A new enantiornithine bird is described on the basis of a well preserved partial skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Henan Province (central China). It provides new evidence about the osteology of Late Cretaceous enantiornithines, which are mainly known from isolated bones; in contrast, Early Cretaceous forms are often represented by complete skeletons. While the postcranial skeleton shows the usual distinctive characters of enantiornithines, the skull displays several features, including confluence of the antorbital fenestra and the orbit and loss of the postorbital, evolved convergently with modern birds. Although some enantiornithines retained primitive cranial morphologies into the latest Cretaceous Period, at least one lineage evolved cranial modifications that parallel those in modern birds.

Marine reptile occurrences are rare in the Lower Jurassic Series outside of Europe. Here we describe diverse marine reptile faunas from the Lower Jurassic Series (Pliensbachian and Toarcian stages, including the Toarcian–Aalenian boundary interval) of Eastern Siberia. The taxonomic composition of Toarcian marine reptile assemblages of Siberia highlight their cosmopolitan nature, with the presence of taxa previously known nearly exclusively from coeval strata of Europe, such as ichthyosaurians Temnodontosaurus and Stenopterygius, microcleidid plesiosaurians (including the genus Microcleidus), rhomaleosaurids and basal pliosaurids. The palaeogeographic reconstruction places these faunas to the palaeopolar region, north of the 80th northern parallel and up to the palaeo north pole (upper value within the 95% confidence interval for some of the localities). The materials include remains of both mature and juvenile (or even infant, judging by their very small size and poor ossification) animals, indicating a possibility that these polar seas may serve as a breeding area. The diversity and abundance of plesiosaurians and ichthyosaurians, along with a lack of thalattosuchian remains (considering their wide distribution elsewhere at low latitudes), is an additional argument that plesiosaurians and neoichthyosaurians were able to live and reproduce in a polar environment. There is no certainty whether these animals lived in polar seas permanently, or whether they were taking seasonal migrations. However, given the polar night conditions at high latitudes, the latter seems more plausible, and both these scenarios are further indirect evidence that these groups likely had a high metabolism.

The theory of plate tectonics suggests that deformation occurs mainly along plate boundaries; however, compression can result in the formation of orogens and basins within intracontinental settings. During these two tectonic processes, the sedimentation and environmental changes occur in response to marginal and intracontinental deformation. Early Jurassic – Early Cretaceous deformation and basin formation along the Qinling orogenic belt and the northwestern Sichuan Basin in central–SW China are ideal for investigating a reactivated tectonic belt and basin formation. We studied the Lower Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous sedimentary sequences and structures along the northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin, and obtained detrital zircon U–Pb ages for these rocks. The structures show that deformation migrated SE-wards and S-wards into the Sichuan Basin along the Longmen Shan, Micang Shan and Daba Shan tectonic belts during middle–late Mesozoic time. The Lower Jurassic oligomictic conglomerates have a smaller grain size and thicken towards the south, indicating protracted transport from a northern source. The conglomerates deposited near-source record post-orogenic south-vergent thrusting during the Late Triassic – Early Jurassic epochs. The Lower Cretaceous conglomerates and sandstones have multiple sources, which indicate that they were rapidly deposited near their source, synchronous with thrusting that occurred in response to coeval SE-wards and S-wards thrusting in the Longmen Shan and Daba Shan tectonic belts during the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous epochs. Detrital zircon grains from the Lower Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks yielded age peaks of 2600–2200, 1850–1600, 850–700, 540–400, 250–180 and 180–140 Ma. A comparison of these ages with those of surrounding exposed rocks indicates that the sediments in the northwestern Sichuan Basin were supplied from the Qinling orogenic belt, the northwestern Yangtze Block, the south margin of the North China Block and the Songpan–Garzê Terrane. The youngest peaks of detrital zircon U–Pb ages at 207 and 159 Ma constrain the two stages of intracontinental shortening and highlight the link between intracontinental deformation and sedimentation.

A large bone from the upper Eocene Totland Bay Formation of Hordle Cliff (Hampshire), originally described by Seeley (1866) as Macrornis tanaupus and interpreted by him as belonging to a ‘large Struthious bird’, is redescribed and illustrated for the first time. It is not a reptile bone, as previously suggested, but the proximal part of a left avian tibiotarsus. A mass estimate of 43 kg, comparable to that of an emu, suggests that it was flightless. A precise identification is difficult because of the incompleteness of the specimen, and Macrornis tanaupus should probably be considered as a nomen dubium. We exclude Seeley’s interpretation as a ratite, as well as previous attributions to gastornithids. We tentatively suggest that the specimen may belong to a phorusrhacid, which would extend the stratigraphic record of this group in Europe by a few million years. The presence of a large terrestrial bird in the upper Eocene of Europe may have a bearing on the interpretation of enigmatic footprints of very large birds from the upper Eocene Paris gypsum.

Precise U–Pb zircon dating using the chemical abrasion – isotope dilution – thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS) method constrains the age of the Central Sudetic Ophiolite (CSO) in the Variscan Belt of Europe. A felsic gabbro from the Ślęża Massif contains zircon xenocrysts dated at 404.8 ± 0.3 Ma and younger crystals dated at 402.6 ± 0.2 Ma that determine the final crystallization age of the gabbro. An identical age of 402.7 ± 0.3 Ma was determined for plagiogranite from the Nowa Ruda–Słupiec Massif, and plagiogranite from the Braszowice–Brzeźnica Massif yields a similar, but less reliable, age of > 401.2 Ma. The different massifs in the CSO are therefore considered as tectonically dismembered fragments of a single oceanic domain formed at c. 402.6–402.7 Ma (Early Devonian – Emsian). The magmatic activity recorded in the CSO was contemporaneous with the high-temperature/high-pressure metamorphism of granulites and peridotites in the Góry Sowie Massif, separating dismembered parts of the CSO. This suggests geodynamic coupling between the continental subduction recorded in the Góry Sowie and the oceanic spreading recorded in the CSO. Regional geological data indicate that the CSO was obducted before c. 383 Ma, less than 20 Ma after its formation at an oceanic spreading centre. The CSO is shown to be one of the oldest and first obducted among the Devonian ophiolites of the Variscan Belt. The CSO probably originated in an evolved back-arc basin in which the influence of subduction-related fluids and melts increased with time, from negligible during the formation of predominant mid-ocean-ridge-type magmatic rocks to strong at later stages, when rodingites, epidosites and other minor lithologies formed.

We report new U–Pb zircon age data, zircon in situ oxygen isotope, mineral chemistry, whole-rock geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotopic compositions from the Early Devonian ultrapotassic Gucheng pluton in the North China Craton, and discuss its petrogenesis. The Gucheng pluton is exposed in the northern part of the North China Craton and forms a composite intrusion, consisting of K-feldspar-bearing clinopyroxenite, clinopyroxene-bearing syenite and alkali-feldspar syenite. Mineral phases in these lithologies include clinopyroxene (Wo43–48En19–35Fs18–38), sanidine (An0Ab3–11Or89–97), and subordinate titanite, andradite and Na-feldspar. These rocks show homogeneous Sr but variable Nd isotopic compositions, and have relatively high zircon in situ oxygen isotopes (δ18O = 5.2–6.7). The Gucheng plutonic rocks formed through fractional crystallization and accumulation from ultrapotassic magmas, which were originated from partial melting of metasomatic vein systems in the subcontinental lithospheric mantle of the North China Craton. These vein networks developed as a result of the reactions of fluids derived from subducted pelitic sediments on the downgoing Palaeo-Asian ocean floor with the enriched, subcontinental lithospheric mantle peridotites. Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb zircon dating has revealed a crystallization age of 415 Ma for the timing of the emplacement of the Gucheng pluton that marks the early stages of alkaline magmatism associated with the Andean-type continental margin evolution along the northern edge of the North China Craton facing the Palaeo-Asian Ocean.

Oceanic red beds (ORBs) are present in Upper Cretaceous and Danian deep-marine deposits in the Basque–Cantabrian Basin of northern Spain. The presence and regularity of the succession of marl–limestone couplets is exceptional based on the macroscopic, microscopic and geochemical evidence collected. Five types of marl–limestone couplets are identified based on the colour, and a high maximum sedimentation rate (3.6 cm ka–1 ) is noted. The oxidizing activity of deep, cold-water masses is indicated by the oxygen isotope signal in the lower–upper Maastrichtian and Danian sections and the presence of the boreal inoceramid Spyridoceramus tegulatus. In theory, the variation in colour from grey to greenish-yellow, purple and pink up to red tones correlates with the Fe2+/(Fe2++Fe3+) ratio. It is interpreted as the possible palaeoenvironmental transit of particles that sediment out slowly in oxic environments when they circulate through cooler, oxidizing water masses. The colour is considered to be a depositional feature, and hematite, detected by X-ray diffraction, is the main staining agent, without discarding the possible redistribution of previous oxyhydroxides passing to hematite as a final product. The cell filling of the foraminifer shells does not incorporate appreciable amounts of Fe and Mg during diagenesis. Bacterial activity is detected using scanning electron microscopy images, both in the coccolith debris and in the detrital micas, although there is uncertainty as to its importance in the staining process.

Detrital zircon geochronology can help address stratigraphic- to lithospheric-scale geological questions. The approach is reliant on statistically robust, representative age distributions that fingerprint source areas. However, there is a range of biases that may influence any detrital age signature. Despite being a fundamental and controllable source of bias, handpicking of zircon grains has received surprisingly little attention. Here, we show statistically significant differences in age distributions between bulk-mounted and handpicked fractions from an unconsolidated heavy mineral sand deposit. Although there is no significant size difference between bulk-mounted and handpicked grains, there are significant differences in their aspect ratio, circularity and colour, which indicate inadvertent preferential visual selection of euhedral and coloured zircon grains. Grain colour comparisons between dated and bulk zircon fractions help quantify bias. Bulk-mounting is the preferred method to avoid human-induced selection bias in detrital zircon geochronology.

The recent proliferation of deformable plate tectonic modelling techniques has provided a new direction in the study of plate tectonics with substantial implications for our understanding of plate deformation and past kinematics. Such models account for intraplate deformation, yet are highly variable in their inputs, capabilities and applications. The aim of this commentary is to review recent contributions to this topic, and to consider future directions and major omissions. Through this review it is apparent that the current published deformable models can be subdivided into those that as an input either: (1) solely use plate motions to drive deformation, or (2) require stretching or beta factor. Deformable models are resolving some outstanding issues with plate reconstructions, but major simplifications and modelling assumptions remain. Primarily, obtaining model constraints on the spatio-temporal evolution of deformation is an outstanding problem. Deformable plate models likely work best when the kinematics of smaller plates are included. However, questions remain regarding how to define such blocks, and their kinematic histories, whilst some work suggests that inclusion of such entities is negated through quantitative restorations.