The Würm in NW Iberia, a pollen record from Area Longa (Galicia)

The pollen record at Area Longa is the westernmost sequence available for investigation of the last glaciation in continental Europe. It is located in a region, NW Iberia, for which data from times earlier than the late glacial period are scarce. It comprises a series of exposed limnetic levels that lie above an Eemian (Oxygen Isotope Stage [OIS] 5e) beach and are separated by inorganic layers. The oldest limnetic level (Level I), attributed to the early glacial period (OIS 5a to OIS 5d), shows a dominance of woodland with high proportions of Fagus pollen and is tentatively identified with St. Germain I. The lower pleniglacial (OIS 4) Level II records a stadial landscape of grassland and shrub. Level III, from the pleniglacial interstade (OIS 3), reflects a complex period in which three warmer woodland phases alternated with periods of more open vegetation. This cyclical behavior correlates with the ice core isotope record and with the general tendencies observed in other Würmian pollen records, but the composition of our pollen profiles differs from those observed in these other records. In NW Iberia, the dominant trees were deciduous taxa, not conifers. Of particular note is the presence of lowland Fagus woodlands during the pre-Würm, and the occurrence of Carpinus considerably farther west than the boundary of its current distribution in the Iberian Peninsula.     

Magnetostratigraphic dating of Early Miocene deep-sea fossils from the Morozaki Group in central Japan

Early Miocene sediments of the Morozaki Group in central Japan contain deep-sea fossils that have been dated using biostratigraphic and radiometric data. In this study, we utilize magnetostratigraphy to provide a more precise age for mudstones from just below the layer containing the fossils. Rock magnetic experiments suggest that both magnetic iron sulfide and Ti-poor titanomagnetite carry the remanent magnetization of the mudstones. Two different stratigraphic sites have normal polarity directions with a northeastern declination, which can be correlated with Chronozone C5Dn. Given their magnetostratigraphic position near the C5Dn/C5Dr chronozone boundary (17.466 Ma) and a high sedimentation rate, the estimated age for both the sites and the deep-sea fossils is ~17.4 Ma. The northeasterly-directed site-mean directions suggest clockwise tectonic rotation, most likely due to the Early Miocene clockwise rotation of Southwest Japan associated with the back-arc opening of the Japan Sea. The deep-sea fossils, dated at ~17.4 Ma, represent organisms deposited within a submarine structural depression formed by crustal extension during the back-arc opening stage.     

Hesperornis escapes plesiosaur attack

Evidence from the Pierre Shale (Late Cretaceous) of South Dakota is presented for an attack on a juvenile Hesperornis by a polycotylid plesiosaur. The wound healed and the Hesperornis grew to maturity. Evidence of survival provides our best information about predator prey interactions in the fossil record but are rare for birds where survival is an unlikely outcome.     

宁夏银川水洞沟遗址2号点晚更新世晚期孢粉记录的古环境

宁夏银川水洞沟遗址2号点剖面孢粉分析结果表明:该地区在晚更新世晚期孢粉组合以草本植物花粉占绝对优势,有Chenopodiaceae、Artemisia、Zygophyllum、Ranunculaceae和少量的Euonymus、Ephedra和Nitraria等,木本植物花粉次之,有Pinus、Picea、Abies、...     

Neotectonics of the Kharaulakh sector of the Laptev Shelf

Seismotectonic deformation and crustal stress pattern have been studied comprehensively in major seismogenic structures of the Kharaulakh sector of the Verkhoyansk fold system and adjacent parts of the Chersky seismotectonic zone. The study focuses on neotectonic structures, deep structure, and systems of active faults, as well as tectonic stress fields inferred by tectonophysical analysis of Late Cenozoic faults and folds. The results, along with geological and geophysical data, reveal main strain directions and structural patterns of crustal stress and strain in the Arctic segment of the Eurasia-North America plate boundary. The area is a junction of mid-ocean and continental structures evolving in a mixed setting of extension, compression, and their various combinations. The rotation pole of the two plates is presumably located near Buor-Khaya Bay. In this case, extension is expected to act currently upon the neotectonic structures north of the bay and compression to control those in the south and southeast. This inference is consistent with the identified zoning of stress and strain in the Kharaulakh sector.     

Late mesozoic A-Type granitoids in se China and paleo-pacific plate subduction and slab rollback北大核心CSCD

This study has reviewed the distribution and pedogenesis of late Mesozoic A-Type granitoids in SE China. These A-Type granitoids belong to four belts ( S Jiangxi-SW Fujian belt, Xiang-Gui-Yue belt, Can-Hang belt and coastal belt) due to their temporal-spatial distribution. Based on the comparative analysis of chronology, geochemistry and magmatic association, this study has discussed the formation of A-Type granitoids and the subduction and slab rollback process of paleo-Pacific plate beneath SE China.     

Geoarchaeological evidence on a Late Bronze Age earthquake,Ohrid Basin (North Macedonia)

Geoarchaeological investigations on the northeastern shore of Lake Ohrid revealed 3.5 m thick deepwater lacustrine sediments overlying terrestrial vegetation macrofossils, worked wood and abundant potsherds dated to the Late Bronze Age (LBA). Distinct contact of deepwater sediment with the sub-aerial weathered limestone bedrock point to a sudden increase in lake level. According to radiocarbon data, catastrophic flooding occurred shortly after 1214 yr bc. Because the area is located in a highly active seismic zone, we propose that this event was caused by tectonically induced, metre-scale coseismic subsidence related to faults bordering the Ohrid alluvial plain. Moreover, this event coincides well with a dramatic switch in the habitation and settlement strategy in the region. More important, however, is the finding that the age of the proposed massive tectonic event and change in habitation lies within the interval of the proposed ‘earthquake storm’ in the eastern Mediterranean dated to 1225–1175 bc. As the Ohrid-Korça zone belongs to the same tectonic province, a relationship between the abovementioned earthquakes and the proposed event can be expected. This research therefore might provide the first direct evidence of a large-scale earthquake event linkable to the LBA collapse of Europe's first urban civilisation in the Aegean.     

Palynological dating of infra- and intertrappean sediments in the Mesozoic succession of Borehole PGD-6, Domra Sub-basin, West Bengal, India

Palynofloras have been examined from infra- and intertrappean sediments of the Panchet and Rajmahal Formations in the Domra Sub-basin of the Damodar Basin, West Bengal, India. Three distinct palynological assemblages are identified and referred to the following palynozones: (i)Lundbladispora–Verrucosisporites(506.60–505.00 m, late Early Triassic, (ii)Murospora florida(501.65–422.20 m. Late Jurassic, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian), and (iii)Cicatricosisporites australiensis(342.00–229.6 m. Early Cretaceous, Tithonian–Berriasian). The first occurrences ofCallialasporites turbatusandC. dampieriare at 501.65 m.Callialasporitesis a dominant element of the succeeding assemblages from the Panchet Formation and indicates a Jurassic age. The FAD ofCicatricosisporites australiensisandC. augustusat 342.00 m, and inconsistent occurrences ofAequitriradites spinulosus,Crybelosporites stylosusin the overlying sediments indicate Jurassic–Cretaceous transition.     

孟加拉湾晚第四纪的碳酸盐溶解旋回

孟加拉湾由于陆源物质大量输入产生稀释效应,使碳酸盐含量表现为冰期时减小、间冰期时增大的“大西洋型”旋回。通过对该区四支活塞岩芯的有孔虫溶解指数、浮游有孔虫沉积通量、CaCO₃ 沉积通量和 >16 0 μm粗组分沉积通量的分析发现,研究区碳酸盐溶解作用强烈,表现出冰期减弱而间冰期增强的总趋势,且溶解作用滞后于浮游有孔虫壳的氧同位素旋回,尤以氧同位素 4、5期的高溶解度情况与印度洋和太平洋氧同位素 5期晚期至 4期为CaCO₃溶解高峰一致。因此,孟加拉湾地区的CaCO₃ 旋回是大西洋型稀释作用与太平洋型溶解作用两者叠加的产物.     

Seismic characterization of switching platform geometries and dominant carbonate producers (Miocene,Las Negras,Spain)

The primary goals of seismic interpretation and quantification are to understand and define reservoir architecture and the distribution of petrophysical properties. Since seismic interpretation is associated with major uncertainties, outcrop analogues are used to support and improve the resulting conceptual models. In this study, the Miocene carbonates of Cerro de la Molata (Las Negras, south‐east Spain) have been selected as an outcrop analogue. The heterogeneous carbonate rocks of the Cerro de la Molata Platform were formed by a variety of carbonate‐producing factories, resulting in various platform morphologies and a wide range of physical properties. Based on textural (thin sections) and petrophysical (porosity, density, carbonate content and acoustic properties) analyses of the sediments, eleven individual facies types were determined. The data were used to produce synthetic seismic profiles of the outcrop. The profiles demonstrate that the spatial distribution of the facies and the linked petrophysical properties are of key importance in the appearance of the synthetic seismic sections. They reveal that carbonate factory and facies‐specific reflection patterns are determined by porosity contrasts, diagenetic modifications and the input of non‐carbonate sediment. The reflectors of the seismograms created with high‐frequency wavelets are coherent with the spatial distribution of the predefined facies within the depositional sequences. The synthetic seismograms resulting from convolution with lower frequency wavelets do not show these details – the major reflectors coincide with: (i) the boundary between the volcanic basement and the overlying carbonates; (ii) the platform geometries related to changes in carbonate factories, thus sequence boundaries; and (iii) diagenetic zones. Changes in seismic response related to diagenesis, switching carbonate producers and linked platform geometries are important findings that need to be considered when interpreting seismic data sets.