Three isolated limestone deposits and their fauna are described from a middle Eocene Flysch succession in northwestern Istria, Croatia. The limestones are identified as ancient methane-seep deposits based on fabrics and characteristic mineral phases, δ13Ccarbonate values as low as −42.2 ‰ and 13C-depleted lipid biomarkers indicative of methane-oxidizing archaea. The faint bedding of the largest seep deposit, the great dominance of authigenic micrite over early diagenetic fibrous cement, as well as biomarker patterns indicate that seepage was diffusive rather than advective. Apart from methanotrophic archaea, aerobic methanotrophic bacteria were present at the Eocene seeps as revealed by 13C-depleted lanostanes and hopanoids. The observed corrosion surfaces in the limestones probably reflect carbonate dissolution caused by aerobic methanotrophy. The macrofauna consists mainly of chemosymbiotic bivalves such as solemyids (Acharax), thyasirids (Thyasira) and lucinids (Amanocina). The middle Eocene marks the rise of the modern seep fauna, but so far the fossil record of seeps of this age is restricted to the North Pacific region. The taxa found at Buje originated during the Cretaceous Period, whereas taxa typical of the modern seep fauna such as bathymodiolin mussels and vesicomyid clams are absent. Although this is only a first palaeontological glimpse into the biogeography during the rise of the modern seep fauna, it agrees with biogeographic investigations based on the modern vent fauna indicating that the dominant taxa of the modern seep fauna first appeared in the Pacific Ocean.

We have discovered an adcumulate late-stage dyke in the Bayantsagaan layered intrusion. The 11-cm-thick dyke is composed of fresh troctolite with no signs of chilling against the host leucotroctolite. Texturally, both the dyke and its host are medium-grained plagioclase-olivine-magnetite cumulates. The dyke is however finer grained and contains less interstitial material. Two geochemical features characterize the dyke: it is compositionally more evolved than the host, as indicated by its lower real and normative An-content in plagioclase, whole-rock Cr and Mg-number; and it is highly depleted in all incompatible components (e.g. K2O, Y and rare earth elements or REEs) that have much lower concentrations than in the host. The depletion in REEs is extreme and has not been reported earlier for any troctolitic rocks. It has an internal reverse zonation with an inwards increase in compatible MgO and TiO2 and a decrease in all incompatible elements, suggesting an inwards decrease in the amount of trapped melt. We interpret this late-stage dyke as having formed from a residual melt that was channelled along a fissure in solidifying cumulates. The flow of the melt resulted in the very efficient removal of a boundary layer of evolved liquid from crystals growing on the walls of the dyke. This resulted in an almost perfect adcumulate that is extremely depleted in incompatible components.

We report two newly identified Ordovician ophiolite belts in west Junggar, NW China: Tajin–Tarbahatai–Kujibai–Honguleleng (TTKH) and Tangbale–Baijiantan–Baikouquan (TBB) ophiolitic belts. These two ophiolitic belts provide constraints for the Palaeozoic reconstruction of Central Asia and the geological evolution of this region. The TTKH and TBB ophiolitic belts are dismembered parts of different ophiolitic belts which represent relics of Ordovician oceanic floor; they subducted to the north under the Chingiz–Tarbahatai arc and to the south under the Junggar plate, respectively. The Baijiantan–Baikouquan ophiolite mélanges comprise the major part of the TBB. Flat rare Earth element (REE) patterns with positive Eu anomalies and insignificant depletion of high-field-strength elements (HFSE) relative to melts of primitive mantle suggest a mid-ocean-ridge basalt (MORB) origin for the metagabbro. Lherzolite samples define a Sm–Nd isotopic isochron with age of 474 Ma and ɛNd(t) of +8.9. Lherzolite samples with positive ɛNd(t) values of +8.8 to +9.1 and initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 0.7037–0.7040 are rather homogeneous in Sr–Nd isotopic composition, whereas metagabbro samples show wider Sr–Nd isotopic compositional ranges with ɛNd(t) of +5.9 to +11.0. The Sm–Nd isotopic isochron age (c. 380 Ma) for garnet amphibolite samples, consistent with a zircon U–Pb age (c. 385 Ma) for metagabbro, represents a magmatic event prior to subduction. Thermodynamic calculations for garnet amphibolite yield a clockwise pressure–temperature path with peak metamorphic condition of c. 15 kbar and 520–560°C at 342 Ma, indicating a subduction-channel setting. The Rb–Sr isochron ages (335 Ma, 333 Ma) for metagabbro represent a metamorphic event during exhumation.

In the Saoura Valley (Ougarta Basin, Saharan Algeria), the lower–upper Famennian part of the essentially shally Marhouma Formation is characterized by deep-water facies and includes horizons rich in ammonoids (goniatites and clymeniids) and blind to eye-reduced phacopide trilobites. They are also rich in small-sized and smooth rhynchonellide brachiopods, investigated here for the first time in order to detail their post-Kellwasser recovery. Rhynchonellides clearly predominate in the brachiopod assemblages (representing 90% of the whole assemblage, with 10 species) composed otherwise of athyridides, orthides and spiriferides. Rhynchonellides are mostly represented by relatively flat leiorhynchids and rozmanariids consistent with poor oxygenation on the sea floor. One new species is described (Evanidisinurostrum saouraense sp. nov.); four genera, previously known only from the south-eastern margin of Laurussia, are reported for the first time from the northern margin of Gondwana: the leiorhynchid Sphaeridiorhynchus and the rozmanariids Leptoterorhynchus, Pugnaria and Novaplatirostrum.

The basement of the Central Pontides, and by implication that of Crimea, consists of pre-Permian low-grade metaclastic rocks intruded by latest Permian – Early Carboniferous (305–290 Ma) granitoids. Further up in the stratigraphic sequence are Triassic limestones, which are now preserved as olistoliths in the deformed Upper Triassic turbidites. New conodont and foraminifera data indicate an Anisian to Carnian (Middle to Late Triassic) age for these hemi-pelagic Hallstatt-type limestones. The siliciclastic turbidites surrounding the Triassic limestone contain the Norian (Late Triassic) bivalve Monotis salinaria; the same species is also found in the Tauric series in Crimea. The Upper Triassic flysch in the Central Pontides is locally underlain by basaltic pillow lavas and includes kilometre-size tectonic slices of serpentinite. Both the flysch and the serpentinite are cut by an undeformed acidic intrusion with an Ar–Ar biotite age of 162 ± 4 Ma (Callovian–Oxfordian). This indicates that the serpentinite was emplaced into the turbidites before Middle Jurassic time, most probably during latest Triassic or Early Jurassic time, and that the deformation of the Triassic sequence pre-dates the Middle Jurassic. Regional geological data from the circum-Black Sea region, including widespread Upper Triassic flysch, Upper Triassic eclogites and blueschists of oceanic crustal affinity, and apparent absence of a ‘Cimmerian continent’ between the Cretaceous and Triassic accretionary complexes indicate that the latest Triassic Cimmeride orogeny was accretionary rather than collisional and is probably related to the collision and accretion of an oceanic plateau to the southern active margin of Laurasia.

Google Earth imagery is used here in conjunction with a Geographic Information System to identify transverse drainages and recreate palaeodrainage in an internally draining region in Iran. At least 35 water gaps and 34 wind gaps are shown to exist in the region, as well as evidence for an integrated palaeodrainage that originated north of the internally draining region and emptied into the Mand watershed to the west. The topographic characteristics of the transverse drainages suggest a strong control by local topography, and support formation of the internally draining region by basin filling and overflow. Both climatic and tectonic factors may have controlled the loss of external connectivity.

The olistostromes form two belts within the Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB) in the Northern Carpathians. They mark an early stage of the development of the accretionary prism. The first belt was formed during Late Cretaceous time as a result of subduction of the southern part of the Alpine Tethys. The fore-arc basin originated along this subduction zone, with synorogenic flysch deposits. Huge olistoliths deposited within the Cretaceous–Palaeogene flysch of the Złatne Basin, presently located in the vicinity of the Haligovce village (eastern Slovakia), provide a good example of the fore-arc olistostrome setting. The second belt is related to the movement of the accretionary prism, which overrode the Czorsztyn Ridge during Late Cretaceous–Paleocene time. The destruction of this ridge led to the formation of submarine slumps and olistoliths along the southern margin of the Magura Basin. The Upper Cretaceous – Paleocene flysch sequences of the Magura Basin constitute the matrix of olistostromes. The large Homole block in the Jaworki village represents the best example of the Magura Basin olistolith. Numerous examples of olistoliths were documented in western Slovakia, Poland, eastern Slovakia and Ukraine. The olistostromes formed within the Złatne and Magura basins orginated during the tectonic process, forming the olistostrome belts along the strike of the PKB structure.

Two stratigraphic sections spanning the mid-Carboniferous boundary were examined in the Clare Shale Formation of the Shannon Basin in Western Ireland. Calcareous nodules intermittently occur within these generally non-calcareous organic-rich shales, and these have yielded Serpukhovian and Bashkirian conodont elements. The biostratigraphic range of the Irish material is illustrated here for the first time. Results show that the mid-Carboniferous and Arnsbergian–Chokierian boundaries are coincident at Ballybunion. Gnathodus girtyi is restricted to the lower part of the Serpukhovian Stage (Late Mississippian), while G. bilineatus bollandensis persists into much younger strata, close to the first occurrence of Declinognathodus noduliferus s.l. One element belonging to G. postbilineatus is also present. These findings support the argument that D. noduliferus s.l. developed from G. b. bollandensis, rather than from G. girtyi. The biostratigraphical tool for the identification of the mid-Carboniferous boundary globally, and the suitability of the section at Arrow Canyon, USA as a GSSP, may therefore need to be reassessed.

Studies dealing with the response of the continental biosphere to the environmental perturbations associated with Cretaceous oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) are comparatively rare. Here, a quantitative spore-pollen record combined with clay mineral data is presented, which covers the entire early Aptian OAE 1a interval (Forcall Formation, Maestrat basin, east Spain). The well-expressed OAE 1a carbon-isotope anomaly is paralleled by changes in the clay mineral assemblage and by a stepwise decline in the normalized frequency of Classopollis pollen (produced by xerophytic Cheirolepidiaceae) with lowest contents occurring during the positive δ13C shift. In contrast, Araucariacites and Inaperturopollenites pollen show a pronounced increase in relative abundance from low background values to become a significant component of the palynological assemblage during the Classopollis minimum. The observed changes in clay minerals and pollen distribution patterns are interpreted to reflect a major change in the composition of the hinterland vegetation of the Maestrat Basin, most probably due to short-lived but pronounced climatic cooling and changes in humidity. Temperature anomalies driven by organic carbon burial and associated CO2 decline have been postulated for all major Mesozoic OAEs. The palynomorph record from the Iberian Maestrat basins indicates that the climax of this cooling episode was significantly delayed in comparison to the end of organic carbon-rich deposition in the world oceans.

Eggshell fragments attributed to large birds have been known from the Palaeogene of southern France for half a century, but reconstructing their original dimensions and identifying the birds that laid the eggs has been fraught with difficulties. On the basis of numerous newly collected specimens and using geometrical calculations, the original size of the thick-shelled eggs is reconstructed, showing that they were slightly larger than ostrich eggs, with a greatest length of 17.8 cm and a mean diameter of 12.0 cm in transversal section. The estimated volume is 1330.4 cm3. The fossil eggs from southern France are thus among the largest known avian eggs, being only surpassed by Aepyornis and some moas. Estimated egg mass is about 1.4 kg. On the basis of egg mass, the body mass of the parent bird is estimated at between 135.4 kg and 156.4 kg, assuming that the hatchlings were precocial. These calculations are in good agreement with the dimensions and mass estimates for the Palaeogene giant bird Gastornis, a probable anseriform, which lived in Europe at the time the eggs were laid. Other large Early Tertiary birds from Europe (Remiornis, Palaeotis) are too small to have laid these eggs. In all likelihood, the large eggs from the Palaeogene of southern France were laid by gastornithid birds.

The Ben Zireg anticline NW of Bechar yields the currently most-important Frasnian succession on the northern margin of the Algerian Sahara. It represents 26.5 m of calcilutites which are attributed to the middle–late Frasnian. As the early Frasnian is not represented, the succession rests conformably on undifferentiated, probably late Givetian, substrate. Fine-scaled conodont biostratigraphy reveals a continuous sequence of Montagne Noire Zones 5–13, superseded by the earliest Famennian Lower triangularis Zone. The deposits are organized into 15 sedimentary cycles that are initially condensed and become dilated upwards. Conodont biofacies indicate an overall deepening towards the top of the section with an episode of slight shallowing at the MN11/12 transition marked by an increase of ancyrodellids, which is also seen in the Marhouma section of the Ougarta region (SW Algeria). Homogeneous calcareous microfacies with only a few shaly intercalations determine a predominantly oxygenated depositional environment on an outer platform, submarine rise or ramp setting. This is also indicated by relatively low sedimentation rates which are similar in selected sections from the Tafilalt platform, and contrast with those from the Marhouma trough and the Maider basin. Unlike other Frasnian successions south of the Atlas Fault, but similar to the Moroccan Meseta, the Upper Kellwasser horizon is clearly discriminated at Ben Zireg by an outstanding occurrence of black shales on top of the oxygenated latest Frasnian deposits.

The Neoproterozoic Hedmark Basin in the Caledonides of South Norway was formed at the western margin of the continent Baltica by rifting 750–600 Ma ago. The margin was destroyed in the Caledonian Orogeny and sedimentary basins translated eastwards. This study uses provenance analysis to map the crustal architecture of the pre-Caledonian SW Baltican margin. Conglomerate clasts and sandstones were sampled from submarine fan, alluvial fan and terrestrial glacigenic sedimentary rocks. Samples were analysed for U–Pb isotopes and clast samples additionally for Lu–Hf isotopes. The clasts are mainly granites c. 960 Ma and 1680 Ma old, coeval with the Sveconorwegian Orogeny and formation of the Palaeoproterozoic Transscandinavian Igneous Belt (TIB). Mesoproterozoic (Sveconorwegian) ages are abundant in the western part of the basin, whereas Palaeoproterozoic ages are common in the east. Lu–Hf isotopes support crustally contaminated source for all clasts linking them to Fennoscandia. Detrital zircon ages of the sandstones can be matched with those from the granitic clasts except for ages within the range 1200–1500 Ma. These ages are typically found in the present-day Telemark, SW Norway. The sandstones and conglomerate clasts in the western part of the Hedmark Basin were sourced from the Sveconorwegian domain in the present SW Norway or its continuation to the present-day NW. The conglomerate clasts in the eastern part of the Hedmark Basin were sourced mainly from the TIB domain or its northwesterly continuation. The Hedmark Basin was initiated within the boundary of two domains in the basement: the TIB and the Sveconorwegian domains.

The Santa Eulália Plutonic Complex (SEPC), located in the Ossa Morena Zone (south Portugal), is composed of a medium- to coarse-grained pink granite (G0-type) and a central grey medium-grained biotite granite (G1-type). Available Rb–Sr data indicates an age of 290 Ma. An emplacement model for the SEPC is proposed, taking into account magnetic fabric, 2D gravity modelling and fluid inclusion planes studies. The G0 and G1 types demonstrate different magnetic behaviour: G0 is considered a magnetite-type granite and G1 is an ilmenite-type granite. The formation of G0 required oxidized conditions related to the interaction of mafic rocks with a felsic magma. The 2D gravity modelling and subvertical magnetic lineations show that the feeder zone of the SEPC is located in the eastern part of the pluton, confirming the role of the Assumar and Messejana Variscan faults in the process of ascent and emplacement. The magma emplacement was controlled by ENE–WSW planar anisotropies related to the final brittle stages of the Variscan Orogeny. The emplacement of the two granites was almost synchronous as shown by their gradational contacts in the field. The magnetic fabric however suggests emplacement of the G0-type first, closely followed by emplacement of the G1-type, pushing the G0 laterally which becomes more anisotropic towards the margin. The G1-type became flattened, acquiring a dome-like structure. The SEPC is a nested pluton with G0-type granite assuming a tabular flat shape and G1-type forming a rooted dome-like structure. After emplacement, SEPC recorded increments of the late Variscan stress field documented by fluid inclusion planes in quartz.

On the New Siberian Islands the rocks of the east Russian Arctic shelf are exposed and allow an assessment of the structural evolution of the region. Tectonic fabrics provide evidence of three palaeo-shortening directions (NE–SW, WNW–ESE and NNW–SSE to NNE–SSW) and one set of palaeo-extension directions revealed a NE–SW to NNE–SSW direction. The contractional deformation is most likely the expression of the Cretaceous formation of the South Anyui fold–thrust belt. The NE–SW shortening is the most prominent tectonic phase in the study area. The WNW–ESE and NNW–SSE to NNE–SSW-oriented palaeo-shortening directions are also most likely related to fold belt formation; the latter might also have resulted from a bend in the suture zone. The younger Cenozoic NE–SW to NNE–SSW extensional direction is interpreted as a consequence of rifting in the Laptev Sea.

The Antillean Cenozoic fossil record of asteroids comprises mainly dissociated ossicles. Most common among isolates from upper Oligocene deposits of Jamaica and Antigua are marginal ossicles of an extinct, indeterminate species of Pycinaster. This is the youngest known occurrence of the genus and the first from beyond Europe. A number of relatively complete fossils have been assigned to Pycinaster and (sub)familial status proposed for it together with Phocidaster. The latter proposition is based solely on a few marginals, but available diagnoses are judged insufficient to justify such recognition. The taxon Pycinasteridae is here synonymized with the Goniasteridae, although future study of added features (such as the ventral surface) might justify recognition at a higher taxonomic level. In addition to ossicles assigned to Pycinaster, many marginals are tentatively assigned to the surviving goniasterid Nymphaster. Numerous generic and many species names have been based on asteroid isolates, but the practice demands assumptions that are not readily justified. Linkage of discrete isolates under a single taxon name assumes derivation from a single source, an inference that can be verified only rarely (if ever), therefore reducing names to the single holotype ossicle. Availability of only isolates encourages comparison with extant taxa and biogeography, biasing interpretations with a Holocene overlay. Because of these constraints, a new nominal species of Pycinaster is not justified and assignment of ossicles to Nymphaster is tentative. However, given the importance of asteroids in marine communities, we emphasize the significance, largely ignored, of their presence in Cenozoic deposits of the wider Caribbean.

Marine invertebrate borings are very rare in crystalline rocks, providing evidence of particular strategies producers use to colonise these unfavourable substrates. In the Sorbas Basin (Almería, southern Spain), Upper Miocene transgressive successions contain blocks of metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Nevado–Filabride Complex of the Betic Cordillera. Ichnological analysis of the embedded blocks shows the presence of two types of macroborings located in gneiss boulders, revealed to be an extraordinary case worldwide. The most abundant are regular hemispherical depressions ascribed reservedly to the well-known, mostly bivalve boring Gastrochaenolites. The second one is a pouch-like depression, tapering downward, elliptical in outline, and clearly different to other non-circular-in-outline, pouch-shaped macroborings. Thus, a new ichnogenus and ichnospecies Cuenulites sorbasensis has been defined. According to the overall shape, an endolithic or semi-endolithic bivalve using chemical means to bore is suggested as the tracemaker. Colonisation could be determined by sea-level coastal dynamics, with decreasing energy during advancing transgression allowing boring, which was then stopped due to supply of fine-grained sediment that killed the borers.

The Oligocene sedimentary succession in the eastern North Sea is revised and re-interpreted by applying new state-of-the-art reflection seismic data integrated with new bio- and Sr-stratigraphy data from three key wells in the study area. The Oligocene succession in the eastern North Sea is divided into four transgressive–regressive (T-R) sequences, characterized by non-accretional and/or aggradational transgressive systems tracts and prograding regressive systems tracts. Detailed studies of three wells, including biostratigraphy and Sr analysis, constrain the age relationships between the T-R sequences. Internal clinoform geometry indicates that the sediments were sourced from the present southern Norwegian mainland to the north of the depositional area. The direction of progradation shifted from being SE-directed in the earliest Rupelian (early Oligocene) to S- and SW-directed during Chattian time (late Oligocene). Rapid basin subsidence is indicated by the development of non-accretionary transgressive systems tracts, with subsequent progradation into water depths of hundreds of metres. The creation of accommodation space was out of phase relative to eustatic sea-level changes, and mainly controlled by regional-scale differential vertical movements where uplift and exposure of landmasses of the hinterland (southern Norway) occurred concurrently with basin subsidence. Halokinesis had an intra-basinal influence on the main sediment transport direction, but probably did not contribute much in creation of accommodation space.

The North Singhbhum Mobile Belt (NSMB) is a 200 km long, curved Proterozoic fold–thrust belt that skirts the northern margin of the Archean Singhbhum Craton of NE India. The Singhbhum Shear Zone (SSZ) developed between the Dhanjori and Chaibasa formations near the southern margin of the NSMB and represents an important Cu-U-P metallotect. A SHRIMP U–Pb zircon date of 1861±6 Ma, obtained for the syn- to post-kinematic Arkasani Granophyre that has intruded the SSZ, provides a minimum age for the prolonged tectonic activity and mineralization along the SSZ and for the time of closure of the Chaibasa and Dhanjori sub-basins. The Dalma Volcanic Belt, a submarine rift-related bimodal mafic-felsic volcanic suite, forms the spine of the NSMB. A SHRIMP U–Pb zircon igneous crystallization date of 1631±6 Ma was obtained for an unfoliated felsic volcanic rock from the base of the Dalma volcanic sequence. These new findings suggest that the different sub-basins in the NSMB evolved diachronously under contrasting tectonic environments and were juxtaposed during a later orogenic movement.

Conodonts are rare in the Permian carbonates of Indochina but abundant conodonts and ostracodes have been obtained from turbiditic limestones of the Permian E-Lert Formation along with radiolarians from overlying cherts, all deposited on the margins of the interplatform Nam Duk Basin. Conodonts are typically Tethyan and are very similar to faunas from Sicily and south China. They include Hindeodus gulloides, Pseudohindeodus oertlii, Mesogondolella siciliensis and Sweetognathus subsymmetricus which indicate a probable late Kungurian – Roadian age range although a Wordian age cannot be excluded. M. siciliensis, which has a high blade and small cusp supposedly typical of warm-water conodonts, is found in deep (<500 m) carbonate turbidites in Thailand and in very deep deposits in Oman and Sicily, but generally not in shallow-water tropical limestones in Thailand, Oman and Sicily. The chert sequence yields a radiolarian fauna consisting of 11 confidently assigned species of which Albaillella asymmetrica, A. sinuata, Tormentum delicatum and Latentifistula patagilaterata suggest a latest Kungurian – earliest Roadian age, deposited at a palaeodepth of c. 500 m. Ostracodes consist of 16 genera and 23 species which belong to Shivaella, Paraberounella, Carinaknightina, Paraparchites, Shemonaella, Bairdia, Cryptobairdia, Bairdiacypris?, Spinocypris, Pseudobythocypris, Baschkirina, Microcheilinella, Basslerella, Polycope and Cyathus, of which Shivaella elertensis sp. nov. Chitnarin is newly described. The ostracodes are a palaeoecologically mixed assemblage comprising external platform and deeper-water forms, suggesting that the limestone turbidites were deposited on the proximal part of the slope. Cyathus caperata and C. elliptica show a palaeobiogeographic link to south China.

Stigmaria is one of the iconic plant fossils of the Carboniferous and fragments of the narrower parts of the rhizomorph are found in most museum collections. However, very few almost entire specimens have been found and preserved. A new specimen of Stigmaria from Brymbo, North Wales is described and compared with other preserved examples from Europe and North America. The Brymbo specimen shows a large portion of trunk still attached to the large stigmarian base, which is a rare find, and this specimen supports our ideas of how these impressively large casts were formed. Stigmarias were preserved by the deposition of minerals around them following a sediment inundation, which gave sufficient support while the tissues rotted and filled with sediments. Remnants of the outer tissues were compressed to form a thin surrounding coal layer.