The Oligo-Miocene Asmari Formation in SW Iran represents sedimentation on a carbonate platform. Thin-section analysis allowed distinguishing 26 microfacies, which can be grouped into twelve microfacies associations that represent four main depositional environments: open-marine, outer-ramp, middle-ramp and inner-ramp settings. The carbonates have undergone a complex diagenetic history, from penecontemporaneous

In order to provide a better characterization of the origin and volume of thermogenic gas generation hydrous pyrolysis (HP) experiments were performed on coals and shales at 330 and 360oC for 72 hours. The maturity range of coals and shales used for HP varies from 0.57 to 0.92% Ro. The maturity increase caused by HP at 330 and 360oC ranges from 1.32 to 1.39% and from 1.71 to 1.83%, respectively. δ13C

To characterize the deep structure of the Klippen Belt, we made magnetotelluric measurements in profiles across the western and eastern segments in the territory of Slovakia, from which we created 3D models. The models revealed significant differences in tectonic structure between these segments. In the western segment, the Klippen Belt is located in the southern reversing wing of the original subduction

Soil development in burning coal-mining waste heaps is a rarely addressed phenomenon, especially in Poland and in relation to pyrometamorphic substrates. Eight samples were collected from 5 heaps, four of them obtained from Europe‘s highest “Szarlota” heap located in Rydułtowy. Traces of pedogenesis were observed in both thermally changed (pyrometamorphic) and megascopically unchanged substrates. Grain

Travertine formation is one of the most important archives of active tectonics in a region and provides information about climate, water temperature and quantity, and biological activity. The Edremit travertines and tufas extend over nearly160 km2 within the boundaries of the Edremit area to the east of Lake Van (eastern Turkey), and yield important evidence towards understanding the neotectonics of

North of the Central Anatolian Crystalline Complex and bordered by the İzmir–Ankara–Erzincan Suture Zone, mineralization occurs within ophiolites known as Anatolian Ophiolite Complex. The mineralization is present within banded, laminated and lenticular radiolarites which are intensely fractured and folded. It is distributed around Derbent, Baltasarilar, Cihanpasa, Buyukmahal, Eymir and Kadisehri where

The Salt Range Formation in northern Pakistan is globally well-known for its extremely large evaporite deposits dated to the upper Ediacaran–lower Cambrian. This huge evaporite belt formed an area covering present-day parts of India, Pakistan, Iran, Oman, and even South China (~200,000 km2 in South China). Sulphate minerals, including anhydrite and gypsum, can continuously record seawater sulphur isotopic

Rock samples from four boreholes and three exposures located in the southern peripheries of the Holy Cross Mountains in Poland, from strata representing the lower Cambrian Czarna Shale Formation have been studied palynologically. A relatively numerous and well-preserved lowermost Cambrian microfloral assemblage corresponds to coeval associations known from different palaeocontinents. Our new data enables

Our high-resolution data of pollen and macrofossils from 2 cores taken from the Jagodne site (Garwolin Plain) reveals a pollen succession covering the final part of the Late Saalian (Marine Isotope Stage MIS 6) and embracing the Eemian (MIS 5e). The results correspond to Regional Pollen Assemblage Zones (RPAZ). The hornbeam phase (E5 RPAZ) has been subdivided into subzones and compared to the corresponding

Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) is one of the crucial parameters for geomechanical modelling of unconventional reservoirs useful for the design of hydraulic stimulation of hydrocarbon production. In spite of a large amount of UCS data collected from the Lower Silurian and Ordovician shale successions of the Baltic Basin (northern Poland), no comprehensive study on this subject has been published

A history of landscape development in the Russian part of the Neman Delta area during the Holocene, with an emphasis on the formation of forests and wetlands, is deduced based on pollen analysis, radiocarbon dating, a field topography survey, and macrofossil analysis of peat deposits in a coastal mire, the Koz’ye Bog. Several 1,000–2,000-year time lags in vegetational development were revealed here

The Gdów “embayment” is the most pronounced deflection along the northern boundary of the Carpathians. It is filled by the sandy clay deposits which used to be named the Skawina Formation or Chodenice beds or, locally, conglomerates (of Sypka Góra). Their stratigraphic position according to studies of foraminifers had been determined as Badenian. New results obtained from micropalaeontological material

Interpretation of the regional high-resolution seismic data of the PolandSPANTM survey in the Grudziądz-Polik area revealed a new depositional architecture of the Upper Cretaceous succession that differs substantially from the previously assumed layer-cake model, commonly applied to Permian-Mesozoic sequences. A previously unrecognized regional unconformity, dividing the Upper Cretaceous succession

  Brunovistulia is a composite terrane of Gondwana descent that eventually was accreted to the SW margin of Baltica, central Europe. It is built of metagneous and metasedimentary rocks that originated mainly between 650 and 550 Ma. However in the Upper Silesian part of Brunovistulia, much older fragments have been drilled, which yielded U-Pb zircon ages between 2.75 and 2.0 Ga. They have been interpreted

The Lece-Radan area of the Oligo-Miocene magmatic complex (former Tethyan active margin, southern Serbia) contains more or less altered volcanic and/or pyroclastic rocks of predominant andesitic, andesitic-dacitic, to dacitic composition. Alteration seen at exposures varies in type and intensity. Samples with documented alunitization were collected from hydrothermally altered zones embedded within

The Badenian/Sarmatian boundary in the Central Paratethys has been traditionally identified by the faunal turnover recording an important environmental change possibly controlled by the change from marine to brackish conditions. The strata below the Badenian/Sarmatian boundary in the northern Carpathian Foredeep are included into the Pecten beds, and those above it into the Syndesmya beds. Foraminiferal

Geochemical and plant macrofossil analyses of the Żabieniec mire deposits and the palaeoenvironmental changes they record of the past several thousand years constitute an important source for palaeogeographical reconstruction of the Polish Lowland. We describe the phases of the basin’s development from the final part of the Plenivistulian (MIS2), through the Late Glacial and the entire Holocene, encompassing

Malacological analysis was used to reconstruct Holocene environmental changes from profiles of calcareous tufa and fluvial deposits exposed in the Kobylanka stream valley, several kilometres west of Kraków in southern Poland. The abundant and diversified mollusc fauna was characterized by clear variability within the vertical succession where five types of molluscan assemblages were distinguished.

Palynostratigraphic studies of the Carboniferous strata of the Szczawno and Wałbrzych formations, outcropping in the vicinity of Wałbrzych in the northern part of the Intra-Sudetic Basin, are reported. Rocks of the Szczawno Formation in a section near Konradów had earlier been assigned to the Upper Visean, while rocks of the Wałbrzych Formation in the Biały Kamień section were included to the Lower

A rare indium-bearing mineral from the stratiform Czerniawa Zdrój-Krobica Sn deposit in the Sudetes (NE part of the Bohemian Massif) has been recognized in the qualitative-quantitative chemical composition studies of sulphide-cassiterite samples by electron microprobe (EMPA). This indium-bearing mineral occurs in the form of separate hipautomorphic microscopic grains (diameter 5–20 μm) and as intergrowths

Extensive collections of land molluscs from the many sections of Middle and Late Pleistocene deposits in the region of the Middle Dniester River were made by Professor Mykola Kunytsia (1925–2002). These collections, now at the Natural Museum, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, were for the most part analysed, but remained partially unpublished. M. Kunytsia used them for regional reconstructions

Limestone layers are extensively developed in the continental/ocean transitional Taiyuan Formation. This formation accumulated on the southern North China Block. The precise environmental conditions of the Taiyuan Formation are still controversial. More information about these topics is presented here on the basis of the analysis of trace elements (Mo, V, Cd, Cr, U, Th), which can be used to determine

In the Bardo Syncline (Holy Cross Mountains, Poland), two beds of tuffite (named the Niewachlów tuffites) have been discovered within greywackes of Ludlow (Silurian) age. K-Ar dating of the lower bed yielded an age of 292.8 ±4.0 Ma, while the upper bed provided an age of 341.9 ±4.3 Ma. The dates pertain to metamorphic alteration of the tuffite, related to reactivation of the Daleszyce Fault Zone. In

X-ray fluorescence analyses of sixty-one K-bentonite samples from the Ludlow-Pridoli sections of western Ukraine and Moldova were used for correlation and source magma interpretation. The study reveals that source magmas of K-bentonites were low-temperature (~720oC) rhyolites indicating melting of continental crust during subduction of a hydrated oceanic plate. Volcanic sources were probably located

Research by the Polish Geological Survey has been carried out along the southern Baltic coastal zone over a distance of 38 km. The Baltic Sea is classified as non-tidal, and its southern coasts are built entirely of weakly lithified sedimentary rocks. These deposits form three main types of coast, namely cliffs, barriers and alluvial coasts (wetlands), with the research focusing on the first two. Methods

Advanced magnetic and gravity data analysis has been used to acquire geophysical constraints providing new insights into the geological structure of the Suwałki Anorthosite Massif (SAM). The large negative magnetic anomaly of the SAM anorthosite intrusion is a result of the negative inclination of remanent magnetization, directed antiparallel to the present Earth’s magnetic field. Several filtering

Estimation of the CO2 storage potential of gas-bearing shales in the Lower Paleozoic Baltic Basin is at an early stage of reservoir exploration and production, based on data from one vertical exploration borehole, supplemented with some information from adjacent boreholes. The borehole section examined is 120 m long and comprises three intervals enriched with organic matter separated by organic-poor

The source of clastic material supplied to the epicontinental sea during the Middle and Late Jurassic in the Pomeranian Segment of the northern part of the Mid-Polish Trough is analysed, using deposits from the Rzeczyn PIG-1 borehole that represent the Łyna, Chociwel, Brda, Pałuki, Kcynia and Rogoźno formations. Heavy mineral analysis, including weathering indices (ZTR, GZI, RZI and Q) and standardised

A new palaeogeographic reconstruction from the end of the Odranian Glaciation to the end of the Weichslian Glaciation (MIS 2) is based on research carried out at the Knyszewicze site, NE Poland, focusing on the dynamics of the Wartanian Glaciation (MIS 6) and showing the lobed nature of this ice sheet. Reconstruction of deglaciation in the research area was supplemented by analysis of postglacial morpholineaments

New conodont data provide further constraints on the occurrence of the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary in the Kule section through the carbonate Novchomok Formation (Kitab Reserve, Uzbekistan). The stratigraphically condensed section includes the interval from the uppermost Famennian Pseudopolygnathus granulosus–lowermost Protognathodus kockeli zones to the middle Tournaisian Siphonodella crenulata

The High-Tatric succession of the Tatra Mountains represents the Tatricum domain of the Central Western Carpathians, which in the Jurassic was located on the southern margin of the incipient and expanding Vahic Ocean – a branch of Western Tethys. This paper describes the various depositional consequences of extensional tectonic activity as it impacted on sedimentation in the High-Tatric succession

A significant period of increased tectonics was monitored between 2013 and 2015 on the eastern margin of the Bohemian Massif along ten faults. Nine of them showed a uniform scheme: dextral strike-slip along generally NW–SE striking faults, sinistral strike-slip along generally NE–SW striking faults and uprising of the southern blocks. The distinguished fault displacements displayed an NNW–SSE striking

We provide the first reports of some rare trace fossils from the middle Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) of the Sudety Mountains (SW Poland, Upper Nysa Kłodzka Graben, Długopole Górne Quarry). These include burrows ?Ancorichnus isp., Asterosoma cf. ludwigae Schlirf, 2000, Asterosoma isp., cf. Phycodes isp., Dactyloidites ottoi (Geinitz, 1849), Funalichnus strangulatus (Fritsch, 1883), Phycodes cf. palmatus

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Fluctuations in suspended sediment concentration (SSC) has been investigated in the Warta River (western Poland), based on data obtained for the period 1961–1980 from three gauge stations located in upstream, middle-stream and downstream areas. Over the two decades, the SSC values demonstrated wide fluctuations and an overall increase at each gauge station. No significant correlation was generally

The Middle Buntsandstein Subgroup of the Lower Triassic of north-eastern Poland has been investigated in the context of possible marine ingressions into the Central European Basin. To better constrain these, palynofacies analysis and mineralogical analysis of mudstones were undertaken on samples taken from the Lidzbark and Malbork formations penetrated by the Bartoszyce IG 1 borehole, serving as stratotype

Revision of the Silesian bear fauna, based on material from 152 sites, mainly cave and karstic localities, and also archaeological and open-air sites, shows the presence of 13 forms and species. These records encompass the last 16.5 Ma and may be divided into five main morphophyletic groups. The oldest bears, represented by the genera Ballusia and Ursavus, are dated to 16.5–11 Ma, and belonged to the

Seven Middle Miocene (Upper Badenian to Lower Sarmatian) sedimentary sections of the Central Paratethys, two from the Polish Carpathian Foredeep Basin (PCFB) and five from the Eastern Carpathian Foreland Basin (ECFB) of Romania and the Republic of Moldova have been analysed micropalaeontologically to better constrain the Badenian-Sarmatian Extinction Event, characterized by significant taxonomic impoverishment

Primary ore mineralization in the abandoned Boguszow baryte-polymetallic deposit, located in the Intra-Sudetic Depression, was studied by reflected light microscopy and electron microprobe. Ore minerals, occurring as veinlets, irregular aggregates and lenses in baryte veins are hosted by the Upper Carboniferous Chelmiec rhyodacite laccolith. They are dominated by galena, sphalerite (with Cd up to 0

The Jawornik granitoids intrude, in vein-like form, a sequence of a polymetamorphic metavolcanic and metapelitic rocks of the Orlica-Śnieznik Dome, Sudetes, Poland. This paper provides whole-rock geochemical data, sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb zircon geochronological data as well as 40Ar-39Ar age determinations to constrain the genetic and temporal relationships of the different

Landslides determine increases and decreases in specific soil compounds which is affecting soil fertility. The recovery of soil fertility is a long process and may be used as an indicator of the landslide age and can contribute to the management plan of the affected area. In order to add to data about soil properties affected by landslides, the current study focuses on a young and shallow landslide

During an almost two week-long field campaign in the Atacama Desert high altitude region of Ojos del Salado volcano, temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) values were monitored on the surface and <1–5 cm sized rocks, focusing on the night-time values. The aim was to identify and evaluate potential temporal characteristics of daily T and RH changes, searching for ideal periods for deliquescence

The Wieliczka salt mine, near Krakow in southern Poland, is a world-famous historical and modern destination for both geoscientists and tourists. Despite numerous publications, there is still a lack of consensus on the nature and origin of the large-scale folds as well as whether the small-scale structures represent tectonic or soft-sediment deformation. In this preliminary work, we offer new ideas

This assessment of the environmental degradation by toxic chemical elements within the Upper Silesian Industrial Agglomeration of Poland encompasses the impact of mining for base metals and coal and non-ferrous metallurgy, as well as the discharge of industrial and municipal sewage causing strong degradation of the natural environment in the area over the years. The content of the following elements:

An Upper Jurassic succession is exposed in the active Rogaszyn Quarry (Kodrąb area) located in the Radomsko Folds structure (central Poland). Six facies types were distinguished, comprising oolitic, oncolitic, biodetrital and pelitic limestones as well as marls and marly clays. Typical lithologies are limestones with coated grains deposited in shallow-water, fore-shoal, shoal and lagoonal parts of

Fluvial deposits subjected to this study are exposed at the Brześnica site, in the south-western part of the Wielkopolska region in Poland, which was close to the ice-sheet limit during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Sedimentological analyses, including lithofacies descriptions, palaeocurrent measurements, grain size and rounding analyses and heavy mineral compositions indicate that the fluvial deposits

Abundant and moderately diverse trace fossil assemblage have been discovered for the first time in mudstones of the Pogorzala Formation from the Witoszow region, SW Poland. Fifteen ichnospecies including fourteen ichnogenera are described. The ichnofauna is dominated by Dictyodora liebeana and contains numerous Palaeophycus tubularis , rarer Archaeonassa fossulata , Archaeonassa isp., Chondrites cf

Fossil bear material from the lowermost deposits of the Jasna Strzegowska cave is described and its taxonomic status assessed. Comparison with bear remains from other Early and early Middle Pleistocene localities of Eurasia shows the presence of two bear species: Ursus etruscus and U. deningeri , based on morphological and size characters of the teeth and postcranial bones. The teeth of U. deningeri

Numerical simulations are provided of a potential landslide on a slope in the Passo della Morte (Carnian Alps, northeastern Italy). The slope is situated on the flank of a valley of the Tagliamento River. The danger arising from the potential landslide is associated with sliding rock damming the valley and a sudden discharge of water accumulated at the back of the dam in the case of its uncontrolled

Foraminifera and calcareous nannoplankton from the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) transition in the Hyżne section (Outer Carpathians, south-eastern Poland) show a relatively complete biostratigraphic record. Despite the absence of the Pa Zone in turbiditic deposits of the Polish Carpathians, the planktonic foraminiferal zones of the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene interval are well defined, including

Borates at the Igdekoy-Doganlar locality were deposited in a Miocene lacustrine environment during periods of Paleogene to Early Quaternary volcanic activity. The mineral paragenesis consists of probertite – (NaCaB 5 O 7 (OH) 4 .3H 2 O), ulexite (NaCa[B 5 O 6 (OH) 6 ].5H 2 O), hydroboracite (CaMg[B 3 O 4 (OH) 3 ] 2 .3H 2 O), colemanite (Ca[B 3 O 4 (OH) 3 ].H 2 O), halite, anhydrite, glauberite, smectite

Ancylite-(Ce) occurs in quartz-calcite-chlorite veins crosscutting the foliation of phyllite in the Dewon Quarry in the foothills of the Opava Mountains of the eastern Sudetes, south-west Poland. Irregularly shaped grains of ancylite are up to 67 mm long and 22 mm wide. The compositional range of ancylite, determined by electron microprobe, is expressed by the empirical formula: (Sr 0.65-0.55 Ca 0

Romania has a long history of hydrocarbon production and tens of thousands of boreholes have penetrated Miocene strata. Many well cores or cuttings have been either lost or damaged, but lab reports containing valuable petrographic, paleontological and structural data are still available. Most of the knowledge of the subsurface relies on old descriptions and interpretations used by the oil industry

New U-Pb zircon SHRIMP determinations from magmatic silicic rocks adjacent to the NE part of the Upper Silesia Coal Basin (USB) are provided and compared with earlier data obtained by K-Ar dating. The zircon samples studied came from the same boreholes and depth intervals previously sampled for K-Ar datings. Recalculations of the earlier K-Ar values for biotites yielded isochron ages in the range of

Non-tectonic, soft-sediment deformation structures occur in mid-Miocene crevasse-splay deposits exposed in the Tomislawice lignite opencast mine in central Poland. The crevasse-splay cross-stratified siliciclastic deposits are underlain by continuously folded and relatively thick lignite beds, and overlain by a thin undisturbed layer of lignite. Only the middle part of the crevasse-splay succession

Calcareous nannofossils are described from 4 sections of the Lower Cretaceous Dalichai Formation from the Eastern (Tepal, Talu and Lavan sections) and central Alborz Mountains (Yonjezar section), Iran. Forty-two species belonging to 18 genera have been identified from the 4 sections studied, including 13 species belonging to 8 genera of ascidian didemnids only from the Tepal section. These taxa indicate

Loading processes and the resulting load structures induced by processes related to periglacial conditions are compared to those induced by seismic shocks. The load structures themselves are relatively easily recognizable but the responsible trigger mechanism is, though depending on the geological context, commonly difficult to establish. Load structures like load casts, pseudonodules, ball-and-pillow

Intrastratal flow is a process that is still poorly understood, rarely described and difficult to interpret in ancient rocks. Sediments in the Cretaceous lacustrine Gyeokpori Formation of southwestern South Korea contain some chaotically deformed sandstone layers with deformed mudstone clasts that are ascribed to this process. The interpretation is based on the fact that these layers cannot be explained

In the Baltic-Podlasie-Lublin Basin, four potential lower Paleozoic shale reservoirs are identified: the Piaśnica, Sasino and Jantar formations, as well as the Mingajny shale. These units were diachronously deposited during the starved stages of Caledonian foredeep basin development, in the course of rising or high eustatic sea level. Across most of the basin, the shale formations analysed are saturated

We provide a revised magnetostratigraphy and magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy of the most complete and thickest (to nearly 60 m) loess-palaeosol sequences in Ukraine spanning the past 1 My: the Roksolany (Black Sea Lowland) and Vyazivok (Dnieper Lowland) sections. The Matuyama–Brunhes boundary has been detected in both sequences in stratigraphically different palaeosol units according to current