Sediments from 6 localities showing negligible deformation are described from a generally strongly deformed formation of metasediments. The tidal flat facies include decimetre-thick tabular sands, interpreted as the flood tide storm deposits of subtidal to intertidal channels, as well as centimetre to millimetre thick, rippled and laminated sands and silts with gypsum pseudomorphs. The gypsum crystals grew at interfaces where more permeable, overlaid less permeable, sediment and then underwent partial solution before being replaced by ferroan calcite and quartz. The shallow marine facies are centimetre-thick rippled sands interbedded with muds, interpreted as storm sediments.

The evolution of Neogene volcanic activity in the Central Taurus is investigated; stratigraphical and radiometric age data from the Ürgüp (Kayseri) basin idicate that volcanism in the area began at least as early as Upper Miocene, lasting up to prehistoric times. The volcanism maintained throughout this time interval a calcalkaline character. The diachronous end of calcalkaline volcanism along the Taurus margin is tentatively related to the differential collision between the Afro-Arabian and the Anatolian plates, probably due to an original irregular shape of the Anatolian continental margin.

Measurements have been made on drumlins from the Glasgow district and eastern Westmorland, using 1:25000 topographic maps and direct field mapping. Comparison of the results suggests that topographic maps provide data which varies in accuracy with the clarity of the drumlin pattern depicted by the map, and the character of the particular descriptive parameter. Dimensionless parameters such as elongation ratio, tapering value (k), and stoss-point ratio are most accurately estimated, but size, spacing and density are consistently inaccurate, and the number of drumlins recognized is, at best, only 50 % of the number of drumlins that exist in the field. It is suggested that topographic maps fail to give information at the precision level required for the analysis of this type of glacier bedform.

The Numidian flysch unit is the largest tectonic unit in the western Mediterranean, extending from Gibraltar to southern Italy. Displacement of the unit is supposedly to the S, a result of either gravity tectonics or plate tectonics. Both interpretations have their adherents, and to solve this dilemma the Numidian flysch in Tunisia was studied. Field data indicate surprisingly that the Numidian flysch in northeastern Tunisia (Mogods–Hedil area) did not move at all, which renders the question of the emplacement mechanism irrelevant. In northwestern Tunisia (Kroumiria) the flysch moved presumably only a few km to the S, not 50 km as was thought previously. Analysing this small displacement it appears unlikely that gravity tectonics was of importance because move ment over the fault was probably upward; moreover, sedimentological data do not indicate a high area from which sliding could have occurred. A plate tectonic interpretation cannot explain, however, why flysch movement was spasmodic instead of continuous and contemporaneous with plate movement, or why plate deformation was restricted to the thin flysch unit.

An account is given of coral patch reefs in the Bajocian of Lorraine, France, and a distinctive ecological association in the other invertebrate fauna recognized, which compares closely with that present in the late Oxfordian reef facies of southern England. The inference is made of a series of low mounds on the original sea bed, composed of coralline sheet structures interfingering with calcareous sediment which locally and periodically enveloped the coral colonies. Compared with Recent patch reefs in the Bahamas and around Bermuda, important differences can be inferred for the Jurassic structures, principally the lack of significant topographic relief, major internal cavities, erosion and algal incrustation.

The Pleistocene Gargaresh Calcarenite is a series of fossil dunes parallel to the Mediterranean coast of Tripoli; it is composed of medium-grained skeletal carbonate sand with abundant cross-stratification. Analyses of 321 azimuthal readings show that the distribution is bimodal with modes in the NE and the SE sectors. The distribution of modes indicates that the morphology and the orientation of eolian dunes were largely controlled by the then prevailing winds, and that the overall palaeowind pattern, although generally similar to the present-day system, might have undergone periodic changes due to Pleistocene climatic ups and downs.

The Nyika granite gives a U-Pb zircon age of 1970±30 Ma, which is a minimum age for the high-grade Ubendian metamorphism in Northern Malawi. Cordierite gneisses from the same region yield an Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron age of 1815±260 Ma. Because this age is believed to reflect the high-grade Ubendian metamorphism, the latter cannot be significantly older than about 2100 Ma.

A rock sample from the Lettergesh Formation, most probably from the centrifugus Zone of the early Wenlock on graptolite evidence, has yielded microfossils including spores, most of which occur in tetrads. The spores are described and illustrated and are compared with Ambitisporites avitus Hoffmeister.