Two hundred and eighty specimens of paradoxidids from two localities in the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland) have been reanalysed using morphometric techniques. Revision of the dataset provided evidence for the presence of two endemic taxa: Acadoparadoxides kozlowskii (Orłowski, 1959) and Acadoparadoxides samsonowiczi (Orłowski, 1959), both belonging to the earliest group of Acadoparadoxides, initially considered to be present only in Gondwanan successions. Thus, this is the first description of the members of this group outside West Gondwana. The taxonomic revision, and the presence of representatives of the earliest acadoparadoxidines coupled with the absence of taxa typical of Scandinavia that were previously described from this locality have resulted in the modification of the biostratigraphic scheme hitherto used in the Holy Cross Mountains. The newly established A. samsonowiczi – A. kozlowskii Assemblage Zone is correlated with the Morocconus notabilis Zone of Morocco, and thus represents the Cambrian Series 2 and 3 boundary interval. Links with West Gondwana challenge the existing palaeogeographic interpretations for the southern part of the Holy Cross Mountains and point to an urgent need to revise the position of the Małopolska Block during the middle Cambrian.

We present a statistical approach to data mining and quantitatively evaluating detrital age spectra for sedimentary provenance analyses and palaeogeographic reconstructions. Multidimensional scaling coupled with density-based clustering allows the objective identification of provenance end-member populations and sedimentary mixing processes for a composite crust. We compiled 58 601 detrital zircon U–Pb ages from 770 Precambrian to Lower Palaeozoic shelf sedimentary rocks from 160 publications and applied statistical provenance analysis for the Peri-Gondwanan crust north of Africa and the adjacent areas. We have filtered the dataset to reduce the age spectra to the provenance signal, and compared the signal with age patterns of potential source regions. In terms of provenance, our results reveal three distinct areas, namely the Avalonian, West African and East African–Arabian zircon provinces. Except for the Rheic Ocean separating the Avalonian Zircon Province from Gondwana, the statistical analysis provides no evidence for the existence of additional oceanic lithosphere. This implies a vast and contiguous Peri-Gondwanan shelf south of the Rheic Ocean that is supplied by two contrasting super-fan systems, reflected in the zircon provinces of West Africa and East Africa–Arabia.

An oriented Woodford Shale core from the eastern Ardmore Basin was sampled to test if the shale was an open or closed system to hydrothermal fluids, and to determine the timing of alteration. Mineralized fractures are ubiquitous in the core, and the shale exhibits a complex paragenesis with multiple hydrothermal minerals, including biotite, magnesite, norsethite, gorceixite and potassium feldspar present in and around the fractures. These minerals suggest that the Woodford Shale was an open system during part of its diagenetic history. Vitrinite reflectance (Ro) measurements indicate values of ∼1.81 % (∼230 °C). Palaeomagnetic analysis reveals a characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) with south-southeasterly declinations and shallow inclinations that resides in magnetite. This ChRM is interpreted to be either a chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) or a thermochemical remanent magnetization (TCRM) that was acquired at 245 ± 10 Ma during Late Permian time based on the pole position (51.0° N, 115.6° E). Because the palaeomagnetic specimens show evidence of extensive hydrothermal alteration, the CRM/TCRM is interpreted to date the migration of hydrothermal fluids through the shale. The agreement in timing with other studies that report hydrothermal alteration in southern Oklahoma and the Ouachita Mountains in Late Permian time, suggest that there were post-collisional fluid-flow events which accessed reservoirs of warm fluids.

Mass transport deposits (MTDs), created by gravity-driven deformation of unlithified sediments, and tectonic mélanges produced by contractional deformation are characterized by a similar chaotic appearance. It follows that distinguishing structures formed by soft-sediment deformation during mass transport from those produced by contractional tectonics can be problematic. In fact, deformation occurring along detachment levels may completely obliterate the original sedimentary fabric. Although a number of advances have been made during recent decades, field criteria for discriminating structures within MTDs that are overprinted by later regional contraction are not readily applicable to all the exposed examples. We address some of these general issues through a detailed case study of the Monte Facito Formation in Italy. This Triassic unit was formed during the Africa–Europe continental separation and, since the Miocene, has been involved in contractional deformation during the construction of the Apennines. The Monte Facito Formation consists of a series of stratigraphically coherent units, separated by chaotic and often deformed intervals, whose origin has been previously attributed to either tectonic or sedimentary processes. An example is provided by a characteristic pebbly mudstone (or ‘paraconglomerate’) which has been interpreted as either a Triassic gravity-flow deposit, or alternatively, as a product of shearing along regional contractional detachments during the Miocene. This detailed field-based study allows us to recognize structures related to the depositional processes that created these chaotic intervals, and which can therefore be interpreted as MTDs. We also discriminate structures connected to later contractional tectonics that locally produced intense reworking of the MTDs.

Multistage magmatic thermal events occurred in the Yardoi Dome and contain important information on the tectonomagmatic processes. The dome has played a crucial role in understanding the collisional evolution of the Tethyan Himalayan. We present new geochronological and geochemical data for muscovite-granite exposed in the Liemai area, Eastern Tethyan Himalayan Belt. Liemai muscovite-granite is strongly peraluminous, with A/CNK values characterized by evolved geochemical composition with high contents of SiO2-enriched large-ion lithophile elements, and is depleted of high-field-strength elements. These geochemical features indicate that granites possibly derived from partial melting of metasedimentary rocks and plagioclase fractional crystallization probably played a critical role in production of peraluminous granitic melts. Zircon U–Pb dating from muscovite-granite yielded ages of approximately 48.5 ± 1.1 Ma, representing its crystallization ages. This age is the oldest age of Tethyan Himalayan leucogranite from the Yardoi Dome and adjacent areas. However, the inherited zircon cores have ages of 135.7–3339.2 Ma. The εHf(t) values of all zircons vary from –6.4 to –2.3 and have varying Hf-isotope crustal model ages of 731–839 Ma. The geochemical and isotopic compositions indicate that magma of the Liemai granite can most likely be interpreted as products of the break-off related to thermal perturbation along the break-off window associated with the subduction of Neo-Tethyan slab. These magmas were derived mainly from the anatexis of ancient crustal materials under contraction and thickening conditions due to subduction of the Indian continent beneath southeastern Tibet.

The euarthropod Luohuilinella deletres sp. nov. is described from rare material from the Chengjiang biota, Cambrian Series 2, Stage 3, of Yunnan Province, China. Phylogenetic analysis recovers a xandarellid affinity for L. deletres, representing only the fifth described species of this clade. L. deletres possesses a head shield that is about one-fifth of the total body length and a trunk with 30 tergites, the reduced anterior-most tergite and terminal three tergites lacking pleural elongations. Anteriorly situated notches in the head shield are associated with stalked eyes, in contrast to the more posterior, enclosed eye slits present in Xandarella. Posterior to the antennae there are at least 11 pairs of biramous appendages preserved, including three pairs in the head. The morphology of the midline gut of L. deletres, in which lateral, unbranched diverticula are wider towards the front of the body, is a characteristic also found in various trilobites. The dorsoventrally flattened exoskeleton suggests a benthic or nektobenthic mode of life for L. deletres, as for other trilobitomorphs, and it likely used its well-developed anteriorly positioned eyes for searching out food, either to scavenge or to find prey.

Four complete platysiagid fish specimens are described from the Luoping Biota, Anisian (Middle Triassic), Yunnan Province, southwest China. They are small fishes with bones and scales covered with ganoine. All characters observed, such as nasals meeting in the midline, a keystone-like dermosphenotic, absence of post-rostral bone, two infraorbitals between dermosphenotic and jugal, large antorbital, and two postcleithra, suggest that the new materials belong to a single, new Platysiagum species, P. sinensis sp. nov. Three genera are ascribed to Platysiagidae: Platysiagum, Helmolepis and Caelatichthys. However, most specimens of the first two genera are imprints or fragmentary. The new, well-preserved specimens from the Luoping Biota provide more detailed anatomical information than before, and thus help amend the concept of the Platysiagidae. The Family Platysiagidae was previously classed in the Perleidiformes. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the Platysiagidae is a member of basal Neopterygii, and its origin seems to predate that of Perleidiformes. Moreover, platysiagid fishes are known from the Middle Triassic of the western Tethys region. The newly found specimens of platysiagids from Luoping provide additional evidence that both eastern and western sides of the Tethys Ocean were biogeographically more connected than previously thought.

An integrated study of sedimentological, sequence-stratigraphic and palaeodispersal analysis was applied to the Upper-Permian clastic sedimentary succession in the Northern Sydney Basin, Australia. The succession is subdivided into fifteen facies and three facies associations. The facies associations are further subdivided into eight sub-facies associations. The sedimentary evolution involves progradation from delta-front to delta-plain to fluvial depositional environments, with a significant increase in sediment grain size across the unconformable contact that separates the deltaic from the overlying fluvial system. In contrast to the delta front that is wave/storm- and/or river-influenced, the delta plain is significantly affected by tides, with the impact of tidal currents decreasing up-sequence in the delta plain. The general lack of wave-influenced sedimentary structures suggests low wave energy in the delta plain. The abrupt termination of the tidal impact in the fluvial realm relates to the steep topographic gradients and high sediment supply, which accompanied the uplift of the New England Orogen. The sequence-stratigraphic framework includes highstand (deltaic forest and topset) and lowstand (fluvial topset) systems tracts, separated by a subaerial unconformity. In contrast to most of the mud-rich modern counterparts, this is an example of a sand-rich tidally influenced deltaic system, developed adjacent to the source region. This investigation presents a depositional model for tidal successions in regions of tectonic uplift and confinement.

We present updated U–Pb ages and Hf isotopic compositions of detrital zircons and whole-rock geochemical data to investigate the provenance and tectonic setting of late Neoproterozoic and early Cambrian sandstones from the Cathaysia Block, in order to offer new constraints on its tectonic evolution and its palaeo-position within the supercontinent. The source rocks for the studied sandstones were dominated by felsic–intermediate materials with moderate weathering history. U–Pb dating results show major populations at c. 2500 Ma, 1000–900 Ma and 870–716 Ma with subordinate peaks at 655–532 Ma, consistent with the global Neoarchean continental crust growth, assembly and break-up of Rodinia, and Pan-African Event associated with the formation of Gondwana. Zircon U–Pb ages and Hf isotopic data suggest that most derived from exotic terranes once connected to the Cathaysia Block. Using whole-rock geochemical analysis, it was determined that the studied sedimentary rocks were deposited in a passive continental margin and the Cathaysia and Yangtze blocks were part of the same continent; no Cambrian ocean existed between them. Compiling a detrital zircon dataset from Qiangtang, northern India, the Lhasa Terrane and Western Australia, the Cathaysia Block seems to be more similar to the Qiangtang and western part of the northern India margin, instead of having a direct connection with the Lhasa Terrane and Western Australia in the Gondwana reconstruction during the late Neoproterozoic and Cambrian eons.

Oldowan sites in primary geological context are rare in the archaeological record. Here we describe the depositional environment of Oldowan occurrences at Kanjera South, Kenya, based on field descriptions and granulometric analysis. Excavations have recovered a large Oldowan artefact sample as well as the oldest substantial sample of archaeological fauna. The deposits at Kanjera South consist of 30 m of fluvial, colluvial and lacustrine sediments. Magneto- and biostratigraphy indicate the Kanjera South Member of the Kanjera Formation was deposited during 2.3–1.92 Ma, with 2.0 Ma being a likely age for the archaeological occurrences. Oldowan artefacts and associated fauna were deposited in the colluvial and alluvial silts and sands of beds KS1–3, in the margins of a lake basin. Field descriptions and granulometric analysis of the sediment fine fraction indicate that sediments from within the main archaeological horizon were emplaced as a combination of tractional and hyperconcentrated flows with limited evidence of debris-flow deposition. This style of deposition is unlikely to significantly erode or disturb the underlying surface, and therefore promotes preservation of surface archaeological accumulations. Hominins were repeatedly attracted to the site locale, and rapid sedimentation, minimal bone weathering and an absence of bone or artefact rounding further indicate that fossils and artefacts were quickly buried.

The Weihe Basin is an intracontinental rift basin in central China that provides an ideal location for studying the interactions between regional tectonics and monsoonal climate change. In this paper, we present detrital zircon U–Pb ages from sediments from Core LYH drilled in the northern margin of the basin. We use these to illuminate changing sediment transport processes, provenance and palaeo-environments during the Quaternary. The sediments are dominated by zircon age groups of 100–400 Ma and 400–550 Ma, and three secondary age peaks at 700–1100 Ma, 1700–2100 Ma and 2400–2600 Ma. Multidimensional scaling plots support the conclusion that the Central Loess Plateau and the Luo River are the dominant sources of sediments to the core site. Before c. 1.06 Ma, the Qinling Mountains and the Wei River, as well as the Yellow River, had minor influence on the sedimentation at the core site. These results are consistent with the existence of a palaeolake prior to 1.06 Ma, which allowed sediments supplied to the south and east edge of the basin to be reworked to the northern side of the Weihe Basin. Subsequently, the Luo River has provided a steady source of sediments to the northern Weihe Basin.

Most of the known and most-complete Early Jurassic specimens of plesiosaurians were recovered from the United Kingdom and Germany, and few specimens from that age originate from other areas in Europe. This study describes a new plesiosaurian taxon from Toarcian deposits of Luxembourg, Microcleidus melusinae, represented by the most complete skeleton ever discovered from this country. A preliminary phylogenetic analysis places Microcleidus melusinae within Microcleididae, as a sister taxon of the species previously included in the genus Microcleidus. The new specimen studied here contributes to our understanding of the palaeodiversity of Early Jurassic plesiosaurians and confirms their high degree of ‘endemism’ and low morphological disparity.

A new insular species of Paraethomys (Muridae, Rodentia) with medium-sized hypsodont teeth is described from the Zanclean of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean). The m1 displays the most distinctive traits: hypsodonty, a high occurrence of an unusual anterior cingulum, a well-developed labial cingulum, high accessory labial cuspids resembling the Apodemus pattern and a funnel between c1 and the hypoconid. Paraethomys balearicus sp. nov. preserves traits close to those present in the earliest populations of Paraethomys meini from the upper Turolian, such as a developed posterior spur on t3 in the M1, a connection between t4 and t8 in the M1, a narrow connection between t6 and t9 in the M1 and the occasional presence of an individualized t9 and a t12 in some M2s. The relationship between the new taxon and its direct mainland ancestor gives additional support to a Messinian origin for the so-called Myotragus fauna, which became isolated after the refilling of the Mediterranean Sea 5.33 Ma ago. The absence of Paraethomys in other known younger Mallorcan sites suggests that its extinction most probably occurred at an indeterminate time during the Pliocene Epoch.

Jurassic sandstones in the Xiongcun porphyry copper–gold district, southern Lhasa subterrane, Tibet, China were analysed for petrography, major oxides and trace elements, as well as detrital zircon U–Pb and Hf isotopes, to infer their depositional age, provenance, intensity of source-rock palaeo-weathering and depositional tectonic setting. This new information provides important evidence to constrain the tectonic evolution of the southern Lhasa subterrane during the Late Triassic – Jurassic period. The sandstones are exposed in the lower and upper sections of the Xiongcun Formation. Their average modal abundance (Q21F11L68) classifies them as lithic arenite, which is also supported by geochemical studies. The high chemical index of alteration values (77.19–85.36, mean 79.96) and chemical index of weathering values (86.19–95.59, mean 89.98) of the sandstones imply moderate to intensive weathering of the source rock. Discrimination diagrams based on modal abundance, geochemistry and certain elemental ratios indicate that felsic and intermediate igneous rocks constitute the source rocks, probably with a magmatic arc provenance. The detrital zircon ages (161–243 Ma) and εHf(t) values (+10.5 to +16.2) further constrain the sandstone provenance as subduction-related Triassic–Jurassic felsic and intermediate igneous rocks from the southern Lhasa subterrane. A tectonic discrimination method based on geochemical data of the sandstones, as well as detrital zircon ages from sandstones, reveals that the sandstones were most likely deposited in an oceanic island-arc setting. These results support the hypothesis that the tectonic background of the southern Lhasa subterrane was an oceanic island-arc setting, rather than a continental island-arc setting, during the Late Triassic – Jurassic period.

One of the world’s most notable intraplate volcanic regions lies on the eastern Australian plate and includes two age-progressive trails offshore (Tasmantid and Lord Howe seamount chains) and the world’s longest continental hotspot trail (Cosgrove Track). While most studies agree that these chains formed by the rapid northward motion of the Australian plate over a slowly moving mantle source, the volcanic output along these trails, their plate–mantle interactions and the source of the magmatism remain unconstrained. A geophysical mapping and dredging campaign on the RV Southern Surveyor (ss2012_v06) confirmed the prolongation of the Lord Howe Seamount Chain to the South Rennell Trough, ∼200 km further north than previously sampled. Radiometric dating of these new samples at 27–28 Ma, together with previously published results from the southern part of the chain, indicate straightforward northward motion of the Australian plate over a quasi-stationary hotspot as predicted by Indo-Atlantic and Pacific hotspot models. A peak in Lord Howe Seamount Chain magmatism in late Oligocene time, also seen in the Tasmantid and Cosgrove trails, matches a 27–23 Ma slowdown of Australian plate motion. The average magma flux of the Lord Howe hotspot is estimated at 0.4 m3 s−1, similar to rates of crustal production at the South Rennell Trough prior to cessation of spreading in middle Oligocene time, supporting a potential genetic relationship to this spreading system. In addition, plate tectonic modelling suggests that the seamounts and plateaus in the Coral Sea may host the earliest evidence of plume activity in the area.

Megacephalosaurus eulerti is a large macropredatory plesiosaur representing one of the last members of the diverse pliosaurid clade Brachaucheninae. The taxon was established upon a nearly complete skull including the mandible and fragments of the postcranial skeleton originating from the lower middle Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) of Kansas, USA. Owing to its age, reasonable completeness and its state of preservation, M. eulerti bears important anatomical details regarding the last brachauchenines. Here we assess the dentition of the taxon, compare the teeth to those of other thalassophonean pliosaurids and comment on the utility of these results for inferences of the phylogenetic relationships of the last brachauchenines. Additionally, we provide remarks on the cranial anatomy of M. eulerti, revise character scores of this taxon used in current phylogenetic studies and address the phylogenetic relationships within Brachaucheninae. Parsimony analyses, aimed to test different character sampling and tree-search strategy, inferred only a single unambiguous synapomorphy uniting a clade formed by mid- to Late Cretaceous brachauchenines: presence of subcircular rather than subtrihedral/trihedral cross-sectional shape of the teeth. Still, the last brachauchenines (Brachauchenius and Megacephalosaurus) can be roughly characterized by a switch from anisodont to subisodont dentition and reduction of their tooth count. Nevertheless, the overall knowledge of the origin, phylogenetic relationships and distinguishability of brachauchenine pliosaurids remains poor and represents a subject for further extensive studies and modifications in taxon and character sampling.

High-SiO2 rocks referred to as oceanic plagiogranites are common within the crustal sequences of ophiolites; however, their mode of petrogenesis is controversial with both late-stage fractional crystallization and partial melting models being proposed. Here, we present new whole-rock data from plagiogranitic dyke-like bodies and lenses from the lower and middle sections of the sheeted dyke complex of the Cretaceous Muslim Bagh Ophiolite, northwestern Pakistan. The plagiogranites have similar geochemical signatures that are inconsistent with them being the fractionation products of the mafic units of the Muslim Bagh Ophiolite. However, the plagiogranites all display very low TiO2 contents (<0.4 wt%), implying that they formed by partial melting of mafic rocks. Melt modelling of a crustal gabbro from the Muslim Bagh Ophiolite shows that the trace-element signature of the plagiogranites can be replicated by 5–10% melting of a crustal hornblende gabbro with amphibole as a residual phase, resulting in a concave-up middle rare Earth element pattern. Compositional similarities between the Muslim Bagh Ophiolite plagiogranites and Archaean TTG (trondhjemite–tonalite–granodiorite) has implications for the generation of juvenile Archaean continental crust. As the Muslim Bagh Ophiolite was derived in a supra-subduction zone, it is suggested that some Archaean TTG may have been derived from melting of mafic upper crust in early subduction-like settings. However, due to the small volume of Muslim Bagh Ophiolite plagiogranites, it is inferred that they can be instructive on the petrogenesis of some, but not all, Archaean TTG.

New Palaeogene vertebrate localities were recently reported in the southern Dakhla area (southwestern Morocco). The Eocene sediment strata crops out on cliffs along the Atlantic Ocean coast. Vertebrate remains come from five conglomeratic sandstone beds and are principally represented by isolated teeth belonging to micromammals, selachians and bony fishes, a proboscidean assigned to ?Numidotherium sp. and many remains of archaeocete whales (Basilosauridae). From fieldwork five lithostratigraphic sections were described, essentially based on the lithological characteristic of sediments. Despite the lateral variations of facies, correlations between these five sections were possible on the basis of fossil-bearing beds (A1, B1, B2, C1 and C2) and five lithological units were identified. The lower part of the section consists of rhythmically bedded, chert-rich marine siltstones and marls with thin black phosphorite with organic matter at the base. The overlying units include coarse-grained to microconglomeratic sandstones interbedded with silts, indicating deposition in a shallow-marine environment with fluvial influence. The natural remanence magnetization of a total of 50 samples was measured; the intensity of most of the samples is too weak however, before or after the first step of demagnetization. The palaeomagnetic data from the samples are very unstable, except for eight from three similar sandstone levels which show a normal polarity. Matched with biostratigraphic data on rodents, primates, the selachian, sirenian and cetacean faunas, the new carbon isotope chemostratigraphy on organics (1) refines the age of the uppermost C2 fossil-bearing bed to earliest Oligocene time and (2) confirms the Priabonian age of the B1 to C1 levels.

Dynamic topography is a well-established consequence of global geodynamic models of mantle convection with horizontal dimensions of >1000 km and amplitudes up to 2 km. Such physical models guide the interpretation of geological records on equal dimensions. Continent-scale geological maps therefore serve as reference frames of choice to visualize erosion/non-deposition as a proxy for long-wavelength, low-amplitude vertical surface motion. At a resolution of systems or series, such maps display conformable and unconformable time boundaries traceable over hundreds to thousands of kilometres. Unconformable contact surfaces define the shape and size of time gap (hiatus) in millions of years based on the duration of time represented by the missing systems or series. Hiatus for a single system or series base datum diminishes laterally to locations (anchor points) where it is conformable at the mapped resolution; it is highly dependent upon scale. A comparison of hiatus area between two successive system or series boundaries yields changes in location, shape, size and duration, indicative of the transient nature of vertical surface motion. As a single-step technique, it serves as a quantitative proxy for palaeotopography that can be calibrated using other geological data. The tool magnifies the need for geological mapping at the temporal resolution of stages, matching process rates. The method has no resolving power within conformable regions (basins) but connects around them. When applied to marine seismic sections that relate to rock record, not to time, biostratigraphic and radiometric data from deep wells are needed before hiatus areas – that relate to time – can be mapped.

The Katian (Upper Ordovician) Shiyanhe Formation at the Sigang section, Neixiang area, Henan Province, central China, has been investigated for carbon isotope (δ13Ccarb) chemostratigraphy. The carbon isotopic data document signal between the two major Ordovician positive shifts in δ13C, the early Katian Guttenberg and the Hirnantian excursions. The Kope (Ka1/2), Fairview (Ka2/3), Waynesville (Ka3/4), Whitewater (Ka4) excursions and a doubtful Elkhorn (Ka4) excursion are identified herein. The continuous and well-defined conodont zonal succession of the Sigang section provides a secure biostratigraphic framework for the mid-late Katian carbon isotope chemostratigraphy in China. Correlation between carbon-isotope data curve and the relative sea-level changes shows no clear correspondence, and hence the sea-level change is probably not the main driver of δ13C excursions during the Katian. Intercontinentally, the mid–late Katian carbon isotope excursions, identified mainly in the North American and Baltoscandian successions, are useful for improving long-distance stratigraphic correlations. This further suggests that these excursions represent global perturbations in the carbon cycle.