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A new species, Ulmus priamurica sp. nov. (Ulmaceae), from the deposits of the Sazanka Formation (upper Middle–Upper Miocene) of the Erkovetskii Brown Coal Field (Amur Region, Russia) is described based on anatomical features of fossil wood. The new species shows some wood anatomical characters of the extant elms U. japonica and U. americana. Fossil wood of Ulmus was found in the Amur Region for the first time.

A new species, Betula erkovetskiensis Blokhina et O.V. Bondarenko (Betulaceae), from the deposits of the Sazanka Formation (upper Middle−Upper Miocene) of the Erkovetskii Brown Coal Field (Amur Region, Russia) is described based on anatomical features of fossil wood. The new species shows some wood anatomical characters of the extant birch subgenus Betula , B. davurica , B. nigra (section Dahuricae ), and B. papyrifera (section Betula ). Fossil wood of Betula is found in the Amur Region for the first time.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is a beneficial greenhouse gas mitigating strategy carried out in the last 20 years. Depleted gas reservoirs are promising candidates for the storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). Therefore, a depleted gas reservoir in the Upper Miocene sandstone located in Northern Croatia was taken as an example. The purpose of this study was to compare CO2 storage capacity obtained with two analytical equations to total storage capacity obtained through the simulator, in order to validate the equations. The first equation takes the average reservoir pressure and available production data into account, while the other one is more general and includes produced volume, CO2 density and formation volume factor of the original fluid. The tools used for these calculations were Schlumberger PVTi software, in which the equation of state was obtained, and ECLIPSE (E300 Module) which is a reservoir engineering simulator used for reservoir behaviour prediction. The results conformed analytical solutions, indicating that, depending on the depth, the mass of the CO2 that can be injected is twice as big as the mass of CH4 produced. The results of analytical solutions, 16.7 × 106 m3 and 14.6 × 106 m3, are in accordance with the results obtained by the simulation of CO2 injection in depleted reservoirs - 16.2 × 106 m3. Based on this, a conclusion is derived that these analytical solutions can be used as a first approximation of injection in a depleted gas reservoir.

Measuring chemical weathering histories in submarine fan deposits is critical if the impact of orogenic erosion on atmospheric CO2 levels is to be understood, yet existing records are often noisy and hard to interpret. In this study, we selected mudstones from two International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) sites from the Indus submarine fan and carefully removed the biogenic carbonate. The resulting records of chemical weathering show two trends, one of reducing chemical alteration since ∼8 Ma and which is associated with the Indus River, while a second trend is linked to sediment delivery from peninsular India. The second trend shows little temporal variation. Sediment deposited at IODP Site U1456 in the central Laxmi Basin is preferentially, but not exclusively, Indus-derived, while that at Site U1457 on the eastern flank of Laxmi Ridge is more peninsula-derived. Both trends show much less variability than seen in earlier studies in which various grain-size fractions were integrated together. The efficiency with which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere during chemical weathering has decreased over time in the Indus River-derived material. This reflects both lower degrees of alteration in the sediment since the late Miocene and increasing derivation of sediment from Himalayan sources, rather than more mafic Karakoram-Kohistan rocks. Previous estimates of CO2 consumption have overestimated the contribution that the Indus Basin has made to reducing atmospheric CO2 by ∼28–68%. This work emphasizes the importance of analysing appropriate largely silt-sized sediment when considering submarine fan records and in rigorously removing biogenic carbonate.

Upper Miocene to Pliocene (Pannonian) sediments of the Pannonian Basin System accumulated in the brackish Lake Pannon and the fluvial feeder systems, between 11.6-2.6 Ma. Their stratigraphic subdivision has been problematic for a long time due to the laterally prograding architecture of the basin fill and the historically independently evolving stratigraphic schemes of the neighbouring countries. We correlated the lithostratigraphic units of the Lake Pannon deposits between Hungary and Croatia in the Drava Basin, using lithological, sedimentological and palaeontological data from boreholes and outcrops, and seismic correlation. The Croatica and Medvedski breg formations in Croatia correspond to the Endrőd Fm. in Hungary, comprising shallow to deep water, open lacustrine, calcareous to argillaceous marls. The Andraševec fm. in Croatia corresponds to the Szolnok and Algyő Fms. in Hungary, consisting of sandstones and siltstones of turbidite systems and of clay marls deposited on the shelf-break slope. The Nova Gradiška fm. in Croatia is an equivalent of the Újfalu Fm. in Hungary, built up of a variety of lithologies, including sand, silt, clay and huminitic clay, deposited in deltaic environments. The Pluska fm. in Croatia corresponds to the Zagyva Fm. in Hungary, consisting of variegated clays, silts, sands and lignites, deposited in alluvial and fluvial environments. Coarse-grained (sand, gravel) basal layers are assigned to the Kálla and Békés Fms. and the Sveti Matej member of the Croatica fm. Coarse-grained intercalations within the deep-water marls belong to the Dorozsma Member of the Endrőd Fm. in Hungary, and to the Bačun member of the Medvedski breg fm. in Croatia. Sediment transport and lateral accretion of the shelf edge in the Drava Basin took place from the N, NW, and W, to the S, SE, and E, respectively. According to the biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic analyses, the oldest shelf-break slopes in the Mura Basin are more than 8 Ma old, whereas the youngest ones in the southeasternmost part of the Drava Basin may be Pliocene in age (younger than 5.3 Ma). Thus, the 180 km long and at least 700 m deep Drava Basin was transformed into a fluvial plain during the last 3.5 million years of the Miocene.

New species of the pine fossil wood, Pinus priamurensis sp. nov. (Pinaceae) from the Sazanka Formation (upper Middle Miocene–Upper Miocene) of the Erkovetskii Brown Coal Field (Amur Region) is described. The new species shares some wood anatomical features with modern species of the subsection Pinus (section Pinus , subgenus Pinus ). This is the first record of fossil wood of Pinus in the Amur Region.

Agalope oshikirii n. sp. (Zygaenidae, Chalcosiinae) is described from the uppermost Miocene–Pliocene Sanzugawa Formation in Akita Prefecture, northern Japan. Because we found a single fossil forewing in this study, we give a table of the forewing characters of various groups of the genus Agalope and related genera and compared them with this new species, confirming that it does not match any of the species. This is the first discovery of chalcosiine fossils in Japan and provides evidence of a historically broader distribution of the genus. Agalope oshikirii n. sp. (Zygaenidae, Chalcosiinae) is described from the uppermost Miocene–Pliocene Sanzugawa Formation in Akita Prefecture, northern Japan. This is the first discovery of chalcosiine fossils and provides evidence of a historically broader distribution of the genus.

The late Miocene (11.5–5.5 million years ago) was a period of faunal change for small mammal communities. The evolution of several climatic parameters has greatly impacted faunas from Europe, and the surviving species also had to deal with the competitive pressure of new migrant species into Europe. In this context, mammal groups having high sensitivity to climatic parameters, such as temperature and humidity, show peculiar patterns of evolution. This is the case for the Erinaceidae (hedgehogs and gymnures) and the extinct family Dimylidae, well recorded in the fauna from the late Miocene of Slovakia. At least six Erinaceidae and two Dimylidae were present in Slovakia during that time, as shown by material extracted from the localities of Borský Svätý Jur, Krásno, Pezinok, Šalgovce, Studienka, and Triblavina. Both families were extremely abundant during the early part of the late Miocene, the Vallesian (11.5–9.0 million years ago), supporting the idea that central Europe played an important role in the preservation of high paleodiversity of insectivore species. However, the abundance of the Erinaceidae and Dimylidae strongly declined afterward, eventually leading to the extinction of the Dimylidae soon after the Vallesian. On a smaller scale, the material described from the late Miocene of Slovakia brings a lot of new information about the morphology, variability, and phylogeny of the identified species, namely ‘Schizogalerix’ voesendorfensis, Schizogalerix cf. S. moedlingensis, Lantanotherium sanmigueli, Atelerix cf. A. depereti, Atelerix aff. A. depereti, cf. Postpalerinaceus sp. indet., Erinaceinae gen. indet. sp. indet., Plesiodimylus chantrei, and Metacordylodon aff. M. schlosseri. The families Erinaceidae and Dimylidae are represented in the late Miocene localities of Slovakia (Borský Svätý Jur, Krásno, Pezinok, Šalgovce, Studienka, and Triblavina) by at least six hedgehog species—‘Schizogalerix’ voesendorfensis (Rabeder, 1973); Schizogalerix cf. S. moedlingensis (Rabeder, 1973); Lantanotherium sanmigueliVillalta and Crusafont, 1944; Atelerix cf. A. deperetiMein and Ginsburg, 2002; Atelerix aff. A. depereti, cf. Postpalerinaceus sp. indet., and Erinaceinae gen. indet. sp. indet.—and two dimylid species—Plesiodimylus chantreiGaillard, 1897; and Metacordylodon aff. M. schlosseri (Andreae, 1904). Material of L. sanmigueli from the western Carpathians was investigated, revealing broad variability in all samples. Additionally, the deciduous premolars of LantanotheriumFilhol, 1888 are described here for the first time. Erinaceid species are frequent in the Vallesian but their abundance strongly declined afterward. As an exception, Schizogalerix Engesser, 1980 re-entered the Danube and Vienna basins during MN11, likely from eastern Europe. Members of Erinaceinae display low diversity during the late Miocene of central Europe, which tends to support a pan-European diversity phenomenon. The humidity-dependent Dimylidae spp. were abundant during the late Vallesian. Rare finds of PlesiodimylusGaillard, 1897 confirm the survival of this family into the early MN11 in the Pannonian region.

Examination of Upper Miocene-Lower Pliocene sediments at IODP Site U1338, in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific, provided new data on the distribution range of the calcareous nannofossil genus Catinaster. In addition to the the well-known occurrence of Catinaster coalitus and Catinaster calyculus in the early Late Miocene, we document Catinaster mexicanus in both the mid-late Miocene and the Early Pliocene. We confirm its taxonomic validity, rejecting previous interpretations of Pliocene C. mexicanus specimens as the result of dissolution of Discoaster altus. Instead, the Pliocene appearance of C. mexicanus seems to originate from the D. altus lineage. The short interval of occurrence (c. 50 ka) in the Late Miocene may document a preliminary evolutionary emergence of C. mexicanus that lacks any relationship with the other Catinaster species. Clear ancestor species to validate its independent origin from Discoaster are, however, missing. In the stratigraphic intervals where Catinaster species are found, their co-occurrence with Discoaster species bearing a prominent star-shaped boss on one side is noteworthy. This suggests that Catinaster and Discoaster at times developed a common morphological feature (a stellate structure, with or without hexaradiate symmetry), possibly under recurrent changes in climatic/environmental conditions. The data presented on C. mexicanus suggest a wider geographical distribution than previously thought, extending from the tropical Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, equatorial Atlantic and tropical Indian oceans.

Geological investigations carried out on the Dahra Massif have revealed sedimentary changes and bioevents characterizing the post-gypsum detrital sediments (from Messinian to Piacenzian), which are followed by the Trubi equivalent Pliocene marls or white marly limestones. Structured into two superimposed steps, the late Messinian deposits yielded two successive ostracod assemblages. They indicate a brackish environment for the lower and a fairly open shallow brackish environment for the second. Based on their ostracod content, assemblage 1 (Cyprideis, Loxoconcha muelleri) corresponds to the Lago Mare biofacies 1 of the Apennine foredeep, which is correlated with the Lago Mare 1 episode dated between 5.64 and 5.60 Ma. Assemblage 2 (Loxocorniculina djafarovi) is referred to the Lago Mare biofacies 2 described in the same region. It is correlated with the Lago Mare 3 episode, dated between 5.46 and 5.33 Ma. Moreover, the stratigraphic succession is marked by a major discontinuity indicated by a hardground, separating step 1 from step 2 and corresponding to the ostracod assemblages 1 and 2, respectively. This discontinuity is considered here to be equivalent to the Messinian Erosional Surface, already evidenced in the region and widely known around the Mediterranean Basin. These late Messinian deposits and their ostracod assemblage 2, notably the detrital sedimentation with Ceratolithus acutus, Globorotalia margaritae, Reticulofenestra cisnerosii document a marine incursion into the Lower Chelif Basin, corresponding to the latest Messinian marine reflooding of the Mediterranean Basin, that happened before the earliest Zanclean R. cisnerosii occurrence. Finally, the bioevents evidenced in the Dahra Massif, reinforce the evidence of the late Messinian Lago Mare 3 episode, and support the ante-Zanclean age of the marine reflooding of the Mediterranean. The overlying deposits are marked by coral constructions (cf. Cladocora cf. caespitosa, Dendrophyllia sp) never described before and covering the entire early Zanclean, testifying the existence, at that time, of warm enough conditions, which may correspond to the marine isotopic stage TG5.