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Pyroclastic material in the form of altered volcanic ash or tephra has been reported and described from one or more stratigraphic units from the Proterozoic to the Tertiary. This altered tephra, variously called bentonite or K-bentonite or tonstein depending on the degree of alteration and chemical composition, is often linked to large explosive volcanic eruptions that have occurred repeatedly in the past. K-bentonite and bentonite layers are the key components of a larger group of altered tephras that are useful for stratigraphic correlation and for interpreting the geodynamic evolution of our planet. Bentonites generally form by diagenetic or hydrothermal alteration under the influence of fluids with high-Mg content and that leach alkali elements. Smectite composition is partly controlled by parent rock chemistry. Studies have shown that K-bentonites often display variations in layer charge and mixed-layer clay ratios and that these correlate with physical properties and diagenetic history. The following is a review of known K-bentonite and related occurrences of altered tephra throughout the timescale from Precambrian to Cenozoic.

The relationships between territorial identities and administrative divisions are investigated in this article, in an attempt to reveal the possible role of territorial identity as an instrument for administrative-territorial reform. The study focuses on Podolia – a key Ukrainian geographical region with a long and complicated history. A survey of residents living throughout the region showed that the majority of respondents had developed strong identification with both historical regions and modern administrative units. The close interaction between “old” and “new” identities, however, caused their mutual alterations, especially in changes in the perceived borders of historical regions. This means that the “old” historical identities have strong persistence but simultaneously survive constant transformations, incorporating the so-called “thin” elements, which fits the concept of dynamic regional institutionalisation and the formation of hybrid territorial identities. Consequently, although territorial identity may be used to make administrative territorial units more comprehensible for people, the development of modern administrative units based on hybrid identities, which include both thick and thin elements, may be another feasible solution that involves stakeholders in regional development.

The article describes the idea for an educational game Polskie dziedzictwo na mapie Podola (Polish Heritage on the Map of Podolia) aimed at learning Polish as foreign language using a historical map. The article presents a map (as a game board) that was drawn up by a 17th-century cartographer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan. The map of Podolia provides a starting point for preparing scenarios of educational classes that would present historic figures, places, events and architectural monuments connected with Poland. The game is supposed to enhance the interest in learning Polish and teach respect for the common historical and cultural heritage, as well as encourage young people to study the past and discover their ‘personal homeland’. The author of the article suggests to use the board game as part of teaching the Polish language, which would certainly make linguistic education more attractive.

The article presented here presents the history of the Podolian Line of the renowned Lanckoroński family, Zadora coat of arms, which in the mid-16th century took into its possession the town of Jagielnica, together with the adjacent estates in Podolia. The first owner of Jagielnica from the Lanckoroński family was Hieronim (d. 1569), starost of Skała, who was the actual ancestor of the Jagielnica branch of this family. The article analyses four generations of the Lanckoroński family from this line. While the history of the life of Hieronim and his sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren is discussed briefly, most of the text is devoted to the most eminent descendants of the starost of Skała – his sons Stanisław (d. 1592), castellan of Halych and Mikołaj (d. 1597), chamberlain of Podolia, his grandson Stanisław (1585–1617), voivode of Podolia and his great-grandson, also Stanisław (d. 1657), the voivode of Ruthenia and the field hetman of Crown. In this article, the author introduced a number of corrections and additions both to the genealogy of the Lanckoroński family and to the biographies of many representatives of the Jagielnica line. Much attention is devoted to the families from which the Lanckoroński’s wives came. Kinship was established between the particular representatives of this family who and certain important and influential personalities on the political scene of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Keeping in mind the broader background of the history of the Polish-Lithuanian state, the author also discusses a number of previously unknown political, economic and moral issues related to the history of the Lanckoroński family.

The Volyn pegmatites from Volodarsk-Volynskyi in the Zhytomyr Oblast, NW Ukraine, are associated with granites genetically related to the Paleoproterozoic Korosten pluton. Their late-stage evolution is characterized by the formation of opal-cemented breccia. A polymineralic pseudomorph after beryl within the breccia includes bertrandite (±euclase) + F-muscovite (with tobelite component) + buddingtonite + organic matter (OM) + opal (+ traces of K-feldspar, albite, columbite, FeS2, barite, REE-minerals). Sector-zoned and platy to fibrous buddingtonite has variable (K+Na)- vs. NH4-contents (electron microprobe analyses) and some H2O or H3O+, as indicated by microscope infrared spectroscopy. We suggest that ammonium was produced by decay of OM, which is partly preserved in the pseudomorph. Energy-dispersive electron microprobe data of the OM show with increasing O-decreasing C-N-content due to degassing; the OM contains the high field strength elements Zr (≤7 at%), Y (≤3 at%), Sc (≤0.8 at%), REE (≤0.3 at%), Th (≤0.2 at%), and U (≤1.25 at%), which increase with increasing O-content. Transmission electron microscopy of the OM confirms the presence of N; Zr, Si, and O (with other HFSE) are concentrated in nanometer-sized areas and at the transition from OM to opal in nanometer-sized platy Zr-Si-O crystals. C-rich areas are amorphous but show poorly developed lattice fringes. OM is present in the pseudomorph also as brown pigmentation of opal and in pegmatitic beryl from Volyn as a component in late stage fluid inclusions, identified by C-H vibrational bands in infrared spectra. Stable isotope investigations of C and N of buddingtonite, black opal and kerite (fibrous OM known from the literature to occur in the Volyn pegmatites and interpreted as microfossils) indicate a biogenic origin of the OM. We propose that OM in the pseudomorph is condensed kerite, which achieved the high concentrations of high field strength elements via fluid-pegmatite interaction. Although no age determination of minerals in the pseudomorph is available, textural arguments and phase equilibria indicate its formation in a late stage of the pegmatite evolution, at P-T conditions below ∼100 MPa/150 °C. We favor a conceptual model for the formation of the Volyn buddingtonite in analogy to Phanerozoic occurrences of buddingtonite, where over and around the shallow anorthosite-granite Korosten pluton hydrothermal convection cells introduced N-bearing hydrocarbons and its precursors into the cooling igneous rocks. Due to the elevated temperature, the OM disintegrated into degassing volatile and non-volatile residual components analogous to petroleum maturation. Organic N, released as NH4, was then incorporated into buddingtonite.

Two groups of Precambrian macrofossils are reexamined. Members of the first group are usually determined as Nemiana simplex Palij, 1976 and regarded as remains of animal organisms; members of the second are often determined as Beltanelloides sorichevae Sokolov, 1965 and assigned to green algae or cyanobacteria. The co-occurrence of the two groups in burials of the White Sea outcrops, the similarity in morphology, and the presence of transitional forms suggest that they could have been variants of preservation of the same extinct species. As a result of critical analysis of published data and examination of available type specimens, the species Beltanelliformis brunsae Menner, 1974, Beltanelloides podolicus A. Istchenko, 1988, Hagenetta aarensis Hahn et Pflug, 1988, Medusinites paliji Gureev, 1987, and Namamedusium wendti Zessin, 2008 are assigned to the same species. Beltanelliformis brunsae is regarded as the senior synonym. Taphonomic and comparative morphological data and the SEM study of phosphatized remains of Beltanelliformis agree with the hypothesis developed by M. Steiner of the microbial nature of these fossils. It is proposed that round colonies of B. brunsae grew in the area of extremely shallow water in Late Vendian marine basins. Beltanelliformis minutae McIlroy et al., 2005 is the second species of the same genus; it was more tolerant of changes in salinity and shows a wider stratigraphic range, while the species Nemiana bakeevi Becker, 1992 and Beltanelloides amorphus Menasova, 2003 are considered to have nothing in common with the groups and genus discussed.

“From the East, This Town Borders the River Zbruch Bordering Poland...”. Towns in the Galicia, Volhynia and Podolia Borderland in the Late 18th Century: Urban, Public, Political, and Socio-Economic Spaces

The aim of our study is to establish the determinant ecological factors that have the greatest differential impact on the distribution of meadow steppe plant communities of Western Podolia (Ukraine) on the base of a synphytoindication analysis. There were 8 study sites within the study area in the L’viv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. To determine the coenotic affinity of the studied species, 48 relevés were analyzed. Numerical classification based on the Modified TWINSPAN algorithm divided the dataset into five clusters, which have been identified as the associations , , , and . The results of gradient analyses indicate that the distribution of meadow steppe communities in the Podolia Upland closely correlates with a number of climatic (thermoregime and continentality of climate) and especially edaphic (soil humidity, soil acidity and carbonate content) ecological factors.

The metacopines represent one of the oldest and most important extinct groups of ostracods, with a fossil record from the Mid-Ordovician to the Early Jurassic. Herein, we report the discovery of a representative of the group with three-dimensionally preserved soft parts. The specimen—a male of Cytherellina submagna—was found in the Early Devonian (416 Ma) of Podolia, Ukraine. A branchial plate (Bp) of the cephalic maxillula (Mx), a pair of thoracic appendages (walking legs), a presumed furca (Fu) and a copulatory organ are preserved. The material also includes phosphatized steinkerns with exceptionally preserved marginal pore canals and muscle scars. The morphology of the preserved limbs and valves of C. submagna suggests its relationship with extant Podocopida, particularly with the superfamilies Darwinuloidea and Sigillioidea, which have many similar characteristic features, including a large Bp on the Mx, the morphology of walking legs, Fu with two terminal claws, internal stop-teeth in the left valve, adductor muscle scar pattern, and a very narrow fused zone along the anterior and posterior margins. More precise determination of affinities will depend on the soft-part morphology of the cephalic segment, which has not been revealed in the present material.

Insufficient knowledge of carbon isotope cycling in the latest Silurian initiated the study of two regions at the western and southwestern margins of Baltica in order to obtain a more complete picture about the carbon isotope trend through the Přídolí. Shallow and open shelf carbonate rocks of the Dniester River outcrops and Kotuzhiny core in Podolia and deep shelf rocks of the East Baltic area, especially the Lithuanian cores, were studied for bulk-rock isotope analysis. The data sets of both regions begin with the mid-Ludfordian excursion and include also some part of the lowermost Devonian. The data show a new minor twin positive δ13C excursion (peak values 0.8–1.7‰) in the upper Ludfordian. The Přídolí carbon isotope trend begins with a low of negative δ13C values, succeeded by the lower to middle Přídolí ‘stability’ interval (variable values below or close to 0‰ with a slight rising trend). The upper Přídolí begins with a medium to major excursion (peak values 2.3–4.5‰), which reflects the pattern of the carbon isotope trend on the west of the Baltica palaeocontinent. Its wider significance awaits confirmation from observations elsewhere. The carbon isotope excursion at the Silurian–Devonian boundary, named here the SIDE excursion (its δ13C values range from 1.6‰ in deep shelf settings to 3.8‰ in shallower ones and 4.5‰ in brachiopod shells), has been traced on several continents, and now also in Baltica. This excursion can serve as a well-dated global chemostratigraphic correlation tool. The shape of the excursion indicates the completeness of the studied section. We conclude that carbon isotope chemostratigraphy may contribute to subdividing the Přídolí Series into stages and that Baltica sensu lato seems to be the right place for such a development.