Search results for "Tethy"
showing 10 items of 46 documents
The genus Palaeolituonella (Foraminifer) and description of Palaeolituonella angulata nov. sp. from Upper Triassic reef limestones of the Tethys
2009
Analysis of the axial filament in spicules of the demosponge Geodia cydonium: different silicatein composition in microscleres (asters) and megascler…
2007
The skeleton of the siliceous sponges (Porifera: Hexactinellida and Demospongiae) is supported by spicules composed of bio-silica. In the axial canals of megascleres, harboring the axial filaments, three isoforms of the enzyme silicatein (-alpha, -beta and -gamma) have been identified until now, using the demosponges Tethya aurantium and Suberites domuncula. Here we describe the composition of the proteinaceous components of the axial filament from small spicules, the microscleres, in the demosponge Geodia cydonium that possesses megascleres and microscleres. The morphology of the different spicule types is described. Also in G. cydonium the synthesis of the spicules starts intracellularly …
Biogeographic patterns of belemnite body size responses to episodes of environmental crisis
2019
Body size changes have been investigated through episodes of environmental crisis among several groups of organisms but the relative contribution of within-lineage size changes, selective extinction and origination of taxa on these patterns is still being debated. Rapid warming, anoxia, and perturbations of the carbon cycle linked with volcanic activity, as well as their impact on marine diversity are well documented for the Pliensbachian-Toarcian (Pli-Toa) boundary and for the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE). Belemnites were a very abundant and successful cephalopod group in the Mesozoic oceans playing a paramount role in the oceanic trophic webs. Belemnites have mainly been studied …
Shallow ocean oxygen decline during the end-Triassic mass extinction
2022
The end-Triassic mass extinction (ETME) was associated with intensified deep-water anoxia in epicontinental seas and mid-depth waters, yet the absolute oxygenation state in the shallow ocean is uncharacterized. Here we report carbonate-associated iodine data from the peritidal Mount Sparagio section (Southern Italy) that documents the ETME (~ 200 Ma) in the western Tethys. We find a sharp drop in carbonate I/(Ca + Mg) ratios across the extinction horizon and persisting into the Early Jurassic. This records local dissolved oxygen and iodate decline in the near-surface ocean of low-latitude Tethys due to the development of depleted oxygen concentrations. Consequently, during the ETME even sha…
Freshening of the Mediterranean Salt Giant: controversies and certainties around the terminal (Upper Gypsum and Lago-Mare) phases of the Messinian Sa…
2021
The late Miocene evolution of the Mediterranean Basin is characterized by major changes in connectivity, climate and tectonic activity resulting in unprecedented environmental and ecological disruptions. During the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, 5.97-5.33 Ma) this culminated in most scenarios first in the precipitation of gypsum around the Mediterranean margins (Stage 1, 5.97-5.60 Ma) and subsequently > 2 km of halite on the basin floor, which formed the so-called Mediterranean Salt Giant (Stage 2, 5.60-5.55 Ma). The final MSC Stage 3, however, was characterized by a "low-salinity crisis", when a second calcium-sulfate unit (Upper Gypsum; substage 3.1, 5.55-5.42 Ma) showing (bio)geochemica…
Paleoclimatic control of biogeographic and sedimentary events in Tethyan and peri-Tethyan areas during the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic)
2005
International audience; The paleobiogeographical distribution of Oxfordian ammonites and coral reefs in northern and Central Europe, the Mediterranean area, North and East Africa, and the Middle East and Central Asia is compared with the distribution in time and space of the most important lithofacies. Interest in the Oxfordian is focused on changes in facies and in biogeographical patterns that can be interpreted as the results of climatic events. Paleotemperature trends inferred from oxygen isotopes and paleoclimatic simulations are tested against fossil and facies data. A Late Callovian–Early Oxfordian crisis in carbonate production is indicated by the widespread absence of Lower Oxfordi…
Ammonite diversity and its palaeobiogeographical structure during the early Pliensbachian (Jurassic) in the western Tethys and adjacent areas.
2009
14 pages; International audience; The early Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic) is known as a time of marked provincialism in the marine realm, notably between the Mediterranean Tethys and North–West Europe. In order to test this observation quantitatively, we compiled 104 locality-level species lists from those areas based on a comprehensive revision of early Pliensbachian ammonites. With this dataset, we also explore the relationship between ammonite richness and biogeography at the scale of the sub-chronozone during the early Pliensbachian. Using various multivariate statistics and rarefaction techniques, we show that: (i) there is a sharp contrast between the NW European (NWE) and the Medite…
Zonation by ammonites and foraminifers of the Vraconnian-Turonian interval: A comparison of the Boreal and Tethyan domains (NW Europe / Central Tunis…
2008
International audience; Since the end of the 19th century the interval comprising the uppermost Upper Albian, the Cenomamian, the Turonian and the basal Coniacian has been subdivided, first into ammonite zones, then, beginning in the middle of the 20th century, into zones of planktonic foraminifera. These two groups, one macrofossil, the other microfossil, are particularly effective for bio-chronostratigraphy thanks to their rapid rates of evolution. But differences in the faunal makeup between the Boreal domain (northwestern Europe) and the Tethyan domain (Mediterranean) have for a long time hindered precise correlation of the two domains. Today, in a time interval covering about 16 millio…
An anomalous case in the evolution of the Mesozoic sedimentary basins between Alpine and Ionian Tethys: the Panormide Carbonate Platform (Sicily).
2007
Quantifying OAE2 marine oxygen levels from coupled Mo and U isotopes: A Tethyan perspective.
2016
U and Mo isotopes are promising geochemical proxies for globally averaged ocean redox conditions in deep time. Because the Mo and U isotope compositions of seawater are controlled primarily by variation in ocean redox conditions, coupled Mo and U isotope records can be used to reconstruct variation in the relative sizes of oxic/suboxic, anoxic and euxinic sinks over geological time. The different sensitivities of Mo and U to anoxic and euxinic conditions creates a situation in which joint evaluation of the Mo and U isotope records provide greater constraints on variation in ocean redox conditions than either proxy can in isolation. Here we report new and published Mo- and U-isotope data fro…