Search results for "15. Life on land"
showing 10 items of 1469 documents
Amphibians and reptiles as palaeonvironmental proxies during the Late Pleistocene (MIS3): The case of Stratigraphic Unit V of El Salt, Alcoi, Spain
2021
The locality of El Salt (Alcoi, Spain) is a key site for understanding the extirpation of Neanderthals in the eastern part of Iberia. In this paper, we analyse an assemblage of amphibians and reptiles from Stratigraphic Unit V (45.2 ± 3.4 ka to 44.7 ± 3.4 ka), which corresponds to one of the last regional records of Neanderthals, to improve knowledge of the palaeoecology and palaeoclimate of this event. The assemblage comprises three anurans (Pelodytes sp., Alytes obstetricans, and Epidalea calamita), two lizards (Lacertidae indet. and Chalcides bedriagai), and five snakes (Colubridae indet., Coronella sp., Coronella sp./Zamenis sp., Natrix maura, and Vipera latastei). Palaeoclimatic recons…
Detrital-zircon geochronology and provenance of the El Oro Metamorphic Complex, Ecuador: Geodynamic implications for the evolution of the western Gon…
2019
Abstract The El Oro Metamorphic Complex (EOMC) in SW Ecuador has been the subject of debate for several decades. While previous studies have focused on the metamorphic and deformation history of the complex to determine its geodynamic evolution, the pre-metamorphic history and its association to units in the north-central Andes remains poorly understood. Here we present a U-Pb detrital zircon provenance study to provide insights into the depositional history and the geodynamic setting of the EOMC. Our results imply that the southern portion of the EOMC (the Tahuin division) is composed of an older Palaeozoic (pre-Famatinian) sequence in the south (El Tigre unit; c. 525-510 Ma), and younger …
Current Wildland Fire Patterns and Challenges in Europe: A Synthesis of National Perspectives
2021
Changes in climate, land use, and land management impact the occurrence and severity of wildland fires in many parts of the world. This is particularly evident in Europe, where ongoing changes in land use have strongly modified fire patterns over the last decades. Although satellite data by the European Forest Fire Information System provide large-scale wildland fire statistics across European countries, there is still a crucial need to collect and summarize in-depth local analysis and understanding of the wildland fire condition and associated challenges across Europe. This article aims to provide a general overview of the current wildland fire patterns and challenges as perceived by natio…
Ammonite paleobiogeography during the Pliensbachian-Toarcian crisis (Early Jurassic) reflecting paleoclimate, eustasy, and extinctions.
2011
14 pages; International audience; The Pliensbachian-Toarcian crisis (Early Jurassic) is one of the major Mesozoic paleoecological disturbances when ca. 20% of marine and continental families went extinct. Contemporaneously, profound paleobiogeographical changes occurred in most oceanic domains including a disruption of ammonite provincialism during the Early Toarcian. Here, we quantitatively reappraise the structure and evolution of paleobiogeographical patterns displayed by ammonite faunas before, during, and after the biological crisis, over a time-interval including 13 biochronozones. The high-resolution study presented here involves the use of hierarchical Cluster Analyses, non-metric M…
Chronostratigraphy and geochronology: A proposed realignment.
2013
We propose a realignment of the terms geochronology and chronostratigraphy that brings them broadly into line with current use, while simultaneously resolving the debate over whether the Geological Time Scale should have a “single” or “dual” hierarchy of units: Both parallel sets of units are retained, although there remains the option to adopt either a single (i.e., geochronological) or a dual hierarchy in particular studies, as considered appropriate. Thus, geochronology expresses the timing or age of events (depositional, diagenetic, biotic, climatic, tectonic, magmatic) in Earth’s history (e.g., Hirnantian glaciation, Famennian-Frasnian mass extinction). Geochronology can also qualify r…
A multiproxy study of Younger Dryas and Early Holocene climatic conditions from the Grabia River paleo-oxbow lake (central Poland)
2015
International audience; A multi-proxy reconstruction of water depth, temperature and precipitation inferred from Cladocera, Chironomidae and pollen assemblages has been obtained from Świerczyna paleo-oxbow (central Poland) during the Younger Dryas (YD) and Early Holocene. Results suggest that the YD was relatively cold and comprised two main phases. The first (ca. 12,500–12,000 cal. yrs BP) is characterized by a continental climatic regime and a decrease in winter temperatures and precipitation but an increase in spring/summer precipitation. The second phase (ca. 12,000–11,500 cal. yrs BP) was more mild with a variable continental climate, an increase in summer and winter temperature, a len…
Occurrence of organic-matter-rich beds in Early Cretaceous coastal evaporitic setting (Dorset, UK): a link to long-term palaeoclimate changes?
2009
11 pages; International audience; In Dorset (southern U.K.), the Durlston Bay and Lulworth Cove sections expose lowermost Cretaceous coastal marine and non-marine partly evaporitic sediments (the so-called Purbeckian facies). An interval with organic matter (OM)-rich layers is recognized in both sections. This OM-rich interval is 20 m thick in the middle of the Durlston Bay section. Within these beds, a large OM accumulation is recorded, with total organic carbon (TOC) of up to 8.5 wt%. High hydrogen index (HI) values (up to 956 mgHC/gTOC) point to a Type I OM, generally considered as derived from algal-bacterial biomass. This contrasts with the OM present in the underlying and overlying in…
New methods for the palaeoenvironmental investigation of arid wetlands, Dead Sea edge, Jordan
2015
International audience
First Perigondwanan record of actinolepids (Vertebrata: Placodermi: Arthrodira) from the Lochkovian (Early Devonian) of Spain and its palaeobiogeogra…
2011
Different palaeogeographic models have been proposed for the position of Laurussia ( including Baltica) and Gondwana-derived microcontinents ( including Ibero-Armorica) during Ordovician to Late Carboniferous times. Principal differences concern the presence and duration of a large ocean, the Rheic Ocean, acting as a faunal barrier between these areas. The timing of the collision of Laurussia with Gondwana and/or Gondwana-derived terranes continues to be debated. Here we present new faunal data revealing close biogeographical relations between Ibero-Armorica ("Perigondwanan" or Gondwanan derivate terranes) and Podolia (SE margin of Baltica, in Laurussia). The placoderm assemblage found in t…
La faune ammonitique des marnes à fossiles ferrugineux de la région de Niort, France (Oxfordien inférieur, Zone à Cordatum, Sous-Zone à Cordatum)
2009
21 pages; Une nouvelle récolte d'ammonites dans les marnes à ammonites ferrugineuses de la région de Niort (France), autrefois étudiées par de GROSSOUVRE (1922), apporte de très nombreuses informations biostratigraphiques, paléoenvironnementales et paléobiogéographiques. La faune est datée de l'Oxfordien inférieur : Zone à Cordatum, Sous-Zone à Cordatum, partie inférieure probable. De plus, elle est unique en Europe occidentale 1) par les espèces trouvées -dont certaines ne semblent connues que dans ce gisement- 2) par la domination très atypique du binôme Taramelliceras - Creniceras qui représente les 2/3 des individus. Enfin, le spectre faunique plaide en faveur d'un milieu de plate-forme…