A thick succession of continental redbeds was deposited in a 50 km wide intra-arc basin on the Andean active continental margin in the Atacama region of northern Chile during early Cretaceous times. Upper Jurassic to early Cretaceous marine limestones were buried by the seaward progradation of a succession of coastal dunes, saline lakes and sandflats. Aeolian dune fields migrating towards the east across these coastal plains became stabilized by the growth of vegetation. Interdune alluvial areas between the sand dunes and dune fields developed into extensive alluvial braid plains which were in turn superimposed by alluvial fans. These fans were inundated by a regionally extensive saline lake produced by tectonic or volcanic damming of the sedimentary basin. This lake dried up leaving a large area of playa-lake mudflats. The climate was warm and semi-arid with a low and seasonal rainfall. Parts of the area supported a substantial vegetation of woody plants, together with a vertebrate fauna of dinosaurs, pterosaurs and crocodiles. The continental redbeds were derived from a volcanic source and were deposited on continental crust in a deep but narrow, north-south elongated, fault-bounded graben. This extensional basin formed in an intra-arc setting within an active andesitic volcanic chain. Upwards-coarsening sedimentary successions were the product of uplift of the fault-bounded margins of the basin.

The Castanheira pluton in north-central Portugal is a small (1000 m × 600 m) granite body of Hercynian age which contains a remarkable abundance of granite-cored, biotite-rimmed nodules. The nodules are interpreted as representing original bubbles in the uppermost volatile-rich zone of a granitic pluton. Strong depletion in K and Rb in the host granite around the nodules suggests that the biotite is magmatic in origin. The nodules may have formed by reaction between chloroferrate(II) complexes in the vapour phase and silicate melt, possibly followed by condensation of the vapour phase to a small granitic core. Motion of the vapour bubble stabilized a gradient in chemical potential with respect to the host granite, giving rise to the nodules. Chemical, petrological and structural data suggest that the pluton was part of a larger granite body, which was forcefully emplaced during synchronous transcurrent shearing. The inferred presence of volatiles, in addition to the pervasive tourmalinization of the roof zone, suggest that the magma was halogen-rich; this may imply that the magma had low viscosity.

The Mesozoic forearc of Alexander Island, Antarctica, is one of the few places in the world where the original stratigraphic relationship between a forearc basin and an accretionary complex is exposed. Newlydiscovered sedimentary rocks exposed at the western edge of the forearc basin fill (the Kimmeridgian–Albian Fossil Bluff Group) record the events associated with the basin formation. These strata are assigned to the newly defined Selene Nunatak Formation (?Bathonian) and Atoll Nunataks Formation (?Bathonian-Tithonian) within the Fossil Bluff Group.

The Selene Nunatak Formation contains variable thicknesses of conglomeratesand sandstones, predominantly derived from the LeMay Group accretionary complex upon which it is unconformable. The formation marks emergence and subsequent erosion of the inner forearc area. It is conformably overlain by the1 km thick Atoll Nunataks Formation, characterized by thinly-bedded mudstones and silty mudstones representing a marine transgression followed by trench-slope deposition. The Atoll Nunataks Formation marks a phase of subsidence, possibly in response to tectonic events in the accretionary prism that are known to have occurred at about the same time.

The Atoll Nunataks Formation is conformably overlain by the Himalia Ridge Formation, a thick sequence of basin-wide arc-derived conglomerates. This transition from fine- to coarse-grained deposition suggests that a well-developed depositional trough (and hence trench-slope break) had formed by that time. The Atoll Nunataks Formation therefore spans the formation of the forearc basin, and marks the transition from trench-slope to forearc basin deposition.

Barite-celestite solid solutions have been synthesized under controlled conditions by the counter-diffusion of Ba2+, Sr2+ and SO42–ions through a porous transport medium (silica gel), to investigate the factors which control compositionalzoning. The equilibrium compositions of solid solution and aqueous solutionhave been determined from the relative solubilities of barite and celestite, predicting that virtually pure barite should precipitate from Sr-rich solutions. However, nucleation and growth in a porous medium, where mass transport is by diffusion, takes place at very high supersaturations. The threshold supersaturation for nucleation is inversely related to the solubility and is therefore much higher for barite than celestite. The balance between the thermodynamics and kinetics of nucleation and growth at high supersaturations leads to zoning patterns the reverse of those predicted at equilibrium. At high supersaturations the zoning is periodic and sector-controlled with many of the general features observed in natural minerals. Oscillatory zoning with compositional gaps can take place without the need to invoke miscibility gaps or periodic variations in externally controlled intensive parameters.

The Anglo–Brabant Massif has formed a positive structural element since the Acadian orogenic phase in mid–Devonian times. As a consequence, the Caledonian basement lies at relatively shallow depth across the massif, encompassing a large area of southern Britain, the southern North Sea, southern Netherlands, Belgium and northern France (Fig.1).

The Lower Palaeozoic Bonney Pluton is a regionally extensive coarse-grained, variably megacrystic, monzodioritic to granitic body that crops out over 1000 km2 in South Victoria Land. It intruded upper amphibolite facies Koettlitz Group metasediments and interlayered orthogneisses. Magmatic fabrics are developed in the centre of the pluton by flow alignment of K-feldspars before the majority of phases had crystallized, whereas solid-state fabrics developed in the pluton margins by ductile–plastic deformation. Structures developed in the host-rocks vary around this elongate northwest–southeast-trending pluton. Upright, tight northwest–southeast-trending macroscopic folds are developed at the sides of the pluton, with axis-parallel stretching lineations and boudinage indicating strong northwest–southeast extension. Broad warps of tight macroscopic folds, and mesoscopic refolded folds, sheath folds and complicated interference patterns characterize areas at the ends of the pluton. Emplacement of the pluton involved radial expansion in a regional northeast–southwest compression, and growth predominantly in the northwest–southeast direction. Superposition of the radial expansion and regional compression resulted in an inhomogeneous strain field at a regional scale, with coaxial strain at the sides of the pluton and non-coaxial strain at the ends. Upright folds developed at the pluton's sides, and became tighter with continued coaxial deformation. Non-coaxial structures developed at the ends of the pluton and were pushed aside by the growing pluton into areas of coaxial deformation, resulting in complex folding, re-folding and sheath folds. Metamorphism of the host-rocks and migmatite development was more intense at the sides of the pluton than near the ends, possibly due to different P-T-t paths of host-rocks around syntectonic plutons.

Detailed descriptions of plant remains from a late Silurian (Pridoli) locality in Xinjiang Province, northwest China are presented. They include Junggaria spinosa Dou, interpreted as identical with Cooksonella sphaerica Senkevich, Salopella xingjiangensis Dou, and a number of sterile axes, including one with a leafy appearance superficially resembling a lycophyte, and others of probable algal affinity. Lack of anatomical and reproductive characteristics precludes a more precise assessment of relationships. A justification for the Pridoli rather than Lower Devonian age of the assemblage is based on graptolites. The composition of the assemblage is compared with coeval ones from Europe, North America, north Africa and Kazakhstan and has closest similarities with the latter. Palaeogeographic proximity on the Kazakhstan palaeocontinent is postulated, but the dearth of global Silurian occurrences of land plants make it premature to evaluate the significance of Kazakhstan and Chinese assemblages in terms of global provincialism in the late Silurian. The most distinctive element in these assemblages (Junggaria/Cooksonella) has sporangia with more complex, indeed more enigmatic organization, than seen in most Silurian and early Devonian rhyniophytoids.

Deep seismic reflection profiles over the Anglo–Brabant massif in the southern North Sea reveal reflection patterns throughout the crust that are distinctive and which differ significantly from those observed beneath adjacent areas with Mesozoic basins. Comparisons with reflection profiles from other platform areas suggest that the reflection patterns indicate large-scale structural features associated with compressional tectonics. If so, they may represent thrust structures associated with continental accretion of preferred Caledonian age.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that much of the ‘hummocky moraine’ present within the northern part of the LochLomond Readvance ice cap formerly situated in the North West Scottish Highlands may be interpreted as suites of ice-front moraines deposited during active decay. These landforms can be used to reconstruct ice cap decay, whichleads to important insights into the shrinking form of the ice cap and associated environmental conditions. Evidence has been collected from 10803 airphotographs and from detailed field survey. It is presented at three spatial scales.

The Limpopo Belt is a zone of thickened Archaean crust whose origin is currently explained by a late Archaean continent-continent collision between the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons. This review shows that the two cratons have fundamentally different geological histories and that the Zimbabwe Craton was unlikely to have behaved as a stable ‘cratonic’ block at the time of the Limpopo Belt collision. The geological histories of the Zimbabwe Craton, the North Marginal, Central and South Marginal zones of the Limpopo Belt and the Kaapvaal Craton are shown to be sufficiently different from one another to warrant their consideration as discrete terranes. The boundaries between the five units outlined above are all major shear zones, further supporting a terrane model for the Limpopo Belt. The five units were all intruded by late- to syn-tectonic granites c.2.6 Ga, constraining the accretion event to c. 2.6 Ga.

The Kap Edvard Holm Complex is an early Tertiary layered gabbro situated on the western side of the Kangerdlugssuaq fjord. Layered olivine gabbros in the Taco Point area are cut by several wehrlitic sill-like bodies which comprise a late ultramafic suite. An intrusive wehrlitic facies in the inner part of the bodies consists of olivine (+minor chrome-spinel) orthocumulate with clinopyroxene oikocrysts and interstitial plagioclase, kaersutite and phlogopite. A replacive facies which occurs in the marginal zones is texturally similar to the intrusive facies but contains no chromespinel and is more feldspathic, varying from a melanocratic olivine gabbro to a feldspathic wehrlite. It occurs where the sills wedge out laterally, in the lower contact zones where finger structures are widely developed, and in the upper contact zones where wehrlitic pipes feed melanocratic sheets, called parasol structures, which preferentially follow mafic layers in the host olivine gabbro. The wehrlites formed by the intrusion of hot, hydrous, ultrabasic magma into consolidated layered olivine gabbro. The replacive facies was formed by the volume for volume metasomatic replacement of olivine gabbro; dissolution of plagioclase was accompanied by crystallization of olivine. Some clinopyroxene was initially resorbed and later reprecipitated during this process. The relatively dense pore magma migrating upwards was restricted to pipes and spread out laterally when it encountered readily replaced mafic layers, while below the sills gabbro was replaced en masse and finger structures were formed. Similar late ultramafic suites occur in ophiolites, and their presence in the Kap Edvard Holm Complex supports suggestions that it acted as an ocean ridge type magma chamber during the initiation of early Tertiary sea floor spreading in the North Atlantic.

The emplacement of the Older Ryoke granitoids took place in the Mid-Cretaceous Period in the outermost side of the Inner Zone of southwest Japan, which was located at the eastern margin of the Eurasian Continent before the opening of the Japan Sea. The Ryoke Belt constitutes a long segment of the Cretaceous to Palaeogene felsic magmatic belt of Pacific Asia. The Older Ryoke granitoids represent its initial magmatism, related to the subduction of an oceanic plate underneath the Eurasian plate in that time. Their magmas were generated in the lower to middle crust beneath the Ryoke Belt in the subduction regime. They were emplaced during the Ryoke regional metamorphism and converted to orthogneisses.

Two genera of armoured dinosaurs (Ankylosauria) are present in the Lower Cretaceous Wealden Beds of England. Polacanthus Owencan be distinguished from Hylaeosaurus Mantell on the basis of significant differences in the pectoral girdle, hindlimb and dermal armour. A comprehensive review of the dinosaurs from the Wealden Series of England and contemporary basins of western Europe adds further evidence of a biologicalseparation between Lower Wealden (Hastings Beds, containing Hylaeosaurusarmatus) and Upper Wealden faunas (Wealden Group of the Isle of Wight-containing Polacanthus foxii-and nearly equivalent units in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain).

The nitrate deposits of the northern Atacama Desert occurin a narrow zone between the low-lying Pampa del Tamarugal to the east and the hills of the Coastal Range to the west. High purity nitrate ore occurs as stratiform seams about 20 cm thick, present at depths of 3–7 m below thedesert surface. The ore is hosted by a variety of lithologies and overlain by salt-cemented regolith. The ore is largely composed of nitratite (= sodanitre or Chilean salt peter) and halite with locally abundant humberstonite, polyhalite and mirabilite. Other salts present include Ca iodates and a variety of sulphate, borate and chromate minerals. Textural relationships can be used to deduce paragenetic sequences for individual salt samples and these combined to produce a generalized paragenetic web for the nitrate ore.These textural data can be combined with published solubility data to investigate the course of fluid evolution during ore genesis. The multiplicity of paragenetic relationships within the ore reflects the derivation of precipitating fluids from a variety of sources: westwards flowing Andean groundwater, coastal fogs, occasional rainfall and Andean-derived surface floodwaters. The unusual mineralogy of the nitrate ore reflects the extreme chemical evolution of the precipitating brines through multiple episodes of salt precipitation and remobilization during transport to the nitrate horizons. The formation of high purity nitrate ore appears to be the result of multiple phases of dissolution, reprecipitation and recrystallization, that have separated the highly soluble nitrate salts from less soluble salts in the overlying profile. Salts have largely accumulated through displacive growth, but some of the host silicate and carbonate lithologies have also undergonea small degree of salt replacement.

General agreement exists that the position of the base of the Cambrian (Precambrian–Cambrian boundary) should coincide with a biostratigraphic marker that can be widely traced and is linked to the evolution of the small shelly fauna. On the Siberian platform the presence of distinct facies during the Vendian–Cambrian interval has made biostratigraphic correlation based on palaeontological data highly contentious. A solution to this problem appears to exist with the recognition of an almost uninterrupted profile in the Aldan–Uchur watershed where key sections expose the eastern and transitional facial region. On this basis we present a general biostratigraphic scheme for the Vendian–Cambrian across the southern Siberian platform that connects separate facies. Further correlation with key sections in northern Siberia leads to the recognition of three biostratigraphic zones for the Vendian–Cambrian interval. These are: Anabarites trisulcatus Zone; Purella antiqua Zone; Aldanocyathus sunnaginicus Zone. The abundance of Chinese-type small shelly fossils in the region of the eastern facies suggest correlation of the A. sunnaginicus Zone with the Siphogonuchites–Paragloborilus Zone of China, and the P. antiqua Zone with the Circotheca–Anabarites–Protohertzina Zone. In places, at the base of the Circotheca–Anabarites–Protohertzina Zone in China, analogies to the A. trisulcatus Zone can be identified. It is proposed that in Siberia the base of the A. sunnaginicus Zone (= base of Tommotian Stage) be taken as the base of the Cambrian. This would correspond with Marker B of the Meishucunian in China

In 1991 a deep seismic line, MPNI-9101, was acquired in the southern North Sea. The line runs from the Mesozoic Broad Fourteens Basin in the north, across the West Netherlands Basin, onto the London–Brabant Massif in the south. The London–Brabant Massif is a WNW–ESE trending stable structure located beneath southeastern England, the southern North Sea and Belgium. The London–Brabant Massif represents the most easterly part of the Anglo-Brabant Massif. At the northern margin of the London-Brabant Massif, Devonian and Carboniferous siliciclastic and carbonate rocks onlap the massif. Farther south, shallow parts of the seismic line in the vicinity of the axial zone of the London–Brabant Massif are almost completely devoid of primary reflections. This zone is composed of strongly folded Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary units which have been mapped in the onshore part of Belgium. Numerous seismic reflection multiples from the base of the Cretaceous are observed on this part of the section. The southern limit of the zone is very abrupt and may correspond to a fault belt delimiting an area of magmatic rocks known in the onshore part of Belgium. Unusually the deeper parts of the seismic line show a strongly reflective lower crust beneath the London-Brabant, a phenomenon which has not been observed on other deep seismic sections across the massif. Two-way travel times to the base of the lower crustal reflective zone (corresponding to the Moho), increase from 10 seconds beneath the West Netherlands Basin in the north to 12 seconds beneath the London–Brabant Massif, suggesting a thickening of the crust.

The results of a reconnaissance apatite fission track study from southeast Ireland are compared with modelled ages and length distributions predicted using both traditional thermal histories and the thermal history indicated by the fission track age and length data. All samples have experienced total annealing during the Variscan orogeny. There is strong evidence for significant post-Variscan, pre-Mid Jurassic heating and cooling. The modelling also recognizes a third thermal event subsequent to 100 Ma. The implications of these results are examined in terms of the timing and extent of subsidence and inversion along the northern margin of the North Celtic Sea Basin.

Carbon isotope and magnetic polarity stratigraphic results from the Cambrian-Ordovician Boundary section at Xiaoyangqiao, near Dayangcha, Jilin Province, China, in comparison to a contemporaneous section at Black Mountain, Australia, indicate strata equivalent to major portions of the Australian sequence are either absent or are restricted to highly condensed intervals. These intervals are correlative with regressive sea level events identified in Australia and western North America, suggesting regional or eustatic sea level changes strongly influenced deposition of the Xiaoyangqiao sequence. These results also suggest the Xiaoyangqiao section is unfavourable as the site of the Cambrian-Ordovician Boundary Global Stratotype Section and Point.

Many seismic reflections from within sedimentary successions are thought to be generated along stratal surfaces because those surfaces are laterally continuous and have marked acoustic impedance contrasts. As stratal surfaces are isochronous, those reflections are then also taken as being chronostratigraphically significant. In contrast, seismic reflections are thought not to be generated along the boundaries of lithostratigraphic units because those boundaries are discontinuous and gradational. Nevertheless, synthetic seismic analysis shows that seismic reflections should in many circumstances be expected to follow lithostratigraphic unit boundaries, not stratal surfaces. As these lithostratigraphic unit boundaries will generally be diachronous, seismic reflections from within sedimentary successions should evidently not be treated as necessarily having chronostratigraphic significance.

New details from remotely sensed images of the structure and disposition of broad lithological variations in the Pan-African of northern Eritrea are discussed in the context of accretionary tectonics. The recognition of major north-south structural discontinuities allows the area to be divided into three discrete terranes with apparently different histories of deformation and metamorphism, magmagenesis and sedimentation. The central Hagar Terrane is dominated by large ultramafic masses with a volcano-sedimentary layered sequence, and shows the effects of major sinistral transpression and lateral expulsion. It is bounded to the west by a major fault, the Barka suture, and abuts the older Barka Terrane that comprises metasediments with evidence for polyphase ductile deformation and pre-kinematic dyke emplacement. The Hagar Terrane is thrust against the eastern Nacfa Terrane, which is dominated by low-grade calc-alkaline metavolcanics and immature volcanoclastic sediments intruded by syn-kinematic plutons. These units are pre-dated by an earlier high-grade basement and post-dated by high-level unmetamorphosed silicic volcanics and redbed sediments. The complex is suggested to have been assembled by oblique accretion from the southeast after arc volcanism in the Nacfa Terrane and back-arc extension in the Hagar Terrane ended with the cease of subduction.