屑作为潜在的良好储集体,尚未引起足够重视.综合运用录井、测井及三维地震等资料,认为盆地北部研究区内该套混合沉积是由陆棚浅海台地生物滩、坝碳酸盐和三角洲平原和前缘硅质碎屑混合而成,以相在空间上...     

A new approach to the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene forms of the genus Apocricetus. Apocricetus alberti (Rodentia,Mammalia) from Venta del Moro (Cabriel Basin,Spain)

The species of the genus Apocricetus are considered to form the phyletic lineage A. aff. plinii (MN11)–A. plinii–A. alberti–A. barrierei–A. angustidens (MN16). Along this lineage, gradual morphological and biometrical changes occur, but not all the species are represented by rich populations. The assemblage of Apocricetus alberti from Venta del Moro is by far the most abundant collection of this species. This population shows a great morphological variability in some characters like the morphology of the anteroconid and the anterolophulids in m1 and the shape of the anterolophule in M1, with morphotypes that resemble both older and younger populations of Apocricetus. Along the phyletic lineage of Apocricetus, a change in the shape of m3 occurs, from predominantly subtriangular forms in the oldest populations to predominantly subrectangular in the youngest. To quantify this feature we use the posterior width of the molar and the anterior width/posterior width ratio, proposing five morphological categories, from extremely triangular to subrectangular.