ALBERT

Description: The Souter Head sub-volcanic complex (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) intruded the high-grade metamorphic core of the Grampian Orogen at 469.1 ± 0.6 Ma (uranium-238–lead-206 (238U–206Pb) zircon). It follows closely peak metamorphism and deformation in the Grampian Terrane and tightly constrains the end of the Grampian Event of the Caledonian Orogeny. Temporally coincident U–Pb and argon/argon (40Ar/39Ar) data show the complex cooled quickly with temperatures decreasing from ca.800 °C to less than 200 °C within 1 Ma. Younger rhenium–osmium (Re–Os) ages are due to post-emplacement alteration of molybdenite to powellite. The U–Pb and Ar/Ar data combined with existing geochronological data show that D2/D3 deformation, peak metamorphism (Barrovian and Buchan style) and basic magmatism in NE Scotland were synchronous at ca.470 Ma and are associated with rapid uplift (5–10 km Ma−1) of the orogen, which, by ca.469 Ma, had removed the cover to the metamorphic pile. Rapid uplift resulted in decompressional melting and the generation of mafic and felsic magmatism. Shallow slab break-off (50–100 km) is invoked to explain the synchroneity of these events. This interpretation implies that peak metamorphism and D2/D3 ductile deformation were associated with extension. Similarities in the nature and timing of orogenic events in Connemara, western Ireland, with NE Scotland suggest that shallow slab break-off occurred in both localities.

Description: An Ordovician subvolcanic intrusive complex hosted by Neoproterozoic metasediments crops out at Souter Head about 6km S of Aberdeen, Scotland. The complex is composed mainly of two-mica red granite and breccia with minor dykes of pegmatite, quartz porphyry, felsite and dolerite, and widespread quartz veining, hydrothermal alteration and minor molybdenite mineralisation. Anomalous levels of bismuth (Bi), arsenic (As) and gold (Au) occur in quartz–pyrite veins. The complex has been mapped and the major- and minor-element geochemistry, including rare-earth elements of intrusives and mineralisation, has been determined. These data reveal a complex tectonic, intrusive and hydrothermal history. The intrusives are peraluminous and magnetite-, muscovite- and garnet-bearing. The youngest member, a quartz porphyry, is highly fractionated. There are two stages of hydrothermal activity: the first is linked to the explosive release of volatiles from a granite cupola and breccia formation; and the second, widespread quartz veining. Mo is associated with both stages, and Bi–As–Au anomalies are found in late quartz–pyrite veins. The mineralisation is classified as a granite-related vein-type Mo system. The unique preservation, in the Grampian terrane, of an Ordovician subvolcanic complex may be attributed to pre-Devonian movements on the nearby Dee fault and possibly also the collapse of the magma chamber following the explosive release of volatiles. The combination of large size, poor exposure and abundant multi-stage hydrothermal activity suggests that there is potential for further Mo and possibly Au mineralisation in this complex. Further mineralisation of this style may be present in the NE Grampian terrane.

Description: This study aims to evaluate the tectonic activities of the Vark basin, located in the great basin of Dez River in northwestern Iran, using geomorphologic indices combined with the geographical information system technique. Some geomorphic indices were used to achieve this aim. In this regard, the indices of stream length (SL), drainage asymmetry (Af), hypsometric integral (Hi), valley floor ratio (Vf), basin shape (Bs), and mountain sinuosity (Smf) were estimated to reach an average index of relative tectonics (Iat), indicating the intensity classes of tectonic activity. The mean SL, Hi, Vf, and Bs values were estimated as 2273, 0.55, 0.45, and 1.75, respectively, regarding the active class of tectonic activity. Therefore, considering the Af and Smf indices with values of 27 and 1.14, the basin was categorised as having semi-active conditions. The overall Iat, with a value of 1.33, represented the very high class (1.0 〈 Iat 〈 1.5) of tectonic activity. Hence, by calculating the index of relative active tectonics, the study area is observed as the intensive class concerning tectonic movements. Overall, the mean values of the Iat for all sub-basins were calculated as 1.50, 1.17, and 1.83, revealing the very high and high classes of active tectonics in the basin. The results obtained on tectonic activity were further confirmed during field observations by examining the structurally complex joints, folds, slips, faults, and fractures of the area, which reflect the dynamic nature of the regional tectonics.

Description: Dinosaur body fossil material is rare in Scotland, previously known almost exclusively from the Great Estuarine Group on the Isle of Skye. We report the first unequivocal dinosaur fossil from the Isle of Eigg, belonging to a Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) taxon of uncertain affinity. The limb bone NMS G.2020.10.1 is incomplete, but through a combination of anatomical comparison and osteohistology, we determine it most likely represents a stegosaur fibula. The overall proportions and cross-sectional geometry are similar to the fibulae of thyreophorans. Examination of the bone microstructure reveals a high degree of remodelling and randomly distributed longitudinal canals in the remaining primary cortical bone. This contrasts with the histological signal expected of theropod or sauropod limb bones, but is consistent with previous studies of thyreophorans, specifically stegosaurs. Previous dinosaur material from Skye and broadly contemporaneous sites in England belongs to this group, including Loricatosaurus and Sarcolestes and a number of indeterminate stegosaur specimens. Theropods such as Megalosaurus and sauropods such as Cetiosaurus are also known from these localities. Although we find strong evidence for a stegosaur affinity, diagnostic features are not observed on NMS G.2020.10.1, preventing us from referring it to any known genera. The presence of this large-bodied stegosaur on Eigg adds a significant new datapoint for dinosaur distribution in the Middle Jurassic of Scotland.

Description: To understand the physico-chemical processes associated with migmatisation is an interesting petrological problem. New developments in microfluidics and chaotic mixing experiments have helped us to better perceive these processes from the migmatic rocks of the Proterozoic Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex (CGGC), eastern India. The migmatic rocks of CGGC have preserved folded leucocratic veins in amphibolites representing viscous folding. The viscous folding phenomenon occurred due to the interaction between leucosome and melanosome. Based on textural features and mineral chemical data interpretations, we infer that when granitic and pegmatitic magmas intruded the gneissic rocks and amphibolites of our study area, diffusion of heat and volatiles from the hotter felsic magmas to the colder country rocks initiated partial melting in the amphibolites, forming melanosomes. After their formation, the highly viscous felsic magmas veined into the melanosomes, by progressively melting them and then interacting, leading to chaotic mixing dynamics. The development of chaotic mixing allowed the leucosome to venture into the melanosome as veins by stretching and folding dynamics. As the leucocratic veins or leucosome traversed through the partially molten rock or melanosome due to advection, the veins underwent viscous folding owing to the exertion of compressional stress brought about by the viscosity difference between the two mediums. The occurrence of viscous folding exponentially increased the contact area between the leucosome and the melanosome, eventually leading to enhanced diffusion and augmented mixing between the two mediums. Evidence of mixing through elemental diffusion is well documented by the compositions of amphibole and biotite occurring in the leucosome and melanosome. These minerals show substitution of magnesium and ferrous ion that show linear variation between the endmember compositions.

Description: The late Viséan anthracosauroid Eldeceeon rolfei from the East Kirkton Limestone of Scotland is re-described. Information from two originally described and two newly identified specimens broadens our knowledge of this tetrapod. A detailed account of individual skull bones and a revision of key axial and appendicular features are provided, alongside the first complete reconstructions of the skull and lower jaw and a revised reconstruction of the postcranial skeleton. In comparison to Silvanerpeton, the only other anthracosauroid from East Kirkton, Eldeceeon is characterised by a proportionally wider semi-elliptical skull, comparatively smaller nostrils set farther apart, smaller and more rounded orbits, a shorter skull table with gently convex lateral margins, and a deeper suspensorium with a straight posterior margin and a small dorsal embayment. The remarkably large hind feet and elongate toes of Eldeceeon presumably represent an adaptation for attaining high locomotory speed through increased stride length and reduced stride frequency. This would necessitate great muscle force but few muscle contractions. At the beginning of a new stride cycle, repositioning the pes anteriorly and lifting the toes off the ground would require a strong and large muscle to pull the femur upward and rotate it inward and forward. It is hypothesised that such muscle might correspond to the puboischiofemoralis internus 2, which would extend along the posterior half of the vertebral column, consistent with the occurrence of long, curved ribs in the anterior half of the trunk. Using maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference, cladistic analyses of all major groups of stem amniotes retrieve a sister group relationship between Eldeceeon and Silvanerpeton, either as the most plesiomorphic stem amniote clade or as a clade immediately crownward of anthracosauroids.

Description: Foraminifers, calcareous algae and incertae sedis Algospongia of late Asbian to late Brigantian age in limestones from East Fife, East Lothian and Northumberland, enable the base of the late Brigantian to be recognised in all these areas. Preservation of the late Asbian and early Brigantian limestones in cyclothemic successions is generally poor. The St Monans White Limestone (St Monans, Fife), First Abden Limestone (Kirkcaldy, Fife), Middle Longcraig Limestone (East Lothian) and Lower Bath-House Wood/Middle Bath-House Wood (Northumberland) were confidently correlated by their foraminiferal assemblages. These limestones are all assigned to the top of the Assemblage 6 in northern England (Single Post Limestone). The St Monans Brecciated/St Monans Little/Charlestown Main limestones (St Monans, Fife) and the Second Abden/Seafield Tower limestones (Kirkcaldy, Fife), Upper Longcraig/Lower Skateraw limestones (East Lothian), Upper Bath-House Wood/Shotto Wood limestones and Eelwell Limestone (Northumberland) are assigned to the Assemblage 7 in northern England (Scar Limestone and Five Yard Limestone). The paired Middle/Upper Skateraw limestones (East Lothian) and the Acre Limestone (Northumberland) contain representatives of the Assemblage 8 from northern England (Three Yard Limestone). Higher up in the succession, in Northumberland, the foraminiferal assemblage in the Sandbanks Limestone can be compared with Assemblage 9 in northern England (Four Fathom Limestone). Above the Great Limestone and Little Limestone, with their characteristic Pendleian assemblages, the Sugar Sands Limestone and Corbridge Limestone contain Arnsbergian foraminiferal assemblages, typical of the Lower Felltop Limestone in northern England. The Lower Foxton Limestone is correlated with the Upper Felltop Limestone, whereas the Thornbrough Limestone in Northumberland lacks diagnostic Arnsbergian taxa.

Description: The Kilmaluag Formation on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, provides one of the richest Mesozoic vertebrate fossil assemblages in the UK, and is among the richest globally for Middle Jurassic tetrapods. Since its discovery in 1971, this assemblage has predominantly yielded small-bodied tetrapods, including salamanders, choristoderes, lepidosaurs, turtles, crocodylomorphs, pterosaurs, dinosaurs, non-mammalian cynodonts and mammals, alongside abundant fish and invertebrates. It is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and by Nature Conservancy Order. Unlike contemporaneous localities from England, this assemblage yields associated partial skeletons, providing unprecedented new data. We present a comprehensive updated overview of the Kilmaluag Formation, including its geology and the fossil collections made to date, with evidence of several species occurrences presented here for the first time. We place the vertebrate faunal assemblage in an international context through comparisons with relevant contemporaneous localities from the UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and the US. This wealth of material reveals the Kilmaluag Formation as a vertebrate fossil assemblage of global significance, both in terms of understanding Middle Jurassic faunal composition and the completeness of specimens, with implications for the early evolutionary histories of mammals, squamates and amphibians.

Description: The Carboniferous lungfish genus Sagenodus is reviewed from all available British specimens and described in detail for the first time. We identify two species exclusive to the UK: Sagenodusinaequalis, the type species, deriving from the late Carboniferous (=Pennsylvanian); and Sagenodus quinquecostatus derived from the early Carboniferous (=Mississippian). The genus is probably the most widespread of the known Carboniferous lungfish genera, but the British species have not been formally described since their discovery in the mid–late 19th Century. This work will provide data to help resolve existing questions about the position of Sagenodus in the phylogeny of Palaeozoic lungfishes, and provide a template for the recognition of isolated elements in museum collections and the finds from recent and future field work. The early Carboniferous species, S. quinquecostatus, shows a so far unique functional mechanism in which the lower tooth plates appear to rotate relative to the upper plates during jaw closure, implying a kinetic function at the symphysis or jaw joint.

Description: The Late Triassic fauna of the Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation (LSF) from the Elgin area, Scotland, has been pivotal in expanding our understanding of Triassic terrestrial tetrapods. Frustratingly, due to their odd preservation, interpretations of the Elgin Triassic specimens have relied on destructive moulding techniques, which only provide incomplete, and potentially distorted, information. Here, we show that micro-computed tomography (μCT) could revitalise the study of this important assemblage. We describe a long-neglected specimen that was originally identified as a pseudosuchian archosaur, Ornithosuchus woodwardi. μCT scans revealed dozens of bones belonging to at least two taxa: a small-bodied pseudosuchian and a specimen of the procolophonid Leptopleuron lacertinum. The pseudosuchian skeleton possesses a combination of characters that are unique to the clade Erpetosuchidae. As a basis for investigating the phylogenetic relationships of this new specimen, we reviewed the anatomy, taxonomy and systematics of other erpetosuchid specimens from the LSF (all previously referred to Erpetosuchus). Unfortunately, due to the differing representation of the skeleton in the available Erpetosuchus specimens, we cannot determine whether the erpetosuchid specimen we describe here belongs to Erpetosuchus granti (to which we show it is closely related) or if it represents a distinct new taxon. Nevertheless, our results shed light on rarely preserved details of erpetosuchid anatomy. Finally, the unanticipated new information extracted from both previously studied and neglected specimens suggests that fossil remains may be much more widely distributed in the Elgin quarries than previously recognised, and that the richness of the LSF might have been underestimated.

Description: We present the bat assemblage from the early Miocene (MN4, 16.9–15.95 MY) basin of Ribesalbes-Alcora, which has yielded the remains of ten chiropteran taxa. Bat assemblages are rarely recovered in the fluvio-lacustrine fossil record. A bat species described in this work, Cuvierimops penalveri sp. nov., is a new form of a typically Oligocene free-tailed bat. In addition, the other molossids Hydromops helveticus, Rhizomops cf. brasiliensis, Chaerephon sp., Tadarida sp., and the vespertilionids Myotis cf. intermedius and Miostrellus aff. petersbuchensis, as well as undetermined fossils ascribed to the genera Submyotodon, Plecotus, and Rhinolophus are described. This is the first record of the genus Rhizomops in the early Miocene; the genus Cuvierimops is the first recording from the Neogene, while the ‘Lazarus taxon’ Chaerephon is the first fossil record of this genus, registered previously only in Holocene deposits. This bat assemblage with a high abundance of molossids is typical from the early Oligocene of western Europe, while in the early Miocene from Europe the molossids are scarce. The abundance of these bats is consistent with the presence of a tropical forest surrounding a paleolake. The fossils from the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin represent the most complete bat assemblage of the Iberian Peninsula during this age, and significantly increase our knowledge about the early Miocene bats of Europe.

Description: A better understanding of the role of Quaternary-era climate change in the development of regional hydrology in the Loess Plateau and the impact on regional ecosystems is needed. In particular, a thorough examination of the permeability and recharge under different conditions in the fifth loess–palaeosol layer is required. The fifth loess–palaeosol layer is located at the southern edge of the Jinghe River in the Guanzhong Basin, and was examined to better understand these conditions. A constant head permeability test was conducted at 11 points that covered different stratum of loess–palaeosol, and 55 corresponding undisturbed soil samples were analysed for porosity, magnetic susceptibility, and grain size. Results showed that: (1) with an increase in hydraulic gradient, the permeability coefficient of the upper part of the loess and the lower part of the palaeosol showed contrasting characteristics – this phenomenon was closely related to climatic conditions during the sedimentary period, post-sedimentary microbial activity, and to certain properties relating to permeability in the strata under similar monsoon effects; (2) the Loess Plateau, alternately dominated by the East Asian summer and winter monsoons, exhibited different grain-size compositions in the sedimentary layer, which, in turn, made the permeability in the loess noticeably more stable than that in the palaeosol; and (3) different aquifer characteristics and recharge conditions between the loess–palaeosol layers can be primarily explained by the intensity of the pedogenesis, which depended on extreme dry-old glacial climates and relatively humid-warm interglacial climates. These findings show that climate change played an important role in influencing hydrological systems in the loess–palaeosol sequence.

Description: Hydrocarbon migration mechanism into a reservoir is one of the most controversial in oil and gas geology. The research aimed to study the effect of supercritical carbon dioxide (СО2) on the permeability of sedimentary rocks (carbonates, argillite, oil shale), which was assessed by the yield of chloroform extracts and gas permeability (carbonate, argillite) before and after the treatment of rocks with supercritical СО2. An increase in the permeability of dense potentially oil-source rocks has been noted, which is explained by the dissolution of carbonates to bicarbonates due to the high chemical activity of supercritical СО2 and water dissolved in it. Similarly, in geological processes, the introduction of deep supercritical fluid into sedimentary rocks can increase the permeability and, possibly, the porosity of rocks, which will facilitate the primary migration of hydrocarbons and improve the reservoir properties of the rocks. The considered mechanism of hydrocarbon migration in the flow of deep supercritical fluid makes it possible to revise the time and duration of the formation of gas–oil deposits decreasingly, as well as to explain features in the formation of various sources of hydrocarbons and observed inflow of oil into operating and exhausted wells.

Description: Pareiasaurs were globally distributed, abundant, herbivorous parareptiles with the basal-most members found only in the mid-Permian of South Africa. These basal forms form a monophyletic group and were locally abundant and became extinct at the top of the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone at the end of the Guadalupian. Four species of basal pareiasaurs are currently recognised: Bradysaurus baini, B. seeleyi, Embrithosaurus schwarzi and Nochelesaurus alexanderi, but they are all poorly understood and there remains historic uncertainty as to their validity. In this paper, our second contribution designed to improve understanding of the basal group, we present the first detailed cranial description and updated diagnosis for Nochelesaurus alexanderi and demonstrate that it is a distinct taxon based on one cranial autapomorphy, a large transversely wide postparietal, and a combination of cranial characters. Within the local group of mid-Permian pareiasaurs, we recognise new dental features of Nochelesaurus alexanderi: non-symmetrical marginal cusp arrangements on upper and lower teeth resulting from an extra basal mesial cusp; an incipient horizontal cingulum on lower jaw teeth, sometimes with one or two tiny medial cingular cusps; and up to ten marginal cusps. Our study demonstrates that tooth morphology and orientation, cranial ornamentation, morphology of the cheek bosses, shape of the postfrontal and postparietal, and morphology of the distal paroccipital process of the opisthotic are the most useful to identify South African mid-Permian pareiasaurs.

Description: Herein, we present a synthetic study combining iron (Fe) speciation and biomarkers in sediment samples from Luguhu Lake to investigate their relationship and the environmental significance thereof. Mössbauer spectroscopy and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry were used for these measurements. The results suggest that (a) there is a strong negative correlation between Fe2+/Fe3+ and the ratio of pristane to phytane (Pr/Ph), indicating that both Fe2+/Fe3+ and Pr/Ph effectively present the inorganic and organic aspects, respectively, of the oxidation–deoxidation environment in Luguhu Lake; (b) palaeotemperature may be a factor, in addition to the redox conditions, that affects the Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio, and it might play a favourable role in studies of palaeotemperature; and (c) the relative abundance of Fe in Luguhu Lake is affected by the palaeoclimate and the environment in which the palaeosediment was deposited. The mechanism of change in the total area (the total absorption area of Mössbauer spectrum) with the palaeoenvironment seems to be explained by the loss of Fe, which occurs as the water drains out of the lake, and the increase in Fe loss from the sediment as rainfall levels increase.

Description: During the Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian, chert was widely distributed in the Zhongbao Formation in the eastern part of the North Qilian Orogen. The origin and the tectonic setting of these chert were largely unknown. In order to analyse the material provenance, sedimentary environment, their formation and the tectonic setting, we present petrology and geochemical research on chert samples collected from Shihuigou Section. The evidence provided by radiolarite occurrences, Aluminium (Al)–iron (Fe)–manganese diagram and the silicon(Si)/Si + Al + Fe + calcium ratios suggesting a non-hydrothermal input and the biogenic origin chert. The geochemical features and the petrographic signatures have shown that the chert was also influenced by a terrigenous origin. It is considered that the deposition of the Late Ordovician chert is mainly affected by tectonic collision and volcanic ash events. During the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian transition, huge amounts of volcanic ash were released by massive volcanic activity that fell into the ocean, triggering the proliferation of radiolarians. Finally, in the Late Ordovician–Lower Silurian the tectonic setting of the North Qilian Orogen was not a typical deep-water basin, nor a typical continental margin, but a multi-island deep-water basin, which is closed to the mainland.

Description: Echimyidae is the most widely diversified family among hystricognath rodents, both in the number of species and variety of lifestyles. In the Patagonian Subregion of southern South America, extinct echimyids related to living arboreal species (Echimyini) are recorded up to the middle Miocene, whereas all the known southern fossils since the late Miocene are linked to terrestrial and fossorial lineages currently inhabiting the Chacoan open biome in eastern South America. In this work, we describe a new genus of echimyid rodent, Paralonchothrix gen. nov., from the late Miocene of northwestern Argentina and western Brazil. Its single recognised species, Paralonchothrix ponderosus comb. nov., is represented by two hemimandibles. One of them comes from a level of Loma de Las Tapias Formation, underlying a tuff dated at 7.0 ± 0.9 Ma (Huayquerian age, late Miocene); the other specimen comes from the ‘Araucanense’ of Valle de Santa María (type locality, Huayquerian age, late Miocene). A phylogenetic analysis linked Paralonchothrix to Lonchothrix, both being the sister group to Mesomys. Thereby, for the first time, an echimyid linked to living Amazonian arboreal clades is recognised for the late Miocene of southern South America. Paralonchothrix gen. nov. thus represents an exceptional record that raises the need to review the postulated evolutionary pattern for echimyids recorded at high latitudes since the late Miocene. The new genus provides a minimum age (ca.7 Ma) in the fossil record for the divergence between Mesomys and Lonchothrix. The palaeoenvironmental conditions inferred for the late Miocene in western and northwestern Argentina suggest savanna-type environments, with areas with more closed woodlands in peri-Andean valleys. The record of Paralonchothrix gen. nov. supports the hypothesis that this area would have maintained connections with tropical biomes of northern South America during the late Miocene.

Description: Moradisaurine captorhinid eureptiles were a successful group of high-fibre herbivores that lived in the arid low latitudes of Pangaea during the Permian. Here we describe a palaeoassemblage from the Permian of Menorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean), consisting of ichnites of small captorhinomorph eureptiles, probably moradisaurines (Hyloidichnus), and parareptiles (cf. Erpetopus), and bones of two different taxa of moradisaurines. The smallest of the two is not diagnostic beyond Moradisaurinae incertae sedis. The largest one, on the other hand, shows characters that are not present in any other known species of moradisaurine (densely ornamented maxillar teeth), and it is therefore described as Balearosaurus bombardensis gen. et sp. nov. Other remains found in the same outcrop are identified as cf. Balearosaurus bombardensis gen. et sp. nov., as they could also belong to the newly described taxon. This species is sister to the moradisaurine from the lower Permian of the neighbouring island of Mallorca, and is also closely related to the North American genus Rothianiscus. This makes it possible to suggest the hypothesis that the Variscan mountains, which separated North America from southern Europe during the Permian, were not a very important palaeobiogeographical barrier to the dispersion of moradisaurines. In fact, mapping all moradisaurine occurrences known so far, it is shown that their distribution area encompassed both sides of the Variscan mountains, essentially being restricted to the arid belt of palaeoequatorial Pangaea, where they probably outcompeted other herbivorous clades until they died out in the late Permian.

Description: While the external infiltration of water has been identified from modern geothermal and/or fossil hydrothermal systems through stable isotopes, the physicochemical boundary conditions like the initial oxygen isotopes of water $( {{ m delta }^{ 18}{ m O}_{ m W}^{ m i} } ) $ and rock as well as alteration temperature were implicitly presumed or empirically estimated by the conventional forward modelling. In terms of a novel procedure proposed to deal with partial re-equilibration of oxygen isotopes between constituent minerals and water, the externally infiltrated meteoric and magmatic water are theoretically inverted from the early Cretaceous post-collisional granitoid and intruded Triassic gneissic country rock across the Dabie orogen in central-eastern China. The meteoric water with a $ {{ m delta }^{ 18}{ m O}_{ m W}^{ m i} } $ value of −11.01 ‰ was externally infiltrated with a granitoid and thermodynamically re-equilibrated with rock-forming minerals at 140°C with a minimum water/rock (W/R)o ratio around 1.10 for an open system. The lifetime of this meteoric hydrothermal system is kinetically constrained less than 0.7 million years (Myr) via modelling of surface reaction oxygen exchange. A gneissic country rock, however, was externally infiltrated by a magmatic water with $ {{ m delta }^{ 18}{ m O}_{ m W}^{ m i} } $ value of 4.21 ‰ at 340°C with a (W/R)o ratio of 1.23, and this magmatic hydrothermal system could last no more than 12 thousand years (Kyr) to rapidly re-equilibrate with rock-forming minerals. Nevertheless, the external infiltration of water can be theoretically inverted with oxygen isotopes of re-equilibrated rock-forming minerals, and the ancient hydrothermal systems driven by magmatism or metamorphism within continental orogens worldwide can be reliably quantified.

Description: Groundwater is widely used in the semi-arid region of Remila plain (Khenchela, Algeria) for urban and agricultural supplies. An integrated statistical and hydro-geochemical approach was performed with 70 water samples in order to identify the main processes and the origin of water salinisation. The results have suggested the dominance of three chemical facies: Sulphato cloruro calcic (SO4–Cl–Ca) in the northeastern part, Sulphato cloruro calci magnisian (SO–4Cl–Ca–Mg) in most of the waters andalkali-earth bicarbonate (HCO3–Ca–Mg) in the southeastern part. Although based on principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis, the statistical approach identified three water groups: (1) saline water (17 %; total dissolved solids 〉1000 mg l−1 with the dominance of Sulphate (SO42−)); (2) moderately saline water (17 %) with a dominance of bicarbonate (HCO3−); and (3) moderately saline water (66 %) with mixed facies. The binary diagrams confirmed the predominance of three processes: evaporite dissolution and/or precipitation, combined by ionic exchange. In the northeastern part of the area, however, another process was detected – the saline intrusion of Sabkha water, favoured by extensive groundwater use.

Description: The integration of biostratigraphical, wireline log, geophysical and available geochronological ages has identified two principal periods of volcanism in the Faroe–Shetland and Rockall basins. The first is pre-breakup, upper Danian to lower Thanetian: in the Rockall and Faroe–Shetland basins, isolated volcanic activity from 62 Ma to 58.7 Ma is identified in areas closely linked to the SSW–NNE structural fabric of the continental margin. Volcanic activity was concentrated at basin flank fissures and localised point sources. This rift-flank volcanism led to widespread volcanic ash deposition, localised lava flow fields and the formation of igneous centres. Some of the Hebridean and onshore central complexes (e.g., Rum) were uplifted and rapidly eroded during the later pre-breakup period, while additional accommodation space was developed in the adjacent offshore basins. Onset and termination of pre-breakup volcanism is correlated to intra-plate stress regimes in Europe, following the cessation of convergence of Africa and Europe in the Danian. The second is syn-breakup, upper Thanetian to Ypresian, initiated at ca.57 Ma in the Rockall and Faroe–Shetland basins. Initial high-volume extrusive igneous successions were focussed to the W in the Faroe–Shetland Basin. In the centre and E of the Faroe–Shetland and Rockall basins, separate eruption loci developed along pre-existing lineaments either as fissure or point-sourced lava fields. Short-term cessation of eruption at ~55.8 Ma was followed by resumption of flood basalt eruptions and a shift in focus to the NW. Fluctuations in the syn-breakup eruption tempo are reflected in the formation and subsequent rejuvenation of prominent unconformities, only previously recognised as a single erosive event. The W and northward shift of eruption focus, and the eruption of mid ocean ridge basalt-type lavas in the syn-breakup period reflect the onset of lithospheric thinning in the nascent North Atlantic Rift prior to flooding of the rift and eruption of the widespread lower Ypresian Balder Formation tephras.

Description: This research evaluated the variability of current characteristics and seawater properties in the middle part of the southern shelf of the Caspian Sea. The effect of the coastal flow on marine debris dispreading was assessed in the southern Caspian Sea for the first time. The findings showed the existence of thermal stratification containing seasonal thermocline with thickness of about 40 m in the water column. Maximum monthly along-shore current velocities around 1.3 m s−1 were observed in November and December. Monthly variations were clearly found in both flow velocity and local wind components. However, no significant levels of correlation between wind and current speeds were observed during the study in the region. In some cases, the mean monthly cross-shore component velocities were measured at about 29 cm s−1 in November. The findings indicated that there was no upwelling phenomenon associated to the regional wind in the study area. In situ current measurements indicated dominant east and north-northeast directions, presumably related to the effect of general circulation in the southern basin. Current profiles in the water column displayed similarity in directions at 10, 15 and 20 m depths over the continental shelf. The field samples and analysis revealed that the soft and smaller-scale seawater litters can be carried long distances by the current along the coast. Most coastal based and marine litters originated from the tourist activities (in the middle and western parts of the shores) and waste emanated from the river (Tonekabon-Nowshahr).