ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: Onshore fold–thrust belts are commonly perceived as ‘difficult’ places to explore for hydrocarbons and are therefore often avoided. However, these belts host large oil and gas fields and so these barriers to effective exploration mean that substantial unexploited resources may remain. Over time, evaluation techniques have improved. It is possible in certain circumstances to achieve good 3D seismic data. Structural restoration techniques have moved into the 3D domain and increasingly sophisticated palaeo-thermal indicators allow better modelling of burial and uplift evolution of source and reservoirs. Awareness of the influence of pre-thrust structure and stratigraphy and of hybrid thick and thin-skinned deformation styles is augmenting the simplistic geometric models employed in earlier exploration. But progress is a slow, expensive and iterative process. Industry and academia need to collaborate in order to develop and continually improve the necessary understanding of subsurface geometries, reservoir and charge evolution and timing; this publication offers papers on specific techniques, outcrop and field case studies.

Description / Table of Contents: The Earth's climate varies through geological time as a result of external, orbital processes, as well as the positions of continents, growth of mountains and the opening and closure of oceanic gateways. Climate modelling suggests that the intensity of the Asian monsoon should correlate, at least in part, with the uplift history of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya, as well as the evolution of gateways and the retreat of shallow seas in Central Asia. Long-term reconstructions of both mountain building and monsoon activity are key to testing the proposed links. This collection of papers presents a series of new studies documenting the variations of the Asian monsoon on orbital and tectonic timescales, together with the impact this has had on environmental conditions. The issue of which proxies are best suited to measuring monsoons is addressed, as is the effect that the monsoon has had on erosion and the formation of the stratigraphic record both on and offshore.

Description / Table of Contents: This volume combines original data in various fields from the offshore Levant Basin and adjacent continental slopes and platforms. The first group of papers document the tectonic structures and sedimentological patterns associated with the development of the Levant Basin. They identify the successive rifting events from the Late Palaeozoic to the Early Cretaceous, followed by a moderate tectonic activity. The contribution of external factors like global sea-level and climate changes to the sedimentation processes during the Mid-Cretaceous is discussed in the second set of papers. The final group presents new kinematics and age constraints on the Late Cretaceous to Neogene tectonic phases and discusses the relationship of the structures with the closure of the Neo-Tethys and separation of the Arabia plate. This collection of research papers demonstrates new concepts on the opening and crustal thinning of the Levant Basin and gives updated interpretations of the latter tectonic structures of the Levant.

Description / Table of Contents: The discovery of dinosaurs and other large extinct ‘saurians’ - a term under which the Victorians commonly lumped ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs and their kin - makes exciting reading and has caught the attention of palaeontologists, historians of science and the general public alike. The papers in this collection go beyond the familiar tales about famous ‘fossil hunters’ and focus on relatively little-known episodes in the discovery and interpretation (from both a scientific and an artistic point of view) of dinosaurs and other inhabitants of the Mesozoic world. They cover a long time span, from the beginnings of ‘modern’ scientific palaeontology in the 1700s to the present, and deal with many parts of the world, from the Yorkshire coast to Central India, from Bavaria to the Sahara. The characters in these stories include professional palaeontologists and geologists (some of them well-known, others quite obscure), explorers, amateur fossil collectors, and artists, linked together by their interest in Mesozoic creatures.

Description / Table of Contents: This wide area of the Alpine–Himalayan belt evolved through a series of tectonic events related to the opening and closure of the Tethys Ocean. In doing so it produced the largest mountain belt of the world, which extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The basins associated with this belt contain invaluable information related to mountain building processes and are the locus of rich hydrocarbon accumulations. However, knowledge about the geological evolution of the region is limited compared to what they offer. This has been mainly due to the difficulty and inaccessibility of cross-country studies. This Special Publication is dedicated to the part of the Alpine–Himalayan belt running from Bulgaria to Armenia, and from Ukraine to the Arabian Platform. It includes twenty multidisciplinary studies covering topics in structural geology/tectonics; geophysics; geochemistry; palaeontology; petrography; sedimentology; stratigraphy; and subsidence and lithospheric modelling. This volume reports results obtained during the MEBE (Middle East Basin Evolution) Programme and related projects in the circum Black Sea and peri-Arabian regions.

Description / Table of Contents: The invasion of the land by plants (‘terrestrialization’) was one of the most significant evolutionary events in the history of life on Earth, and correlates in time with periods of major palaeoenvironmental perturbations. The development of a vegetation cover on the previously barren land surfaces impacted on the global biogeochemical cycles and the geological processes of erosion and sediment transport. The terrestrialization of plants preceded the rise of major new groups of animals, such as insects and tetrapods, the latter numbering some 24 000 living species, including ourselves. Early land-plant evolution also correlates with the most spectacular decline of atmospheric CO2 concentration of Phanerozoic times and with the onset of a protracted period of glacial conditions on Earth. This book includes a selection of papers covering different aspects of the terrestrialization, from palaeobotany to vertebrate palaeontology and geochemistry, promoting a multidisciplinary approach to the understanding of the co-evolution of life and its environments during Early to Mid-Palaeozoic times.

Description / Table of Contents: This volume honours the career of Brian F. Windley, who has been hugely influential in helping to achieve our current understanding of the evolution of the continental crust, and who has inspired many students and scientists to pursue studies on the evolution of the continents. Brian has studied processes of continental formation and evolution on most continents and of all ages, and has educated and inspired two generations of geologists to undertake careers in studies of continental evolution. The volume is organized into six sections, including: oceanic and island arc systems and continental growth; tectonics of accretionary orogens and continental growth; growth and stabilization of continental crust; collisions and intraplate processes; Precambrian tectonics and the birth of continents; and active tectonics and geomorphology of continental collision and growth zones.

Description / Table of Contents: Several different databases and models have been developed over many years of petrological study carried out by several European and non-European groups on mantle xenoliths, peridotite massifs, ophiolites and mafic magmas spanning in age from Archaean to Recent times. This volume aims to bring together these different approaches and to integrate the geochemical perceptions of the European upper mantle. The papers include regional petrological studies of the European lithospheric mantle, from Spain to the Pannonian Basin, from Corsica and Serbia as far north as Svalbard. Six contributions are based on studies of mantle xenoliths, while the remaining three deal with ophiolitic and peridotitic complexes. A further article provides an update on the textural classification of mantle rocks using a computer-aided approach and there is an introductory overview.

Description / Table of Contents: This volume contains a collection of stratigraphic and diagenetic case studies of Mesozoic and Cenozoic carbonate sequences from the Tethyan realm. High levels of industry and academic interest in the region have generated numerous multi-disciplinary studies of these sequences, a selection of which are presented in this volume. The studies presented are based on both comprehensive subsurface datasets from important hydrocarbon-bearing strata of the Middle East and the excellent surface exposures in the region of interest. The studies presented in this volume may serve as suitable starting points in the development of age and architecture specific carbonate reference models. Such models can form the basis of internally consistent models for carbonate deposition, sequence development and reservoir performance. Ideally such models, suitably scaled, will be equally applicable to academic studies, the exploration and development phases of the field life cycle and in the prediction of future reservoir performance.

Description / Table of Contents: Environmental Specimen Bank (es-BANK) of Ehime University, Japan — Current Status and Future Perspectives — / S. Tanabe and K. Ramu / pp. 1-5 --- Thirty Years of Progress in Environmental Specimen Banking / P. R. Becker and S. A. Wise / pp. 7-14 --- Specimen Banking for Marine Animal Health Assessment / J. Kucklick, R. Pugh, P. Becker, J. Keller, R. Day, J. Yordy, A. Moors, S. Christopher, C. Bryan, L. Schwacke, C. Goetz, R. Wells, B. Balmer, A. Hohn and T. Rowles / pp. 15-23 --- Environment Canada's National Wildlife Specimen Bank: A Valuable Resource for Monitoring and Research / B. M. Braune, G. Savard, B. J. Wakeford and D. J. McGoldrick / pp. 25-32 --- The Marine Environmental Specimen Bank (Marine ESB): A Research and Environmental Monitoring Resource / R. S. Pugh, A. J. Moors, L. B. Rust, B. J. Porter and P. R. Becker / pp. 33-41 --- A Method for Analysis of Thyroid Hormones in Perchlorate-administered Rats by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry: Potential Application to Samples Stored in es-Bank of Ehime University / T. Kunisue, K. Kannan, J. W. Fisher and S. Tanabe / pp. 43-50 --- Concentrations of Benzotriazole UV Stabilizers and Polycyclic Musks in Wastewater Treatment Plant Samples in Japan / H. Nakata and R. Shinohara / pp. 51-59 --- Retrospective Assessment of Environmental Pollution by PBDEs and HBCDs Using Sediment Core from Manila Bay, the Philippines / T. Isobe, A. Amano, K.-H. Chang, R. H. Maneja, P. B. Zamora, M. L. San Diego-McGlone, F. P. Siringan, M. Prudente, T. W. Miller and S. Tanabe / pp. 61-65 --- Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Hydroxylated Polychlorinated Biphenyls in the Blood of Toothed and Baleen Whales Stranded along Japanese Coastal Waters / K. Nomiyama, S. Murata, T. Kunisue, T. K. Yamada, H. Mizukawa, S. Takahashi and S. Tanabe / pp. 67-74 --- Environmental Monitoring of Trace Elements Using Marine Mammals as Bioindicators—Species-specific Accumulations and Temporal Trends— / S. Horai Hirata, Y. Yasuda, S. Urakami, T. Isobe, T. K. Yamada, Y. Tajima, M. Amamo, N. Miyazaki, S. Takahashi and S. Tanabe / pp. 75-79 --- Retrospective Monitoring of Perfluorinated Compounds in Archived Herring Gull Eggs / H. Rüdel, J. Müller, H. Jürling and C. Schröter-Kermani / pp. 81-86 --- Research Strategies and Development Possibilities of a Marine Mammal Tissue Bank: Conservation Biology and Biomolecular Science / A. Peruffo, M. Panin, M. Suman, S. Mazzariol, C. Ballarin, M. Giurisato and B. Cozzi / pp. 87-93 --- Climate Impact Research—Contributions and Options of the German ESB / M. Paulus, M. Quack, D. Teubner, M. Bartel-Steinbach, R. Klein, K. Tarricone, G. Wagner, A. Körner and M. Veith / pp. 95-101 --- Temporal Trends of Organochlorines and Trace Elements in Marine Mammals from Hong Kong / M. B. Murphy, L. Jin and P. K. S. Lam / pp. 103-110 --- Pollution Trends in India—Evidence for the Need of an Environmental Specimen Bank / A. Subramanian, G. Devanathan, S. Takahashi and S. Tanabe / pp. 111-118 --- Why are there Different Age Related Trends for Different Chemicals? / J. F. Mueller and L.-M. L. Toms / pp. 119-124 --- The National Environmental Specimen Bank in Korea: Establishment and Standard Operating Procedures / M. Kim, T. Choi, A. Han, J. Shin and J. Lee / pp. 125-132 --- Molecular Characterization of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Isoforms from the Baikal Seal (Pusa sibirica) / H. Ishibashi, E.-Y. Kim, S. Tanabe and H. Iwata / pp. 133-139 --- Development of an in vitro Reporter Gene Assay for Screening the Ecdysone Receptor Agonists in Mysid Crustacean / M. Hirano, H. Ishibashi, E.-Y. Kim, K. Arizono and H. Iwata / pp. 141-147 --- Toxic Effects of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin (TCDD) on Peripheral Nervous System of Developing Red Seabream (Pagrus major) Embryos / M. Iida, E.-Y. Kim, Y. Murakami, Y. Shima and H. Iwata / pp. 149-154 --- Cytochrome P450 Family 1 Genes in Xenopus tropicalis / K. T. Suzuki and H. Iwata / pp. 155-160 --- Characterization of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Sediments from Leachate and Control Wells of Benowo Dumping Site, Surabaya, Indonesia: A Preliminary Report / M. Ilyas, A. Sudaryanto, I. E. Setiawan, T. Isobe, S. Takahashi and S. Tanabe / pp. 161-166 --- Organohalogen and Metabolite Contaminants in Human Serum Samples from Indian E-Waste Recycling Workers / A. Eguchi, K. Nomiyama, A. Subramanian, P. Parthasarathy, K. A. Bulbule, S. Takahashi and S. Tanabe / pp. 167-174 --- Accumulation Features of Hydroxylated-PCBs (OH-PCBs) in the Blood of Pigs Collected from a Dumping Site for Municipal Wastes in India / H. Mizukawa, K. Nomiyama, T. Kunisue, M. X. Watanabe, A. Subramanian, S. Takahashi and S. Tanabe / pp. 175-181 --- UPLC-MS/MS Determination of Organophosphorus Flame Retardants and Ultraviolet Absorbers in River Water and STP Effluent Samples / J.-W. Kim, T. Isobe and S. Tanabe / pp. 183-189 --- Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Cow Milk Samples from Ghana / K. A. Asante, A. Sudaryanto, G. Devanathan, M. Bello, S. Takahashi, T. Isobe and S. Tanabe / pp. 191-198 --- Biomagnification of Arsenic Species in the Deep-sea Ecosystem of the Sagami Bay, Japan / D. Hayase, T. Agusa, S. Toyoshima, S. Takahashi, S. Horai Hirata, T. Itai, K. Omori, S. Nishida and S. Tanabe / pp. 199-204 --- Utilization of es-BANK of Ehime University for Monitoring Environmental Pollutants in Indonesia: A Case Study for Brominated Flame Retardants in Biota, Human and Environmental Samples / A. Sudaryanto, I. E. Setiawan, A. S. Riyadi, M. Ilyas, Y. Anantasena, R. Djamaluddin, T. Isobe, S. Takahashi and S. Tanabe / pp. 205-213 --- Specific Accumulation of BFRs in Finless Porpoises from Japan / T. Oshihoi, T. Isobe, H. Hamada, T. K. Yamada, Y. Tajima and S. Tanabe / pp. 215-222