Geochemical and mineralogical studies were performed in the La Pesca (LP) and Tesoro Altamira (TA) beach sediments, located in the Tamaulipas state, northern Gulf of Mexico. The main aim of this study is to infer the weathering history and provenance and to discriminate the tectonic environment of the beach sediments. The sediments are composed of quartz with small amounts of accessory minerals such as plagioclase, calcite, orthoclase, microcline, and zircon. Both beach sediments are classified as fine-grained and very well sorted, however LP has coarse skewed and leptokurtic sediments, whereas TA has fine-skewed and very leptokurtic sediments. The chemical index of weathering (CIW') indicates intense weathering in the source area. The quartz grain microtextures in the LP and TA are classified into mechanical, chemical, and mechanical/chemical origin. Mechanical features such as fractures, pits, percussion marks, abrasion fatigue, and V-shaped marks favor high-energy littoral, fluvial, subaqueous-marine, and aeolian environments. The chemical features indicate solution pits and crystalline overgrowth, which suggests a silica saturated marine environment. The mechanical/chemical features display adhering particles and elongated depressions suggest formation in a sub-aqueous nearshore marine environment. Major and trace elements-based provenance discrimination diagrams indicate a felsic source derived from the Mesa Central (MC), Sierra Madre Oriental (SMOr) and Oaxaquia terranes. The major and trace element concentrations imply a passive margin setting for the northern Gulf of Mexico, which is consistent with the general geology.
Thin-bedded turbidites are important hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in many mature fields throughout the world. The type of turbidite depositional setting strongly influences vertical and horizontal continuity of the reservoir. However, distinguishing between lobe and levee associated thin-bedded turbidites remains challenging due to their generally similar facies characteristics. This study aims to contribute some insights to this problem by conducting a detailed bed-scale facies analysis on the Early Miocene Temburong Formation exposed at Kampung Bebuloh, Labuan Island, Malaysia, which may uncover features that can help in differentiating between both depositional types. Six facies are recognized in the Temburong Formation, which are interpreted as low density turbidites (F1 - F4), hybrid event beds (F5), and sustained turbidites (F6). Detailed facies and ichnology analysis reveal features which are consistent with a lobe fringe deposit rather than levee-associated environment interpretation, including tabular bed geometries, presence of hybrid event beds, and the absence of thick-bedded channel-fill sandstones. Five facies associations are identified and interpreted as representing sub-environments within an overall lobe depositional setting. A diverse trace fossil assemblage, comprising the Nereites ichnofacies is consistent with a deep marine environment. Further identification of the Paleodictyon and Nereites sub-ichnofacies indicates a distal turbidite system setting, most likely lobe fringe. Based on the thick accumulation of FA2 and FA3 and no distinct observable vertical trend, the Early Miocene Temburong Formation in Labuan is interpreted as turbidites deposited at the fringes of lobe complexes rather than a single lobe fringe. Earlier works into the Temburong Formation in SW Labuan proposed a middle slope to proximal basin floor setting where the thin-bedded intervals were interpreted as potentially representing either levee deposits or the fringes of confined lobe deposits. Conversely, the Temburong Formation at Kampung Bebuloh exhibits characteristics of an unconfined lobe setting, suggesting an evolutionary change in depositional conditions over time.
Vranić site is a sand quarry that is located on the southern foothills of Papuk Mountain. From bottom to top of the succession, three sedimentary units have been recognized as: Unit 1 containing massive sand with scattered gravel-sized clasts, marl cobbles and boulders, and abundant marine mammal and fish fossils; Unit 2 consisting of sand intercalated with silt, clay and gravel, which may be horizontally bedded; and Unit 3, which is an erosionally-based lenticular matrix to clast-supported structureless gravel. The basal part of Unit 1 shows numerous reworked skeletal remains of Miocene marine mammals. Cosmogenic radionuclides constrain the age of burial of Unit 1 to 895 ± 211 ka, while the source area of Unit 1 had a quick denudation. The massive sands deposited on the slopes of Papuk Mountain were vulnerable to erosion due to the absence of clay. Heavy rainfall or water from snow melting created flash floods that infiltrated the sands, thereby causing slope destabilization and deformation. This process led to slumps that were transformed into a sandy debris flow. This sediment was probably deposited during the interglacial marine isotope age (MIS) 21 period when the scarce vegetation and a warmer climate favored the melting of permafrost ice and consequently triggered slope movements during MIS 22. The reworked skeletal material sampled at the Vranić site comprises fossilized fish along with mammal bones and teeth. Thus, the Vranić site represents an important site for cetacean fossil remains and serves as an important data source for marine life in the Central Paratethys.
This study presents the first record of Early Permian alatoconchid bivalves from Thailand, the Erawan section, in the north of Loei fold belt with prolific fusulines in association with gastropods, and brachiopods. Fusuline taxa are dominated by Pseudofusulina sp. with Darvasites sp., Staffella cf. labanalensis, Staffella sp., Nankinella sp., Neofusulinella sp., Schubertella sp., Pamirina darvasica, Pseudoendothyra sp. and others, indicating an Artinskian age. Fusuline wackestone with common, well-preserved smaller foraminifers, Pseudovermiporella sp. and ostracods indicates a restricted lagoon environment with low to moderate water circulation. These fossils, along with well-preserved, articulated alatoconchids in life-position, suggest the autochthonous nature of the deposits in an intertidal environment. In the central part of the fold belt, the Pak Chong section exhibits intervals of alatoconchid biostromes and coquinites. Carbonate build-ups of the alatoconchid biostromes with gregarious bivalves, in life-position embedded in a micritic wackestone matrix, suggest their preferred life habit and environment. The bivalve coquinites containing packed bivalve shells and fragments, however, indicate a high-energy event. This rock fabric along with common fusuline storm sheets suggests occasional storm events in a restricted, with moderate water circulation to open lagoon environment. Fusulines are predominated by staffellids and others including Staffella sphaerica, Staffella sp., Sphaerulina croatica, Pisolina subsphaerica, Nankinella sp., Neoschwagerina simplex, Presumatrina sp., Afghanella sp. and others, indicating a Wordian (Middle Permian) age. In the southern portion of the fold belt along the Thai-Cambodian border, the Khao Taa Ngog section contains limestone with alatoconchid shells with massive rugose corals which formed local carbonate build-ups in high-energy open platform environments. Poorly-sorted bioclasts with common fusuline tests, shell fragments and coated grains suggest an open marine, lagoon, back reef environment. The occurrence of a fusuline assemblage including Neoschwagerina sp., Yabeina sp., Lepidolina sp., Codonofusiella sp., Verbeekina verbeeki and Chusenella sp. indicates the Capitanian (late Middle Permian) age.
This study investigates the Middle Jurassic rocks of the Labino-Malkin zone (Caucasus), represented by ooidal ironstones, biogenic limestones, and nodular phosphorites. All rocks contain ooids/pisoids. Based on the mineral composition, nine types of ooids and three possible scenarios for their formation have been identified. The mineral composition of ooids indicates the variable conditions of their deposition and repeated changes in physical and chemical conditions of the environment, including fluctuations in theredox regime. The access of oxygen in the bottom environment as a factor of increasing oxic conditions was associated with the regression of the sea and/or the inflow of meteoric waters. The main sources of ooids are the drift of material from the continent and convecting metal-bearing meteoric and/or deep solutions.
The repetitive influx of coarse clastics of mixed composition, siliciclastics and carbonates, locally common in the lower part of the Upper Cretaceous marine Kallankurichchi Limestone specifies a resurgence of tectonic unrest in the Cauvery rift basin, India. The basin-margin scree and its derivatives elicit diverse modes of emplacement and differ in many ways from denoting it only as basal conglomerate. The study meticulously reveals the depositional history of these basin-margin coarse clastics. The scree conglomerate bodies are wedge-shaped in appearance and often have flat, eroded tops. At places, their surfaces, tops and flanks, are encrusted with Inoceramus although internally, they are mostly unfossiliferous. They are clast-supported and extremely poorly sorted, having interstitial spaces filled by sand-sized grains at the basal part. The clasts can be traced into the underlying Sillakuddi Sandstone and the granitic basement. The clasts derived from the sandstone are angular and measure up to 60 cm in length, while the basement-derived clasts dominate the smaller (maximum diameter measured 5 cm) and more rounded population. The elongated clasts are chaotically arranged, even oriented sub-vertically, reclining on other clasts. The lowermost scree conglomerate has a sharp base, and the pebbles sunk into the underlying sandstone, although no discernible impact laminae wrapping their bottom were ever observed. Evidently, the scree fans were initiated under the sea, which permitted the slow sinking of assorted rock fragments dropped from above. The sporadic occurrence of marine fossils further corroborates this contention. The scree conglomerates at different stratigraphic levels transitioned laterally into conglomerates of mass flow origin and then to massive calcarenite, together forming wedge-shaped bodies. The initial alignment of clasts parallel to bedding transforms to a chaotic alignment representing the transition from internally sheared flow to debris flow and associated shapes. Matrix-supported fabric grades into massive calcarenite, suggesting gravity-driven transformation. Further down the wedge, the massive calcarenite turns into cross-stratified facies, making it evident that laminar flow turned turbulent in the course of body transformation of the sediment-driving flows. It can be presumed that these flows were triggered by subsidence, which resulted from renewed gaps in formation and led to the collapse of scree cones. Facies variability suggests scree deposits giving way downslope to debris flow and related deposits. Eventually, all the scree products pass laterally into the carbonate formation basinwards.
Two well-preserved petrified palm stems from the latest Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) to earliest Danian (Early Paleocene) sediments of the Deccan Intertrappean Beds of Madhya Pradesh, Central India are described. Their significant anatomical characteristics include a Calamus-type general stem pattern, the presence of well-preserved fibrovascular bundles (fvbs) with two wide metaxylem vessel elements (230 µm-250 µm) and one phloem strand, uniform density of fvbs, lack of continuity between protoxylem and metaxylem vessel elements, and an absence of centrifugal differentiation of sclerenchymatous fibrous parts. These features reveal a close resemblance to those of extant genera of scandent Calamoideae. The permineralized stems are described as a new species namely, Palmoxylon calamoides Kumar, Roy et Khan sp. nov. The fossils represent the oldest reliable fossil records of this family, supporting their Gondwanan origin, their importance in tracing their migration pathways from India to Europe and other continents after the docking of the Indian subcontinent with Eurasia during the Paleocene, and an “Out-of-India” dispersal hypothesis. Today the subfamily Calamoideae is disjunctly occurred in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America, but the poor deep-time fossil record of this subfamily with a small number of Cenozoic fossils makes hypotheses concerning its origin and dispersal difficult to evaluate. The present study has significant implications for the origin and migration of this subfamily and the paleoclimate.
The present study deals with the Early Permian floral diversity, palaeoenvironment, palaeoclimate and depositional setting using a multiproxy approach that includes morphotaxonomy, palynology, and organic geochemistry of Karo OCM (Open Cast Mine), East Bokaro Coalfield, Damodar Gondwana Basin, India. The Permian sediments of Peninsular India are widely regarded as fluvial, along with some marine incursions. The macroplant fossil assemblage exhibits the presence of Glossopteridales, comprising Glossopteris, Gangamopteris, and Vertebraria, as well as Coniferales, which includes Noeggerathiopsis. The palynological assemblage encompasses the dominance of the striate bisaccate pollen Faunipollenites sp. and the sub-dominance of the non-striate bisaccate pollen Scheuringipollenites sp. with glossopterid affinities. The megafloral and palynofloral assemblage confirms the biostratigraphical age to be Late Barakar palynoflora of Kungurian affinity. The studied morphological characteristics, including small to large Glossopteris leaves exhibiting a lanceolate shape, acute apices, and acute cuneate or tapering bases, as well as entire margins with narrower lamina and narrow meshes, suggest the existence of a dense forest with the prevalence of a warm and humid climate during their deposition. The organic geochemical characterization based on functional group and biomarker analyses reveals the diagenetic effects on organic matter. Aliphatic symmetric (’2865-2855 cm-1) and asymmetric stretching (’2930-2910 cm-1) peaks are identifiable in coal samples, whereas they are absent in carbonaceous shale. The A-factor vs. C-factor plot suggests that the kerogen type is type III, which can generate mainly gaseous kerogen. The vitrinite reflectance studies (Rr av. 1.1%) show increased maturity of the samples, which is supported by the n-alkane distribution pattern and the absence of hopane terpenoids. The Indian floral assemblages in contemporary of southern Gondwana continents reveal a stronger inclination/affinity with the flora of Africa than that of South America, thereby supporting the age to be of Artinskian-Kungurian.
The water-living reptile genus Hyphalosaurus was previously discovered in the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation bearing the middle Jehol Biota in western Liaoning, China. Two complete skeletons of Hyphalosaurus are reported for the first time from the Jiufotang Formation bearing the late Jehol Biota at two sites in western Liaoning. They show the typical characteristics of H. baitaigouensis in terms of the contact between some cranial bones and the number of cervical and dorsal vertebrae, and therefore are assigned to H. baitaigouensis. This discovery extends the stratigraphic range of this species from the Yixian Formation to the overlying Jiufotang Formation. This paper further briefly compares the main characteristics of the two skeletons, summarizes the temporal and spatial distribution of Hyphalosaurus, and discusses the palaeogeographic evolution of western Liaoning at the middle and late Jehol Biota stages based on the aquatic habits of Hyphalosaurus and the geological background of western Liaoning. The analytical results show that the volcanic downwarped lakes, with distinct geographical divisions in western Liaoning during the deposition of the Yixian Formation, had not completely disappeared till the deposition of the Jiufotang Formation. The palaeo-lake in the Fuxin-Yixian Basin underwent the process of generation, expansion and shrinkage during the depositional period of the Yixian Formation and finally merged into a large lake. The palaeo-Dalinghe River, which connected the main basins in western Liaoning during the depositional period of the Jiufotang Formation, was formed simultaneously.
Surface uplift at the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau has been widely studied, but more palaeoaltimetry data are required to better understand the elevation history of this geologically complex region. In this study, fossil leaves of Abies (Pinaceae), a cool-temperate element, recovered from the latest Miocene-Pliocene Yangyi Formation of the southern Baoshan Basin, were used as a proxy to estimate the local palaeoelevation. Based on the regional modern altitude range (2100-4280 m) of the genus as well as regional temperature discrepancy (1.5 °C) between the past and present, the palaeoelevation of the study area was calculated to be >2360 m above sea level as compared to 1670 m at present. Our result suggests that the southern Baoshan Basin experienced pronounced uplift prior to the time of fossil deposition, probably as a result of crustal shortening and thickening of the northern Baoshan Terrane during the Eocene-Oligocene. We infer that surface growth in areas south of the Dali Basin may have been greater than previously interpreted, and that a widespread plateau or plateau patches higher than 2000 m probably extended southwards into at least the Baoshan Basin by the latest Miocene-Pliocene. We also infer that the elevation of the southern Baoshan Basin has decreased by at least 690 m since then, in contrast to most other scenarios in which the elevation of the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau has increased or remained close to modern levels since the late Miocene. The major cause of the inferred altitude decline is likely tectonic deformation. As a transtensional graben basin, the Baoshan Basin has experienced pull-apart and base-fall movement since the late Miocene, which would reduce the altitude of its southern part located on the hanging wall. Surface erosion associated with the increased summer rainfall might also have played a role especially in reducing the local relief, although its contribution can be limited. Our study provides one of the few palaeoelevation estimates from areas south of the Dali Basin and an example of past elevation loss at the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, thus shedding important light on the landscape evolution of this region.
The Middle Devonian ostracods from the Jiwozhai patch reef in Dushan, Guizhou Province, South China were described for the first time in this study. Twenty-nine species belonging to 20 genera were identified and figured, including a new species named Wangshangkia jiwozhaiensis sp. nov. The ostracod fauna in the Jiwozhai patch reef represents a Givetian age. The ostracod assemblage belongs to the smooth-podocopid association, which is also ecologically equivalent to the Eifelian Mega-Assemblage III. This association is indicative of shallow open-marine environments. The Jiwozhai patch reef fauna is primarily comprised of suspension feeders, including filter-feeding ostracods, corals, brachiopods and bryozoans. Ostracods from the Jiwozhai patch reef were compared to the ostracod faunas from Laurentia-Baltica at generic level, which reveals limited faunal exchanges between South China and Laurentia-Baltica during the Middle Devonian.
