Cretaceous - Science topic

Carbonate spherulites from hydrocarbon-derived thrombolites are newly described from a Lower Cretaceous cold seep in the Outer Carpathians (Poland). These spherulites were studied using various techniques, including optical microscopy, cathodoluminoscopy, SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy, EPMA, and carbon and oxygen stable isotopic analyses. Spherulites...

The Sabzevar ophiolite is rich in natural zeolite deposits, which occurred in the Sabzevar region as a result of basalt eruptions, the formation of new oceanic crust, and the thrusting of oceanic crust to the eastern Iranian zone in the Cretaceous about 100 million years ago. The existing zeolite masses, which are the result of alteration and hydro...

This study assesses the organic matter (OM) content, kerogen type, maturity, depositional environment conditions and sedimentation model of Early Cretaceous (Berriasian–Aptian) black limestones in NE Turkey using geochemical analyses, including Rock‐Eval/total organic carbon (TOC), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, major and...

Mesozoic fossils of Leiodidae are rare. Here, a new genus and species of the leiodid subfamily Cholevinae, Burmaphagus yamamotoae gen. et. sp. nov. from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar, is described and illustrated. It can be differentiated from Cretoptomaphagus Bao & Antunes-Carvalho, 2020, which is also placed in the tribe Ptomaph...

The marine turtle family Ctenochelyidae was a Late Cretaceous North American radiation of Pan-Chelonioidea, broadly distributed along the coastlines of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Mississippi Embayment. Here, we describe a large, mostly articulated carapace representing a novel species of the ctenochelyid genus Asmodochelys from the Maastrichtia...

The Chicxulub crater was formed by the impact of an asteroid ∼66 Ma ago at the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary on a carbonate platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The impact’s structure is not exposed at the surface, requiring drilling and geophysical surveys to study it. The geophysical and drilling program by Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) provide...

Study region: Flanders (Belgium). Study focus: The Cretaceous aquifer-consisting of chalk sediments and other forms of carbo-nates-is an important source of fresh water for drinking water and industry in Flanders. Therefore, maintaining optimal water quality and quantity in this aquifer is critical. However, uncertainty of the Cretaceous hydrogeolo...

The theropod family Abelisauridae was erected in 1985 by Bonaparte and Novas for the taxon Abelisaurus comahuensis, from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. Subsequently it became clear that abelisaurids had been widespread in various parts of the world, including Europe. Although the first identification of a European abelisaurid (the maxilla from P...

Diversity can be examined and interpreted from various perspectives, including species richness, genetic and phenotypic differences, variation in behaviors and natural history, and phylogenetic history. Centuries of taxonomic research have revealed approximately 21,000 bee species worldwide. These can be subdivided into a hierarchy of subgroups tha...

Recent phylogenomic studies have confirmed that Scirtidae is one of the earliest-diverging groups of polyphagan beetles. Cretaceous fossils and genome-scale data have shown promise in elucidating the evolutionary history of Scirtidae. However, knowledge about the Mesozoic diversity of scirtids remains limited, and a recent phylogenomic study of Aus...

A substantial part of the subsurface geology in northwestern and central Europe is defined by the late Palaeozoic Variscan Orogeny (∼ 350 Ma). Our focus is mainly on veining in anchimetamorphic sedimentary rocks affected by this orogeny. Mineral veins serve as repositories for documenting the origin of subsurface fluid flows and dynamics, and datin...

Large-scale tsunamis destroy coastal areas and rapidly transport huge amounts of plants and other debris over long distances. However, due to their poor preservation potential and the lack of unequivocal identifying features, tsunami deposits are rarely recognized in the geological record except for geologically young Holocene coastal deposits. Thi...

The northern portion of the Egyptian Western Desert is a very promising oil-producing province. The Abu Roash and Bahariya formations in Abu Sennan Field have a diverse lithological composition, leading to variances in reservoir continuity both horizontally and vertically. The reservoir heterogeneity problem is addressed by utilizing datasets deriv...

A new occurrence of Peregrinella brachiopods from the Median Dacides tectonic unit in the Eastern Carpathians is described from both paleontological and sedimentological perspectives. The occurrence was identified in the Lower Cretaceous deposits of the Lunca Formation, outcropping along the Ilie Stream (Harghita County). Grasu (1971) previously d...

The paper refers to the history and evolution of knowledge concerning the latest Cretaceous terrestrial stratigraphic units in the Metaliferi sedimentary area (southwestern side of the Transylvanian Depression.

The present work highlights the main contributions to the understanding of the sedimentary area corresponding to the SE part of the Apuseni Mountains and the SW corner of the Transylvanian sedimentary basin. Throughout the evolution of studies, various geologists sketched various patterns regarding the superposition relationships of the Upper Creta...

The Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous interval marks a pivotal geological timeframe, encompassing both the progressive amalgamation of the Lhasa and Qiangtang Blocks and the terminal closure of the Bangong-Nujiang Tethyan Ocean. Investigating the closure evolution of the Bangong-Nujiang Tethyan Ocean during the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous p...

Here we report on the nearly complete and uncrushed 14th specimen of Archaeopteryx. Exceptional preservation and preparation guided by micro-computed tomographic data make this one of the best exemplars of this iconic taxon, preserving important data regarding skeletal transformation and plumage evolution in relation to the acquisition of flight du...

The actual status of multituberculates originating from the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) terrestrial exposures on Râul Mare River, in Hațeg sedimentary basin.

Cave crickets (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) are a globally distributed group of insects found in dark, humid microhabitats including natural caves, alpine scree, and forest litter. Ten extant subfamilies are currently recognised and Macropathinae, which comprises the entirety of the fauna in South America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand,...

The Karak Wadi Al Fayha Fault (KWF) is a major NW-trending intraplate wrench fault system extending over 325 km from Western Karak in Jordan to Wadi Al Fayha in Saudi Arabia. Structurally linked to the Precambrian Najd Fault System, the KWF has been previously mapped using field observations, gravity, magnetic, and reflection seismic methods. Howev...

The Cloverly Formation of Montana and Wyoming preserves abundant nonmarine vertebrate fossils from the mid-Cretaceous, yet its paleoenvironment and faunal niche structure remain poorly understood. We analyzed δ ¹⁸ Ο phosphate in over 100 fossil individuals from multiple vertebrate taxa collected from a single microfossil bonebed in Carbon County, M...

Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene sedimentation in the southern Sacramento Basin has resulted in the formation of a north-south trending growth fault system, the Midland Fault System, along the eastern flank of the depositional basin. The Midland Fault is the dominant growth fault of this syndepositional fault system. Three major growth faults branch...

The latest Cretaceous(?)–Paleocene Barra Honda Formation represents one of the largest carbonate shoals (>900 km², 350 m thick) of the convergent margin of Costa Rica. Although the mode of formation of the carbonate shoal is well understood, how environmental and tectonic factors interacted to cause its demise near the Paleocene‐Eocene boundary rem...

This study investigated the thermal maturity of the Pendência Formation (Lower Cretaceous) in the onshore Potiguar Basin, Brazil, using vitrinite reflectance (%Ro) and Raman spectroscopy. Nine fine‐grained rock samples were collected from well 6‐BRSA‐588‐RN, and their %Ro values were compared with previously unpublished data from two nearby wells....

The potential for pore collapse is a concern when producing hydrocarbons from fragile sedimentary rocks, like chalks. The reason is that although pore collapse can be a valuable drive mechanism, it can also cause large scale compaction and surface subsidence. This risk is as a rule evaluated from results of rock mechanical testing of core samples,...

In 1855, Ferdinand Hayden collected a single tooth from the Judith River badlands of central Montana. Joseph Leidy named this specimen the following year as Troodon formosus. We describe troodontid material from the coeval Two Medicine Formation of Montana that compares closely to the recently resurrected and previously synonymized Stenonychosaurus...

This study focuses on characterising the heterogeneous Lower Goru Formation (Early Cretaceous) in Pakistan's Lower Indus Basin using advanced machine learning techniques. Due to limited core data, traditional petrophysical methods struggle to accurately identify facies. The research uses electrofacies analysis by integrating well logs and clusterin...

Recently, we redescribed an amber inclusion from mid‐Cretaceous Kachin amber of Myanmar, previously assigned to the extant genus Phylica in Rhamnaceae (core eudicots), and placed it in a new fossil‐genus, Nothophylica . Based on our reconstructions, we identified new floral features and instead suggested affinities within magnoliids, especially Lau...

The boron isotopic value of ancient seawater (δ¹¹Bsw) is a prerequisite for the reconstruction of seawater pH and atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Available models and some proxy records suggest that δ¹¹Bsw underwent a large increase during the last 45 million years. This increase has been attributed to an acceleration in sediment discharge into the...

The Upper Cretaceous Prince Creek Formation (PCF) of northern Alaska offers a unique glimpse into northern high-latitude, non-marine vertebrate assemblages, providing critical data on polar ecosystems during the late Campanian (c. 73 Ma). This study presents a comprehensive taxonomic assessment of fish fossils from the PCF, including macrofossils a...

Organic-rich source rocks are not only crucial for hydrocarbon exploration and production but also serve as valuable archives of past environmental conditions. This study investigates the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) source rocks present in the Al-Lajoun Basin of central Jordan, to identify geochemical compositional variability corresponding to...

A dietary shift from carnivory to insectivory has been proposed to explain the morphological evolution of alvarezsaurians, particularly the adaptive manual digital reduction and body size miniaturization. However, based solely on morphological shifts, this hypothesis lacks direct dietary evidence to support either carnivory or insectivory. Here, we...

Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) models have a widespread use when predicting hydraulic properties of fractured rock masses with different numerical and (semi-)analytical methods. However, recent advances in the way fracture network parameters are characterized in the field or in geophysical datasets are not completely reflected in input options of...

At the end of the Cretaceous, a bolide impact wiped out ~75% of life on Earth, but turtles show minimal gross anatomical changes. Herein, we examine the shell histology from trionychid turtles 2 million years before and 8 million years after the extinction event. We collected over 25,000 semi‐quantitative and quantitative measurements and statistic...

Late Cretaceous Earth was dominated by theropods such as tyrannosauroids and megaraptorans; however, it is unclear how these clades diversified and grew to massive proportions. This study aimed to conduct a biogeographical analysis and test climate as a potential mechanism for the increase in size. We used published phylogenetic matrices with the R...

We examined 47 specimens of ammonoid and inoceramid bivalves from the Cretaceous Taneichi Formation in Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan and assigned them to seven species of ammonoids and two species of inoceramids. Of these, five species of ammonoids, Protexanites (Anatexanites) fukazawai (Yabe and Shimizu, 1925); Eubostrychoceras valdelaxum A...

The free-living, stalkless comatulids make up the bulk of living crinoid diversity and are the only crinoids remaining in shallow water, but compared to the stalked crinoids their fossil record is fragmentary and understudied, especially outside Europe. We present new Albian fossil comatulids from the Glen Rose Formation, central Texas, and study t...

The genesis of mafic magmatic enclaves (MMEs) remains a topic of scientific discussion, particularly regarding their relationship to the mineralising potential of granites. This research presents geochemical, isotopic, and geochronological analyses of MMEs from the Shibaogou pluton in the Luanchuan Mo cluster within the East Qinling Mo metallogenic...

Sedimentary rocks of the Gosau Group in the Grünbach–Neue Welt area (Eastern Alps, Austria) were analyzed to determine their mineralogical and geochemical compositions. This study includes the following: (1) the identification of major minerals using X-ray diffraction (XRD), (2) the analysis of major, minor, and trace elements via X-ray fluorescenc...

This study, based on previously undescribed crocodylian remains from the Lower Miocene of the Bugti Hills (Balochistan, Pakistan), identifies at least three distinct species. It confirms the validity of the species initially identified as ‘ Gavialis ’ pachyrhynchus , establishing it as the sister taxon to the massive Miocene crocodylian Rhamphosuch...

The Hammam–Zriba F–Ba (Zn–Pb) stratabound deposit is located within the Zaghouan Fluorite Province (ZFP), which is the most important mineral sub-province in NE Tunisia, with several CaF2 deposits occurring mainly along the Zaghouan Fault and corresponding to an F-rich MVT mineral system developed along the unconformity surface between the uppermos...

The Basque‐Cantabrian Pyrenees experienced Early Cretaceous rifting and latest Cretaceous to Cenozoic inversion, with the presence of prerift Upper Triassic Keuper salt influencing how deformation was accommodated. Considerable disagreement exists on the degree of decoupling of supra‐ and subsalt deformation, the amount of thin‐skinned translation...

Understanding the tectonic evolution of oceanic basins is critical for reconstructing the geological history of the Earth. The West Philippine Basin (WPB), located at the intersection of major tectonic plates in the Western Pacific, presents a complex geological environment with unresolved questions regarding features like the Gagua Ridge and the e...

Říp Hill, a volcanic structure in the Eger Rift of the European Cenozoic Rift System, holds deep cultural significance for the Czech nation. According to legend, Forefather Bohemus and his Slavic tribe declared the surrounding land their new home around the 6th or 7th century, marking the symbolic beginning of Czech history. Despite its prominence,...

This study aims to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental conditions of the Maastrichtian phosphate series in the Western High Atlas region of Morocco, with particular focus on the Oued Lahouar and Erguita sections. The research investigates the diversity and distribution of ichnofossils—trace fossils that preserve evidence of biological activity—to be...

Reservoir Geomechanics plays a crucial role in maximizing the efficiency of the drilling process, guaranteeing accurate placement of horizontal wells, and accomplishing effective well completion. Accurately determining pore pressure levels and the vertical, minimum, and maximum horizontal stresses is a crucial component of thorough geomechanical mo...

The Cretaceous Formation in Kuqa Depression is the main battlefield for increasing natural gas storage during "the 14th Five-Year Plan" period in Tarim Basin. Engineering problems occur frequently when drilling into very thick gravel layers. In order to clarify the compaction of shallow gravel layer, this paper takes the Bozi-Dabei area as an examp...

During the Jurassic to Middle Eocene period (201–41 Ma), the Neo-Tethys established extensive platform sequences across the Hazara, Kashmir, and Potwar basins of the NW Himalayas, Pakistan. However, differential erosion and sedimentation resulting from tectonic uplift and subsidence created challenges in defining the aerial extent of the sedimentar...

Five species of Late Cretaceous ammonoids, Yezoceras miotuberculatum, Yezoceras elegans, Eubostrychoceras indopacificum, Pseudoxybeloceras sp., and Yabeiceras orientale, have been identified from the Obisagawa Member of the Ashizawa Formation, Futaba Group, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Notably, Yezoc.miotuberculatum, Yezoc. elegans, an...

This study investigates Xunke agates from Ating River alluvial gravels (Northeast, NE China) using optical microscopy, electron probe microanalyzer mapping (EPMA), and laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) to constrain the formation mechanisms of basalt-hosted agate deposits. Xunke’s secondary gravel agates are gen...

Global ice losses will likely continue with ongoing climate warming, culminating in an almost ice-free planet analogous to that which persisted throughout much of the Cretaceous. Despite extensive research, Early Cretaceous cryosphere responses to temperature and atmospheric P CO 2 fluctuations over short, human, timescales remain uncertain. Here,...

Neomicrorbis Rovereto, 1903 is a serpulid taxon well represented in the Cretaceous and Tertiary fossil records and described as the bathyal extant species Neomicrorbis azoricus Zibrowius, 1972. This enigmatic species of uncertain taxonomic affinities exhibits a morphology intermediate between serpulids sensu stricto (Serpulinae and Filograninae) an...

Upper Cretaceous Shoreface/Tidal Couplets in the San Juan Basin: Significant High Frequency Events Resolved from the Gallup Clastic Wedge High-frequency stratigraphic events, which we denominated ‘‘Shoreface/Tidal Couplets’’, were recognized in the Western San Juan basin, New Mexico. This was possible by conducting a high-resolution genetic strati...

The white sands from the Cretaceous Biyadh Formation, Saudi Arabia, are exploited as a raw material for the glass sand industry and contain approximately 15 wt% kaolinite. SEM reveals that the kaolinite develops as a blocky, pore-filling cement of euhedral, pseudo-hexagonal plates ranging from 5 to 10 µm in width and from 10 to 20 µm in length, sug...

Brazilian phanerozoic Basins and Cretaceous Dinosaurs: skeletons and tracks. Keywords - Phanerozoic basins, Dinosauria, Cretaceous, Brazil, Tetrapod Ichnology Extended Abstract This essay offers a short overview of Cretaceous dinosaurs in Brazil, focusing on both skeletal remains and trace fossils found across the country's diverse Phanerozoic se...

Based on the results of paleomagnetic studies, which are part of intergrated bio-, chemo-and mag-netostratigraphic studies of the Upper Cretaceous North Caucasus, analogs of magnetic chrons C34n and C33r are identified in the Podkumsky quarry section near the city of Essentuki. The Santonian-Campanian boundary is drawn in the section due to this, b...

The geology of northern Oman is distinctive because of the emplacement of the massive Semail Ophiolite onto the stable Arabia platform in the late Cretaceous followed by the later development of the Jebal Akhdar and Saih Haitat domes. East of Muscat, the Wadi Kabir Fault forms an important and long-lived structure at the northern edge of the Saih H...

This article will offer a broader examination of the wells in the Gulf of Mexico that penetrated the Late Jurassic sediments and describe the paleo-bathymetric interpretations. A key figure in this month’s article will be a stratigraphic chart annotated with paleowater depths. It will illustrate a consistent progression of increasing water depth du...

In the Tokoro Belt, which is a Jurassic to Cretaceous accretionary complex in Japan, Fe and Mn deposits are distributed along basaltic rocks and chert. This study proposes the origin of these Fe and Mn deposits and reconstructs marine Os isotope ratios. The samples were found to exhibit negative Ce anomalies and low transition metal contents other...

The opening of the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean constitutes the final stage of Gondwana's breakup, leading to the separation of the African and South American continents. The early spreading has been debated due to the absence of magnetic anomalies related to the Early Cretaceous opening at low latitude, and an incomplete fracture zone record, hidden...

The Upper Cretaceous of Tantou Basin in western Henan has yielded many vertebrate fossils, which are featured by several non-avian dinosaurs. Meanwhile, studies on their eggs were yet inadequate though many eggshells have been reported. The newly discovered material 41HⅤ0199 was excavated from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation in 2021. The block...

Understanding the deep geothermal field and high-temperature hydrothermal activities is of great significance for the formation machanism of hydrothermal geothermal resources. Therefore, we focus on the Chuxiong Basin near the South Tibet-West Yunnan high-temperature geothermal belt, the largest high-temperature geothermal belt in China. Based on h...

A rich fossil record of teeth shows that many living shark families’ origins lie deep in the Mesozoic. Skeletal fossils of the sharks to whom these teeth belonged are far rarer and when they are preserved are often flattened, hindering understanding of the evolutionary radiation of living shark groups. Here we use computed tomography to describe tw...

U-Pb zircon and U-Th-Pb EPMA monazite dating of one metamafic sample and two metapelitic samples are studied from Karakoram Metamorphic Complex, Hunza NW Pakistan. These new geochronological results address the collision-related metamorphic evolution of the thickened Asian Plate crust with the Kohistan Island Arc and then with the Indian Plate. Fol...

The Ankara region of Türkiye is located on the Sakarya Continent, bounded by two Neo- Tethyan oceans (Intra-Pontide to the north and Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan to the south). In this region, the oldest lithologies of the Sakarya Continent are the Middle Triassic Dikmen Greywacke. The lower part of the Dikmen Greywacke comprises low-grade metamorphics, w...

The Chukchi Basin, a sub-basin of the Amerasia Basin in the Arctic Ocean, remains enigmatic regarding its formation age and tectonic processes. Among the various hypotheses proposed, seafloor spreading or hyper-extended rifting during the Cretaceous are currently prominent, both supported by gravity and deep seismic survey data. Recent marine heat...

The Saih Hatat Dome (SHD) in NE Oman forms a tectonic window revealing in an area of approximately 95 km by 50 km the par-autochthonous Neoproterozoic basement of the Arabian Plate and its Cambrian to Early Cretaceous cover. The SHD is surrounded by the allochthonous Samail Ophiolite and underlying nappes consisting of mostly sedimentary rocks from...

The Mediterranean region results from multiple tectonics, with alternating contractional (e.g., Variscan, Alpine) and extensional phases (e.g., Tethyan), that shaped the present-day structural configuration. Since the Cretaceous, most of the Mediterranean realm experienced complex contractional tectonics, leading to the formation of a part of the A...

The origin and early diversification of ornithopods, a major clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, remain poorly understood, with conflicting phylogenetic hypotheses regarding rootward neornithischian relationships. Some topological stability is inferred near the basal divergence of Iguanodontia, though the ingroup relationships remain unclear. For ins...

This study analyzes the compositional and geochronological evolution of magmatism associated with island arc and continental margin events in the Western Cordillera and northern Chocó (Colombia) from the Jurassic to the Miocene. New data are presented, and previous research is reviewed to understand the tectonomagmatic evolution of the region. A Ju...

Plain Language Summary Topography plays a pivotal role in climate systems, particularly in East Asia, where diverse mountain ranges significantly influence regional climate dynamics. The Late Cretaceous period was characterized by a complex topography, including Coastal, Taihang, and Yanshan Mountains, which contributed to distinct climatic regimes...

The margins bounding the Equatorial Atlantic were formed during the Cretaceous due to the breakup of Gondwana. Rifting led to the development of sedimentary basins between West Africa and South America. We have used a grid of ~10,000 km of 2D seismic data to investigate the crustal structure along ~600 km of the NE Brazilian margin, containing the...

The present work is a checklist of taxa described or cited from bioinclusions preserved in Spanish amber outcrops (nine type localities). All these bioinclusions are Albian in age (ca. 110–102 Ma), except for a few from a Cenomanian outcrop. All the listed taxa are arthropods (mostly insects), with the exception of some plant parataxa and plant pal...

In many strata that bear marine invertebrate fossils, most cephalopod remains are incomplete. Commonly, the body chamber and/or parts of the phragmocone are missing for various reasons. Here, we document occurrences of various cephalopods from the Devonian to the Cretaceous, where isolated septa or chamber fillings have been (re-) deposited. In man...

Aculeata is a clade including all ants, bees, and a large array of stinging wasps. In recent years, the systematics of these groups has been changed substantially by molecular phylogenetics, directly impacting our understanding about their evolution. Regardless, the paleontology of Aculeata still imposes many challenges, including enigmatic groups...

Saratovia glickmani, gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a dentary symphysis fragment from the Upper Cretaceous (upper Cenomanian) Melovatka Formation at Saratov, Russia. This specimen was found by L.S. Glickman in late 1940s and was referred previously to Ornithocheirus, Anhanguera, or Coloborhynchus. S. glickmani is attributed to Targaryendra...

The Myogok Formation, exposed in limited areas of the northern Yeongyang Sub-basin of the Gyeongsang Basin, represents the only stratigraphic unit deposited between the Daedong and Gyeongsang Supergroups in the southern Korean Peninsula. This unique stratigraphic position makes the formation crucial for understanding the Mesozoic crustal evolution...

The Jabal Akhdar and Saih Hatat tectonic windows in the Oman Mountains are key geological features where to investigate the geological record of the Late Cretaceous subduction, obduction and exhumation cycle that affected the northeastern margin of the Arabian Plate. Indeed, the metasedimentary Autochthon A (pre-Permian) and B (post-Permian) Units...

The platypus and four echidna species are the only living egg-laying mammals and the sole extant representatives of Order Monotremata. The platypus and echidnas are very disparate both morphologically and ecologically: The platypus is a specialized semiaquatic burrowing form that forages for freshwater invertebrates, whereas echidnas are fully ter-...

The Guleman ophiolite is a part of the Southeast Anatolian Orogenic Belt (SAOB) ophiolites. The Guleman ophiolite, which is located to the northeast of Maden and covers an area of 200 square km east of the Hazar Lake, is situated 50 km southeast of Elazığ, and it is one of the important ophiolitic massifs in the SAOB. The Guleman ophiolite formed i...

The Pays de Herve, located in the eastern part of Belgium, can be characterized as a multiple sections tableland with gentle slopes of less than 15°. It is located in the vicinity of the northern section of the Hockai Fault Zone, a 42 km-long seismogenic fault zone, that is characterized by the presence of fault scarps, multiple dissection elements...

A diverse vertebrate-fossil assemblage of late Campanian age was collected from the Mesa Portales area southwest of Cuba, in Sandoval County, New Mexico. The fossils come from shoreline sandstones close to the contact of the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone and Fruitland Formation, and, depending on how that contact is defined, could be assigned to either...

A new pedunculate cirripede (barnacle) is described from the Lower Cretaceous Allaru Mudstone near Richmond in central Queensland, Australia. Isolated plates of a related species, Zeugmatolepas australis, are known from the Upper Cretaceous Gingin Chalk of Western Australia, but this material represents the first articulated zeugmatolepads to be re...

The Cerro de Cristo Rey uplift in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, outside of El Paso, Texas, is the westernmost exposure of Cretaceous strata deposited on the Comanche Shelf (Lucas et al., 2010). Recent research on Cretaceous paleontology of the area has yielded an extensive collection of echinoids from Albian-Cenomanian age strata. More than 200 comp...

Twelve new dinosaur teeth have recently been recovered from three localities in the Upper Cretaceous Nenjiang Formation of the Songliao Basin. Although fragmentary, the material offers enough evidence to identify the following taxa: tyrannosaurids, dromaeosaurines, velociraptorines, hadrosauroids, and titanosaurs. In addition to the previously know...

The Wilson Cycle, a cornerstone of plate tectonic theory, describes the cyclical evolution of ocean basins, from their formation through rifting and spreading, to their eventual closure via subduction and continental collision. While this model has significantly advanced our understanding of tectonic processes along plate boundaries, it remains lim...

The Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes (BHN), in the south of Sultan Dağları, consist of ophiolite, mélange and nappe slices of different lithologies and ages belonging to the oceanic crust and related rocks, which originated from the northern Neotethys and were thrusted southwards over the Taurus Platform. These nappes, namely the Marmaris Ophiolite Nappe, th...