The Neogene Içá Formation is a major sedimentary deposit in central Amazonia (Brazil) that is critical to the understanding and modeling of the evolution of the Amazon Basin. However, its chronostratigraphy is poorly defined, mostly because it is not fossiliferous and it does not contain volcanic ash levels. This study is the first attempt at the absolute dating of the sediments and overlying soils

The eastern and southeastern margins of the Appalachian Basin contain extensive exposures of Telychian through Pridoli (upper Silurian) strata. Litho- and biostratigraphic analyses of these strata over the last century provided a general means for their chronostratigraphic correlation to global series and stage boundaries. However, a rarity of zonally diagnostic fauna limited precise correlation both

Paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on Amazonian fluvial and marine pollen data are often hindered due to the scarcity of modern calibration data. In Amazonia, rivers are the main pathways for pollen from upland and flooded forests to continental and marine sediment sinks. Linking pollen assemblages transported by rivers to watershed vegetation is crucial to interpret palynological archives. In

The lower Miocene Santa Cruz Formation (dated to ~18–16 Ma) of Southern Patagonia, Argentina, preserves rich vertebrate faunas, which are representative of communities that existed prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). Some previous researchers have hypothesized that these pre-GABI faunas had a low richness of mammalian carnivores (an impoverished predator guild), while others argue

The Dongying Formation (Ed) and the first member of the Shahejie Formation (Es1) in the central Raoyang Sag cover about 1705 m-long sedimentary series of terrestrial lacustrine infill. We employed the gamma-ray (GR) log data as a paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental proxy to conduct the high-resolution cyclostratigraphy research in well W33 and W62. Prominent sedimentary cycles in decameters and meters

Archaeological sites on the coast of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, provide a biogeochemical record that can inform us about those ecological dynamics. An abundance of southern fur seal (Arctocephalus australis) and southern sea lion (Otaria flavescens) remains provide a valuable resource to reconstruct ancient and modern food webs. To quantify ecological relationships, we measured bulk stable isotope

Volcanic islands are unique contexts to analyze the controls on calcrete development in settings with varied relief, climate and vegetation, and lacking carbonate host rocks. This paper discusses the formation of Quaternary calcrete profiles in Gran Canaria volcanic Island, under direct influence of the SAL (Saharian Air Layer). Calcrete profiles are multi-storey and composed of prismatic, massive

The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) was an extreme event that affected the Mediterranean Sea during the late Miocene, leading to massive evaporite deposition across the basin. Here we focus on the Perales section (Sorbas Basin, Western Mediterranean), using calcareous nannofossil (CN) and foraminiferal geochemical analyses to trace the paleoenvironmental dynamics culminating in the MSC onset. Orbital

We analyse the evolution of carnivoran guilds (body mass, locomotor pattern, and diet preference) across the Middle to Upper Miocene boundary based on a comparison of the carnivoran fauna from Steinheim (Mammal Neogene zone MN 7/8; Servallian to early Tortonian), and from the Eppelsheim Formation (Mammal Neogene zone MN 9/10; mid-Tortonian), Germany. Results reveal a massive faunal turnover between

The lack of monthly-resolved paleoenvironmental records beyond the instrumental era hinders our full understanding of global climate dynamics. Tridacna gigas shells have a large potential to quantitatively document the variability of the ocean surface environment on time scales from daily to interannual in the past, while the applicability of the geochemical proxies of Tridacna gigas needs to be quantitively

The Silurian was a time of major climatic transition punctuated by multiple biotic crises and global carbon cycle perturbations. The most severe of these biotic events was the late Silurian (Ludfordian) Lau/Kozlowskii extinction event (LKE) and the associated Lau carbon isotope excursion (CIE). Although the extinction event and Lau CIE are globally documented, the only records thus far of local and

The Permian–Triassic mass extinction event is the most severe biotic crisis during the Phanerozoic. The trigger of this event has been widely linked with massive volcanic activity associated with the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province. However, the direct link is still lacking to fully understand the event. In this study, we apply osmium isotope (187Os/188Os, or Osi) stratigraphy across the Permian–Triassic

To better understand the reported paleoclimate features and underlying mechanisms in the lowest-latitude region (~28°N to 29°30′N), where 12 major river gorges cross the Himalayas, of the southern Tibetan Plateau, we aim to elucidate the major sources and behavior of modern monsoon air masses in the region based on spatial variations in the δ18O and δ2H of stream water and precipitation, and vegetation

A herbivore's diet can affect its teeth by causing different types of wear. Browsers typically have sharper, higher cusps, while grazers show lower, blunter cusps, presumably due to the more abrasive nature of their diet. On the macroscopic scale, this allows the reconstruction of herbivore diets based on the shape of the tooth's profile, using the mesowear method. However, the timeframe involved in

The southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau has a number of well-known Late Miocene localities that have yielded fossil hominoids belonging to Lufengpithecus and Khoratpithecus. These localities provide critical evidence about the evolutionary history of hominoids, including their response to environmental changes associated with uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. Here we present magnetostratigraphic

In the comment on our paper (this issue), Zatoń (2020) questions the conclusions reported in Błażejowski et al. (2019). We present further arguments defending our theses. Late Jurassic horseshoe crabs preserved in sediments of the Kcynia Formation, (Owadów-Brzezinki Quarry), lived in a restricted lagoon repeatedly subjected to dysoxia/anoxia, which promoted their excellent state of preservation. The

The present NE Tibetan Plateau is characterized by a rugged mountain range and basin landforms. Knowledge of the landscape evolution, as recorded by basin sediments, will help to understand the growth history of the NE Tibetan Plateau. Our present contribution targeted the Neogene Chaka Basin south of the Qinghai Nan Shan and reports 40 geochemical Sr, Nd, trace element, and rare earth element (REE)

It is well documented that Upper Ordovician and Silurian successions record multiple marine turnover events – including the second-largest mass extinction in the Phanerozoic – widespread glaciation, and multiple global carbon cycle perturbations. Whereas causal mechanisms for the Late Ordovician major mass extinction event involving climate, paleoceanographic variation, and δ13C records have been published

Research on the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) along the northern margins of Pangaea (exposed today in the Arctic region) has been heavily reliant on field observations, where data resolution was consequently determined by outcrop condition and accessibility. Core drilling in central Spitsbergen allowed for a near-complete recovery of two ~90 m cores through the PTB. Analyses of the core and nearby

The Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) was the penultimate major glaciation of the Phanerozoic. Published compilations indicate it occurred in two main phases, one centered in the Late Carboniferous (~315 Ma) and the other in the Early Permian (~295 Ma), before waning over the rest of the Early Permian and into the Middle Permian (~290 Ma to 275 Ma), and culminating with the final demise of Alpine-style

The paper reports rare occurrence of deep-water solemyid and lucinid bivalves from Cenozoic sequences of Outer Eastern Carpathians, Ukraine. The studied bivalves occur in the Eocene Pasichna Formation, represented by deep-water marls and pelagic limestones intercalated with thin-bedded calcareous sandstones yielding material re-deposited from shallow water. This find offered a chance to study the unaltered

There is an ongoing discourse about whether or not external abrasives influence the microscopic wear in herbivore teeth, including a statement that “dust does not matter”. We submitted the maxillary and mandibular second molar of 28 goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) to dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA). The study animals were divided into four groups, which received diets of increasing phytolith-based

As part of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP), phytoliths, pollen, and microcharcoal were examined from the 228 m (3.29 to 2.56 Ma) Baringo-Tugen Hills-Barsemoi drill core (BTB13). A total of 652 samples were collected at ~10 to 32 cm intervals, corresponding to sub-millennial to millennial scale temporal resolution. Microcharcoal was well-preserved throughout the core and often

Greenland Interstadial-21 (GIS 21), with a centennial-scale precursor event and a “rebound-type” event, was one of the longest warm millennial-scale events recorded in Greenland ice cores during the last glacial period. Precise determination of its timing and duration can improve our understanding of regional/global climate correlations over Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5b/5a and 5a/4. Here, a precisely

This study presents new zircon UPb geochronological and heavy mineral assembly data from Paleogene rocks to constrain the provenance and paleogeographic evolution of the South Yellow Sea Basin (SYSB), East China. Heavy minerals are mainly ilmenite, garnet, epidote, zircon and pyrite. Detrital zircon ages from the Paleocene Funing to Eocene Sanduo Formations can be grouped into five major populations:

As one of the five major extinction events in Earth history, the Frasnian-Famennian boundary (FFB) crisis caused dramatic reductions in marine and terrestrial diversity. The effects of this event on terrestrial ecosystems are not well understood due to the limited preservation of terrestrial sedimentary rocks and the relative scarcity of plant fossils. This study generates a robust zircon UPb age (371

The image of the highly intelligent, pack-hunting raptor has become engrained in scientific literature and popular works alike. First proposed to explain the relatively common co-occurrence of the large-bodied iguanodontian Tenontosaurus tilletti and the wolf-sized Deinonychus antirrhopus from the Lower Cretaceous of North America, a canid-like social hunting structure has become the standard depiction

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between early Toarcian climatic events and the composition of kerogen assemblages in the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal). In particular, we aim to understand how the Pliensbachian–Toarcian Event (Pl–Toa Event) and Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (TOAE) affected the continental areas of the western Iberian margin and how possible variations in

The Middle Devonian (Eifelian) dolomites exposed in the Zachełmie Quarry (Holy Cross Mountains, southern Poland) contain the earliest fossil record of tetrapods. Low-diversity, but unique assemblages of trace fossils characterize the track-bearing interval within the Lower Complex of the Wojciechowice Formation. The reconstructed environment of the trace fossil-rich beds includes ephemeral lakes and/or

The Cryogenian Period spans two major glaciations, the Sturtian Ice Age (~720–660 Ma) and the Marinoan Ice Age (~650–635 Ma), the termination of each of which was associated with a unique type of cap carbonate deposit. Cap carbonates are significant in providing a record of as-yet not fully understood ocean-chemical changes during the deglaciations following Snowball Earth events and in serving as

Mudstone breccias deposited by debris flows in the lacustrine Green River Formation of the Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado, may not represent random and unpredictable events as previously thought. Spectral analysis of mudstone breccia beds in the Wolfridge Minerals John Savage #24-1 basin center core reveals a record of short eccentricity (94.58 kyr), obliquity (50.78 kyr and 39.26 kyr), and precession

The Olduvai Gorge deposits contain a rich archaeological record documenting the evolution of hominin behavior over the last 2 million years. While archaeological assemblages in the lower sedimentary layers (Beds I-II) are well preserved in relatively secure chronostratigraphic contexts, the age of overlying beds is poorly constrained due to discontinuous exposures and lack of marker horizons, abundant

The Neoproterozoic global glaciations (720–635 Ma) represent the most severe icehouse climatic conditions in Earth's history, collectively known as the ‘Snowball Earth events’. The ‘Snowball Earth’ hypothesis (Hoffman et al. 1998) proposed that the termination of the global glaciation was driven by the extremely high atmospheric pCO2 level (300 times of present atmospheric level, PAL) that was accumulated

In this study, we investigated Early Cretaceous (Valanginian, ca. 135 million years ago) climate from subtropical to boreal palaeolatitudes. Combined carbonate clumped isotope and oxygen isotope data derived from sub-arctic, boreal, and sub-tropical fossil belemnite rostra (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) provide new palaeotemperature estimates as well as a constraint on the oxygen isotope composition of seawater

Late Cenozoic changes in chemical weathering and the dust cycle in response to the regional aridification and global cooling in the tectonically active northern Tibetan Plateau is an intriguing issue, although it remains poorly understood. The change in the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of basin water is linked to variations in the overall input of various Sr sources with different 87Sr/86Sr ratios, and analyses

Crustacean trace fossils provide invaluable information to paleobilogical, environmental and ecological interpretations in the Earth history. Here we report an unusually large (segments up to 58 mm across), three-dimensional burrow system from the Lower Devonian Pingyipu Formation, which was deposited in a nearshore setting on the northwestern Yangtze Platform, South China. The burrow system is dominated

The nature of drilling predation, although well documented for molluscan fossils, is understudied for micromolluscs (<5 mm). Studying predation in micromolluscs is especially critical in evaluating the adaptive significance of small size against predation and assessing the evolutionary implication of predator-prey size relationship (PPSR). This study documents a drilling predation event in microbivalves

Massive occurrences of microbialites near the Permian–Triassic boundary have been interpreted as being due to benthic microbial proliferation in unusual marine conditions after the end-Permian mass extinction. Here, we present large populations of Polybessurus-like microfossils in the microbialites of the South China Craton to reveal their morphological structures, growth patterns, and ecological implications

This paper presents pollen analyses and radiocarbon dating on Crocuta coprolites from Las Ventanas (LV) and Carihuela (Car) Caves in southern Spain (Granada), with the aim of reconstructing the environmental conditions of these hominin sites. The LV coprolites are radiocarbon dated from c. 37,890 to 6980 cal yr BP, and the Car coprolites from c. 31,063 to 7861 cal yr BP. Overall, the palaeoecological

The Northern Balkhash Zone is the largest and the most complex ophiolite zone of the Junggar-Balkhash region in the west of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The zone encompasses serpentinite mélange, containing fragments of dunite-harzburgite, dunite-verlite-pyroxenite complexes, layered and isotropic gabbro, sheeted dikes and plagiogranites, along with stacks of tectonic slivers composed of siliceous

The Olduvai Gorge Coring Project (OGCP) drilled four boreholes 1A, 2A, 3A, 3B at three sites into the central palaeolake of the Olduvai Basin depocentre. Previously known Beds I, II, III, IV, Masek Beds and Ndutu are identifiable in the upper part of the cores, and from these formations predominantly lacustrine facies associations are recognised. These are described and then interpreted in terms of

Sedimentological, micropaleontological and geochemical studies of IODP Leg 302 boreholes, M0004A and M0002A, drilled on the Lomonosov Ridge near the North pole, are reported to construct chronostratigraphy and helped unravel Paleogene palaeoclimatic. These studies concluded to a mean annual temperature of sea surface waters ranging between 21 and 25 °C during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum and

Zoophycos in the Mississippian Mobarak Formation (Central Alborz, Iran) shows its potential in interpreting depositional settings, ecological features and sequence stratigraphy. Zoophycos A (ZoA), Zoophycos B (ZoB), Zoophycos/Phycosiphon (Zo/Phy) and Phycosiphon (Phy) ichnocoenoses are identified in the middle and outer ramp facies of the Mobarak Formation on the basis of shape, ichnodensity, ichnocomplexity

Understanding Holocene paleoclimate in arid Central Asia (ACA) is helpful for predicting future climate. However, Holocene climate patterns and their forcing mechanisms across ACA are vigorously debated in the context of global climate change. Here, we present a Holocene loess profile (SGX) from the Ili Basin in the Westerlies-dominated Central Asia. Based on high-resolution, medium-grained (38–63 μm)

Central Asian loess deposits recorded the evolution of aridification across the Asian interior. However, paleoclimatic proxies are strongly influenced by the variation of the dust source and accumulation process. In order to decipher the paleoenvironmental changes, a sensitive paleoclimatic proxy with clear source and accumulation process will be needed. In this study, heavy mineral assemblages and

Middle Permian limestone and marl of the Maokou Formation deposited along the eastern Paleo-Tethys margin (South China) host abundant chert nodules that formed in association with the global Permian Chert Event (PCE). An enhanced understanding of the origin of the chert may help elucidate Middle Permian oceanic and diagenetic conditions. However, the mechanisms responsible for the formation of chert

Primary paleoproductivity provides basic organic matter for the formation of high-quality hydrocarbon source rock. A progressive method to quantitatively calculate paleoproductivity on the basis of total organic carbon (TOC) has been proposed to evaluate the contribution of primary paleoproductivity to a hydrocarbon source rock with high organic matter abundance. In this study, pyrite contents, organic

Sediment accumulation in continental margins during the Quaternary Period was substantially influenced by both sea-level fluctuations and climate changes. However, the response of sediment accumulation to these changes on an orbital timescale, remains poorly understood, for two main reasons: the scarcity of sedimentary records with a high-resolution chronology, and the difficulty in distinguishing

Last Glacial Maximum and Holocene environmental conditions are reconstructed from a lacustrine core obtained from Lake Arturo, located in the Fuegian steppe of southern Argentina. Proxies include diatoms, ostracods, plants remains, organic matter content and sedimentological studies, and they suggest that Lake Arturo experienced climate-related variations in the water level, hydrological balance and

The climate history of the source area of the Yellow River (SAYR) is important to understanding the pacing and processes of climate evolution on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). To date, results of research in this alpine region are limited. Herein, we provide a first lacustrine record from the largest freshwater lake on the QTP that archives climatic and environmental variations in

The Late Ordovician was a time of major climatic and sea-level changes linked to the Hirnantian Glaciation, marked by large positive excursions of δ13Ccarb and δ13Corg globally known as the Hirnantian carbon isotopic excursion (HICE). However, some Upper Ordovician sections in South China exhibit negative δ13Ccarb shifts within the Hirnantian-age Guanyinqiao Bed. We hypothesize that these unusual carbon-isotope

We describe a new pollen and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) record with sub-centennial to centennial resolution from a well-dated sediment core (D13882) obtained from the Atlantic margin of the southwest Iberian Peninsula. The core provides new insights into the dynamics of five ecological pollen-based groups (temperate forests, Mediterranean forests, pinewoods, heathlands and steppe) since the Late

Measures of tooth wear have widespread use as proxies in palaeobiological reconstructions. In order to apply these proxies, an understanding of potential influence factors on wear is important. The processes during the digestion in the ruminant organism lead, possibly inadvertently, to a washing of material before it is regurgitated for rumination chewing. Therefore, ruminants might experience less

Global cooling and the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau have long been considered the crucial controls of the climate change in inland Asia since the Cenozoic. However, which of these factors has played the leading role is unknown. To understand climate change and the controlling factors in inland Asia, here, we present new records of clay mineralogy and trace elements of clay fractions from the Neogene

This study reconstructed the vegetation dynamics and associated climate change of the past ~4100 years based on the pollen data from a short peat core (i.e., KLSZ-2) in Kelashazi Peat (48.12°N, 88.37°E, 2422 m a.s.l.) in the Altai Mountains. The reconstructed vegetation and climate were then stacked with those from a longer peat core (i.e., KLSZ-1) to evaluate the vegetation dynamics and associated