Explore the vast range of titles available.

This paper is a contribution to the redefinition of the base of Carboniferous system. At present the criterion for the definition of the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary is the first occurrence of a conodont species. In order to evaluate the stratigraphic potential for new criteria for the definition of the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary, the distribution of conodont species of Bispathodus, Branmehla, Palmatolepis, Polygnathus, Protognathodus, Pseudopolygnathus and Siphonodella across the boundary is presented and discussed. An updated biozonation scheme across the boundary based on the First Appearance of Bispathodus ac. aculeatus, Bispathodus costatus, Bispathodus ultimus, Protognathodus kockeli, Siphonodella bransoni and Siphonodella duplicata is proposed, and it is suggested that the new criterion for the definition of the base of the Carboniferous system be the First Appearance Datum of Pr. kockeli or Si. bransoni.

Apatite is a ubiquitous accessory mineral found in most magmatic rocks and is often the only U-bearing mineral available to date mafic rocks because primary zircon and/or baddeleyite are not present. In this paper, U-Pb LA-ICP-MS dating of apatite was applied to seven different dike and sill samples of dolerite from the Variscan belt of Brittany (Armorican Massif, western France). These dolerites, which are characterized by a within-plate tholeiite geochemical signature, are organized in several dense swarms across the belt. Their geochemical compositions are homogeneous although they intrude a large geographical area subdivided into several domains each characterized by different tectonic-metamorphic settings. Their emplacement ages were so far poorly constrained due to the difficulty to date these mafic rocks using either the 40Ar/39Ar or the U-Pb methods on classical minerals like mica, plagioclase, or zircon. Although the closure temperature of apatite is lower than the emplacement temperature of the magma, physical models show that the time needed to solidify and cool these mafic dikes and sills below the apatite closure temperature is basically of the order of 100 years or less. Consequently, the U-Pb dates obtained on apatite can be interpreted as the emplacement ages for these mafic intrusions. Our results demonstrate that, in all cases, the apatite grains do carry enough radiogenic Pb to be dated by in situ U-Pb analyses and yield a 207Pb-corrected mean age of 363.4 ± 5.8 Ma. These results reveal the existence of a major and short-lived magmatic event in the Variscan belt of Brittany during the Devonian-Carboniferous transition, a feature further highlighted by field evidence. Beyond the geological implications of these results, U-Pb LA-ICP-MS dating of apatite appears to represent an ideal tool to date small size mafic intrusions.

Combined sedimentological and palaeontological studies of the vertebrate fossil-bearing deposits of the Upper Devonian, Upper Famennian Ketleri Formation have provided new data on the sedimentary environment of the deposits, as well as on taxonomic and taphonomic peculiarities of the fossil assemblage. Data from numerical modelling of the Baltic Devonian Basin demonstrate that the sandy deposits of the Pavāri and Varkaļi members form a fan-shaped area resembling a wide delta developed in shallow-marine settings. Fluvial channels and bars with strong tidal influence were identified in a sedimentological study of the Pavāri site, suggesting a tide-influenced fluvial environment. Taphonomic studies indicate that the sedimentary concentrations of well-preserved vertebrate remains were formed under the influence of fluvial and strong tidal processes in a shallow-water environment, most likely in tide-influenced deltaic settings. Trace fossils recognised in the Ketleri and Pavāri-1 sites suggest a brackish-water or marine environment, and thus support the hypothesis. The analysis of rhizocretes from the Varkaļi Member suggests the strong influence of a seasonal climate. Well-preserved plant macroremains have been discovered for the first time during this study in the Ketleri Formation.

In this study we focused on the dynamics of encrusting assemblages preserved on brachiopod hosts collected from upper Frasnian and lower Famennian deposits of the Central Devonian Field, Russia. Because the encrusted brachiopods come from deposits bracketing the Frasnian/Famennian (F/F) boundary, the results also shed some light on ecological differences in encrusting communities before and after the Frasnian—Famennian (F-F) event. To explore the diversity dynamics of encrusting assemblages, we analyzed more than 1300 brachiopod valves (substrates) from two localities. Taxon accumulation plots and shareholder quorumsubsampling (SQS) routines indicated that a reasonably small sample of brachiopod host valves (n=50) is sufficient to capture themajority of the encrusting genera recorded at a given site. The richness of encrusters per substrate declined simultaneously with the number of encrusting taxa in the lower Famennian, accompanied by a decrease in epibiont abundance, with a comparable decrease in mean encrustation intensity (percentage of bioclasts encrusted by one or more epibionts). Epibiont abundance and occupancy roughlymirror each other. Strikingly, few ecological characteristics are correlated with substrate size, possibly reflecting random settlement of larvae. Evenness, which is negatively correlated with substrate size, shows greater within-stage variability among samples than between Frasnian and Famennian intervals and may indicate the instability of early Famennian biocenoses following the faunal turnover. The occurrence distribution of encrusters points to nonrandomassociations and exclusions among several encrusting taxa. However, abundance and occupancy of microconchids remained relatively stable throughout the sampled time interval. The notable decline in abundance (∼60%) and relatively minor decline in diversity (∼30%) suggest jointly that encrusting communities experienced ecological collapse rather than a major mass extinction event. The differences between the upper Frasnian and lower Famennian encrusting assemblages may thus record a turnover associated with the F-F event.

The suborder Phacopina, characterized by schizochroal eyes, is among the most common groups of trilobites in Devonian strata. The marine sediments of the Famennian in western Junggar, Xinjiang, contain abundant low-disparity phacopids, which have previously been designated to Omegops accipitrinus mobilis, Phacops circumspectans tuberculosus, and Omegops cornelius on the basis of small numbers of poorly preserved specimens. In this study, these phacopids were identified as two new species of Omegops, O. honggulelengensis n. sp. and O. xiangi n. sp., on the basis of nearly 200 well-preserved specimens. The intraspecific variations of eye lenses of these specimens were quantitatively analyzed. On the basis of differences in the total number, number of dorsoventral files, and arrangement of the eye lenses, the absence of lenses in the middle part of the visual surface, and asymmetry of the number and/or arrangement of lenses in the two eyes, it was concluded that the reasons for intraspecific variation in eye lenses of Late Devonian Omegops from western Junggar were different from previously described factors but were likely genetic or embryological malfunctions or abnormalities caused by pathological conditions. Diversity of lenses in the schizochroal eyes shows that the number and arrangement of eye lenses was not stable in Phacopina. Therefore, many specimens are needed for quantitative study to determine the true characteristics of the number or arrangement of eye lenses when these features are used in the systematic taxonomy of Phacopina. UUID: http://zoobank.org/6bd14390-05fe-45ad-8eeb-3bf397a46a68

The Late Palaeozoic volcanic rocks, mainly consisting of basalt, trachyte, trachyandesite, andesite and rhyolite, widely distributed in the southwestern Tianshan Mountains, have been proven to be formed during Late Devonian to Late Carboniferous time (>361-313 Ma) based on zircon sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe dating. The geochemistry demonstrates that the studied volcanic rocks represent a continental arc formed during the subduction of the Palaeo-southern Tianshan Ocean. The εHf(T) values of zircons in these volcanic rocks vary from +1.4 to +15.6 with weighted average values of +9.5 (Late Devonian), +8.9 (Early Carboniferous) and +10.3 (Late Carboniferous), suggesting a depleted mantle origin. However, the Late Devonian basaltic samples have negative εNd(T) values (from -5.16 to -3.07) and high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7073-0.7098), whereas the Early Carboniferous volcanic rocks mostly have positive εNd(T) values (from -0.18 to +3.07) with low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7044-0.7067), and the Late Carboniferous volcanic rocks are characterized by high εNd(T) values (+2.79 to +5.89) and low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7032-0.7054). The assimilation-fractional crystallization (AFC) model is used to explain the isotope characteristics of the Late Devonian volcanic rocks in the southwestern Tianshan Mountains. Calculation shows that the Late Devonian samples could be formed by the AFC process between depleted mantle and continental crust. The Carboniferous basaltic rocks originated by partial melting of the mantle wedge.

The Ordovician to Middle Devonian Prague Basin, Bohemian Massif, represents the shallowest crust of the Variscan orogen corresponding to c. 1–4 km palaeodepth. The basin was inverted and multiply deformed during the Late Devonian to early Carboniferous Variscan orogeny, and its structural inventory provides an intriguing record of complex geodynamic processes that led to growth and collapse of a Tibetan-type orogenic plateau. The northeastern part of the Prague Basin is a simple syncline cross-cut by reverse/thrust faults and represents a doubly vergent compressional fan accommodating c. 10–19 % ~NW–SE shortening, only minor syncline axis-parallel extension and significant crustal thickening. The compressional structures were locally overprinted by vertical shortening, kinematically compatible with ductile normal shear zones that exhumed deep crust in the orogen's interior at c. 346–337 Ma. On a larger scale, the deformation history of the Prague Syncline is consistent with building significant palaeoelevation during Variscan plate convergence. Based on a synthesis of finite deformation parameters observed across the upper crust in the centre of the Bohemian Massif, we argue for a differentiated within-plateau palaeotopography consisting of domains of local thickening alternating with topographic depressions over lateral extrusion zones. The plateau growth, involving such complex three-dimensional internal deformations, was terminated by its collapse driven by multiple interlinked processes including gravity, voluminous magma emplacement and thermal softening in the hinterland, and far-field plate-boundary forces resulting from the relative dextral motion of Gondwana and Laurussia.

Evolutionary events may impact the geological carbon cycle via transient imbalances in silicate weathering, and such events have been implicated as causes of glaciations, mass extinctions, and oceanic anoxia. However, suggested evolutionary causes often substantially predate the environmental effects to which they are linked—problematic when carbon cycle perturbations must be resolved in less than a million years to maintain Earth's habitability. What is more, the geochemical signatures of such perturbations are recorded as they occur in widely distributed marine sedimentary rocks that have been densely sampled for important intervals in Earth history, whereas the fossil record—particularly on land—is governed by the availability of sedimentary basins that are patchy in both space and time, necessitating lags between the origination of an evolutionary lineage and its earliest occurrence in the fossil record. Here, we present a simple model of the impact of preservational filtering on sampling to show that an evolutionary event that causes an environmental perturbation via weathering imbalance should not appear earlier in the rock record than the perturbation itself and, if anything, should appear later rather than simultaneously. The Devonian Hangenberg glaciation provides an example of how evolutionary events might be more fruitfully considered as potential causes of environmental perturbations. Just as the last samplings of species lost in mass extinction are expected to come before the true environmental event, first appearance should be expected to postdate the geological expression of a lineage's environmental impact with important implications for our reading of Earth history.

A new cyrtospiriferid species, Cyrtospirifer akimicus sp. nov. is described from the Lower Famennian Pozhnya Formation, which was previously considered as the upper part of Izhma Formation.

Ecological niche modeling (ENM) is a quantitative approach to predict species' abiotic requirements. It is a correlative technique, requiring geographically explicit information on species occurrences and the suites of environmental conditions experienced at each occurrence point. The output of these models is a set of environmental suitability rules that can be projected geographically and through time to test biogeographic, ecologic, and evolutionary hypotheses. Although developed by biologists and used extensively in the modern, ENM is in its early stages of application to the deep-time fossil record (hence PaleoENM). In part its limited use in the fossil record thus far reflects themethodological challenge of constructing paleoenvironmental layers needed for PaleoENManalysis, whereas in the modern these layers are available from large public databases (e.g.,WorldClim). This paper provides a contextual and methodological framework for appropriately applying PaleoENM, including best practices for developing species occurrence and paleoenvironmental data sets for PaleoENM analyses.