new global marine gravity model from cryosat 2 and jason 1 reveals buried tectonic structure gravity models are powerful tools for mapping tectonic structures especially in the deep ocean basins where the topography remains unmapped by ships or is buried by thick sediment we combined new radar altimeter measurements from satellites cryosat 2 and jason 1 with existing data to construct a global marine gravity model that is two times more accurate than previous models we found an extinct spreading ridge in the gulf of mexico a major propagating rift in the south atlantic ocean abyssal hill fabric on slow spreading ridges and thousands of previously uncharted seamounts these discoveries allow us to understand regional tectonic processes and highlight the importance of satellite derived gravity models as one of the primary tools for the investigation of remote ocean basins

joint inversions of seismic and geodynamic data for models of three dimensional mantle heterogeneity the seismic models of three dimensional 3 d mantle heterogeneity may be interpreted in terms of the density perturbations which drive mantle flow and thus provide important predictions of flow related observables such as the nonhydrostatic geoid the current models of global scale shear velocity heterogeneity provide reasonably good fits to the long wavelength nonhydrostatic geoid data 60 70 variance reductions but rather poor fits to the corresponding free air gravity anomalies 30 40 variance reductions this major difference is due to two factors 1 the very different amplitude spectrum of the gravity anomalies which is nearly flat for degrees l 3 the largest mismatch between the pattern of predicted and observed gravity anomalies is in the southern hemisphere this observation suggests that one reason for the poor overall match between the two fields may be that the global seismic data are not resolving sufficiently well the heterogeneity in the southern hemisphere portion of the deep mantle in contrast the gravity data provide accurate and geographically uniform constraints on the vertically integrated heterogeneity in the mantle we therefore perform a series of experiments in which we simultaneously invert a large set of seismic data which includes long period waveforms ss s and scs s differential travel times and normal mode structure coefficients and the long wavelength gravity anomaly data we thus determine whether it is possible to derive new 3 d heterogeneity models which satisfy both data sets the gravity anomaly data are interpreted in the context of spherically symmetric viscous flow models of the mantle in these inversion experiments we test several radial viscosity and ln ln profiles and thereby assess their plausibility the joint seismic geodynamic inversions reveal that it is indeed possible to greatly improve the fit to the free air gravity anomalies with variance reductions of 80 90 readily accessible while preserving the fit to the seismic data this improvement is achieved with some adjustment to the heterogeneity in the depth range 1500 2500 km where the seismic data constraints appear to be weakest the joint inversions also reveal new structures in the southern hemisphere portion of the lower mantle which apparently are not resolved by the seismic data alone

the relationships between large scale variations in shear velocity density and compressional velocity in the earth s mantle a large data set of surface wave phase anomalies body wave travel times normal mode splitting functions and long period waveforms is used to investigate the scaling between shear velocity density and compressional velocity in the earth s mantle we introduce a methodology that allows construction of joint models with various levels of scaling complexity d ln d lnvs d lnvs d lnvp in order to detect seismological signatures of chemical heterogeneity we demonstrate that the data sets considered cannot be fit concurrently with a uniform or a positive and uniform throughout the mantle the variance reductions to p wave travel times and vp sensitive modes are up to 40 higher with our preferred model of anisotropic shear and compressional velocity than the recent anisotropic shear velocity model s362ani m which was constructed assuming a uniform throughout the mantle several features reported in earlier tomographic studies persist after the inclusion of new and larger data sets anticorrelation between bulk sound and shear velocities in the lowermost mantle as well as an increase in with depth in the lower mantle are largely independent of the regularization scheme when correlations between density and shear velocity variations are imposed in the lowermost mantle variance reductions of several spheroidal and toroidal modes deteriorate by as much as 40 recent measurements of the splitting of 0s2 in particular are largely incompatible with perfectly correlated shear velocity and density heterogeneity throughout the mantle a way to significantly improve the fits to various data sets is by allowing independent density perturbations in the lowermost mantle our preferred joint model consists of denser than average anomalies 1 peak to peak at the base of the mantle roughly coincident with the low velocity superplumes the relative variation of shear velocity density and compressional velocity in our study disfavors a purely thermal contribution to heterogeneity in the lowermost mantle with implications for the long term stability and evolution of superplumes

the burgess shale and associated cambrian formations west of the fossil gully fault zone on mount stephen british columbia west of the fossil gully fault zone on mount stephen the three lowest members only of the burgess shale formation are preserved the kicking horse shale the yoho river limestone and the campsite cliff shale the formation rests unconformably upon the takakkaw tongue formation whose dark basinal limestones conformably overlie paler shelf like limestones of the mount whyte formation mapping has resolved a long standing problem and shown that the stratigraphical position of the famous mount stephen trilobite beds lies within the campsite cliff shale it has also revealed some of the complexities of the fossil gully fault zone among which different periods and directions of component fault movements are indicated faunal evidence shows that the plagiura kochaspis to albertella and albertella to glossopleura zonal boundaries lie within the takakkaw tongue sequence within the burgess shale three distinct soft bodied communities occur at different stratigraphical levels on this mountain slope the oldest

effect of upper mantle density structure on moho geometry a constant value of the moho density contrast is often assumed in the gravimetric methods used for determination of moho geometry this assumption might be sufficient in regional studies with a relatively homogenous lithospheric structure and consequently small lateral variations in moho density contrast in global studies however this assumption is not reasonable because not only the moho depth but also the moho density contrast vary substantially and are thus likely to result in systematic errors in moho geometry determined globally from gravity data in this study we address this issue by investigating the effect of variable moho density contrast on moho geometry we demonstrate that assumption of variable moho density contrast instead of a uniform model substantially improves agreement between the global gravimetric and seismic moho models by approximately 30

early devonian kess kess carbonate mud mounds of the eastern anti atlas morocco and their relation to submarine hydrothermal venting abstract spectacular conical early devonian carbonate buildups up to 55 m high that crop out in the eastern anti atlas of southern morocco are microbially mediated carbonate mud mounds that were surfaced by soft bottom communities dominated by small tabulate corals they formed on the hamar laghdad elevation which was created by a submarine volcanic eruption and were associated with a network of synsedimentary radial and tangential faults that originated by uplift of the intrusive laccolithic body underlying the kess kess formation these faults served as conduits for the migration of hydrothermal fluids to the sea floor most mounds developed over cross points of radial and tangential faults vents were episodically active until the famennian but extensive vent carbonate production occurred only during the emsian preliminary geochemical results document that mud mound carbonates and calcite cements in neptunian dikes precipitated from brines comprising a mixture of hydrothermal fluids and seawater in addition carbon isotope compositions 13c as low as 18o oo pdb suggest a contribution from thermogenic methane derived presumably from underlying basaltic intrusives aerobic bacterial oxidation of methane is favored as the main process driving carbonate precipitation in and rapid lithification of the mounds

using seismic waves to image earth s internal structure seismic waves generated in earth s interior provide images that help us to better understand the pattern of mantle convection that drives plate motions

chemical investigation of mineralisation categories used to assess taphonomy abstract a recent case study from the geelbek dunes archaeological site in western cape province south africa revealed that counter to prevailing notions long term bone survivorship is not always linked to estimates of bone density porosity differences between modern cancellous and compact bones of different animals and skeletal parts provided density estimates for fossil bones taphonomic history was inferred from the physical condition and mineral burden of the fossil bones and represented by five mineralisation categories bones in mineralisation category one had the lowest secondary mineral burden whereas samples with very high secondary mineral contents were considered category five here we examine the proposed link between mineralisation category and taphonomic history by analysing fossils with non destructive energy dispersive x ray fluorescence spectroscopy we hypothesised that higher mineralisation categories should be evident as higher concentrations of elements associated with secondary minerals however chemical measurements could not distinguish fossil bones in mineralisation category one from those in category three furthermore bones in categories four and five could not be distinguished from one another a control of modern bone specimens and fossils in mineralisation category two formed separate and distinct clusters of principal component score values spectra from the geelbek dunes specimens were subsequently used to predict mineralisation categories for fossils from a nearby archaeological locality named anyskop blowout based on the surface chemistry anyskop fossils clustered in two principal groups low mineralisation categories one two and three and high mineralisation categories four and five energy dispersive x ray fluorescence spectroscopy provided useful taphonomic information for fossils from both the geelbek dunes and anyskop blowout although this surface biased technique was not well correlated with the five mineralisation categories

seismic reflection evidence for a dangerous grounds miniplate no extrusion origin for the south china sea the collision of india and asia has caused large strike slip faults to form in east asia resulting in the extrusion of crustal blocks toward the southeast since the eocene as a result of the indentation of rigid india into asia it has been suggested that the south china sea opened as a result of relative motion between a rigid indochina sundaland block and china alternative models propose that rifting and seafloor spreading were driven by trench forces to the south we test these competing models by analysis of seismic reflection profiles across the boundary between sundaland and the southern rifted margin known as the dangerous grounds we show that the southern boundary of the dangerous grounds is a subduction zone that jammed in the middle miocene to the west the dangerous grounds are bounded by a strike slip zone also active until similar to 16 ma that becomes diffuse south of the now inactive south china sea seafloor spreading center we place the western edge of the dangerous grounds just to the east of the natuna arch lupar line the west baram line is confirmed as originating as a major strike slip fault within the dangerous grounds and is continuous with the red river fault zone because the dangerous grounds were independent of sundaland until similar to 6 ma its motion cannot have been constrained by motion of this block making extrusion impossible as a mechanism to rift the south china sea se motion by both the dangerous grounds and sundaland suggests subduction forces were the primary trigger for plate motions our reconstruction places a similar to 280 km upper limit on the motion on the red river fault and a similar to 1400 km width to the paleo south china sea

depth and age in the north pacific the concept of the oceanic lithosphere as a cooling thermal boundary layer on top of a viscous upper mantle accounts for the increase in depth with age of the ocean floor analyses of the exact nature of this relation provide constraints on the rheology and structure of this layer in past studies problems with uncertainties of age and in sediment thickness have limited the value of this relation on older ocean floor in this study we evaluate different tectonic histories for the quiet zones and construct a revised isochron chart for the north pacific we check and modify the current sediment thickness charts using new deep sea drilling data and revised ideas concerning reflectors in the southwestern north pacific averaging the synbaps digital data base into half by half degree elements and correcting for sediment load we plot basement depth versus age for the entire north pacific because of the skewness in the data associated with seamounts we present the data as contours about the mode and find that two thirds of the observations lie within 300 m of this value on crust between 0 and 80 ma the ocean floor subsides with the square root of age on ocean floor older than 100 ma the depths in general flatten with age with areally correlateable swells and valleys the hawaiian and line island swells correlate positively and the mariana basin valley negatively with geoid height the flattening in the depths indicates that the thermal boundary layer has reached equilibrium conditions under older ocean floor further the correlation of the swells and valleys with geoid height presents evidence for organized convection in the upper mantle beneath older lithosphere in the north pacific

the rheological structure of the lithosphere in the eastern marmara region turkey abstract the aim of this work is to propose the geometries of the crustal lithospheric mantle boundary moho and lithosphere asthenosphere boundary lab and the 1d thermal structure of the lithosphere in order to establish a rheological model of the eastern marmara region the average depths of moho and lab are respectively 35 km and 51 km from radially averaged amplitude spectra of egm08 bouguer anomalies the geometries of moho and lab interfaces are estimated from the parker oldenburg gravity inversion algorithm our results show the moho depth varies from 31 km at the northern part of north anatolian fault zone nafz to 39 km below the mountain belt in the southern part of the nafz the depth to the lab beneath the same parts of the region ranges from 45 km to 55 km having lithospheric strength and thermal boundary layer structure we analyzed the conditions of development of lithosphere thinning a two dimensional strength profile has been estimated for rheology model of the study area thus we suggest that the rheological structure consists of a strong upper crust a weak lower crust and a partly molten upper lithospheric mantle

regional variations in subsidence rate of oceanic plates a global analysis a global analysis of the dependence of seafloor depth on crustal age has been performed for each large oceanic plate independently each plate has been divided into regions bounded by major tectonic features a total of 32 regions have been considered bathymetry corrected for sediment loading has been plotted as a function of crustal age for each region except for three regions western pacific between 10 s and 40 n north american plate between 24 n and 38 n and african plate between 10 n and 24 n where ocean floor older than 80 100 ma flattens with age in other regions depth increases linearly with age1 2 subsidence rate over each region has been computed by linear regression large variations up to a factor 2 are reported from one region to another asymmetrical subsidence is also observed in a number of areas however the largest asymmetries are less than the regional variations in subsidence rate occurring on individual plates regional variations in subsidence rate appear linearly related to regional variations in ridge crest topography shallow ridge subsiding quickly and deep ridge subsiding slowly hence seafloor depth subsides at a rate modulated by the value of the initial axial depth this observation suggests that regional variations in subsidence rate reflect the thermal regime of the mantle beneath mid ocean ridges rather than lateral temperature variations inside the asthenosphere involving small scale convection

total tectonic subsidence a parameter for distinguishing crust type at the u s atlantic continental margin total tectonic subsidence tts is the difference between the prerifting continental crust elevation and the present sediment unloaded basement depth in a sedimentary basin tts is calculated using observations of bathymetry and basement depth and assumptions about sediment density and the loading response of the lithosphere i use the extensional model for sedimentary basin formation to interpret the tts of a passive continental margin that model predicts that the tts on an old margin should define the major crust type boundaries and indicate the lateral distribution of extension within the extended continental crust tts analysis of the u s atlantic continental margin indicates that the boundary between extended continental and oceanic crusts lies along the east coast magnetic anomaly ecma to the north of the blake spur fracture zone bsfz and along the blake escarpment to the south there is no tts anomaly associated with the blake spur magnetic anomaly which seems to be underlain by normal oceanic crust the ecma appears to be associated with a tts minimum but i attribute that to artificially shallow estimates of depth to magnetic basement under the ecma tts estimates of extended continental crust thickness agree well with gravity models except where the problem with magnetic basement depth estimates interferes the amount of crust extension prior to seafloor spreading varies along the strike of the margin the most abrupt change is at the bsfz across the bsfz the amount of extension varies by 160 km but the volume of continental material does not vary the extension variation may be caused by lateral changes in the gross rheology of the continental lithosphere in the case of the bsfz it would be the suture of more ductile pre late paleozoic african craton with more brittle north american craton that could cause the abrupt change

full fit reconstruction of the south china sea conjugate margins although the south china sea margins have been well studied there are no full fit reconstructions that document the complex rifting history in a regional geodynamic context we restored conjugate margins to their original late cretaceous unstretched geometries and generated the first full fit reconstructions of the south china sea conjugate margins the impact of magmatic underplating on restoration and full fit reconstruction was estimated quantitatively the full fit reconstruction model includes restoration uncertainties and results in minimum gaps and overlaps between the restored conjugate margin geometries based on our restoration the full fit reconstruction and the continental basement thickness distribution we estimate that there was more extension of continental basement on the western part of the conjugate margins compared with the eastern margin prior to the initiation of seafloor spreading therefore the mid ocean ridge initially formed in the east and propagated westward to open the south china sea seafloor spreading propagated along the xisha trough during nw sub basin formation but continental breakup occurred along the southern side of the zhongsha xisha islands where the lithosphere was probably weaker than along the xisha trough consistent with the geometry and evolution of the nw sub basin and the southward jump of the mid oceanic ridge c 2015 elsevier b v all rights reserved

evaluating new fault controlled hydrothermal dolomitization models insights from the cambrian dolomite western canadian sedimentary basin fault controlled hydrothermal dolomitisation in tectonically complex basins can occur at any depth and from different fluid compositions including deep seated crustal or basinal brines nevertheless many studies have failed to identify the actual source of these fluids resulting in a gap in our knowledge on the likely source of magnesium of hydrothermal dolomitisation with development of new concepts in hydrothermal dolomitisation the study aims in particular to test the hypothesis that dolomitising fluids were sourced from either seawater ultramafic carbonation or a mixture between the two by utilising the cambrian mount whyte formation as an example here the large scale dolostone bodies are fabric destructive with a range of crystal fabrics including euhedral replacement rd1 and anhedral replacement rd2 since dolomite is cross cut by low amplitude stylolites dolomitisation is interpreted to have occurred shortly after deposition at a very shallow depth 1 km at this time there would have been sufficient porosity in the mudstones for extensive dolomitisation to occur and the necessary high heat flows and faulting associated with cambrian rifting to transfer hot brines into the near surface while the 18owater and 87sr 86sr ratios values of rd1 are comparable with cambrian seawater rd2 shows higher values in both parameters therefore although aspects of the fluid geochemistry are consistent with dolomitisation from seawater very high fluid temperature and salinity could be suggestive of mixing with another hydrothermal fluid the very hot temperature positive eu anomaly enriched metal concentrations and cogenetic relation with quartz could indicate that hot brines were at least partially sourced from ultramafic rocks potentially as a result of interaction between the underlying proterozoic serpentinites and co2 rich fluids this study highlights that large scale hydrothermal dolostone bodies can form at shallow burial depths via mixing during fluid pulses providing a potential explanation for the mass balance problem often associated with their genesis

how heating and cooling and wetting and drying can destroy dense faunal elements and lead to differential preservation abstract recent taphonomic research has demonstrated that bulk bone density significantly determines survivability in many archaeological and paleontological contexts researchers often assume that higher density skeletal elements invariably preserve better than lower density skeletal elements this assumption however is not universally valid here we present data on the taphonomy and preservation of assemblages from the geelbek dunes of the western cape province south africa these data indicate that skeletal preservation of fossil assemblages from deflation hollows can reflect an unexpectedly high proportion of porous low density skeletal parts high density skeletal parts including teeth and the shafts of long bones often shatter as a result of the repeated thermal shock and wetting and drying of the kind observed at geelbek this effect is greatest for highly mineralized bones from large mammals the data from geelbek demonstrate that survivability is affected by the size of the animal small mammals are represented by high proportions of non mineralized dense skeletal parts especially long bones

environmental ecological and paleoanthropological implications of the late pleistocene mammalian fauna from equus cave northern cape province south africa abstract the late pleistocene deposits of equus cave northern cape province south africa have provided more than 30 000 taxonomically identifiable mammal bones from 48 species context associations and features of the bone assemblage implicate brown hyenas as the main accumulators the fauna is significant mainly because 1 it supplements previous evidence that regional climate was cooler and possibly also somewhat moister during part s of the late pleistocene but deviated less from the historic norm than in areas farther south 2 it shows that bond s springbok which became extinct in the early holocene differed from the surviving common springbok not only in important morphological respects but also in reproductive pattern and 3 it sustains earlier suggestions that an abundance of carnivores a paucity of small hard bones and increase in the cranial postcranial ratio with species size and exclusively attritional mortality profiles are features that tend to differentiate assemblages accumulated by brown hyenas from those accumulated by people in addition pending firmer dating the fragmentary human fossils from equus cave may support an exclusively african origin for anatomically modern humans

sea level changes an integrated approach sea level changes an integrated approach in october 1985 sepm sponsored a four day conference entitled sea level changes an integrated approach the purpose of the conference was to provide a forum for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas on sea level changes and to provide an opportunity for integrating various types of evidence in approaching unresolved issues the conference was successful in bringing together scientists from industry academia and government representing all of the major geosciences disciplines presentations of many new papers plus significant releases of data that were previously held proprietary provided fertile ground for discussion this much cited volume represents the best of the material presented at the conference includes the early vail chart

molar tooth structure in proterozoic carbonate rocks origin from synsedimentary earthquakes and implications for the nature and evolution of basins and marine sediment proterozoic argillaceous lime mudstones commonly contain molar tooth structure a curious synsedimentary feature consisting of crumpled generally vertically oriented veins filled with calcite microspar long enigmatic these veins are interpreted here as earthquake induced deformation structures a model is proposed whereby violent ground motion caused shrinkage dewatering and fissuring of the colloidal sea floor sediment of clay and lime mud a slurry of equant particles of lime mud segregated from the clay platelets trapped in the matrix was expelled into these voids the host bed underwent as much as 80 compaction as well as shear causing the lime mud filled fissures to be ptygmatically folded and shingled both vertically and horizontally and in places pulled apart this lime mud lithified rapidly by high mg calcite grain growth such that subsequent earthquakes shattered the folded veins in the belt basin of western north america tsunamis from different events created currents that transported ooids and coarse sand from shoals into deeper water and scoured deeply into the now consolidated sediment leaving behind a lag of vein fragments molar tooth structure is a signature of basin tectonism recorded specifically in argillaceous lime mudstones deposited in low energy settings above the thermocline in supersaturated marine water syneresis cracks are the counterpart in terrigenous facies in that silt and sand were injected into the shrinkage fissures this process points to the importance of seismically induced compaction under negligible burial smectite might have made up a significant proportion of the sediment making it more conducive to shrinkage the absence of molar tooth structure in phanerozoic strata is ascribed mainly to changes in sediment rheology brought about by increased organic binding due to diversification of the microbiota

the middle cambrian burgess shale and its relationship to the stephen formation in the southern canadian rocky mountains the burgess shale has been an anomalous geologic unit ever since walcott named it in 1911 as the geographic equivalent of the ogygopsis shale in the middle cambrian stephen formation of southeastern british columbia but it has never been recognized outside of its type locality so its status relative to the stephen formation remained uncertain the geologic setting of the burgess shale was determined by aitken and fritz in 1968 when they recognized the cathedral escarpment and divided the stephen formation into a thin platformal succession on top of the escarpment and a thick basinal succession which included walcott s burgess shale in front fieldwork by royal ontario museum parties between 1982 and 1997 has now demonstrated that the thin and thick stephen successions lie within different facies belts and should be regarded as separate formations the stephen shale formation is part of the middle carbonate belt succession whereas the name burgess shale formation is applied to the thick basinal

a proposed nomenclature for stages and series for the cambrian of laurentia an internally consistent succession of six named regional stages from youngest to oldest sunwaptan steptoean marjuman delamaran dyeran montezuman with their boundaries defined by regional extinction events within the trilobite record is proposed for the trilobite bearing rocks of laurentia sub trilobite stage s are recommended but unnamed the three youngest stages have been named previously but the lower boundary of the marjuman is shifted downward the three older stages within the trilobite record are new if deemed necessary four regional series are also suggested from youngest to oldest millardan lincolnian waucoban and begadean each of the three youngest series accommodates two stages

settlement patterns during the earlier and middle stone age around langebaan lagoon western cape south africa the landscape around langebaan lagoon in the western cape of south africa contains a rich archive of middle and late pleistocene hominin behavior stone age localities of all ages are abundant and present a valuable perspective on the region s settlement history a complex pattern of land use is evident starting with an analysis of the earlier stone age esa collections from anyskop combined with a review of data from elandsfontein and duinefontein these late acheulian assemblages demonstrate an emphasis on handaxe production the exploitation of medium and large game and use of non local raw materials while seasonal pans provided water for animals and humans at these esa localities anyskop is distinctive because of its hilltop setting lacking water and direct access to game middle stone age msa assemblages from geelbek and anyskop combined with a review of data from hoedjiespunt sea harvest and ysterfontein provide further evidence for a regional settlement system that also incorporated non local raw materials into the lithic provisioning strategy some msa lithic technologies in the western cape were aimed at the production of bifacial points and blades as well as backed elements subsistence strategies expanded to encompass the utilization of both terrestrial and marine resources although symbolic artifacts are rare from these sites worked ochre is present at hoedjiespunt these behavioral patterns suggest that the middle and late pleistocene hominins who left these esa and msa materials behind were adept masters of their environment with adaptations well suited to the west coast landscape

multiphase late quaternary aeolian sediment accumulation in western south africa timing and relationship to palaeoclimatic changes inferred from the marine record abstract extensive aeolian deposits exist along the western margin of south africa from cape town through to the namib sand sea and represent a significant palaeoenvironmental archive recording millennial scale patterns of regional and hemispheric environmental change to establish the timing of dune development this study applies optically stimulated luminescence osl dating techniques to the aeolian features of the west coast in total 35 samples were obtained from six dune cores along a north south transect extending from elands bay 32 26 s 18 14 e to kleinsee 29 14 s 16 59 e ages from these dunes exhibit five distinct peaks suggesting phases of activity deposition at 4 5 16 24 30 33 43 49 and 63 73 ka the spatial and temporal extent of the data have allowed for correlations to be made with evidence from marine cores from the southeast atlantic and a more coherent regional environmental history to be developed results suggest that 1 environmental changes in this region are strongly linked to variations in wind strength and atmospheric circulation systems during the late quaternary and 2 luminescence ages from aeolian deposits cannot necessarily be equated with periods of increased aridity with other factors such as wind strength and sediment supply being of critical importance

hydrothermal origin of devonian conical mounds kess kess of hamar lakhdad ridge anti atlas morocco various interpretations have been proposed for the origin of peculiar cone shaped finely crystalline devonian carbonate mounds of the hamar lakhdad ridge anti atlas morocco ranging from shallow water reefs to deep water mud mounds formed by biogenic and or hydrodynamic processes this study is the first integrated sedimentological and geochemical analysis of these structures the mounds are cone shaped steep sided circular to subelliptical in plan view and exhibit internal crude bedding parallel to the mound9s outer surface they occur in a cluster of 48 mounds on top of a volcanic massif stable isotope analyses of first stage isopachous nonluminescent cement have yielded marine values in contrast the finely crystalline carbonate that makes up the bulk of the mound and the internally sedimented mud between crusts of early marine cements have significantly lower 18 o values whereas values of 13 c are similar to those of the early marine cement strontium isotope ratios also clearly distinguish the nonluminescent early marine cements from the finely crystalline material the 87 sr 86 sr values for the former 0 707 934 0 709 392 are in or near the devonian marine range whereas the ratios for the latter 0 708 515 0 709 656 indicate a more radiogenic sr source on the basis of their lithology architecture isotope geochemistry and clustered occurrence on top of a volcanic pile we propose that the finely crystalline material that forms the mounds and the intermound beds was precipitated from hydrothermal fluids and that accretion of the material was driven by hydrothermal venting

tepees in peritidal carbonates origin via earthquake induced deformation with example from the middle cambrian of western canada abstract tepee structures are common in many ancient carbonate tidal flat successions and because analogues are known from tropical coastal areas they are well established as evidence for synsedimentary lithification of subaerially exposed carbonate sediment existing explanations involving desiccation thermal expansion and contraction fluctuating groundwater pore pressure or diagenetic force of crystallization do not adequately account for the style and degree of deformation seen in some examples such as those in the middle cambrian cathedral formation of the southern rocky mountains western canada these tepees provide evidence for essentially instantaneous events causing brittle failure of decimetre thick crusts of ooidal and pisoidal grainstone followed by their dilation rupturing separation tilting and shingling they can be explained as breccias generated by sporadic episodes of strong ground motion from earthquakes that emanated from a syndepositionally active fault system nearby variably directed tensile and compressive stresses broke crusts shifted them upwards and shuffled them laterally subsequent microbial encrustation and vigorous flushing by seawater in the resulting shelter cavities led to rapid stabilization by cementation recognition of the role of seismically induced deformation in explaining some tepee structures furnishes a proxy for synsedimentary tectonism and adds another member to the family of seismites which reflect a range of rheological properties of unlithified and lithifying sediments

crustal thickness anomalies in the north atlantic ocean basin from gravity analysis gravity derived crustal thickness models were calculated for the north atlantic ocean between 76 n and the chain fracture zone and calibrated using seismically determined crustal thickness about 7 of the ocean crust is 7 km thick and is interpreted to have been affected by excess magmatism thin crust probably reflects reduced melt production from relatively cold or refractory mantle at scales of up to hundreds of kilometers along the spreading axis by far the most prominent thick crust anomaly is associated with iceland and adjacent areas which accounts for 57 of total crustal volume in excess of 7 km much smaller anomalies include the azores 8 cape verde islands 6 canary islands 5 madeira 4 and new england great meteor seamount chain 2 all of which appear to be associated with hot spots hot spot related crustal thickening is largely intermittent suggesting that melt production is episodic on time scales of tens of millions of years thickened crust shows both symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns about the mid atlantic ridge mar axis reflecting whether melt anomalies were or were not centered on the mar axis respectively thickened crust at the bermuda and cape verde rises appears to have been formed by isolated melt anomalies over periods of only 20 25 myr crustal thickness anomalies on the african plate generally are larger than those on the north american plate this most likely results from slower absolute plate speed of the african plate over relatively fixed hot spots

reinterpretation of middle cambrian stratigraphy of the rifted western laurentian margin burgess shale formation and contiguous units sauk ii megasequence rocky mountains canada abstract until recently research on the renowned fossil animals of the burgess shale has advanced to a greater degree than an understanding of the rocks in which they are found studies addressing lithostratigraphy and hydrothermal petrography of the so called inner carbonate belt and adjacent chancellor group however have begun to re evaluate long standing hypotheses on the middle cambrian of western canada tectonic activity along the kicking horse rim buried remnants of neoproterozoic rifting during the cambrian period had more influence on local sedimentation than previously thought notably large scale collapse of the cathedral carbonate platform margin at 509 ma bp is evidence of reactivated basement faults these failures produced listric megatruncation surfaces having near vertical escarpments 150 m in height where they terminate against the platform the majority of what have been interpreted as shed olistoliths from the cathedral platform margin is herein shown instead to be carbonate mud mounds these grew in situ along the face of the cathedral escarpment and are associated with fossiliferous intervals in overlying basinal mudstones at three distinct stratigraphic horizons two within the burgess shale during the delamaran and marjuman stages the mounds nucleated where deep seated normal faults intersected the seafloor building primarily during periods of relative sea level transgression mound growth is associated with syndepositional exhalative activity inferred from stratigraphic relations sedimentology and geochemistry the new name monarch formation is proposed for the initial post collapse beds and mounds deposited against the cathedral escarpment early glossopleura zone the variably defined term takakkaw tongue is thereby confined to pre collapse slope deposits coeval to and correlative with the cathedral formation

the dogtooth duplex a model for the structural development of the northern purcell mountains structural analysis based on recent detailed mapping of part of the dogtooth range of the northern purcell mountains confirms and refines a previous interpretation of a duplex structure which after its formation was carried passively in the hanging wall of the out of sequence purcell thrust several parameters such as thrust spacing thrust displacement and fold shape place geometric constraints on the dogtooth duplex thrust spacing displacement ratios indicate that the older structures of the western dogtooth range can be approximated by an antiformal stack model whereas the younger structures of the eastern dogtooth range fit a hinterland dipping duplex the sole thrust of the dogtooth duplex is inferred to follow incompetent rocks in or below the basal part of the hadrynian windermere supergroup the roof thrust is inferred to follow shaley rocks probably in the middle cambrian chancellor formation from balanced restored cross sections total shortening within the duplex is estimated at 18 2

a segment is not a monolith evidence from the howiesons poort of sibudu south africa segments from the howiesons poort of sibudu south africa can be separated into at least three populations based on quartz hornfels and dolerite rocks used for their production length breadth thickness and tip cross sectional areas are significantly different between segments made on the three rock types segments are not monoliths and they were not intended as a single tool type they were flexible enough to be mounted to shafts in a variety of ways several hafting strategies are evident including the use of different adhesive recipes most segments were probably parts of hunting weapons based on use trace analysis but weapon types varied quartz segments have standardized shapes short and deep perhaps because they were hafted as transverse arrowheads while hornfels and dolerite segments may on occasion also have been parts of projectiles the large dolerite segments could sometimes have served as parts of spearheads with two segments hafted back to back howiesons poort segment technology is sophisticated its makers appreciated distinct properties of rocks their flaking wear and impact possibilities further they recognized the best sizes and shapes for use with each kind of weapon they understood the qualities and applications of various adhesive recipes and they knew how to make a variety of hafts from materials that included bone and wood

geoarchaeological investigation of occupation deposits in blombos cave in south africa indicate changes in site use and settlement dynamics in the southern cape during mis 5b 4

gypsum a joint tomographic model of mantle density and seismic wave speeds 1 gypsum is a 3 d model of mantle shear wave s speeds compressional wave p speeds and density the model is developed through simultaneous inversion of seismic body wave travel times p and s and geodynamic observations while using realistic mineral physics parameters linking wave speeds and density geodynamic observations include the global free air gravity field divergence of the tectonic plates dynamic topography of the free surface and the flow induced excess ellipticity of the core mantle boundary gypsum is built with the philosophy that heterogeneity that most closely resembles thermal variations is the simplest possible solution models of the density field from earth s free oscillations have provided great insight into the density configuration of the mantle but are limited to very long wavelength solutions alternatively scaling higher resolution seismic images to obtain density anomalies generates density fields that do not satisfy geodynamic observations the current study provides a 3 d density model for the mantle that directly satisfies geodynamic and seismic observations through a joint seismic geodynamic inversion process notable density field observations include high density piles at the base of superplume structures supporting the general results of past normal mode studies however we find that these features are more localized and have lower amplitude than past studies would suggest when we consider both fast and slow seismic anomalies in gypsum we find that p and s wave speeds are strongly correlated throughout the mantle however we find a low correlation of fast s wave zones in the deep mantle 1500 km depth with the corresponding p wave anomalies suggesting a systematic divergence from simplified thermal effects in ancient subducted slab anomalies the cratonic lithosphere and d regions are shown to have strong compositional signatures however we argue that temperature variations are the primary cause of p wave speed s wave speed and density anomalies throughout most of the mantle

aleutian island arc magma production rates and primary controlling factors abstract island arc magmatism is considered a major mechanism of continental crustal growth hence the variation in island arc magma production rates and its influencing factors are of great importance the along arc strike variation in the island arc magma production rate is important for elucidating whether the subduction zone temperature is a controlling factor on arc magmatism no back arc spreading or ridge subduction is occurring in the intraoceanic subduction region of the aleutian subduction zone and the along arc temperatures vary due to differences in the subducting plate age convergence rate and slab dip therefore this is an ideal region to study the correlation between magma production rates and subduction zone temperatures however previous studies estimated the magma production rates at only a few locations due to the insufficient coverage of seismic data here we employ the gravity inversion method based on density modelling and seismic data constraints to calculate the present day arc crustal thickness and then obtain the magmatic thickness by removing the pre existing crustal thickness from the present day arc crustal thickness finally the magma production rates along the main intraoceanic subduction region of the aleutian arc are mapped by estimating the island arc magmatic thickness and the most recent subduction inception dating result in addition the subduction zone temperatures and mantle melt amounts along five profiles across the aleutian arc are calculated the magma production rate variation is highly correlated with the mantle melt amount the slab temperature controls the extent of the slab dehydration which is essential for mantle wedge melting and the mantle wedge temperature controls the size of the hydrated mantle melting region and the melting fraction therein therefore as the subduction zone temperature controls the mantle melt amount we suggest that the subduction zone temperature is the first order controlling factor on the magma production rate

structure and tectonic development of the southern rocky mountain trench the rocky mountain trench is one of the youngest most prominent and most enigmatic structures of the canadian cordillera approximately 650 km of seismic reflection data providing regional three dimensional coverage over an area of 10 000 km include six crossings of the rocky mountain trench between 49 n and 50 15 n prominent reflections from mid proterozoic moyie sills outline thrust and fold structures of a late jurassic to early cretaceous fault system that was cut by the rocky mountain trench fault in the tertiary the near basement reflections outline a 10 km high west facing basement ramp the hinge line of which spatially coincides with the rocky mountain trench in this area this ramp is part of a mid proterozoic margin upon which the belt purcell supergroup was deposited and is preserved beneath the trench during mesozoic contraction the basal detachment of the foreland belt closely followed the craton cover contact across the basement ramp thrusting ceased and extension was initiated when a culmination of thick basinal strata was juxtaposed with the basement ramp in the eocene miocene the basement ramp and the culmination above it focused stress reactivating the basal detachment and causing extensional faulting in the southern rocky mountain trench the rocky mountain trench fault may be linked via the basal detachment to the flathead fault on the east and the eocene extensional faults that flank the omineca belt on the west

origin and evolution of fault controlled hydrothermal dolomitization fronts a new insight abstract dolomitization is one of the most significant diagenetic reactions in carbonate systems occurring where limestone caco3 is replaced by dolomite camg co3 2 under a wide range of crystallization temperatures and fluids the processes governing its formation have been well studied but the controls on the position of dolomitization fronts in ancient natural settings particularly in a fault controlled hydrothermal system htd have received remarkably little attention hence the origin and evolution of htd dolomitization fronts in the stratigraphic record remain enigmatic here a new set of mineralogical and geochemical data collected from different transects in a partially dolomitized cambrian carbonate platform in western canada are presented to address this issue systematic patterns of sudden decrease in the magnesium content mol mgco3 and increase in porosity were observed towards the margin of the body furthermore fluid temperatures are cooler and 18 owater values are less positive at the dolomitization front than within the core of the body these changes coincide with a change from poorly ordered planar e dolomite with multiple crystal zonations at the margin to an unzoned well ordered interlocking mosaic of planar s to nonplanar dolomite in the core of the body these phenomena are hypothesized to reflect dynamic self limiting processes in the formation and evolution of htd dolomitization fronts through i plummet of dolomitization potential at the head of dolomitizing fluids due to progressive consumption of magnesium and fluid cooling and ii retreat of dolomitization fronts towards the fluid source during subsequent recrystallization of the dolomite body inboard of the termination once overdolomitization took place this new insight illustrates how dolomitization fronts can record the oldest phase of dolomitization instead of the youngest as is often assumed formation of porosity is interpreted to occur as the result of acidification induced grain leaching during the development of dolomitization fronts this mechanism coupled with retrogradation of dolomitization fronts may help to explain the apparent enhancement of porosity in proximity to dolomitization fronts

crustal thickness over the nw pacific and its tectonic implications abstract igneous emplacement on the nw pacific oceanic crust via mantle activity such as hot spots and mantle plumes results in perturbations of crustal thickness therefore mapping crustal thickness variations is key for understanding these mantle structures and processes improvements in resolution and accuracy of marine gravity anomalies promote the use of moho gravity inversion effects especially for large scale applications for improving the moho gravity inversion accuracy density variations of the lithospheric mantle are modelled via lithospheric age temperature density relationship since age grid with a resolution of 2 arc minutes is available and density variations of the mantle beneath lithosphere are modelled via seismic wave velocity density relationship since velocity structure with penetration to 700 km is available comparisons between the moho geometries by gravity inversion and seismic interpretation demonstrate that the mantle density modelling improves the moho inversion accuracy our crustal map shows that 1 the crustal thickness of 26 of the nw pacific region is thicker than 7 km 2 the southern end of the emperor seamounts was emplaced on the western flank of the hess rise and a part of the central hawaiian seamounts was emplaced on the eastern end of the mid pacific mountains 3 the magma production of hawaiian seamounts is greater than that of the emperor seamounts 4 the leakiness of the fracture along which the line islands formed decreases in the order of the central southern and northern segments

a middle stone age paleoscape near the pinnacle point caves vleesbaai south africa abstract open air middle stone age msa contexts in southern africa have received relatively little research attention compared to caves rock shelters msa caves rock shelters can provide long sequences of msa behaviors dominated by residential activities in circumscribed contexts but most procurement activities occurred on the landscape in uncircumscribed space we have a limited understanding of these activities at present making studies of open air sites crucial to alleviate this bias the south african coast paleoclimate paleoenvironment paleoecology paleoanthropology sacp4 project expanded its research scope to include msa archaeology from open air contexts we report on a series of msa open air assemblages that are exposed on ancient land surfaces suggestive of intact paleosols at vleesbaai and visbaai south africa importantly these sites occur in close proximity to the long cave rock shelter sequences at pinnacle point this presents the novel potential to study evidence of msa behavior in closed and open settings where their proximity to each other approximates the typical hunter gatherer daily foraging radius documented in ethnography we present a fabric and technological analysis of msa stone tool assemblages from three areas analysis of total station piece plotting of artifact bearing plunge suggests that the lithic assemblages have undergone limited post depositional disturbance the technological analysis and exploratory comparisons between these open air assemblages and msa cave and rock shelter contexts at pinnacle point cave 13b and 9 and cape st blaize cave suggest that the quartzite artifacts from vleesbaai were procured from locally available sources and may have been field processed there before being transported elsewhere perhaps to the caves rock shelters further the analysis suggests a dichotomous pattern of retouched tool discard where quartzite tools are discarded similarly across the landscape in contrast non quartzite tools may have been made primarily at the cave sites and discarded or lost more frequently on the landscape

flattening of the sea floor depth age curve as a response to asthenospheric flow the flattening of sea floor depths from the age dependence predicted by considering the cooling plate as a growing thermal boundary layer is a fundamental constraint on the evolution of oceanic lithosphere1 previous explanations for the flattening have included reheating from convective instabilities that form beneath lithosphere older than 80 myr ref 2 thermal rejuvenation of lithosphere that passes over stationary hotspots3 5 or a whole mantle flow forced by two converging plates6 we suggest here that the flattening of old ocean floors can perhaps best be explained as a dynamic phenomenon reflecting flow in asthenosphere underlying the oceanic lithosphere applying the model to the pacific plate we show that a solution for flow in an asthenosphere low viscosity channel which is consumed by plate accretion and the subduction of lithosphere at trenches and replenished by near ridge upwelling and near ridge hotspots generates the observed 1 km of sea floor flattening for asthenospheric viscosities of 2 1018 pa s and an absolute pacific plate motion of 100 mm yr 1 our model can also explain the asymmetric subsidence of the south american and african plates away from the mid atlantic ridge

stratigraphic framework of productive carbonate buildups hydrocarbon productive carbonate buildups are found within a relatively narrow window of geologic time and stratigraphic settings because buildups are common exploration objectives in frontier and mature basins an understanding of their stratigraphic occurrence permits them to be more accurately explored based on a worldwide survey most production occurs in isolated periods of geologic time middle silurian late silurian late middle and late devonian late pennsylvanian and early permian late cretaceous paleocene and miocene the authors results suggest that many factors of successful buildup plays are predictable on the basis of geohistory analysis and of basin filling stratal patterns deposition of extensive source beds and thick buildups coincide with second order eustatic rises other primary controls on the temporal distribution of buildups include reef building organism type mineralogy and paleolatitude geohistory analysis indicates that periods immediately prior to or during the earliest portion of rapid increases of accommodation correspond to times of productive buildup growth during this time shelf margins step landward and buildups become progressively more areally restricted buildups eventually are unable to keep pace with high rates of accommodation increase and often are overlain by distal toes of clinoforms within regressive wedges deposited during subsequent periods with lower rates of accommodation increase themore result is a stratigraphic juxtaposition of mounded reservoir carbonate and deep marine sealing shale this basin fill position accounts for over 70 of known buildup reservoired hydrocarbons buildups deposited in overlying regressive wedges are often lower relief and prone to seal problems less

megabreccia shedding from modern low relief carbonate platforms nicaraguan rise single channel seismic reflection data from the margins of lowrelief 150 250 m measured from edge of bank to basin carbonate platforms on the northern nicaraguan rise reveal complex seismic intervals consisting of mounded chaotic seismic facies interspersed with discontinuous parallel laminated seismic facies we interpret that these intervals contain megabreccias chaotic facies and sandy turbidites parallel laminated facies one megabreccia is exposed on the sea floor displaying an overall fan shape having individual blocks measuring nearly 300 m across and 110 m high the source area consists of a scalloped embayment with a headwall scarp 180 m high reflections within the platform are sharply truncated by this escarpment this single megabreccia is 120 m thick and extends 27 km along slope and 16 km out into the basin other megabreccias within the basin have individual blocks measuring 400 m across rocks from dredge hauls are a mixture of shallow and deep water facies shallow water facies consist of mixed skeletal grain stones and halimeda packstones deep water facies are massive chalks chalks with shallow water skeletal grains and chalk block breccias this indicates that the megabreccias formed as a result of bank margin collapse during which the ensuing debris flow eroded into slope and basin facies mixing rock types together we speculate that bank margin collapse events resulting in megabreccia formation may have been seismically triggered and we emphasize that these large scale mass wasting events occurred along margins of low relief carbonate platforms

upper mantle density modelling for large scale moho gravity inversion case study on the atlantic ocean moho geometry is an important parameter in geodynamic understanding seismic methods can provide accurate burial depths but the coverage is low the widely used crust1 0 model under oceans is greatly restricted by a low coverage of seismic data gravity inversion can provide high coverage of moho undulations but the accuracy is relatively low observed gravity anomalies integrate gravity effects induced by 3 d density perturbations in the earth for studies of the geometry of a specific density interface based on gravity all gravity effects caused by other interfaces should be removed from the total anomaly map based on 3 d density distributions we use temperature based and velocity based methods to model the lithospheric upper mantle density two temperature calculation parameter models psm and gdh1 three thermal expansion coefficients alpha and three scaling ratio models are tested for each method psm and gdh1 result in a similar mantle gravity anomaly mga pattern but different mga average values when the alpha model is the same different alpha and scaling ratio models result in different moho inversion results and the optimal result from the temperature based method has an rms of 3 2 km with the crust1 0 model a comparison between this inversion result and the crust1 0 model shows that the temperature based method performs well in reproducing moho geometry in the main part of the atlantic ocean especially in the central basin the optimal result from the velocity based method has an rms of 4 3 km with the crust1 0 model compared with the temperature based method the velocity based method performs worse in the central basin but better in regions with low velocity and low density mantle away from the mid ocean ridge

the relative density to shear velocity scaling in the uppermost mantle we perform inversions of gravity data geopotential model egm96 and seismic tomography model s16rlbm for the scaling factor which relates relative density anomalies to relative s wave velocity anomalies the gravity data and tomographic model are anti correlated below continents down to a depth of z 200 km this anti correlation is not present below oceans except for smoothness which is controlled by a damping factor no a priori information is added to the inversion data are filtered between degrees 11 and 16 of the spherical harmonic expansion this spectral window is well suited for the study of intermediate size 2000 4000 km anomalies in the uppermost mantle calculations are made separately for sub continental and sub oceanic mantle the sub continental and sub oceanic scaling factors are significantly different at depths shallower than 260 km in both cases the magnitude of is around 0 05 the sub continental scaling factor has a positive root down to z 220 km whereas the sub oceanic scaling factor yields positive values down to z 140 km only at depth shallower than 350 km models of do not depend on the damping factor or the viscosity model at depths greater than 350 km the resolution of z decreases significantly and low degrees 2 4 add information from large scale anomalies and from the lower mantle as a result the shape and values of for 2 16 and 11 16 are significantly different at depths greater than 350 km a possible explanation of the discrepancies between the sub continental and sub oceanic scaling factor is that intermediate scale anomalies are more important in the continental uppermost mantle than in the oceanic uppermost mantle 2001 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

crustal stretching style variations in the northern margin of the south china sea linking deep seismic profiles with regional scale gravity inversion is a powerful tool to deduce the architecture of rifted margins and their structural evolution here we map upper and lower crustal thicknesses of the northern south china sea scs margin in order to investigate the occurrence of depth dependent crustal extension from the proximal to the distal margin by comparing upper and lower crustal stretching factors we find that the northern margin of the scs is segmented in three parts 1 sedimentary basins where upper crust is stretched more than lower crust 2 distal margin where lower crust is stretched more than upper crust 3 mostly proximal margin regions where the two layers have similar stretching factors our results suggest that sedimentary basins and distal margin prominently feature depth dependent extension however accommodated by different processes while differential thinning within sedimentary basins appears to be governed by lateral pressure variations inducing lower crustal flow we suggest the distal margin to be affected by a combination of mantle flow induced lower crustal shearing and sequential fault activity during crustal hyper extension

hotspot volcanism in the southern south atlantic geophysical constraints on the evolution of the southern walvis ridge and the discovery seamounts abstract the southern atlantic hosts a variety of magmatic structures namely the walvis ridge the discovery seamounts and the shona ridge which are believed to be related to the evolution movement of hotspots although the basement of the walvis ridge has been sampled at different locations geophysical data are too sparse to provide sufficient information about its deeper structure to compare it with other hotspot tracks the discovery seamounts represent a completely different type feature in a way that it cannot be connected to any onshore volcanic feature however geological sampling of the volcanic basement indicates that the petrology of the discovery track is very similar to gough island and the southern branch of walvis ridge both structures erupted into already existing seafloor and so have been seismically investigated to document how if an associated thermal anomaly might have modified the underlying and surrounding oceanic crust seismic lines for both structures indicate rather normal seismic velocity distributions for oceanic crust both the walvis ridge and the largest volcano of the discovery seamounts have a maximum thickness in our research area of 13 km an interesting difference between these structures is a high velocity cone 6 km s at 2 4 km depth in the central part of discovery seamount this might indicate a primarily intrusional type of seamount such as has been reported for several similar structures in contrast the walvis ridge velocity structure does not show evidences for a shallow intrusional cone but seismic velocities typical for oceanic layer 3 at a more or less constant depth level along the entire profile this might indicate that the ridge s present day topography is built mainly by extrusive material

middle cambrian carbonate platform collapse southeastern canadian rocky mountains regional erosion features termed megatruncation surfaces at the seaward margin of a middle cambrian carbonate platform in southeastern british columbia are inferred to be the proximal parts of gravity slide scars comparable in scale and morphology to modern examples in the caribbean region the surfaces truncate up to 200 m of outer platform strata and have low angle to near vertical headwalls they can be traced a minimum of 56 km along depositional strike and appear to extend at least 8 km basinward of the platform edge they therefore profoundly affect regional stratigraphy

south african palaeoenvironments during marine oxygen isotope stage 4 a context for the howiesons poort and still bay industries abstract spanning the period from 74 58 ka and being broadly coeval with marine oxygen isotope stage 4 mis 4 the still bay and howiesons poort industries represent important phases in the development of the material culture of early modern humans how and why these industries occurred when they did however remain matters for speculation a key element of this debate has been the question of what role environmental change during the early stages of the last glacial period may have had on influencing human activity unfortunately well dated palaeoenvironmental evidence from this period is limited and the debate has out of necessity been driven by the application of conceptual models of environmental change many of which associate colder and warmer global climates with increased aridity and humidity respectively in this paper the regional marine and terrestrial evidence is synthesised to create an evidence based palaeoenvironmental context based on the information available to date it appears that rather than being characterised by dry conditions mis 4 was a period of relatively cool moist climates the ubiquity of which transcends the modern regional climate boundaries it is suggested that orbital parameters at this time created greater interaction between tropical and temperate circulation systems bringing more moisture to the subcontinent these findings highlight the distinct nature of southern african climate systems and caution against the application extra regional conceptual models or inferring linear relationships with polar records

age spreading rates and spreading asymmetry of the world s ocean crust we present four companion digital models of the age age uncertainty spreading rates and spreading asymmetries of the world s ocean basins as geographic and mercator grids with 2 arc min resolution the grids include data from all the major ocean basins as well as detailed reconstructions of back arc basins the age spreading rate and asymmetry at each grid node are determined by linear interpolation between adjacent seafloor isochrons in the direction of spreading ages for ocean floor between the oldest identified magnetic anomalies and continental crust are interpolated by geological estimates of the ages of passive continental margin segments the age uncertainties for grid cells coinciding with marine magnetic anomaly identifications observed or rotated to their conjugate ridge flanks are based on the difference between gridded age and observed age the uncertainties are also a function of the distance of a given grid cell to the nearest age observation and the proximity to fracture zones or other age discontinuities asymmetries in crustal accretion appear to be frequently related to asthenospheric flow from mantle plumes to spreading ridges resulting in ridge jumps toward hot spots we also use the new age grid to compute global residual basement depth grids from the difference between observed oceanic basement depth and predicted depth using three alternative age depth relationships the new set of grids helps to investigate prominent negative depth anomalies which may be alternatively related to subducted slab material descending in the mantle or to asthenospheric flow a combination of our digital grids and the associated relative and absolute plate motion model with seismic tomography and mantle convection model outputs represents a valuable set of tools to investigate geodynamic problems

finding resolution for the howiesons poort through the microscope micro residue analysis of segments from sibudu cave south africa in this paper i present the results of a micro residue analysis of stone segments the type fossils of the howiesons poort technocomplex in south africa with an age of more than 60 ka at sibudu cave kwazulu natal fifty three segments were systematically analysed and 1826 organic micro residue occurrences were documented on the sample the distribution patterns of micro residues and other use traces are interpreted in terms of hafting and function it is shown that most of the tools were indeed hafted and most were probably used as inserts for hunting weapons there is evidence for differences and changes over time in haft materials and hafting configurations of the segments the study demonstrates how functional studies could improve our understanding of change and variability in human behaviour during the middle stone age a period that used to be portrayed as static or slow changing

continental margin brine seeps their geological consequences local dissolution observed at the base of the florida escarpment appears to result from acid generated by sea floor oxidation of dissolved sulfide species carried in brines that seep from the base of the escarpment the extent of seep corrosion depends upon the amount of sulfide that has exited the platform and the efficiency with which the acid attacks the limestones of the escarpment calculations suggest that brine seepage influences the shape of these escarpments by undercutting and steepening the carbonate continental margin edges other processes competing for the dissolved sulfides are bacterial chemosynthesis and sulfide mineralization which produces organic carbon and sulfide mineral rich deposits along the unconformity that separates the buried escarpment from onlapping abyssal sediments

mapping crustal thickness using marine gravity data methods and uncertainties crustal thickness is a critical parameter for understanding the processes of continental rifting and breakup and the evolution of petroleum systems within passive margins however direct measurements of crustal thickness are sparse and expensive highlighting the need for methodologies using gravity anomaly data jointly with other geophysical data to estimate crustal thickness we evaluated alternative gravity inversion methodologies to map crustal thickness variations at rifted continental margins and adjacent oceanic basins and we tested our methodology in the south china sea scs different strategies were investigated to estimate and remove the gravity effect of density variations of sediments and the temperature and pressure variations of the lithospheric mantle from the observed free air gravity anomaly data sediment density was calculated using a relationship between sediment thickness porosity and density we found that this method is essential for crustal thickness inversion in the presence of a thick sedimentary cover by comparing the moho depths obtained from gravity inversion and seismic interpretation in the yinggehai basin where sediments are up to 13 km thick the inversion accuracy depended on the parameters of the exponential equation between porosity and the buried depth we modeled the lithospheric mantle temperature field based on oceanic crustal age continental crustal stretching factors and other boundary conditions we tested three different methods to calculate the thermal expansion coefficient which is either held constant or is a linear polynomial function of temperature for applying a thermal correction and found that the inversion results were relatively insensitive to alternative methods we compared inversion results with two recent deep seismic profiles that image the rifted continental edge at the northern margin of the scs and the continental liyue bank reed bank at the southern margin and we found that the inversion accuracy was improved considerably by removing sediment thermal and pressure gravity effects

excavation of buried late acheulean mid quaternary land surfaces at duinefontein 2 western cape province south africa abstract duinefontein 2 dft2 preserves at least two buried land surfaces within a 10 m thick dune plume on the atlantic coast of south africa about 35 km north of cape town optically stimulated luminescence dating indicates that the sands enclosing the upper surface accumulated around 270 ky ago while the sands between the two surfaces were accumulating about 290 ky ago excavation so far has focused on the upper buried surface which is now exposed over 480 m 2 historically there was no body of fresh water nearby and the surrounding vegetation was a variant of the regional fine leafed shrub or fynbos pedogenic alteration of the sands and bones of water loving mammals and amphibians indicate however that the bones and associated acheulean artifacts accumulated near the edge of a large pond or marsh in addition the principal mammal species buffalo wildebeest and kudu imply a sharply different regional vegetation in which grass and broad leafed bush were much more common the artifacts are distributed across the upper buried surface in no apparent pattern but the large mammal bones tend to occur as clusters of skulls vertebrae ribs and other axial elements often in near anatomical order limb bones are mostly missing and the clusters appear to mark carcasses from which the limb bones were selectively removed the bones rarely show marks from stone tools but marks from carnivore teeth are common together with numerous hyena coprolites the abundant tooth marks suggest that hyenas and perhaps other carnivores were largely responsible for carcass disarticulation the human role appears to have been insignificant which suggests that local acheulean people obtained few large mammals whether by hunting or scavenging among the small number of other acheulean carcass sites for which bone damage observations are available the best documented sites suggest the same limited human ability to acquire large mammals but many additional sites will be necessary to determine if this was the acheulean norm greatly expanded excavation of the lower buried surface at dft2 can provide an additional high quality data point

a burgess shale like fauna from the lower cambrian of north greenland the cambrian explosion refers to the major adaptive radiation of the metazoans during the earliest phanerozoic an event that is best known by the abrupt appearance of hard parts near to the precambrian cambrian boundary 550 myr bp 1 deciphering this important evolutionary episode depends largely on the study of these skeletal remains2 3 together with trace fossils that include burrows and trackways4 5 many of these latter fossils evidently represent the activities of soft bodied organisms such as worms and lightly sclerotized arthropods whose exact identity is seldom known not least because they can be fossilized only in exceptional circumstances6 however documenting the soft bodied representatives of early metazoan communities cannot be neglected if they accounted for a substantial fraction of these early biotas7 here we report a new soft bodied fauna from the lower cambrian of north greenland this assemblage has highly significant similarities with the younger burgess shale and provides additional evidence for the geological longevity of this faunal type and its widespread distribution in deeper waters of cambrian oceans

topography of the ocean floor thermal evolution of the lithosphere and interaction of deep mantle heterogeneities with the lithosphere topography associated with large wave length geoid is derived by two methods first the bathymetry corrected for sediment loading is decomposed using a least squares method as a function of age plus terms proportional to the geoid the topography at old ages is flatter predicted by the law at degrees 2 and 3 very little topography is associated with the geoid the transfer function is not even certain in sign but is never smaller than 0 6 more topography seems associated with higher degree harmonics 6 and 7 second the function of age alone best fitting the topography is determined the correlation coefficients of the residual topography with the geoid are then computed a slight correlation appears for degree 6 but not for degrees 2 and 3 these results suggest a mechanical decoupling between the lower mantle mass heterogeneities and the lithosphere

a new middle cambrian burgess shale type biota bolaspidella zone chancellor basin southeastern british columbia abstract a newly discovered burgess shale type bst biota occurs in southeastern british columbia on haiduk and tangle peaks the fossiliferous rocks of the informally named vermilion sub unit and duchesnay unit occur in the bolaspidella zone one trilobite biozone younger than the burgess shale formation the younger rocks abut the eldon escarpment in a stratigraphic and depositional relationship that mirrors that of the burgess shale formation and cathedral escarpment the biota concentrated at the eldon escarpment is hosted predominantly in the duchesnay unit and includes burgess shale genera of sponges worms some arthropods and brachiopods new taxa include an arborescent benthic graptolite with preserved fuselli microbial fossils including vendotaenid bacteria are locally abundant and range up to 750 m basinward of the escarpment in both the vermilion sub unit and duchesnay unit while concentrations of animal fossils are restricted to within 100 m in the vermilion sub unit large autochthonous carbonate mud mounds previously interpreted as platform derived olistoliths originated at the base of the escarpment probably over fluid conduits and then slid downslope bulldozing and entraining sediments in their paths local magnesian and barian rich brine pool deposits occur up to 750 m distal of the escarpment fractionation of the fluids may explain the differing geochemistries at least one mgo rich brine pool deposit on haiduk peak is fringed by abundant animal fossils including concentrations of priapulid worms this assemblage together with high density low diversity assemblages on tangle peak likely represent fringing fauna facies around brine seeps a model erected for similar fossil concentrations and distributions in the burgess shale intrabasinal comparison of the vermilion sub unit and duchesnay unit with the burgess shale formation reveals an identical stratigraphic ordering of carbonates and shales brine pool deposits major debris flow deposits carbonate mud mound growth and fossiliferous deposits the eldon and cathedral platform formations are known to share complimentary brine derived characteristics as well the stratigraphic patterns signify that the depositional processes producing the suite of older lithofacies recurred during deposition of the younger units interbasinal correlation with the wheeler and marjum formations utah identifies the duchesnay unit deposit as the youngest basinal burgess shale type deposit in north america decreasing abundance of animal fossils away from the eldon and cathedral escarpments is generally attributed to increasing development of tectonic fabrics however on haiduk peak rocks hundreds of metres basinward of the escarpment contact are essentially undeformed and contain rare planolites brachiopods and trilobites as the only macrofauna locally abundant vendotaenids and morania are evidence that bst preservation occurred at these distances the concentration of animal fossils at the escarpment is therefore a primary ecological feature not due to a preservational or rheological bias communities were clustered at the face of the escarpment where brines were seeping

joint seismic geodynamic and mineral physical constraints on three dimensional mantle heterogeneity implications for the relative importance of thermal versus compositional heterogeneity summary the joint interpretation of seismic and geodynamic data requires mineral physical parameters linking seismic velocity to density perturbations in the earth s mantle the most common approach is to link velocity and density through relative scaling or conversion factors r s dln dlnv s however the range of possible r s values remains large even when only considering thermal effects we directly test the validity of several proposed depthdependent conversion profiles developed from mineral physics studies for thermally varying properties of mantle materials the tests are conducted by simultaneously inverting shear wave traveltime data and a diverse suite of convection related constraints interpreted with viscous flow response functions of the mantle these geodynamic constraints are represented by surface spherical harmonic basis functions up to harmonic degree 16 and they consist of the global free air gravity field tectonic plate divergences dynamic surface topography and the excess ellipticity of the core mantle boundary cmb the tests yield an optimum 1 d thermal r s profile that is generally compatible with all considered data with the exception of the dynamic surface topography that is most sensitive to the shallow upper mantle this result is not surprising given that cratonic roots are known to be compositionally distinct from the surrounding ambient mantle moreover it is expected that the temperature dependence of the thermal r s in the upper mantle is significant due to the temperature dependence of seismic attenuation or q therefore a simple 1 d density velocity relationship is insufficient to address this problem we obtained independent estimates of the first order correction factors to the selected r s profile within the cratonic roots and in the ambient thermal upper mantle these correction factors defined as r s lnv s are highly negative within the cratons signifying considerable compositional buoyancy this result confirms that the negative buoyancy associated with the low temperatures in the cratons is significantly counteracted by the composition induced positive buoyancy resulting in near neutral buoyancy of the cratonic roots within the ambient upper mantle the correction factors are found to be positive which is consistent with the expected behaviour of the r s relationship in thermally varying upper mantle material we obtain a significantly greater reconciliation of the global gravity anomalies and dynamic surface topography when applying these laterally varying corrections compared to a simple 1 d r s relationship inversion for a fully 3 d r s relationship reveals secondary effects including additional compositional variation within the cratonic roots and the deep mantle superplume structures we estimate the relative magnitude of the thermal and compositional non thermal contributions to mantle density anomalies and conclude that thermal effects dominate shear wave and density heterogeneity throughout the non cratonic mantle we also demonstrate the potential pitfalls of scaling a purely seismically derived model to obtain density rather than performing a true joint inversion to obtain velocity and density simultaneously

full fit palinspastic reconstruction of the conjugate australian antarctic margins 1 despite decades of study the prerift configuration and early rifting history between australia and antarctica is not well established the plate boundary system during the cretaceous includes the evolving kerguelen broken ridge large igneous province in the west as well as the conjugate passive and transform margin segments of the australian and antarctic continents previous rigid plate reconstruction models have highlighted the difficulty in satisfying all the available observations within a single coherent reconstruction history we investigate a range of scenarios for the early rifting history of these plates by developing a deforming plate model for this conjugate margin pair potential field data are used to define the boundaries of stretched continental crust on a regional scale integrating crustal thickness along tectonic flow lines provides an estimate of the prerift location of the continental plate boundary we then use the prerift plate boundary positions along with additional constraints from geological structures and large igneous provinces within the same australian and antarctic plate system to compute full fit poles of rotation for australia relative to antarctica our preferred model implies that the leeuwin and vincennes fracture zones are conjugate features within gondwana but that the direction of initial opening between australia and antarctica does not follow the orientation of these features rather the geometry of these features is likely related to the earlier rifting of india away from australia antarctica previous full fit reconstructions based on qualitative estimates of continental margin overlaps generally yield a tighter fit than our preferred reconstruction based on palinspastic margin restoration

putslaagte 1 pl1 the doring river and the later middle stone age in southern africa s winter rainfall zone abstract existing data suggest weak human occupation of southern africa s winter rainfall zone wrz during later marine isotope stage mis 3 the causes of which are unknown here we report briefly on the results of recent surveys of alluvial terrace sites of the doring river in the wrz which document occupation over a broad expanse of the later middle stone age msa and pleistocene later stone age we then report on test excavations at one terrace site denoted putslaagte site 1 pl1 describe in detail the assemblage of flaked stone artefacts produced from that excavation and present two osl ages obtained from 0 8 m to 1 5 m below surface the results suggest that a artefact accumulations at pl1 are dense b the technological systems documented are characteristically msa but differ in form from the range of systems known from other excavated sites in the region and c that the assemblages accumulated in mis 3 taken together with the survey data the results introduce new variation into the later msa in southern africa and imply reorganisation of land use in the wrz in late mis 3 rather than abandonment we suggest that a research emphasis on rock shelter deposits may have produced misleading depictions of regional occupation

geochemical evidence for oxygenated bottom waters during deposition of fossiliferous strata of the burgess shale formation abstract deciphering the oxygenation potential of bottom waters during deposition of the fossiliferous strata of the burgess shale is key to understanding the paleoecology of the organisms preserved as fossils and the processes involved in their preservation methods of paleo redox determination that are based upon trace fossils organic carbon content or size analysis of pyrite framboids are problematic when applied to the burgess shale fortunately patterns in redox sensitive trace elements hold great potential for determining paleo redox conditions for these greenschist facies rocks because they are independent of both age and metamorphic grade four burgess shale type bst fossil bearing sections were studied three lie within the burgess shale formation whereas one lies within the slightly younger duchesnay unit of the middle chancellor formation the geochemical proxies of seawater redox conditions that were used are mo u th v cr v v ni ni co and v sc each of these redox sensitive indices suggests that oxygenated conditions prevailed in the overlying seawater during deposition of beds within which bst preservation developed non fossiliferous beds at the base of the mt stephen trilobite beds yield three geochemical indices v v ni v sc ni co that indicate deposition under dysoxic to anoxic conditions thus the only beds to have been deposited under anoxic conditions are barren of fossils of soft bodied taxa further contradicting the notion that bottom water anoxia is a factor in bst preservation the laminated nature of the burgess shale and evidence for subsurface anoxia coupled with evidence for oxygenated bottom waters presence of bacterial mats and surficial trace fossils suggest that the burgess shale was deposited in the exaerobic zone oxic anoxic boundary at the water sediment interface implications of this reinterpretation of the depositional environment of the burgess shale include 1 taphonomic models for bst preservation must account for the presence of oxygen in bottom waters 2 paleoecological interpretations of the burgess shale need to account for a probable autochthonous benthic component in what is a complex assemblage of fossils that includes elements derived from the platform and 3 the possibility of burgess shale communities based upon chemosynthesis and or bacteria grazing must be considered

the lower ordovician fezouata konservat lagerstatte from morocco age environment and evolutionary perspectives abstract the lower ordovician fezouata konservat lagerstatte from southern morocco has been one of the major palaeontological discoveries of the last decade it provides a unique insight into one of the most critical periods in the evolution of marine life the cambrian ordovician transition however its potential for deciphering key trends in animal diversification was hitherto largely limited by major uncertainties concerning its stratigraphic position age and environmental setting based on extensive fieldwork fossil evidence and facies recognition our study provides clarification on these three crucial issues exceptional preservation is limited to two intervals within the fezouata shale graptolites indicate a late tremadocian age for the fezouata konservat lagerstatte as a whole which is supported by biostratigraphical evidence provided by acritarchs sedimentological features and reconstructed patterns of relative sea level changes indicate relatively shallow water environmental conditions under distal storm influence in an offshore to lower shoreface siliciclastic ramp setting the fezouata biota represents a unique and exceptional window into the palaeobiodiversity in open marine conditions thus contrasting with the other ordovician konservat lagerstatten presently known in our analyses of this new set of data we pave the way for accurate temporal faunal and environmental comparisons with other lower palaeozoic konservat lagerstatten and unlock the full potential of the fezouata biota to better understand the processes and scenarios of early animal radiations

evaluating the use of dune sediments as a proxy for palaeo aridity a southern african case study abstract the dominance of dryland environments in the southern hemisphere makes the study of these regions of critical importance for the development of regional hemispheric and global models of environmental change unfortunately the wetting and drying cycles associated with semi hyperarid climates are not conducive to the preservation of traditional organic proxy data sources the last decade however has seen the development of a number of alternative archives including the application of luminescence dating techniques to dunes and other aeolian deposits in continental situations the existence of relict dune fields has long been thought to be evidence of drier conditions during the pleistocene and direct ages from these features have been interpreted almost exclusively as indicating phases of aridity however an increasing number of ages from a broader range of environments are calling into question the assumption that aeolian activity can be simply equated with aridity presented here is a comparison of dune ages that have been obtained from across southern africa with a range of proxies from both terrestrial and marine records taken as a whole three primary phases of activity can be identified at 60 40 35 20 and 17 4 ka the frequent discordance with other terrestrial records indicating coeval increases in humidity and the close correlation of these phases with wind strength proxies suggest that aridity is unlikely to be the sole or even primary forcing mechanism for aeolian activity in the region and the palaeoclimatic significance of these sedimentary archives needs to be reassessed

carbonate deposition and sequence stratigraphy of the terminal cambrian grand cycle in the southern appalachians u s a abstract the cessation of shale and carbonate deposition of the conasauga group grand cycles middle to upper cambrian and the establishment of the widespread peritidal carbonate deposition of the knox group upper cambrian to lower ordovician represent a prominent change in sedimentation along the early paleozoic passive continental margin in the southern appalachians to evaluate the causes for this change this study focuses on the maynardville formation which is the uppermost carbonate unit of the conasauga group the maynardville consists of 1 a lower subtidal facies succession which is underlain by the nolichucky shale and resembles the rest of the conasauga group carbonate deposits and 2 an upper peritidal facies succession which is conformably overlain by similar peritidal deposits of the copper ridge dolomite knox group deposition of shale and subtidal carbonate took place in deep ramp nolichucky to shallow ramp subtidal shoal and lagoonal settings lower maynardville the carbonate ramp was westward sloping toward the conasauga intrashelf shale basin to the east the ramp was linked to a broad semiarid carbonate tidal flat encompassing a variety of peritidal environments upper maynardville and copper ridge the maynardville is a shallowing upward succession that formed by carbonate platform aggradation and basinward progradation the transition between the maynardville and the copper ridge dolomite is within a conformable peritidal carbonate succession that contains common siliciclastic sand size detritus this interval is interpreted as a sequence boundary correlative with the craton wide late steptoean dresbachian franconian or sauk ii sauk iii unconformity the change from a conasauga to a knox depositional style may be related to distinct stages in passive margin evolution the end of grand cycle deposition in the early late cambrian is coincident with the cessation of tectonic activity along extensional features an intracratonic graben and other fault systems and marks the transition into a mature passive margin setting the mature margin was characterized by decreased rates of thermal subsidence which coupled with the infilling of the conasauga intrashelf basin favored shallow water carbonate deposition the final stabilization of the margin is reflected in the deposition of the thick peritidal carbonate strata of the knox group

using probabilistic seismic tomography to test mantle velocity density relationships we use a neighborhood algorithm to explore the fit to long period seismic data of a wide variety of long wavelength mantle models this approach to the global tomographic inverse problem yields probability distributions for seismic velocities density and related properties as functions of depth such distributions can be robust even when individual models are not and allow us to test several assumptions about the earth that have long been enforced a priori in inversions in particular we are able to test the paradigm ofdeep mantle heterogeneity that is dominantly thermal in origin producing velocity and density perturbations that are well correlated and have relative amplitudes given by nlnb nlnvs 6 0 5 our distributions show that such relationships are unlikely and even though the results are consistent with recent best fitting models from damped seismic inversions they demonstrate that many specific properties ofsuch models are not robust the data clearly f density perturbations that are poorly or negatively correlated with velocity heterogeneity and have amplitudes several times larger yielding nlnb nlnvs s 1 0 than damped inversions allow these characteristics are most pronounced in the upper mantle transition zone and the base ofthe lower mantle suggesting layered convection the negative density velocity correlations f at these depths imply dominantly chemical heterogeneity while the likelihood ofrelatively high amplitude density variations suggests that variable iron content is an important component ofthis heterogeneity these results which we show to be consistent with independent gravity constraints represent a profound change in the interpretation of seismic constraints in addition the distributions show that even though best fitting density models from recent inversions or our sampling are consistent with the data most specific properties of such models are not robust this implies that it is more appropriate to use seismic model distributions rather than individual models to make geodynamic and geochemical inferences

introduction to the special issue commemorating the 30th anniversary of the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology with a summary of the museum s early history and its research contributions located just west of drumheller in southern alberta canada the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology rtmp is nestled among outcrops of the upper cretaceous horseshoe canyon formation exposed along the red deer river valley fig 1 since it officially opened on 25 september 19851 the museum has become one of alberta s must see tourist attractions a significant contributor to the local economy and earned an international reputation for the quality of its palaeontological collections and the research conducted by its scientists the rtmp is unique within canada in being the only government supported museum dedicated to palaeontology and it is one of the few such institutions in the world fig 1 the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology a front of museum and main entrance circa 2010 looking westwards and with horizontal beds of the upper cretaceous horseshoe canyon formation exposed in the walls of the red deer river valley in the distance b aerial photograph oblique angle and looking to the north northeast the museum sits on top of the number 7 coal seam sensu gibson 1977 and at the base of the horsethief member of the horseshoe canyon formation d a eberth pers comm 2015 that stratigraphic position correlates with an age of about 71 5 ma i e late campanian and lies within the upper part of the edmontosaurus regalis pachyrhinosaurus canadensis dinosaur assemblage zone see eberth et al 2013 fig 6 c the iconic running theropod logo that until recently graced the exterior of the museum below a life sized tyrannosaurid sculpture by brian cooley one of many such sculptures by cooley that have been featured at the museum since its opening in 1985 and with the education wing opened in 2003 as the atco tyrrell learning centre in the background d the cretaceous alberta life sized diorama opened in 2007 an example of a rtmp exhibit that relies heavily on discoveries and interpretations by museum researchers in this case work done in the albertosaurus bonebed and at other localities throughout the horseshoe canyon formation all photographs courtesy of the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology this special issue of the canadian journal of earth sciences presents a collection of papers commemorating the rtmp s 30th or pearl anniversary our rationale for doing a 30th anniversary volume was two fold first it is an opportunity to showcase the breadth of research conducted by current and former museum scientists as well as by some colleagues having a history of collaboration with the rtmp the 13 invited papers included in this volume are a mix of review and original research papers all thematically focused on the geology and palaeontology of alberta to varying degrees each contribution is the result of work supported by the rtmp and relies on specimens housed in the museum s collections second the 30th anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the rtmp s history and its research program as is typical for most institutions the rtmp has done little to formally document its own history this year likely will be the last major milestone for which the original generation of museum staff are still working and available to share their recollections about the museum fieldwork and research already deaths and departures have winnowed away part of the original

blombos cave southern cape south africa preliminary report on the 1992 1999 excavations of the middle stone age levels the later and middle stone age levels at blombos cave bbc were excavated over four field seasons between 1992 and 1999 here we report on the results from the middle stone age msa levels the taphonomy and depositional history of the msa levels is complex due to faulting folding and spalling careful observations during excavation have assisted in understanding some of these taphonomic and site formation processes microstratigraphic analysis currently in progress will add to this information the uppermost msa level the still bay phase contains high densities of bifacial points the fossile directeur of the still bay industry placing the still bay within the msa culture sequence has been problematic in the past because still bay assemblages are rarely found in situ and previous excavations were inadequately recorded however with the regional data discussed in the text the still bay can be securely placed before the howiesons poort dated at 65 70 ka flaked stone makes up the greatest proportion of all artefacts with the highest incidence of retouch and use of fine grained non local materials found in the still bay levels the ochre assemblage is remarkable for the mass of material compared to other msa sites finds uncommon in an msa context are two pieces of ochre from the still bay phase engraved with a geometric design a fragment of deliberately engraved bone also 28 shaped and polished bone tools recovered mainly from a phase just below the still bay blombos cave is the first site where well preserved faunal remains have been recovered in association with the still bay allowing for unique insights into human subsistence behaviour and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction large fish bones marine shells seals and dolphins attest to extensive exploitation of aquatic resources and a wide range of terrestrial animals were hunted and gathered the few human teeth recovered are heavily worn and damaged thus the issue of morphological modernity cannot be addressed the bbc findings are a useful adjunct to findings from other msa coastal sites in the southern cape especially klasies river kr and die kelders cave 1 dk1 uniquely bbc provides insights into human behaviour during a phase of the msa never before studied in detail

evidence for late rifting of the cordilleran margin outlined by stratigraphic division of the lower cambrian gog group rocky mountain main ranges british columbia and alberta the lower cambrian mcnaughton formation of the gog group occupies a stratigraphic position transitional between the rift related rocks of the underlying upper proterozoic miette group and the overlying paleozoic passive margin succession a major regional unconformity overlain by a distinctive orthoquartzite marker has been traced within the mcnaughton formation this unconformity has been shown to truncate normal faults active during the deposition of the lower mcnaughton formation the lower mcnaughton formation consists of mature coarse grained fluvial sediments accumulated in hanging wall half grabens of active normal faults these faults represent the final stage of rifting on the continental margin the unconformity on the footwall blocks of these faults can be traced into the hanging wall and is overlain by the shoreface sediments of the transgressive upper mcnaughton formation formal subdivision of the mcnaughton formation into four lithostratigraphic members is proposed in order to describ

articulated halkieriids from the lower cambrian of north greenland metazoan skeletons appear abruptly in the fossil record near the base of the cambrian 540myrbp before present 1 2 in the initial stages of diversification familiar skeletal remains such as sponge spicules brachiopod valves and echinoderm ossicles are outnumbered by a remarkable array of skeletal types many of millimetric size3 9 particularly conspicuous in these early assemblages are various sclerites some of which are inferred to have formed cataphract coverings of slug like metazoans recognition of articula tory facets and fused sclerites contribute to partial scieritome reconstructions8 11 but discovery of articulated material is a vital ingredient in understanding the palaeobiology of these extinct groups here we report complete halkieriid scleritomes from the lower cambrian of north greenland this finding broadly confirms the predictions of an earlier hypothetical reconstruction11 but reveals entirely unexpected anterior and posterior shells it supports also the proposed phylogenetic link between the halkieriids and wiwoxia corrugata a metazoan with a cataphract scieritome best known from the middle cambrian burgess shale

ikaite tufa towers in ikka fjord southwest greenland their formation by mixing of seawater and alkaline spring water abstract ikka fjord in southwest greenland is the type locality for ikaite a metastable hexahydrate of calcium carbonate here ikaite forms submarine tufa columns rising up to 18 m above the fjord bottom the columns are spectacular examples of abiogenic carbonate precipitation in a cold seawater environment and so far represent the only known formation of ikaite in seawater we have analyzed the 2h 13c 14c 18o and 87sr contents and major element and minor element compositions of ikaite and of the different water types in and around ikka fjord in order to understand the formation of the ikka columns water from inside the columns is fresh but alkaline rich in ions of sodium bicarbonate and carbonate and has a stable isotope composition identical to precipitation falling on the nearby gronnedal ika igneous complex and we conclude that the tufa columns form over submarine springs issuing from the bottom of ikka fjord dissolution of unidentified sodium carbonate minerals in carbonatites in the igneous complex probably accounts for the peculiar chemistry of the springs ikaite supersaturation and precipitation is controlled by mixing of spring water and seawater at the cold 6 c fjord bottom and precipitation is accelerated by the formation of hydrated caco3o aq ion pairs while phosphate ions in the spring water act as inhibitor for precipitation of anhydrous carbonates we propose that the spring water seeps in ikka fjord literally create their own conduits in the form of the vertical chimney like columns with ikaite forming continuously at the tops of the columns the only limits to upward growth are winter ice and the fresh water layer capping the fjord during summer

phanerozoic ironstones an introduction and review s u m m a r y ironstones particularly ooidal ironstones have long fascinated sedimentary geologists and have generated an enormous variety of interpretations but have remained poorly understood a recent upsurge in interest in this group of rocks has generated much new information derived from many different disciplines within the earth sciences the first part of this introduction examines recent advances and attempts to produce a synthesis of them with particular reference to the genesis of marine ooidal ironstones current models for the formation of marine oolitic ironstone formations are discussed and a working model based on various lines of recent research is proposed this model invokes the intrasedimentary formation of berthierine ooids in marine environments during postoxic diagenesis the ooids may be mechanically modified and mineralogically transformed by reworking as well as by later diagenesis goethite ooids may be oxidized berthierine ooids reworked lateritic ooids or primary grains the formation of oolitic ironstoneformations is favoured by a break in clastic sediment supply continued supply of iron and physical reworking many sedimentary environments may supply these parameters but changes in sea level leading to the flooding of land masses and the reworking of suitable terrestrial soils may be both an important source for the iron and provide a break in clastic sediment supply in the second part of this introduction the terminology and classification are discussed and conventions proposed the term berthieroid is introduced as a non specific term for material of undetermined berthierine or chamosite composition the term ironstone is proposed as a petrological term and as an informal lithostratigraphic term a deposit composed of ironstones may be termed an ironstone formation it is recommended that a dunham style of classification is employed petrographically with ironstone replacing the stone of the original carbonate classification the nomenclature of allochems in ironstones is also discussed a glossary of ironstone terminology is provided

regional and global context of the late cenozoic langebaanweg lbw palaeontological site west coast of south africa the palaeontological site of langebaanweg lbw is internationally renowned for its prolific diverse and exceptionally well preserved mio pliocene vertebrate faunas the site is located on the southern west coast of south africa which represents a passive intraplate trailing edge setting the southern african subcontinent is also removed from glacial influence and has experienced no cenozoic volcanic activity rates of vertical crustal motion are consequently low and late cenozoic shoreline datums at lbw chiefly reflect glacio eustatic sea level history the primary aim of this study is to clarify the chronology as well as the regional and global context of lbw and to review previous work on these aspects lbw is ideally situated to document the complex interactions of ocean atmosphere and land and their respective influence on climate evolution given its location near the coast and mix of marine estuarine and terrestrial faunas and depositional settings this paper also provides a background to the study of the vast existing faunal collections and a guide to undiscovered fossil deposits towards these ends the first detailed geological topographic maps of the site and surrounds accompanied by a summary stratigraphic column are provided virtual geological modelling using a subsurface database has clarified the spatial and temporal relationships of sedimentary facies as well as their depositional settings the geological and palaeontological record at lbw tracks and documents the major regional and global climatic oceanographic events of the late cenozoic during the oligocene drawdown in sea levels the landscape was etched by river incision fluctuating sea levels of the neogene periodically reversed the trend from erosion to deposition preserving contemporary faunas and floras in the oligocene palaeovalleys earlier miocene pollen from fluvial facies indicates a humid sub tropical climate reflecting a warm southern atlantic ocean the abrupt late middle miocene global cooling monterey excursion coincided with intensified cold upwelling in the benguela current and extensive phosphate authigenesis a globally documented early pliocene highstand possibly related to the shoaling of the isthmus of panama reached 90 m above sea level asl implying extensive melting of the cryosphere palaeomagnetic data in tandem with global sea level reconstructions suggested an age of 5 15 0 1 ma for the faunas and a correlation with the earlier part of this transgression a subtropical c3 vegetation is indicated by the faunas and floras but with a significant contribution by sclerophytic fynbos pointing to a cooler and more seasonal climate than in the miocene a mid pliocene highstand to 50 m asl truncated the early pliocene succession at lbw and the globally documented late pliocene highstand to 30 m asl saw the atlantic shoreline approaching lbw for the last time with the progressive climatic cooling and instability of the terminal pliocene culminating in the growth of the arctic ice cap strengthening southerly winds driven by a tighter coiled south atlantic anticyclone deposited extensive coastal dune fields over the region

community evolution of neogene micromammals from langebaanweg e quarry and other west coast fossil sites south western cape south africa abstract this paper provides an overview of the micromammalian palaeocommunities found in fossil bearing palaeontological and archaeological west coast sites dating from the mio pliocene as represented by the site of langebaanweg e quarry and other sites dating from the late middle pleistocene until the late holocene recent excavations at langebaanweg have resulted in the addition of more murid genera to previously compiled faunal lists an updated faunal list is presented and a comparison is made on a generic level between the micromammals from langebaanweg and the considerably younger west coast fossil sites of elands bay cave steenbokfontein cave the saldanha bay yacht club site and hoedjiespunt 1 and some modern owl pellet collections the palaeobiogeographical and palaeoenvironmental significance of the different west coast micromammal communities and the evolution of the west coast rodent community is examined nine of the micromammal genera found at lbw are present in some or all of the west coast fossil sites dating from the late middle pleistocene until the holocene this indicates the endurance of many of the genera present at lbw and in the kalahari south west arid and namib regions from the mio pliocene up until the present

symmetry of the south china sea conjugate margins in a rifting drifting and collision context abstract the symmetry of conjugate rifted margins is a first order observable feature reflecting the geodynamic processes acting during and after continental rifting the symmetry of the south china sea scs rifted margins can be deduced from comprehensive geophysical datasets on a continental margin scale here we combine three key approaches 1 lateral fault distributions are delineated according to free air gravity anomalies 2 crustal stretching styles are mapped based on gravity inversion constrained by deep seismic profiles and 3 total extension of conjugate margins is estimated according to margin restorations and tectonic settings we infer a predominantly symmetric rifting style caused by pure shear extension with only narrow domains of asymmetric deformation in continent ocean transition cot regions that have undergone simple shear and where the lower crust of the highly thinned distal margin is embrittled before continental breakup however our analysis also suggests that this symmetry has been modified by post rift geodynamic processes southward lower crustal flow which occurred only on the southern margin due to the low viscosity of the lower crust and the slab pull induced by the subducting proto scs plate during seafloor spreading shifted the crustal stretching styles from symmetric to asymmetric the collision between the southern margin and borneo thickened the lower crust more than the upper crust at the southern end of the southern margin and shortened the southern margin this event had a large impact on the se margin but a small impact on the sw margin we conclude that 1 for the se and ne margins the crustal stretching styles shifted from asymmetric to approximately symmetric and the total extension shifted from symmetric to asymmetric 2 for the sw and nw margins the crustal stretching and total extension remained asymmetric and symmetric respectively

three dimensional gravity inversion for moho depth at rifted continental margins incorporating a lithosphere thermal gravity anomaly correction summary this paper describes a method for determining moho depth lithosphere thinning factor 1 1 and the location of the ocean continent transition at rifted continental margins using 3 d gravity inversion which includes a correction for the large negative lithosphere thermal gravity anomaly within continental margin lithosphere the lateral density changes caused by the elevated geotherm in thinned continental margin and adjacent ocean basin lithosphere produce a significant lithosphere thermal gravity anomaly which may be in excess of 100 mgal and for which a correction must be made in order to determine moho depth accurately from gravity inversion we describe a method of iteratively calculating the lithosphere thermal gravity anomaly using a lithosphere thermal model to give the present day temperature field from which we calculate the lithosphere thermal density and gravity anomalies for continental margin lithosphere the lithosphere thermal perturbation is calculated from the lithosphere thinning factor 1 1 obtained from crustal thinning determined by gravity inversion and breakup age for thermal re equilibration time for oceanic lithosphere the lithosphere thermal model used to predict the lithosphere thermal gravity anomaly may be conditioned using ocean isochrons from plate reconstruction models to provide the age and location of oceanic lithosphere a correction is made for crustal melt addition due to decompression melting during continental breakup and seafloor spreading we investigate the sensitivity of the lithosphere thermal gravity anomaly and the predicted moho depth from gravity inversion at continental rifted margins to the methods used to calculate and condition the lithosphere thermal model using both synthetic models and examples from the north atlantic

global shear speed structure of the upper mantle and transition zone s u m m a r y the rapid expansion of broad band seismic networks over the last decade has paved the way for a new generation of global tomographic models significantly improved resolution of global upper mantle and crustal structure can now be achieved provided that structural information is extracted effectively from both surface and body waves and that the effects of errors in the data are controlled and minimized here we present a new global vertically polarized shear speed model that yields considerable improvements in resolution compared to previous ones for a variety of features in the upper mantle and crust the model sl2013sv is constrained by an unprecedentedly large set of waveform fits 3 4 of a million broad band seismograms computed in seismogram dependent frequency bands up to a maximum period range of 11 450 s automated multimode inversion of surface and s wave forms was used to extract a set of linear equations with uncorrelated uncertainties from each seismogram the equations described perturbations in elastic structure within approximate sensitivity volumes between sources and receivers going beyond ray theory we calculated the phase of every mode at every frequency and its derivative with respect to sand p velocity perturbations by integration over a sensitivity area in a 3 d reference model the normally small perturbations of the 3 d model required to fit the waveforms were then linearized using these accurate derivatives the equations yielded by the waveform inversion of all the seismograms were simultaneously inverted for a 3 d model of shear and compressional speeds and azimuthal anisotropy within the crust and upper mantle elaborate outlier analysis was used to control the propagation of errors in the data source parameters timing at the stations etc the selection of only the most mutually consistent equations exploited the data redundancy provided by our data set and strongly reduced the effect of the errors increasing the resolution of the imaging our new shear speed model is parametrized on a triangular grid with a 280 km spacing in well sampled continental domains lateral resolution approaches or exceeds that of regionalscale studies the close match of known surface expressions of deep structure with the distribution of anomalies in the model provides a useful benchmark in oceanic regions spreading ridges are very well resolved with narrow anomalies in the shallow mantle closely confined near the ridge axis and those deeper down to 100 120 km showing variability in their width and location with respect to the ridge major subduction zones worldwide are well captured extending from shallow depths down to the transition zone the large size of our waveform fit data set also provides a strong statistical foundation to re examine the validity field of the jwkb approximation and surface wave ray theory our analysis shows that the approximations are likely to be valid within certain time frequency portions of most seismograms with high signal to noise ratios and these portions can be identified using a set of consistent criteria that we apply in the course of waveform fitting

displacement along the red river fault constrained by extension estimates and plate reconstructions significant e w extension and or compression must have been generated by displacements along the red river fault rrf since its curvature does not match a small circle centered at the euler pole for the indochina south china plate pair the amount of extension perpendicular to the rrf offshore vietnam depends on the magnitude of left lateral displacement along the rrf in general the larger the left lateral displacement along the fault the smaller the amount of e w extension all purely strike slip models of the opening of the south china sea that assume large displacements 250 km along the rrf encounter major problems because they imply little extension or even considerable shortening offshore east vietnam this is inconsistent with the presence of large elongated basins offshore vietnam using a plate tectonic model we compare continental extension values implied by different magnitudes of displacement along the rrf with crustal stretching estimates derived from 2 d profiles modeled from gravity data we utilize 2 d gravity forward models to restore the extended continental margin crust to its original position prior to extension we find that substantial amounts of extension for offshore vietnam can only be modeled assuming moderate displacements along the rrf compatible with the presence of a southward subducting proto south china sea the total amount of ene wsw extension offshore northern vietnam constrained by our 2 d gravity profiles and gravity inversion increases southward from 36 to 89 km along the yinggehai basin these values of ene wsw extension are consistent with 250 km of left lateral displacement along the rrf

palaeontology and depositional environments of ancient brine seeps in the middle cambrian burgess shale at the monarch british columbia canada abstract the monarch a mountain in southeastern british columbia exposes the cathedral escarpment which abuts the basinal burgess shale and an underlying limestone the upper takakkaw tongue at one section a dolomitized megabreccia representing an intraformational collapsed cavern forms the cathedral escarpment wall the megabreccia is cross cut by the subsequent megatruncation event marking the collapse of the cathedral margin which supports previous hypotheses that dolomitizing brines were active at the cathedral margin prior to and during deposition of the burgess shale epiphyton rich carbonate megablocks within the basinal strata previously interpreted as olistoliths spalled off the escarpment are unlike the peritidal strata comprising the cathedral margin and are more likely deep water carbonate mud mounds that grew in the basin near the escarpment face evidence for early brines in basinal environments at this locality includes lenses of dark magnesium rich clinochlore 30 wt mgo vs 2 in background shales within the burgess shale at the escarpment wall these clinochlores are interpreted as precipitates from seafloor brine seeps analogous to ones currently found at the foot of the florida escarpment and on the distal shelf and slope of the northern gulf of mexico like the gulf examples the brines formed standing pools on the cambrian seafloor and hosted abundant organisms in a narrow fringe around their peripheries but not within the pools sponges priapulid worms hyoliths linguliform brachiopods and trilobites predominate shales only a few metres basinward from the pools are nearly barren of animal fossils increased biologic productivity localized at the seeps would account for the patchy distribution of fossils in the burgess shale in a narrow zone close to the escarpment the discovery of brine seep deposits and associated fringing communities at the monarch shows that at least some assemblages in the burgess shale were preserved within their habitat and were supported by chemosynthesis