Search results for "Geochemistry"

Terrestrial plants and marine algae from the Late Jurassic lithographic limestone of the Causse Méjean (Lozère, southern France)

2016

International audience; A new Late Jurassic flora was discovered in the fossiliferous lithographic limestone of the Causse Méjean, Lozère (southern France). It consists of the first Kimmeridgian/Tithonian plants from this area. Fossil plants are represented by megaremains preserved as impressions. This flora shows a co-occurrence of terrestrial plants and marine algae. The land plants include vegetative remains ascribed to bennettitaleans (Zamites Brongniart, 1828), conifers (Brachyphyllum Brongniart, 1828), and pteridosperms (Cycadopteris Zigno, 1853). Marine algae were ascribed to dasyclads (Goniolina D’Orbigny, 1850). Lithological and palaeontological features suggest preservation in a f…

A large temnospondyl humerus from the Rhaetian (Late Triassic) of Bonenburg (Westphalia, Germany) and its implications for temnospondyl extinction

2018

Temnospondyls are a group of basal tetrapods that existed from the Early Carboniferous to the Early Cretaceous. They were characteristic members of Permian and Triassic continental faunas around the globe. Only one clade, the Brachyopoidea (Brachyopidae and Chigutisauridae), is found as relics in the Jurassic of eastern Asia and the Cretaceous of Australia. The other Late Triassic clades, such as Plagiosauridae, Metoposauridae, and Cyclotsauridae, are generally believed to have gone extinct gradually before the end of the Triassic and putative Rhaetian records are stratigraphically poorly constrained. Temnospondyl humeri all show a similar morphological pattern, being stout, short, with wid…

Translating taxonomy into the evolution of conodont feeding ecology

2016

Conodont research has long been divided between utilitarian applications to solve geological problems versus analysis of their palaeobiology. However recent advances in conodont functional analysis allow these independent stands of research to be unified, decoding the functional implications of their morphological variation. We demonstrate this using synchrotron tomography and Finite Element Analysis, informed by occlusal and microwear analyses, to analyze functionally the classic evolutionary sequence of the genus Polygnathus. Our study shows that the evolution of the platform in Polygnathus occurred to accommodate and dissipate the stress accumulation derived from the tooth-like function …

REWORKING OF FUSULINIDS AND CALCIPHAERIDS IN THE LERCARA FORMATION (SICILY, ITALY); GEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

2004

Different fusulinids have been identified in the Lercara Formation (Sicily). They are: Reichelina sp., Schubertella paramelonica, Toriyamaia (?) sp., Neofusulinella lantenoisi, Yangchienia compressa, Rauserella staffi, Darvasites contractus, Chalaroschwagerina (Taiyuanella?) aff. davalensis, Levenella aff. evoluta, Pamirina darvasica, and Neoschwagerina ex gr. craticulifera. Small Permian foraminifers, as well as the calcispherid Asterosphaera pulchra also exist. The microfossils indicate reworking of different Permian stages, at different periods of time, and possibly also of the Mississippian (Early Carboniferous). All these resediments have been deposited within the Lercara Formation, a …

Flore du Jurassique basal de la ville de Mende (Lozère) : synthèse des gisements historiques, nouvelles données sédimentologiques, paléontologiques e…

2019

Resume Au cours du XXe siecle, la majorite des sites a plantes fossiles (Hettangien–Sinemurien) de la ville de Mende ont disparu a cause d’une importante urbanisation ou bien sont tombes dans l’oubli. Cet article presente une synthese des gisements a vegetaux fossiles, depuis leur decouverte au XIXe siecle jusqu’aux campagnes de prospection recentes. De nouvelles donnees lithostratigraphiques et paleobotaniques sont apportees pour deux sites historiques (le Ravin del Pouset et le Petit Seminaire), ainsi que deux localites fossiliferes dernierement decouvertes (route du Causse-d’Auge et route de Gardes). Cette etude revele la diversite des lithofacies contenant les plantes (dolomudstone, mar…

La radiation des échinodermes au Paléozoïque inférieur, l'exemple des blastozoaires.

2009

10 pages; Le sous-phylum Blastozoa est un des groupes d'échinodermes les plus diversifiés (dix classes) au début du Paléozoïque. Après révision critique de leur squelette, leurs morphologies en apparence très variées sont en fait homogènes. Leur diversité montre deux pics (Drumien, Sandbien) liés par un événement de fortes apparitions génériques au Cambrien supérieur-Ordovicien inférieur. Les blastozoaires montrent un fort endémisme au Cambrien et un important provincialisme à l'Ordovicien inférieur et moyen. Ils deviennent cosmopolites à l'Ordovicien supérieur, par plusieurs événements migratoires. Ils sont restreints à la Laurentia et à Baltica au Silurien inférieur.

Rhinocerotid tooth enamel 18O/16O variability between 23 and 12 Ma in southwestern France.

2006

Abstract The relationship between the oxygen isotope ratio of mammal tooth enamel and that of drinking water was used to reconstruct changes in the Miocene oxygen isotope ratio of rainfall (meteoric water δ 18 O MW ). These, in turn, are related to climatic parameters (temperature, precipitation and evaporation rate). δ 18 O values of rhinocerotid teeth from the Aquitaine Basin (southwestern France) suggest a significant climatic change between 17 and 12 Ma, characterized by cooling together with precipitation increase, in agreement with other terrestrial and oceanic records. To cite this article: I. Bentaleb et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).

The Late Ordovician glacial sedimentary system of the North Gondwana platform.

2009

International audience; The Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) glaciation is examined through the North Gondwana record. This domain extended from southern high palaeo-latitudes (southeastern Mauritania, Niger) to northern lower palaeo-latitudes (Morocco, Turkey) and covered a more than 4000 km-wide section perpendicular to ice-flow lines. A major mid-Hirnantian deglaciation event subdividing the Hirnantian glaciation in two first-order cycles is recognised. As best illustrated by the glacial record in western Libya, each cycle comprises 2-3 glacial phases separated by ice-front retreats several hundreds kilometres to the south. From ice-proximal to ice-distal regions, the number of glacial surfa…

The ELSA - Stacks (Eifel-Laminated-Sediment-Archive): An introduction

2016

The ELSA tephra stack: Volcanic activity in the Eifel during the last 500,000 years

2016

Abstract Tephra layers of individual volcanic eruptions are traced in several cores from Eifel maar lakes, drilled between 1998 and 2014 by the Eifel Laminated Sediment Archive (ELSA). All sediment cores are dated by 14C and tuned to the Greenland interstadial succession. Tephra layers were characterized by the petrographic composition of basement rock fragments, glass shards and characteristic volcanic minerals. 10 marker tephra, including the well-established Laacher See Tephra and Dumpelmaar Tephra can be identified in the cores spanning the last glacial cycle. Older cores down to the beginning of the Elsterian, show numerous tephra sourced from Strombolian and phreatomagmatic eruptions,…