Anomiid (bivalve) bioerosion on Pleistocene pectinid (bivalve) shells,Rhodes, Greece

A trace fossil, Centrichnus eccentricus, was found beneath a saddle oyster (Anomia ephippium) that was preserved undisturbed on its substratum (a shell of Pecten jacobaeus), at the site of attachment of the calcified byssus.     

Paleoenvironmental and Human Behavioral Implications of the Boegoeberg 1 Late Pleistocene Hyena Den, Northern Cape Province, South Africa

Boegoeberg 1 (BOG1) is located on the Atlantic coast of South Africa, 850 km north of Cape Town. The site is a shallow rock shelter in the side of a sand-choked gully that was emptied by diamond miners. Abundant coprolites, chewed bones, and partially digested bones implicate hyenas as the bone accumulators. The location of the site, quantity of bones, and composition of the fauna imply it was a brown hyena nursery den. The abundance of Cape fur seal bones shows that the hyenas had ready access to the coast. Radiocarbon dates place the site before 37,000 ¹⁴C yr ago, while the large average size of the black-backed jackals and the presence of extralimital ungulates imply cool, moist conditions, probably during the early part of the last glaciation (isotope stage 4 or stage 3 before 37,000 ¹⁴C yr ago) or perhaps during one of the cooler phases (isotope substages 5d or 5b) within the last interglaciation. Comparisons of the BOG1 seal bones to those from regional Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) archeological sites suggest (1) that hyena and human seal accumulations can be distinguished by a tendency for vertebrae to be much more common in a hyena accumulation and (2) that hyena and LSA accumulations can be distinguished by a tendency for hyena-accumulated seals to represent a much wider range of individual seal ages. Differences in the way hyenas and people dismember, transport, and consume seal carcasses probably explain the contrast in skeletal part representation, while differences in season of occupation explain the contrast in seal age representation. Like modern brown hyenas, the BOG1 hyenas probably occupied the coast year-round, while the LSA people focused their coastal visits on the August–October interval when nine-to-eleven-month-old seals were abundant. The MSA sample from Klasies River Mouth Cave 1 resembles BOG1 in seal age composition, suggesting that unlike LSA people, MSA people obtained seals more or less throughout the year.     

Consideration of the genus Ginkgoites Seward and a redescription of two species from the Lower Cretaceous of Germany

Genera used for fossil ginkgoalean leafy shoots, especially Baiera F. Braun,Ginkgoites Seward and Ginkgo L., are discussed both in their historical context and in the light of recent discoveries. Use of Ginkgoites Seward as a form- or organ-genus for fossil leaves lacking associated reproductive structures is readopted. Two species, Ginkgoitesbrauniana (Dunker) comb. nov. and Ginkgoites pluripartita (Schimper) Seward, from the Lower Cretaceous Wealden facies of Germany, are rediagnosed and neotypes selected. The occurrence of G. pluripartita in the Lower Cretaceous of western Greenland, Montana, U S A, Canada and Siberia is confirmed.     

恐龙化石风化效应的TM耦合分析研究

恐龙化石对研究地球演化、生物进化、地层对比、地质年代、古环境、古地理、古气候等方面具有重要的科学价值。但恐龙化石发掘后面临着严重的风化问题,许多化石发掘后十几年甚至几年内就迅速遭受风化破坏。为深入研究探索恐龙化石地质遗迹的深层次风化原因和机理,该文采用TM（温度和应力）耦合分析方法,对山东诸城恐龙化石风化规律进行深入分析研究。根据化石与围岩间膨胀的不协调性,探索在温度变化情况下化石与围岩间的相互作用规律及对风化造成的影响。结果揭示了温度作用下化石风化的初步原因和规律,可为化石保护提供参考科学依据。     

南阳盆地西峡赵营村上白垩统高沟组恐龙蛋化石埋藏特征及古环境意义

豫南南阳盆地西峡赵营村上白垩统高沟组含有较多的恐龙蛋化石,其中最为著名的是“路易贝贝”胚胎化石。对含化石地层中恐龙蛋的保存特征和古气候重建,可进一步认识白垩纪恐龙灭绝的古环境背景和原因。本文实测赵营村剖面厚约267.8 m,主要由下伏泥盆系南湾组(厚7.9 m)、上白垩统高沟组(厚259.9 m,未到顶)组成。通过地层沉积物结构构造观测和样品采集,在室内进行了元素、碳酸盐碳氧同位素组成、有机质饱和烃生标化合物等测试。结果表明,高沟组沉积物主要源于熊耳山岩浆岩的风化和短距离迁移,恐龙蛋化石主要保存于海拔200~800 m的山麓至平原过渡带的河漫滩环境,以原地埋藏为主。降雨量的变化造成河漫滩与河道频繁变化,从而导致恐龙在山麓与河漫滩之间来回迁栖。生物标志化合物分析表明,含恐龙蛋化石地层有机质主要来源于水生植物、菌藻类和陆生植物,但植被总体不发育。利用地层沉积岩Si/Al、CIA、Rb/Sr比值,以及δ13C、δ18O等环境指标对高沟组古气候重建,该时期发生了较为快速的旋回变化,经历了暖干—暖湿—干旱—暖湿—干旱的古气候演变过程,总体上呈逐渐干旱化的趋势。通过赵营村晚白垩世早期恐龙蛋化石的埋藏、以及地层的古环境重建,说明古气候、古环境状况可能是影响恐龙生存的主要因素,大量恐龙蛋不能完全孵化以及气候的干旱化导致植被恶化可能是恐龙逐渐消亡的原因。     

重视主导化石门类,推进国际地层表的应用--对我国区域地质工作的几点建议

在国际地层委员会的领导下,经各国科学家的努力,已确定了显生宙各地质时代的主导化石门类。中国区域地质调查工作应注重主导化石门类,以便更有效地解决地层问题。国际地层表（2004）已有很大进展,并正在完善,中国科学家对此做出了重要贡献。应大力倡导国际地层表在区域地质和其他领域的应用,与国际接轨;但也要科学地、有区别地对待和使用。     

Integrated Radiolaria,benthic foraminifera and conodont biochronology of the pelagic Permian blocks/tectonic slices and geochemistry of associated volcanic rocks from the Mersin Mélange,southern Turkey: Implications for the Permian evolution of the northern Neotethys

Blocks and tectonic slices within the Mersin Mélange (southern Turkey), which are of Northern Neotethyan origin (Izmir–Ankara–Erzincan Ocean (IAE)), were studied in detail by using radiolarian, conodont, and foraminiferal assemblages on six different stratigraphic sections with well‐preserved Permian succesions. The basal part of the Permian sequence, composed of alternating chert and mudstone with basic volcanics, is assigned to the late Asselian (Early Permian) based on radiolarians. The next basaltic interval in the sequence is dated as Kungurian. The highly alkaline basic volcanics in the sequence are extremely enriched, similar to kimberlitic/lamprophyric magmas generated at continental intraplate settings. Trace element systematics suggest that these lavas were generated in a continental margin involving a metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle source (SCLM). The middle part of the Permian sequences, dated by benthic foraminifera and conodont assemblages, includes detrital limestones with chert interlayers and neptunian dykes of middle Wordian to earliest Wuchiapingian age. Higher in the sequence, detrital limestones are overlain by alternating chert and mudstone with intermittent microbrecciated beds of early Wuchiapingian to middle Changhsingian (Late Permian) age based on the radiolarians. A large negative shift at the base of the Lopingian at the upper part of section is correlated to negative shifts at the Guadalupian/Lopingian boundary associated with the end‐Guadalupian mass extinction event. All these findings indicate that a continental rift system associated with a possible mantle plume existed during the late Early to Late Permian period. This event was responsible for the rupturing of the northern Gondwanan margin related to the opening of the IAE Ocean. When the deep basinal features of the Early Permian volcano‐sedimentary sequence are considered, the proto IAE oceanic crust formed possibly before the end of the Permian. This, in turn, suggests that the opening of the IAE Ocean dates back to as early as the Permian.     

Mid-Wisconsin seasonal temperatures reconstructed from fossil beetle assemblages in eastern North America: comparisons with other proxy records from the Northern Hemisphere

Mutual climatic range (MCR) analysis was applied to 15 North American beetle assemblages spanning the interval from > 52 000 to 17 200 yr BP, bracketing a Mid-Wisconsin interstadial interval. The analyses yielded estimates of mean July (TMAX) and mean January (TMIN) temperatures. The oldest assemblage (> 52 ka) yielded TMAX values 7.5–8°C lower than present and TMIN values 15–18°C lower than present. A Mid-Wisconsin interstadial warming dating from 43.5–39 ka was rapid and intense. At the peak of the warming event, about 42 ka, TMAX values were only 1–2°C lower than modern. This level of amelioration apparently lasted only about 2000–3000 yr. By 23.7 ka, TMAX values declined to 11.5–10°C lower than modern, but another, small-scale amelioration is indicated by assemblages dating from 20.5 to 19.7 ka. The interstadial event recorded from the site at Titusville, Pennsylvania closely matches the timing and intensity of the climate change estimated from British beetle faunas in the Upton Warren interstadial. Another warm interval (ca. 31–32.5 ka) has been documented from fossil beetle assemblages in Europe and North America. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coleopteran evidence for a mosaic of environments at high altitude in the eastern Pyrénées,France, during the climatic transition between the Allerød and Younger Dryas

Late‐glacial environmental and climatic implications are inferred from an insect fauna from organic sediments infilling a palaeochannel on the banks of the River Têt, eastern Pyrénées, France. A pine cone in association with the insect fauna has been radiocarbon dated to 10 920 ± 60 yr BP, namely close to the Allerød – Younger Dryas boundary. Two distinct insect associations appear to be recognisable here. One is an assemblage typical of the high altitude forest and a second is characteristic of an alpine grassland. The close coexistence of these two assemblages is attributed to the climatic cooling towards the start of the Younger Dryas Stadial, when the forest cover broke up into remnant patches interspersed by alpine grassland. It is suggested that in a region of such high relief a mosaic of habitats may have been caused by patchy differences in insolation aspect, especially during a period of climatic deterioration. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.