Explore the vast range of titles available.

A new geological map representing the southern leading edge of Central High Atlas (Toundoute, South Morocco) updates the stratigraphic architecture of a Lower Jurassic-Cretaceous succession including marine carbonates and terrestrial clastics. Integrated facies and structural analyses outline a marked syn-tectonic control on depositional patterns since the Early Jurassic, as documented by geological maps of adjacent sectors of the Central High Atlas southern flank recently published on Journal of Maps. This incipient diffuse crustal uplift and denudation attests to a pre-collisional stage in the development of the Central High Atlas mountains.

A large number of fossil-rich beds have been located from over 30 km along the Tours-Poitiers High Speed Line (LGV) during earthworks prior to its construction, and in particular amber was collected from Scorbe-Clairvaux (locality of La Bergeonneau) to the north of Poitiers. The paper describes also amber pieces from Chatellerault (locality of La Desiree) discovered during the development of sewage treatment plant along the Vienne river. Lower Cenomanian shelly sandstones and siltstones of Scorbe-Clairvaux contain rare amber pieces associated with seed plants (Frenelopsis sp., Nehvizdya sp., and angiosperm seeds) and a diversified fauna, composed of micro-remains of 27 taxa, comprising elasmobranchs (Haimirichia amonensisCappetta and Case, 1975, Protolama sp. and Squalicorax sp.), actinopterygians (Enchodus sp. and Pycnodontidae), reptiles including vertebrae the marine snake Simoliophis rochebruneiSauvage, 1880, some rare helochelydrid plates (cf. Plastremys), teeth of three crocodilian families (Atoposauridae, Goniopholididae and Bernissartiidae) and an undetermined dinosaurian long bone fragment.

Substrate-controlled ichnofacies and biogenic calcretes represent key features for identification and interpretation of discontinuities in the carbonate rock record, which are of great significance for stratigraphic interpretations and correlations. Intraformational firmground and composite surfaces, as well as a regional Cretaceous to Paleogene (K–Pg) subaerial unconformity, developed in Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene intra-platform peritidal successions in central Dalmatia, Croatia (Adriatic-Dinaridic Carbonate Platform, ADCP), were analyzed for their trace fossil and subaerial exposure features. Thalassinoides (probably T. paradoxicus ) box-work burrow systems of the substrate-controlled Glossifungites ichnofacies characterize the two documented firmgrounds and one composite (polygenic) surface. Rhizogenic laminar calcretes developed subsequently inside burrows of the composite surface through diagenetic overprint of marine sediment that passively infilled the burrows. While the formation of the two firmgrounds was probably caused by cessation of precipitation and/or deposition of calcium carbonate due to relative sea-level fall, the recorded trace fossils associated with the composite surface indicate that this surface developed through both submarine firmground and subaerial exposure stages probably caused by several episodes of regression and transgression, and exemplifies the general complexity of hiatal surfaces in shallow-marine carbonate successions. The regional K–Pg subaerial unconformity is characterized by biogenic (beta microfabric) calcretes with rhizoliths including Microcodium aggregates, root tubules, as well as alveolar-septal structures. Laminar calcretes and pisoids, together with in situ and resedimented speleothems, and bauxitic deposits, were also recorded. The unconformity developed due to formation of a forebulge in front of the approaching Dinaridic orogen. Ichnological and subaerial exposure features, together with stratigraphic implications derived from the analyzed discontinuities, serve as examples that can be applied to discontinuities present in carbonate successions elsewhere.

Despite tremendous efforts in the past decades, relationships among main avian lineages remain heavily debated without a clear resolution. Discrepancies have been attributed to diversity of species sampled, phylogenetic method and the choice of genomic regions 1 – 3 . Here we address these issues by analysing the genomes of 363 bird species 4 (218 taxonomic families, 92% of total). Using intergenic regions and coalescent methods, we present a well-supported tree but also a marked degree of discordance. The tree confirms that Neoaves experienced rapid radiation at or near the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary. Sufficient loci rather than extensive taxon sampling were more effective in resolving difficult nodes. Remaining recalcitrant nodes involve species that are a challenge to model due to either extreme DNA composition, variable substitution rates, incomplete lineage sorting or complex evolutionary events such as ancient hybridization. Assessment of the effects of different genomic partitions showed high heterogeneity across the genome. We discovered sharp increases in effective population size, substitution rates and relative brain size following the Cretaceous–Palaeogene extinction event, supporting the hypothesis that emerging ecological opportunities catalysed the diversification of modern birds. The resulting phylogenetic estimate offers fresh insights into the rapid radiation of modern birds and provides a taxon-rich backbone tree for future comparative studies. Using intergenic regions and coalescent methods to analyse the genomes of 363 bird species, the authors present a well-supported tree confirming that Neoaves experienced rapid radiation at or near the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary.

The Upper Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Formation in Utah includes coal and gas deposits and is an important outcrop analogue to study reservoir characterisation of fluvial—deltaic petroleum systems. Numerous sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic studies of the Notom fluvial—deltaic wedge have been conducted recently; however, palynological analyses had not previously been undertaken. Here, we present palynological data from 128 samples collected in the Notom wedge of the Ferron Sandstone Member outcropping in south-central Utah. The purpose of this study is to use palynological analysis to refine the broader depositional environments, evaluate the climatic setting, and to build a biostratigraphic palynological framework. The dominance of terrestrial palynomorphs, especially the high yield of moisture-loving cryptogam spores, indicates a primarily everwet depositional environment characteristic of hydromorphic floodplain palaeosols formed in subtropical to tropical climates. Although dinoflagellates are rare, four intervals with occurrences of marine cysts indicate periods of increased marine/tidal influence associated with previously identified flooding surfaces within Milankovitch-scale parasequences of the largely non-marine stratal succession. These flooding surfaces confirm correlations from regional high-resolution sequence stratigraphic studies and allow correlative marine parasequences and systems tracts to be extended within floodplain-dominated stratal successions. The presence of Nyssapollenites albertensis pollen places the interval studied within the Nyssapollenites albertensis Interval Zone (Nichols 1994), constraining the age of the Ferron Sandstone Member to the latter part of the Cenomanian and the early Coniacian. This largely agrees with the bentonite- and ammonite-derived Turonian age proposed in previous studies.

Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) are one of the major superradiations of insects, comprising nearly 160,000 described extant species. As herbivores, pollinators, and prey, Lepidoptera play a fundamental role in almost every terrestrial ecosystem. Lepidoptera are also indicators of environmental change and serve as models for research on mimicry and genetics. They have been central to the development of coevolutionary hypotheses, such as butterflies with flowering plants and moths’ evolutionary arms race with echolocating bats. However, these hypotheses have not been rigorously tested, because a robust lepidopteran phylogeny and timing of evolutionary novelties are lacking. To address these issues, we inferred a comprehensive phylogeny of Lepidoptera, using the largest dataset assembled for the order (2,098 orthologous protein-coding genes from transcriptomes of 186 species, representing nearly all superfamilies), and dated it with carefully evaluated synapomorphy-based fossils. The oldest members of the Lepidoptera crown group appeared in the Late Carboniferous (∼300 Ma) and fed on nonvascular land plants. Lepidoptera evolved the tube-like proboscis in the Middle Triassic (∼241 Ma), which allowed them to acquire nectar from flowering plants. This morphological innovation, along with other traits, likely promoted the extraordinary diversification of superfamily-level lepidopteran crown groups. The ancestor of butterflies was likely nocturnal, and our results indicate that butterflies became day-flying in the Late Cretaceous (∼98 Ma). Moth hearing organs arose multiple times before the evolutionary arms race between moths and bats, perhaps initially detecting a wide range of sound frequencies before being co-opted to specifically detect bat sonar. Our study provides an essential framework for future comparative studies on butterfly and moth evolution.

Procedures introduced here make it possible, first, to show that background (piecemeal) extinction is recorded throughout geologic stages and substages (not all extinction has occurred suddenly at the ends of such intervals); second, to separate out background extinction from mass extinction for a major crisis in earth history; and third, to correct for clustering of extinctions when using the rarefaction method to estimate the percentage of species lost in a mass extinction. Also presented here is a method for estimating the magnitude of the Signor–Lipps effect, which is the incorrect assignment of extinctions that occurred during a crisis to an interval preceding the crisis because of the incompleteness of the fossil record. Estimates for the magnitudes of mass extinctions presented here are in most cases lower than those previously published. They indicate that only ∼81% of marine species died out in the great terminal Permian crisis, whereas levels of 90–96% have frequently been quoted in the literature. Calculations of the latter numbers were incorrectly based on combined data for the Middle and Late Permian mass extinctions. About 90 orders and more than 220 families of marine animals survived the terminal Permian crisis, and they embodied an enormous amount of morphological, physiological, and ecological diversity. Life did not nearly disappear at the end of the Permian, as has often been claimed.

In this text, two of the world's leading experts in palynology and paleobotany provide a comprehensive account of the fate of land plants during the 'great extinction' about 65 million years ago. They describe how the time boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene Periods (the K–T boundary) is recognised in the geological record, and how fossil plants can be used to understand global events of that time. There are case studies from over 100 localities around the world, including North America, China, Russia and New Zealand. The book concludes with an evaluation of possible causes of the K–T boundary event and its effects on floras of the past and present. This book is written for researchers and students in paleontology, botany, geology and Earth history, and everyone who has been following the course of the extinction debate and the K–T boundary paradigm shift.

The Tatricum crystalline basement in the northern Považský Inovec Mts. contains several narrow tectonic slices with different rock composition. Some of them composed of the Upper Cretaceous mass flow deposits (the Horné Belice Group) are considered unique within the framework of the Internal Western Carpathians and particularly within the Tatricum. Tectonic interpretation of their structural position is longer a matter of debate. Contrasting resistivity properties of the Hercynian mica schists and the Upper Cretaceous sandstones and shales were confirmed by the parametric geophysical measurements. The Hranty section, the structurally highest and most internal Upper Cretaceous tectonic slice was investigated by the electric resistivity tomography. Two longitudinal and two transverse resistivity profiles were measured and combined into a 3D image which suggests that the low resistivity Upper Cretaceous rocks form relatively shallow and flat lying structures folded and deformed between the crystalline basement slices.

Sedimentary geology and planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy have shed light on the geological development of the northern, active continental margin of the Southern Neotethys in the Kyrenia Range. Following regional Triassic rifting, a carbonate platform developed during Jurassic–Cretaceous time, followed by its regional burial, deformation and greenschist-facies metamorphism. The platform was exhumed by Late Maastrichtian time and unconformably overlain by locally derived carbonate breccias, passing upwards into Upper Maastrichtian pelagic carbonates. In places, the pelagic carbonates are interbedded with sandstone turbidites derived from mixed continental, basic volcanic, neritic carbonate and pelagic lithologies. In addition, two contrasting volcanogenic sequences are exposed in the western-central Kyrenia Range, separated by a low-angle tectonic contact. The first is a thickening-upward sequence of Campanian–Lower Maastrichtian(?) pelagic carbonates, silicic tuffs, silicic lava debris flows and thick-bedded to massive rhyolitic lava flows. The second sequence comprises two intervals of basaltic extrusive rocks interbedded with pelagic carbonates. The basaltic rocks unconformably overlie the metamorphosed carbonate platform whereas no base to the silicic volcanic rocks is exposed. Additional basaltic lavas are exposed throughout the Kyrenia Range where they are dated as Late Maastrichtian and Late Paleocene–Middle Eocene in age. In our proposed tectonic model, related to northward subduction of the Southern Neotethys, the Kyrenia platform was thrust beneath a larger Tauride microcontinental unit to the north and then was rapidly exhumed prior to Late Maastrichtian time. Pelagic carbonates and sandstone turbidites of mixed, largely continental provenance then accumulated along a deeply submerged continental borderland during Late Maastrichtian time. The silicic and basaltic volcanogenic rocks erupted in adjacent areas and were later tectonically juxtaposed. The Campanian–Early Maastrichtian(?) silicic volcanism reflects continental margin-type arc magmatism. In contrast, the Upper Maastrichtian and Paleocene–Middle Eocene basaltic volcanic rocks erupted in an extensional (or transtensional) setting likely to relate to the anticlockwise rotation of the Troodos microplate.