Search results for "Geography"

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…

Quaternary marine and continental unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units of the NW Sicily coastal belt

2017

In the coastal sector of NW Sicily, the regional correlation of relevant unconformities recognised within the Quaternary sedimentary successions allowed the mapping of seven unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units (UBSUs). The regional unconformities are marine or subaerial erosional surfaces, as well as non-depositional surfaces, locally marked by paleosoils. The erosional surfaces were produced from marine abrasion, surface water overland/concentrated flow, river erosion, karst solution, mass movement, or wind erosion. The main lithofacies of the Quaternary UBSUs consist of: (a) marine and coastal bioclastic calcarenites, (b) aeolian sandstones, (c) river deposits, (d) colluvial deposits…

Hydrothermalism in the Tyrrhenian Sea: Inorganic and microbial sulfur cycling as revealed by geochemical and multiple sulfur isotope data

2011

15 pages; International audience; The Palinuro volcanic complex and the Panarea hydrothermal field, both located in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy), are associated with island arc magmatism and characterized by polymetallic sulfide mineralization. Dissolved sulfide concentrations, pH, and Eh measured in porewaters at both sites reveal a variable hydrothermal influence on porewater chemistry. Multiple sulfur isotopic measurements for disseminated sulfides (CRS: chromium reducible sulfur) extracted from sediments at Palinuro yielded a broad range in δ34S range between −29.8 and +10.2‰ and Δ33S values between+0.015 and+0.134‰. In contrast, sediments at Panarea exhibit a much smaller range in δ34SCR…

Taphonomic processes inconsistent with indigenous Mesolithic acculturation during the transition to the Neolithic in the Western Mediterranean

2018

Abstract We applied taphonomic analysis combined with geostatistical approaches to investigate the hypothesis that Cocina cave (Eastern Iberia) represents an acculturation context for the appearance of Neolithic Cardial pottery. In the 1970s, Fortea suggested that this important site was a prime example of acculturation because of the presence of early Neolithic pottery in late Mesolithic contexts. Since that time Cocina cave has been heralded as an example of indigenous hunter-gatherers incorporating Neolithic cultural elements into their lifeways. We analyzed the area excavated by Fortea in the 1970s by digitizing archaeological records and testing the spatial distribution of artifacts us…

The space-time relationship of taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity in the Middle Jurassic ammonite radiation.

2007

14 pages; International audience; The Middle Jurassic ammonite radiation (from the late Aalenian to the end of the mid-Bathonian) is traced using combined analyses of morphological disparity and taxonomic diversity. The global signals of disparity and diversity are compared. These signals are then broken down by paleogeographical provinces to detect any heterogeneity in the radiation. An examination of the global signals reveals three biodiversity crises (discordances between signals) where morphological disparity grows while taxonomic diversity declines. The subdivision of the signals indicates the radiation was heterogeneous between provinces: the global signal is an aggregate of signals …

Meet Adonis, Europe’s oldest dendrochronologically dated tree

2017

Geology of Monte Gallo (Palermo Mts, NW Sicily)

2016

The promontory of Monte Gallo (Palermo, NW Sicily) is a spectacular site where Upper Triassic-Eocene carbonate platform rocks and Quaternary continental to marine deposits are well exposed. A Mesozoic-Paleogene rock succession allows the potential visitor to easily detect the features and the evolution of the Panormide carbonate platform, a shallow-water paleogeographic domain of the Southern Tethyan margin. Quaternary deposits, as well many landforms, enable the visitor to directly identify the interplay between climate changes, tectonics and fluctuations of marine level that occurred during the Quaternary Period. A detailed geological map (1:15,000 mapping scale) is presented, accompanied…

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…

Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Signals from the Callovian–Oxfordian in French Sedimentary Basins

2013

3 pages; International audience; High-resolution carbon and oxygen isotope data from the Paris Basin and the Subalpine Basin (France) are available in a precise biostratigraphic framework for the Callovian-Oxfordian stages. A biostratigraphically well-constrained δ13C curve, derived from bulk carbonates in the Paris Basin and the Subalpine Basin, is provided in order to document carbon-cycle evolution and to serve as a chemostratigraphic reference for the Callovian-Oxfordian in the Tethyan domain. Sea-temperature reconstructions, using diagenetically screened belemnite and oyster data, reveal major climate perturbations at the Middle-Late Jurassic transition.

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…