Long-term paleovegetational records from continental settings help in comprehending regional and global forcing on the abundance of C3-C4 plants in the past. The carbon isotopic composition of soil carbonates (δ13CSC), soil organic matter (δ13CSOM), organic matter occluded in soil carbonate nodules (δ13CNOM) and biomarkers in paleosol organic matter (long-chain fatty acid; δ13CFAME) are often used

Tufa in the Little Mesa area of the northern Bridger Basin has been interpreted to record carbonate deposition via subaqueous and subaerial springs emanating near the shoreline of Eocene Lake Gosiute. Sedimentary facies record an overall transgression, culminating with mound structures that reach up to 9 m in height and 40 m in diameter. Mounds exhibit a strong positive, linear covariance between δ13C

Detrital provenance methods aid to understand ice sheet conditions in the past, often seeking to define the location of the eroding ice sheet margin. To support interpretation, we develop a probabilistic approach to predict detrital production linked to changing ice sheet conditions. The approach is applied in western Wilkes Land, Antarctica. Considering four candidate ice sheet states, spatial variations

The terrestrial Albian–Cenomanian (A–C) transition was an important time interval for the co-evolution of animals and flowering plants, as well as for the diversification of dinosaurs and mammals on continents. Due to a worldwide lack of terrestrial sedimentation at that time, and the difficulty of direct correlation between marine and non-marine stratigraphy, only a few studies have discussed the

The Lhasa Terrane of Tibet is critical to understanding Early Triassic crustal convergence of Gondwana and Eurasia. However, its palaeo-position during this period remains obscure. This paper considers the disputed tectonic nature of the Lhasa Terrane during Triassic time. The debate has taken the form of two schools of thought regarding the Lhasa Terrane. One holds that the terrane was a stable carbonate

High-resolution stable isotope data (δ18O, δ13C) were used to study growth strategies of the bivalve Venus verrucosa collected from three sites of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. The principal objectives of this study were to identify the main growing season and to evaluate the potential applicability of δ18Oshell values to reconstruct the seasonal temperature variability. Calcium carbonate

Scientific projections point to the increase of greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere will turn the oceans warmer and, consequently, the upper layer of the thermohaline circulation will get thicker, restricting the productivity areas. Oligotrophic conditions will tend to prevail, and expanding the range of proxy data in oligotrophic oceans, across different climate scenarios, has the potential to

During the Last Glacial Cycle (last ~130 kyr) climatically induced changes in the ocean dynamics affected the tracemaker habitat in the Alboran Sea Basin (westernmost Mediterranean), as observed in sediment records from ODP Leg 161 Sites 976 and 977. The trace fossil assemblage present is assigned to the Zoophycos ichnofacies and is of low/moderate diversity and comprises common Planolites, Chondrites

From the southern coast of Peru to the central-north coast of Chile (18°-31°S), previous evidence suggests that wide variations in sea surface temperature (SST) over the Holocene may be associated with changes in coastal upwelling regimes along the region. Support for spatial contrasts and similarities in oceanographic dynamics comes from earlier work at both extremes of the region. Using a 12 kyr

In the Rocky Mountain region of the western United States, upper Mississippian and Pennsylvanian stratigraphy in central Montana and northern Utah preserve a poorly documented, paleotropical stratigraphic record that spans the Carboniferous interval of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA). Sedimentologic and stratigraphic investigation of the Otter Formation (Visean) to the Alaska Bench (Bashkirian) in

Paleobiologists tend to use dietary information as an ecological indicator because diet is a fundamental link between an organism and its environment. However, the ecological information from fossilized hard tissues is often difficult to interpret, because links between environment, diet, and hard tissue biology are insufficiently studied in modern communities. To address this dilemma, we investigated

Nitrogen stable isotopes (δ15N) of organic matter can aid in the reconstruction of food webs and, when applied to fossil systems, may help resolve uncertainty about trophic position and provide tests for hypotheses developed using traditional paleoecological techniques. However, in order to use those values to reconstruct trophic relationships in ecosystems and assess changes in their dynamics, an

Changes in terrestrial environments across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, including plant ecology and carbon and water-cycling, remain poorly defined. Fluvial sediments spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary of southern Saskatchewan, Canada contain well preserved plant wax n-alkanes that provide a means of reconstructing changes to plant ecology and carbon and water cycling during this

We undertook a palaeoecological evaluation of the development of ribs, flanges, tubes and pallial canals in recumbent rudist bivalves typified by the genus Titanosarcolites. We used an evidence based system to interpret potential functional significance of features. The dorsal position of the ancestral ligament and the antero-ventral-down orientation of recumbent Titanosarcolites indicates that a recumbent

The Late Ordovician late Katian was a period of generally warm, transitional greenhouse to icehouse climate with sea-level oscillations dominated by moderate-amplitude eustasy. This study aims to improve the understanding of the climatic and sea-level fluctuations prior to the end-Ordovician glaciation, using a comprehensive core, wireline log, and thin-section dataset spanning the topmost Red River-Stony

Understanding the impact of Holocene climate variations in arid northern China will provide important insights into a better prediction of future water availability in this region. In this study, we present paleoenvironment data from the lacustrine-aeolian deposit sections and a lake sediment core from the Lake Wulanhushao basin, southern Inner Mongolia. Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating and

The Black Sea experienced multiple episodes of connection with both the Mediterranean and Caspian seas during the Quaternary. Global sea-level variation has been proposed as the main driver of changes in Mediterranean-Black Sea connectivity, while positive water budgets drove Caspian overspill. We present a new, two proxy, low-resolution record from the Black Sea that allows reconstruction of connectivity

There are various types of polymetallic mineralization in lower Cambrian black shales from South China, including NiMo, Ba, P, and V deposits. However, the origin of this diverse mineralization is controversial, with debate existing as to whether seawater or hydrothermal fluids were more important. In addition, the effects of biological activity have also been proposed to be important. To assess these

Volcano-sedimentary cores recovered from Pleistocene Palaeolake Olduvai by the Olduvai Gorge Coring Project (OGCP) provide a high-resolution record for reconstructing climatic and environmental contexts of hominin evolution. Approximately 612 m were recovered from four cores from three drill sites across the basin depocentre through scientific drilling, and these have yielded unprecedented data that

The shell δ18O of young modern Aequipecten opercularis from the southern North Sea provides an essentially faithful record of seasonal variation in seafloor temperature. In this well-mixed setting, A. opercularis shell δ18O also serves as a proxy for seasonal variation in surface temperature. Individuals from less agitated (e.g. deeper) settings in a warm climate would not be expected to record the

Global warming and human activity are thought to be the primary drivers of the globally rising occurrences of forest fires. Due to the importance of local to regional environmental drivers in mediating fire frequencies, reconstructing fire histories of representative geographic regions is important to understand fire regimes and predict future changes. The present study aims to establish a relatively

The world's oldest known stone tools discovered at the Pliocene site of Lomekwi 3 (LOM3) in the Nachukui Formation, northern Kenya, signals a prodigious behavioral change in the hominin lineage. LOM3, dated to 3.3 Ma, is significantly earlier than the first appearance of genus Homo and coincides with the onset of the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period, warranting new phylogenetic and environmental explanations

Cyclostratigraphy plays a pivotal role in detecting and reporting Milankovitch cycles in sedimentary successions which allows for creating an independent astronomical time scale and estimates of sediment accumulation rates. In this study, cyclostratigraphic analysis of petrophysical logs from Lower Triassic Kangan Formation was performed in two wells of the Salman gas field, eastern part of the Persian

During the Permian, major icehouse-greenhouse climate shifts and tectonic reconfiguration had important biogeographic implications, especially for climate-sensitive organisms such as fusulinids. Here we present multivariate methods on a global fusulinid species dataset including 1546 species from 58 localities in the Early (Asselian, Sakmarian, Artinskian and Kungurian) and Middle (Roadian, Wordian

Knowledge of the establishment of the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River is essential for understanding the origin of the Yellow River and the interplay between tectonic deformation and climate change in the region. However, the timing of the integration of the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River is debated, ranging from the Late Miocene to the Late Pleistocene. Here we present detrital

Earth’s tropical forests repeatedly restructured on 105- to 107-year timescales during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (340–280 Ma). Although it is established that these ancient plants responded to an evolving climate, their thresholds for physiological functioning and how such thresholds led to vegetation-climate feedbacks warrants further investigation. Here, we evaluate the physiology of seven plant

Hyperpycnal flows have been widely described in different lacustrine and marine environments but sedimentary structures and fossil content in hyperpycnites often offer limited information about the palaeoenvironmental conditions. This limitation can be improved by ichnological analysis, which has been recently used as a tool to differentiate between different type of subaqueous deposits, even though

Quaternary saline lake deposits are well formed and widely distributed in the Qaidam Basin, on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, NW China. Studying these lacustrine salt mineral deposits can improve our understanding of tectonic deformation, Asian interior aridification and monsoon climate associated with global cooling and Tibetan Plateau uplift. Previous paleoclimate records in the Qaidam Basin are

Mammal remains, preserved in archaeological and palaeontological deposits, are commonly used to reconstruct past terrestrial climates and environments. Here we propose new species-specific models for Bioclimatic Analysis, a palaeoclimatic method based on a climatic restriction index for each mammal species, discriminant analysis, and multiple linear regressions. Our new models are based on small mammal

The Sappington Formation outcrops in southwestern Montana and spans the Upper Devonian—Lower Mississippian transition. It consists of two carbonaceous shale intervals, one upper and one lower, and a middle dolomitic siltstone and silty sandstone. It was deposited in a relatively small basin, with the Central Montana Uplift separating the Sappington Basin from the Williston Basin to the east, which

Late Holocene depositional environments of the Lake Coatetelco, with a volcaniclastic watershed, were evaluated with respect to cultural transitions in the nearby archeological site at Xochicalco in order to explore the relationship between hydroclimate and evolution of one of the important Mesoamerican cultures in central-southern Mexico. Several high-energy runoff events between ca. 2576 and 2232 cal yr

This paper presents a high-resolution analysis of dinoflagellate cyst groups (1959 to 2009), in the southern Gulf of California (GoC). We analyzed 100 samples of laminated sediments with an effective sampling resolution of ~7 months. Our primary goal is to clarify the relation between changes in these groups and the climate forcing defined by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal

The Dardanelles region has formed a key gateway connecting the Eastern Paratethys and the Aegean/Mediterranean since the late Miocene. Its sedimentary sequences contain crucial information about connectivity and tectonics but so far lack unambiguous age constraints. Only a few Miocene marine episodes have been documented and fossil assemblages are predominantly composed of Paratethyan fauna (mollusks

In north-western Europe, continental records of Pleistocene interglacials are well preserved in fluvial sequences and particularly within calcareous tufas that formed at the top of the series. They are the sole deposits recording the full optima. Tufas contain rich malacological communities that allow the detailed palaeoenvironmental history of past interglacials to be reconstructed. Several tufas

Primary carbonate and marl layers and limestone nodular horizons were intersected in OGCP Boreholes 1A, 2A, 3A, 3B, drilled into the depocentre of Palaeolake Olduvai. The various carbonate types were analysed, employing petrographic (including cathodo-luminescence), stable isotope, and sequence stratigraphic techniques, and recorded important information concerning lake evolution. Primary carbonate

Redox variation during the Late Ordovician were an important driver of palaeoceanographic and ecologic changes that may have eventually facilitated biotic extinction in the end of the Ordovician. Previously, the Late Ordovician paleoredox studies have focused mostly on the last 1–2 million years prior to the end of the Ordovician; redox conditions during the Sandbian–Katian time (early–middle Late

At ~3500 m above sea level in the Eastern Andean Cordillera, Quebrada Honda Basin exposes more than 300 m of middle Miocene sedimentary strata, developed on distal alluvial fan sediments interstratified with volcanoclastic deposits, overlying Paleozoic basement. These deposits are rich in exotic vertebrate fauna adapted to a wetter and warmer climate at lower paleoelevation, as contrasted with the

Climate changes close to the Lochkovian-Pragian Event are still widely discussed. Carbonate δ18O and δ13C and conodont apatite δ18O from medial to distal carbonate ramp sediments were analysed to provide further stable isotope data from the stratotype area in the Prague Basin. The uppermost Silurian to lower Emsian δ18O trends are put into an updated conodont biostratigraphy framework. Carbonate δ18O

The Ediacaran-Cambrian transition was a critical period of Earth history because of the coincidence among climate change, bioevolution, and tectonic activity. The nature of carbon and sulfur-cycling processes spanning the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary remains debatable. This study considers high-resolution stable isotope chemostratigraphy of the Sugetbrak and Yutixi sections of the Keping area of the

We examine the nature and number of event beds preserved in heterolithic prodelta and delta-front strata in five proximal-accumulation-dominated (PAD) North American delta systems including the Quaternary Gulf of Mexico, and the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway. We also explore the continuum between PAD, more distal deposits of mud belts and thicker subaqueous-delta-clinoforms (SDC). Sediment

Luancaia igen. Nov. and its two new ichnospecies, L. candasensis and L. elongata, from the Middle Devonian Naranco Formation of Asturias, northern Spain, record infaunal moulting most likely related to a defensive strategy. The new ichnogenus has an elongate to oblong outline, and displays a distinctly trilobate appearance that includes an axial longitudinal lobe characterized by a distinctive ridge

Constraining past variability in ocean conditions in the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) and examining how it has been influenced by the El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is critical to predicting how these systems may change in the future. To characterize the spatiotemporal variability of the WPWP and ENSO during the past three decades, we analyzed climate proxies using coral cores sampled from

Ichnological data are integrated with sedimentologic data and body fossil content to reconsider the origins of the biogenic sedimentary structures in upper middle Eocene strata of Wadi El-Hitan (UNESCO universal heritage area) in Egypt. Three types of rhizoliths (Type 1 to 3) are recognized, in addition to co-occurrence of six common marine ichnogenera (Ophiomorpha, Skolithos, Thalassinoides, Palaeophycus

The distribution and community structure of mid-Holocene, tropical benthic foraminiferal assemblages were analyzed for their correspondence to marine habitats and invertebrate facies. Benthic foraminifera are useful for paleoenvironmental reconstructions because the modern ecology of many species found as Quaternary fossils is known. Samples were collected from ~30,000 m2 of an excavated Acropora

The long-term variability of the Indian monsoon in the Bay of Bengal remains inconclusive due to the lack of proximal sedimentary records. To further elucidate the long-term variability of the Indian monsoon, we analyzed the paleoproductivity regime over the last 2.3 Myr at the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 353 Site U1445 located near the Mahanadi Basin in the northwestern

The Lower Jurassic rock record contains abundant organic-rich mudrocks suitable for refining Early Jurassic time using ReOs organic-rich shale (ORS) geochronometry, such as those associated with the Sinemurian–Pliensbachian boundary event or the Toarcian Ocean Anoxic Event (T-OAE). Despite this, most studies to date have failed to obtain high precision, geologically meaningful, ages for such Lower

The Holocene muddy infill of the valley incised by the ancient Red River during Pleistocene sea-level lowstand records a change from fluvial to estuarine and finally marine depositional conditions. Siphonichnus, a mainly vertical trace fossil produced by burrowing bivalves, documents otherwise unrecorded episodes of enhanced erosion, bypass and deposition of, on average, rapidly aggrading (> 1 m kyr−1)

The Pliensbachian-Toarcian sedimentary rocks of the Median Subbetic (Betic Cordillera, SE Spain) were deposited in the South Iberian Palaeomargin under hemipelagic conditions. In the Arroyo Mingarrón section (SE Spain) these deposits are composed by a marl and marl and limestone alternation with abundant radiolarians. The application of magnetic susceptibility and gamma ray spectrometry to these deposits

Disentangling the role of natural and anthropogenic factors is a major challenge in paleofire studies. Here, we introduce the molecular biomarkers of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs), combined with charcoal and black carbon in sediments of archaeological sites, to identify anthropogenic signals of environmental change during the middle Holocene. In the prehistoric period, an intensified-fire

Eolian dust activity studies on the arid Central Asia (ACA), one of the world's largest dust sources, are of great importance to the global climatic system. Grain size distributions (GSDs) can provide information on sediment sources, transport processes and sedimentary environments. As a result, GSD is the most frequently applied proxy in reconstruction of past eolian dust activities of the ACA using

With the discovery of the Bozhong 19–6 large gas field in the Bohai Bay Basin, the study of lacustrine source rocks in the southwestern Bozhong Sag has garnered new interest. In this paper, 107 source rock samples of the Paleogene Shahejie Formation (Es) from the southwestern Bozhong Sag were analyzed with organic and inorganic methods and compared with other sags in the Bohai Bay Basin to reveal the

This study shows the first Mediterranean high-resolution record of alkenone-derived sea surface temperature (SST) in the marine sediments outcropping at the Ideale section (IS) (southern Italy, central Mediterranean) from late marine isotope stage (MIS) 20 - through early MIS 18. The SST pattern evidences glacial-interglacial up to submillennial-scale temperature variation, with lower values (~13 °C)

To date, 37 species and 2 subspecies (36 species plus 1 species that with 2 subspecies) of the ostracode genus Cribroconcha Cooper, 1941 have been reported worldwide, ranging in age from the Middle Devonian to the Early Permian with an acme during the Carboniferous. Based on the geographical distribution and morphological characteristics of Cribroconcha, two evolutionary lineages (i.e., Lineage 1 and