Search results for "ONTOLOGY"
showing 10 items of 5542 documents
Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios of ontogenetically old, long-lived bivalve shells (Arctica islandica) and their function as paleotemperature proxies
2011
International audience; The Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios of many biogenic skeletons provide useful paleotemperature estimates. As yet however, it has remained largely impossible to obtain such information from bivalve shells. In the present study, metal-to-calcium values in the hinge plate (aragonite, outer shell layer) of four ontogenetically old (85 to 374 year-old) specimens of the long-lived bivalve, Arctica islandica, were measured on a LA-ICP-MS. The shells were collected alive in 1868, 1986 and 2003 from three different localities around Iceland. With increasing ontogenetic age and decreasing growth rate, a distinct trend toward increasing Sr/Ca (max. 5.17 mmol/mol) and Mg/Ca values (max. …
Carboniferous granites on the northern margin of Gondwana, Anatolide-Tauride Block, Turkey - Evidence for southward subduction of Paleotethys
2016
Carboniferous metagranites with U-Pb zircon crystallization ages of 331-315 Ma crop out in the Afyon zone in the northern margin of the Anatolide-Tauride Block, which is commonly regarded as part of Gondwana during the Late Palaeozoic. They are peraluminous, calc-alkaline and are characterized by increase in Rb and Ba, decrease in Nb-Ta, and enrichment in Sr and high LILE/HFSE ratios compatible with a continental arc setting. The metagranites intrude a metasedimentary sequence of phyllite, metaquartzite and marble; both the Carboniferous metagranites and metasedimentary rocks are overlain unconformably by Lower Triassic metaconglomerates, metavolcanics and Upper Triassic to Cretaceous recry…
Late Palaeozoic to Mesozoic kinematic history of the Talas-Ferghana strike-slip Fault (Kyrgyz West Tianshan) as revealed by 40Ar/39Ar dating of syn-k…
2013
International audience; The NW-trending Talas-Ferghana Fault (TFF) in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, is one of the largest intracontinental strike-slip faults in the world. It extends over a distance of more than 2000 km from southern Tourghai to western Tarim and exhibits a maximum dextral offset of ∼200 km during the late Palaeozoic to present. The history of the fault provides important insights for the understanding of the evolution of southern Central Asia but remains poorly constrained due to lack of reliable geochronological data. We present new Ar-Ar ages and structural data from the Kyrgyz West Tianshan, that elucidate the kinematic history of the TFF in the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. 40A…
Phanerozoic geological evolution of Northern and Central Africa: An overview.
2005
61 pages; International audience; The principal paleogeographic characteristics of North and Central Africa during the Paleozoic were the permanency of large exposed lands over central Africa, surrounded by northerly and northwesterly dipping pediplanes episodically flooded by epicontinental seas related to the Paleotethys Ocean. The intra-continental Congo–Zaire Basin was also a long-lived feature, as well as the Somali Basin from Late Carboniferous times, in conjunction with the development of the Karoo basins of southern Africa. This configuration, in combination with eustatic sea-level fluctuations, had a strong influence on facies distributions. Significant transgressions occurred duri…
Influence of basement heterogeneity on the architecture of low subsidence rate Paleozoic intracratonic basins (Reggane, Ahnet, Mouydir and Illizi bas…
2018
The Paleozoic intracratonic North African Platform is characterized by an association of arches (ridges, domes, swells, or paleo-highs) and low subsidence rate syncline basins of different wavelengths (75–620 km). The Reggane, Ahnet, Mouydir and Illizi basins are successively delimited from east to west by the Amguid El Biod, Arak-Foum Belrem, and Azzel Matti arches. Through the analysis of new unpublished geological data (i.e., satellite images, well logs, seismic lines), the deposits associated with these arches and syncline basins exhibit thickness variations and facies changes ranging from continental to marine environments. The arches are characterized by thin amalgamated deposi…
A new ichnofauna from the Permian of the Zat Valley in the Marrakech High Atlas of Morocco
2020
Abstract A new ichnofauna from the Permian of Morocco is described in details: it is the first Palaeozoic ichnofauna from the Zat Valley in Marrakech High Atlas. The new tracksite was found in the Tighdouine region, in the middle-upper Permian of the Cham-el-Houa Siltstone Formation. An abundant and diverse ichnoassemblage composed of both protostomian (probably arthropods and annelids) traces and vertebrate tracks is recorded. The presence of protostomian burrows and traceways, associated with tetrapod tracks corresponds to the Scoyenia ichnofacies. Protostomian traces are ascribed to Diplichnites gouldi, Diplopodichnus biformis, Scoyenia cf. gracilis and Spongeliomorpha carlsbergi. Tetrap…
Steroid Biomarkers Revisited - Improved Source Identification of Faecal Remains in Archaeological Soil Material.
2017
Steroids are used as faecal markers in environmental and in archaeological studies, because they provide insights into ancient agricultural practices and the former presence of animals. Up to now, steroid analyses could only identify and distinguish between herbivore, pig, and human faecal matter and their residues in soils and sediments. We hypothesized that a finer differentiation between faeces of different livestock animals could be achieved when the analyses of several steroids is combined (Δ5-sterols, 5α-stanols, 5β-stanols, epi-5β-stanols, stanones, and bile acids). We therefore reviewed the existing literature on various faecal steroids from livestock and humans and analysed faeces …
The giant inoceramid Platyceramus platinus as a high-resolution paleoclimate archive for the Late Cretaceous of the Western Interior Seaway
2018
Abstract Platyceramus platinus was a giant inoceramid bivalve that inhabited the outer shelf environments of the Western Interior Seaway (WIS) in North America. With axial heights typically exceeding 1 m, the shells of this species potentially serve as a unique high-resolution geochemical proxy archive for Late Cretaceous paleoclimate. Here we present the first sclerochronological investigation of P. platinus shells to evaluate the usefulness of this species as an archive of short-term (e.g., seasonal to inter-annual) paleoenvironmental variability. We analyzed the growth patterns, the stable oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope values of well-preserved P. platinus shell fragments from t…
Active tectonics along the south east offshore margin of Mt. Etna: New insights from high-resolution seismic profiles
2018
The offshore margin of Mt. Etna has been shaped by Middle Pleistocene to Holocene shortening and extension and, more recently, by gravity-related sliding of the volcanic edifice. These processes have acted contemporaneously although the gravitational component largely prevails over the tectonic one. In order to investigate this issue, we focused on the main role of active tectonics along the south-eastern offshore of Mt. Etna by means of marine high-resolution seismic data. Seismic profiles revealed post-220 ka sedimentary deposits unconformably overlaying the Lower-Middle Pleistocene Etnean clayey substratum and volcanics of the Basal Tholeiitic phase and the Timpe phase. Offshore Aci Trez…
An Integrated Multiscale Method for the Characterisation of Active Faults in Offshore Areas. The Case of Sant’Eufemia Gulf (Offshore Calabria, Italy)
2021
Diagnostic morphological features (e.g., rectilinear seafloor scarps) and lateral offsets of the Upper Quaternary deposits are used to infer active faults in offshore areas. Although they deform a significant seafloor region, the active faults are not necessarily capable of producing large earthquakes as they correspond to shallow structures formed in response to local stresses. We present a multiscale approach to reconstruct the structural pattern in offshore areas and distinguish between shallow, non-seismogenic, active faults, and deep blind faults, potentially associated with large seismic moment release. The approach is based on the interpretation of marine seismic reflection data and …