towards the lowering of the pliocene pleistocene boundary to the gauss matuyama reversal abstract the present pliocene pleistocene boundary is at the top of the olduvai normal subchron many data now favour the lowering of the pliocene pleistocene boundary to the gauss matuyama reversal this affords an opportunity to give to the boundary a more global significance in keeping with recent evidence

the rare earth element ree mineralisation potential of highly fractionated rhyolites a potential low grade bulk tonnage source of critical metals abstract the rare earth elements ree have become crucial for modern industry technology and medicine with the increase in demand for these elements over the past few years currently being met by relatively few well known mineral deposits this lack of a secure supply of the ree has led to increased research into potential alternative sources of these in demand elements the primary fractionation processes involved in the petrogenesis of highly fractionated high silica rhyolites can cause the magmas that form these units to become preferentially enriched in the ree especially in the more valuable heavy ree hree although this is dependent on the mineral assemblages fractionated by the system in question a factor that is in turn a function of the source and tectonic setting of a given magmatic event the mineralogy of the ree is also important with volatile exsolution and vapour phase activity within highly evolved rhyolite systems potentially having a key role in concentrating the ree and other elements into concentrations and more importantly potentially acid leachable and therefore processable minerals that may be economically viable to extract this combined with the fact these rhyolites are often enriched in other critical and or economically important metals e g y nb ta be li f sn rb th and u means that these volcanic units should be considered as potential sources of these critical metals in addition the large volume nature of these rhyolites combined with the fact they frequently crop out at the earth s surface makes them ideally suited for more economical bulk open pit extraction this suggests that these high silica ree enriched rhyolites should be considered potential ree analogues of bulk tonnage low grade porphyry cu deposits warranting further investigation to determine whether these rhyolites are a viable new source of the ree especially the hree and are potential targets for future mineral exploration

multidisciplinary approach for fault detection integration of ps insar geomorphological stratigraphic and structural data in the venafro intermontane basin central southern apennines italy abstract a multidisciplinary methodology integrating stratigraphic geomorphological and structural data combined with gis aided analysis and ps insar interferometric data was applied to characterize the relationships between ground deformations and the stratigraphic and the morphostructural setting of the venafro intermontane basin this basin is a morphostructural depression related to nw se and ne sw oriented high angle normal faults bordering and crossing it in particular a well known active fault crossing the plain is the aquae juliae fault whose recent activity is evidenced by archeoseismological data the approach applied here reveals new evidence of possible faulting acting during the lower to upper pleistocene which has driven the morphotectonic and the environmental evolution of the basin in particular the tectonic setting emerging from this study highlights the influence of the nw se oriented extensional phase during the late lower pleistocene early middle pleistocene in the generation of ne sw trending se dipping high angle faults and nw se trending high angle transtensive faults this phase has been followed by a ne sw extensional one responsible for the formation of nw se trending both nw and se dipping high angle normal faults and the reactivation of the oldest ne sw oriented structures these nw se trending normal faults include the aquae juliae fault and a new one unknown until now crossing the plain between the venafro village and the colle cupone mt hereinafter named the venafro colle cupone fault vccf this fault has controlled deposition of the youngest sedimentary units late middle pleistocene to late upper pleistocene suggesting its recent activity and it is well constrained by ps insar data as testified by the increase of the subsidence rate in the hanging wall block

the significance of marine boreal molluscs in the early pleistocene faunas of the mediterranean area abstract repeated migration of boreal guests into the mediterranean during the early pleistocene has been considered a weak paleoclimatic oceanographic tool this attitude is partly held because the plio pleistocene boundary as defined in the mediterranean does not seem to coincide with isotopic events more important than those of the piacenzian an analysis of their present biogeographical distributions suggests that the successful migration of the boreal elements into the early pleistocene mediterranean was caused by the establishment of a climatic phase of high seasonality with winter temperatures lower than 9 10 c and summer temperatures not lower than 20 c such a situation would also have been suitable for the taxa of warm affinity that characterize the present mediterranean moroccan bioprovince this hypothesis applies mainly to the first phase of migration santernian substage which is the best known from a malacological point of view the available paleoclimatic and isotopic record seems in agreement with the hypothesis

oxygen isotope calibration of the onset of ice rafting and history of glaciation in the north atlantic region we report here that dsdp site 552a cored with the hydraulic piston corer on the west flank of rockall bank recovered an undisturbed sequence of alternating white deep sea carbonate oozes and dark coloured layers that are rich in glacial debris oxygen isotope analysis of the sequence together with detailed nannofossil and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy shows that the first major horizon of ice rafting occurred at about 2 4 myr and was preceded by a minor pulse of ice rafting at about 2 5 myr the carbon isotope record shows that the site has been bathed by a water mass of similar characteristics to present day north atlantic deep water at least since 3 5 myr

allanite and other ree rich epidote group minerals epidote group minerals rich in rare earth elements ree in particular allanite are common accessory phases in igneous metamorphic metasomatic and sedimentary rocks small amounts of ree are present in most epidote group minerals but in allanite and the related minerals dissakisite ferriallanite dollaseite khristovite and androsite the ree are essential structural constituents an important characteristic of ree rich epidote group minerals is that their octahedrally coordinated m sites contain major amounts of divalent cations this paper summarizes literature data for these minerals and discusses their chemistry occurrence phase relations and petrologic and geologic significance the chapter emphasizes allanite because it is the most common and best studied of the ree rich epidote group minerals epidote group minerals contain isolated silicon tetrahedra and corner sharing groups of two tetrahedra and are thus assigned to the disilicate or sorosilicate structural family for a detailed description of the structure see franz and liebscher 2004 the epidote group structural formula is a2m3 sio4 si2o7 o f oh or in a simplified form a2m3si3o11 o f oh in which a ca sr pb2 mn2 th ree3 and u and m al fe3 fe2 mn3 mn2 mg cr3 and v3 deer et al 1986 there are two structurally different a sites a 1 and a 2 with different coordination numbers and there are three different m sites m 1 m 2 and m 3 which are all octahedrally coordinated ueda 1955 dollase 1971 in epidote group minerals trivalent ree are accommodated in the a sites which in endmember epidote both contain ca the incorporation of ree3 is commonly charge balanced by a divalent cation fe2 mn2 mg substituted for a trivalent one in the m sites table 1

the lower and middle pleistocene geological record of the san lorenzo lacustrine succession in the sant arcangelo basin southern apennines italy abstract a facies analysis and preliminary palaeoclimate and biochronology investigation are presented for the san lorenzo lacustrine deposits outcropping in the pliocene to pleistocene satellite sant arcangelo basin southern apennines facies analysis shows that sedimentation developed in the inner zone of a terrigenous dominated fresh water lake the pollen record shows repeated alternations between two distinct vegetational assemblages one dominated by steppe taxa and the other one by forest taxa the faunal assemblage is indicative of a late biharian mammal age the palaeomagnetic survey yielded three polarity intervals throughout the succession the middle one is of reversed polarity and is associated with a volcaniclastic layer radiometrically dated at approximately 1 ma and thus the two normal polarity intervals are identified as the jaramillo subchron and the base of the brunhes chron the detailed geological and paleontological analyses as well as the preliminary results from the palynological and magnetostratigraphical investigation indicates that these deposits may contain a continuous record of both climatic changes and tectonic activity within the sant arcangelo basin during the early and middle pleistocene

geochemical alteration of pyrochlore group minerals pyrochlore subgroup primary alteration of uranpyrochlore from granitic pegmatites is characterized by the substitutions adyd acayo anayf acayo and anayoi i acayo alteration occurred at 450 650 c and 2 4 kbar with fluid phase compositions characterized by relatively low ana high aeah and high ph in contrast primary alteration of pyrochlore from nepheline syenites and carbonatites follows a different tre nd represented by the substitutions anayf adydand acayo adyd in carbonatites primary alteration of pyrochlore probably took place during and after replacement of diopside forsterite calcite by tremolite dolomite t ankerite at 300 550 c and 0 2 kbar under conditions of relatively low ahf low ana low aeah low ph and elevated activities of fe and sr microscopic observations suggest that some altered pyrochlor1es are transitional between primary and secondary alteration alteration paths for these specimens scatter around the trend anayf adyd alteration probably occurred at 200 350 c in the presence of a fluid phase similar in composition to the fluid present during primary alteration but with elevated activities of ba and rees mineral reactions in the system na ca fe nb o h indicate that replacement of pyrochlore by fersmite and columbite occurred at similar conditions with fluid conpositions having relatively low ana moderate aeah and moderate to high afeh secondary alteration 150 c is charactlerizedby the substitutions anayf adyd acayo adyd and acaxo adxdtogether with moderate to extreme hydration 10 15 wt h20 or 2 3 molecules per formula unit minor variations in the amounts of mg ai k mn fe sr ba and rees are commonly observed as a result of secondary alteration major cation exchange for k sr and ba is a feature of samples from laterite horizons overlying carbonatites in most cases u th and b site cations remain relatively constant radiogenic pb is typically lost via long te rm diffusion but in some grains of uranpyrochlore 25 90 of the pb is lost as a result of alteration

the sessano intra montane basin new multi proxy data for the quaternary evolution of the molise sector of the central southern apennines italy abstract an integrated geomorphological geological structural and stratigraphic approach was applied to the sessano intra montane basin molise central southern apennines to understand the quaternary environmental and sedimentary evolution of the basin and the surrounding areas the morpho evolutionary and sedimentary changes were mainly controlled by tectonics and strongly influenced by the huge amount of volcaniclastic input from the roccamonfina volcano located ca 50 km to the south west as well as by climatic changes chronological constraints supported by 40ar 39ar ages of tephra layers archaeo tephro stratigraphy and pollen analysis permit identification of the main phases of the geological geomorphologic evolution of the sessano basin from the middle pleistocene onwards the sedimentation within the basin was controlled by ne sw extensional tectonics and occurred from the end of oxygen isotope stage ois 15 to the beginning of ois 11 allowing the deposition of ca 85 m of fluvial to lacustrine sediments mainly made up of reworked volcaniclastic material the first phase of sedimentation was lacustrine while an important sedimentary change from lacustrine to fluvial marshy environment occurred during ois 14 after this phase the variable input of volcaniclastic material from the roccamonfina volcano together with climatic influences caused repeated changes from palustrine to fluvial sedimentation and the formation of various palaeosols present mainly in the upper portion of the infill towards the end of ois 11 nnw sse extensional tectonics caused the tilting of the fill succession and the drying up of the basin the fill succession was then affected by fluvial erosion and denudation that generated an erosion surface nowadays hanging at 700 720 m asl this surface can be related to the limbs of a palaeo surface at about 600 m asl present in the adjacent carpino le piane intra montane basin and referred to a fourth order tyrrhenian ward oriented palaeo landscape this palaeo landscape can be dated to ca 350 300 ky and therefore represents an important morpho chronological stage it provides a robust maximum and minimum age framework for reconstructing the geological and geomorphological evolution of the study area and in general of the molise apennines including the boiano carpino le piane and sessano intra montane basins in particular the morpho chronological data from the sessano basin allow us to date more precisely the main tectonic phases that occurred during the middle pleistocene in this sector of the apennine chain finally the multi proxy data derived from the sessano basin can be compared and integrated with those referring to other proximal intra montane basins in order to improve our knowledge on the relationships between tectonics volcanism and climate and the stratigraphic sedimentary features geomorphologic evolution and palaeoenvironmental changes that characterized the central southern apennines during middle pleistocene

pyrochlores from the lueshe carbonatite complex democratic republic of congo a geochemical record of different alteration stages abstract magmatic pyrochlores from the lueshe syenite carbonatite complex from the northeastern part of democratic republic of congo ex zaire are characterized by ta nb ratios in an increasing order from pyroxenite calcite carbonatite sovite silicate xenoliths nodules to syenite substitutions involving nb ta ti and ree have been precisely described hydrothermal alteration of lueshe pyrochlore involves the substitution of na f va vy and ca o va vy va a site vacancy and vy y site vacancy in calcite carbonatite hydrothermal alteration of pyrochlore took place during and after the precipitation of ancylite ce strontianite celestite baryte and fayalite according to a fluid composition of relatively low ph a na a ca 2 and a hf and high a sr 2 and a lree 3 the supergene alteration is characterized by complete leaching of na ca and f and partial incorporation of k ba sr and ce resulting in the formation of kali bario strontio and ceriopyrochlore respectively the na poor pyrochlore may be an intermediate variety corresponding to an alteration stage between the hydrothermal and weathered pyrochlores the ir spectroscopic study has indicated that the weathered pyrochlore is a hydrated variety containing two bands of oh vibration modes at 3413 and 1630 cm 1 during hydrothermal and supergene alterations the cations at b site remain relatively constant the variable chemical compositions of the pyrochlores from the lueshe complex represent geochemical memories of the different alteration conditions including the variation in the oxidation reduction environment

a large mammal site in a meandering fluvial context fonelas p 1 late pliocene guadix basin spain sedimentological keys for its paleoenvironmental reconstruction abstract the fonelas p 1 large mammal site is located stratigraphically in the youngest unit late pliocene pleistocene of the endorheic fill of the guadix basin betic cordillera at the site location this unit is represented by fluvial sediments of the basin s axial drainage system the general succession of the site consists of stacked fining upward cycles basically beginning with gravel and or sand filling a meandering channel and concluding with floodplain mud and carbonate each of the cycles is made up of four facies associations determined by sedimentological analysis of the sections measured in the paleontological excavation of the site these associations correspond to sedimentation in definite areas of the fluvial system a filling of a sinuous channel at maximum activity b levee deposits c abandoned channel and d floodplain in the cycle in which the site is located there is a fifth association e where the main fossil concentration is found fonelas p 1 this is a facies bioturbated by mammals moving over sediments of the abandoned channel association c by space time reconstruction of the fluvial environments we can infer that the morphological depression caused by a meander abandonment due to chute cut off was used as a hyena den the animal settlement ended when overflow from the laterally migrating active channel began to bury the abandoned meander with floodplain sediments

bioclimatic analysis of rodent palaeofaunas reveals severe climatic changes in southwestern europe during the plio pleistocene abstract a recently developed method in palaeoclimatology bioclimatic analysis which makes it possible to extract a maximum of information from the available mammal proxy data is applied to a succession of fossil rodent assemblages recorded from the pliocene and pleistocene in the iberian peninsula it consists of both qualitative and quantitative models with the capacity to produce a detailed palaeoclimate reconstruction which is consistent with palaeobotanical and isotopic proxy data and the physics of atmospheric models using this method the palaeoclimate of the iberian plio pleistocene is reconstructed with high resolution from 44 fossil rodent assemblages comprising more than a hundred identified species analysis of these assemblages shows that the climatic evolution of the iberian peninsula during the plio pleistocene can be divided into four distinct climatic phases first a long phase of subtropical climate with summer rainfall and winter drought occurred during the ruscinian second between 3 4 and 2 5 my b p there was a cooling phase coincident with the development of the northern hemisphere ice sheets following this cooling a temperate interlude occurred between 2 5 and 1 8 my b p during this phase the mediterranean climate was established permanently in southwestern europe finally during the pleistocene temperate and colder stages were succeeding in relationship with the northern hemisphere glaciations this sequence of climatic changes is linked with the tectonic rising of the central asian and east african plateaus variations in the atmospheric circulation pattern and changes in the mediterranean sea surface temperatures all these factors led to associated changes in the precipitation regime and a latitudinal displacement of the zonal climatic belts

geomagnetic excursions and paleointensities in the matuyama chron at ocean drilling program sites 983 and 984 iceland basin 1 we report natural remanent magnetization nrm directions and geomagnetic paleointensity proxies for part of the matuyama chron 0 9 2 2 ma interval from two sites located on sediment drifts in the iceland basin at ocean drilling program sites 983 and 984 mean sedimentation rates in the late matuyama chron are 15 9 and 11 5 cm kyr 1 respectively for the older part of the record 1 2 ma oxygen isotope data are too sparse to provide the sole basis for age model construction the resemblance of the volume susceptibility record and a reference 18o record led us to match the two records to derive the age models this match based on site 983 984 susceptibility is consistent with available site 983 984 benthic 18o data paleointensity proxies were derived from the slope of the nrm versus anhysteretic remanent magnetization plot for alternating field demagnetization in the 30 60 mt peak field range paleointensity lows correspond to polarity reversals at the limits of the jaramillo olduvai cobb mountain and reunion subchrons and to seven excursions in nrm component directions magnetic excursions defined here by virtual geomagnetic polar latitudes crossing the virtual geomagnetic equator are observed at 932 1048 1115 1190 1215 cobb mountain subchron 1255 1472 1480 1567 1575 gilsa subchron and 1977 ka the results indicate that geomagnetic directional excursions associated with paleointensity minima are a characteristic of the matuyama chron and probably of polarity chrons in general

quaternary mammals and the end villafranchian dispersal event a turning point in the history of eurasia the history of land mammals is characterized by dispersal events i e short periods of rapid intercontinental migrations and faunal replacements one of these the elephant equus event of lindsay et al may be dated somewhere between 3 and 2 5 ma a second event the wolf event may fall near 1 7 ma the end villafranchian event is discussed in detail it may be dated between 1 0 and 0 9 ma and is marked by a practically total rejuvenation of the fauna with the appearance of new types of adaptation unknown in the villafranchian this faunal revolution is easily recognized all over eurasia and is accompanied by wide ranging changes in climate and vegetation this whole sequence of phenomena may have been triggered by extensive tectonic movements in the mountain belts of central and southern asia

late pliocene onset of glaciation ice rafting and diatom stratigraphy of north pacific dsdp cores abstract the revised diatom biostratigraphy for the north pacific allows the timing of ice rafting as recorded in deep sea drilling project cores to be determined significant ice rafting began at the time of the matuyama gauss reversal boundary about 2 48 ma other bio and lithostratigraphic data from the pacific atlantic and arctic oceans and the black sea all indicate that northern hemispherical cooling and the accumulation of continental ice began at 2 4 2 5 ma we interpret all these data to indicate northern hemisphere ice cap formation at that time if so the closing of the isthmus of panama approximately 3 2 m y ago was not the immediate cause of the plio pleistocene glaciations

a new palaeolithic discovery tar hafted stone tools in a european mid pleistocene bone bearing bed two stone flakes partly covered in birch bark tar and a third without tar on it were discovered in fluvial gravel and clay in central italy in association with the bones of a young adult female elephas palaeoloxondon antiquus and several micromammals the probable chronology of the stone flakes is compatible with the late middle pleistocene suggested by the site s small mammals and geological context the fauna indicates a cool stadial episode before isotope stage 6 that age means the flakes are the oldest ever found hafted with tar and indicate a greater capacity for late middle pleistocene hominins to utilize raw materials available during cold phases

new 40ar 39ar stratigraphic and palaeoclimatic data on the isernia la pineta lower palaeolithic site molise italy abstract the archaeological deposits of isernia la pineta are a milestone in the european context being composed of very rich and large sized occupation layers the archaeological remains are characterised by the use of anvils in a very opportunistic and rapid way to produce a large number of flakes and residual cores usually of very small size the lithic instruments are associated with remains of large mammals which give a clear indication of the diet they are represented by bison schoetensacki freudenberg stephanorhinus hundsheimensis toula elephas palaeoloxodon namadicus falconer e cautley ursus deningeri von reichenau hippopotamus cf antiquus desmarest sus scrofa l hemitragus cf bonali harle e stehlin megaceroides solilhacus robert cervus elaphus cf acoronatus beninde dama dama cf clactoniana falconer capreolus sp and panthera leo fossilis von reichenau the rodent fauna is represented by clethrionomys sp pliomys episcopalis mehely pliomys lenki heller microtus aff arvalis pallas microtus brecciensis gieber microtus terricola gr multiplex subterraneus and arvicola cantiana hinton the insectivores are talpa sp sorex cf runtonensis hinton and crocidura sp two main archaeological layers have been identified the lower one sector i layer 3c rests on a phytoclastic travertine passing laterally to a phytohermal travertine which generated a small step in the watercourse a sandy silt layer of lacustrine environment layer 3b deposited inside travertine pools and very limited phytostromatolitic travertine sediments cover this layer the second occupation layer layer 3a rests on these sediments as well as on the travertines cross bedded fine gravelly sands cover the deposits and are interlayered with tuffs very rich in pyroxene and sanidine the latter gave 40ar 39ar ages of 610 10 and 606 2 ka 2 error this layer is covered by cross bedded gravels weathered by a thick alfisols with a well expressed bt horizon the uppermost part of the series is composed of gravels and colluvia containing another pyroclastic layer sanidines of this layer yield scattered ar ar ages with a main population at about 504 14 ka a maximum age of 474 3 ka is inferred for this layer the isernia travertines are not associated with hot water springs and indicate that the area was frequented at the end of an interglacial period the new ages demonstrate that the human frequentation occurred at the beginning of the middle pleistocene

dispersal of the canini mammalia canidae caninae across eurasia during the late miocene to early pleistocene abstract an analysis of the taxonomy and distribution of the mio pliocene and pleistocene eucyon like and canis like canids of the tribe canini of eurasia was performed with a description of several fossils from the late miocene and early pliocene of asia the changes in the assemblages of the canini generally coincided with the most significant eurasian faunal turnovers but the european and asian diversities of the canini peaked asynchronously in the late miocene a wide expansion of the genus eucyon to the old world took place being designated here as the eucyon event the diversity of eucyon like canini peaked at the beginning of the early pliocene in asia and at the end of the early pliocene in europe the wolf sized species of the canis group made their first appearance in eurasia in the middle pliocene the canis event the peak of their diversity occurred in the late pliocene in asia and at the beginning of the early pleistocene in europe at the end of the pliocene eucyon and eucyon like canids completely went extinct in eurasia the diversity of the canis group appreciably decreased by the end of the early to middle pleistocene being limited by the occurrence of small wolves of the canis mosbachensis canis variabilis group and large hypercarnivorous canis xenocyon lycaonoides in eurasia the true gray wolves made their appearance at the end of the middle pleistocene at about 0 5 0 3 ma

the aqueous geochemistry of the rare earth elements and yttrium 4 monazite solubility and ree mobility in exhalative massive sulfide depositing environments abstract although there is considerable evidence that rare earth elements ree and particularly the light ree lree have been mobile in the alteration zones below many massive sulfide deposits there is some disagreement over the cause of this mobility most researchers have argued or implied that the ree were mobilized by analogues of modern seafloor hydrothermal vent fluids however the few measurements that have been made of the ree concentrations of these modern fluids suggest that their ability to mobilize ree is negligible in order to shed further light on this problem we have carried out calculations of monazite solubility monazite is thought to be the principal host for the lree in a model vent fluid at temperatures from 200 to 300 c these calculations show that at 300 c the model fluid will contain 0 08 ppb ce 0 07 ppb la and 0 03 ppb nd at 200 c the concentrations increase to 0 54 ppb 0 37 ppb and 0 15 ppb respectively a decrease in ph of one unit at 300 c also increases ree solubility significantly 7 4 ppb ce 5 7 ppb la and 1 1 ppb nd these solubilities are similar to the concentrations of ree measured in seafloor hydrothermal vent fluids however they are considerably lower than required to account for the scale of ree mobility in alteration zones associated with massive sulfide deposits if the mass ratio of typical hydrothermal vent fluid to rock reached 1000 concentrations of ree in the altered rock the predicted to be in the range

evolution of montviel alkaline carbonatite complex by coupled fractional crystallization fluid mixing and metasomatism part ii trace element and sm nd isotope geochemistry of metasomatic rocks implications for ree nb mineralization abstract magmatic volatiles are critically important in the petrogenesis of igneous rocks but their inherent transience hampers the identification of their role in magmatic and metasomatic processes for example while the role of magmatic volatiles in porphyry copper systems is relatively well understood the behavior of volatiles and metasomatic fluids in mantle and crustal magmatic hydrothermal systems remains a work in progress alkaline carbonatite complexes usually originate from the mantle and typically host ree deposits which are thought to be almost always of a hydrothermal origin the question thus arises as to the origin of the ree and fluids and if the alkaline and carbonatite magmas are accompanied by fluids from the mantle up and through the crust this study presents the results of whole rock trace elements and sm nd isotopes analyses of clinopyroxenites melteigites ijolites melanosyenites leucosyenites granites silicocarbonatites magnesiocarbonatites calciocarbonatites ferrocarbonatites and polygenic breccias from the 1894 ma paleoproterozoic alkaline carbonatite complex of montviel abitibi canada the metasomatic rocks range in ree concentrations from 100 ppm to 3 54 wt and show e nd values ranging from 6 8 to 7 2 based on these results it is demonstrated that volatile saturated magmas at montviel were injected through 4 distinct mantle pulses which evolved by fractional crystallization mixing of depleted mantle and crustal fluids and metasomatism

large and small mammal distribution patterns and chronostratigraphic boundaries from the late pliocene to the middle pleistocene of the italian peninsula abstract over the last 50 years the studies on terrestrial mammals of the italian peninsula have provided a large volume of data and a more detailed knowledge of faunal events during the late pliocene and quaternary moreover geological sedimentological palynological and magnetostratigraphical investigations on the pliocene pleistocene continental sedimentary basins have yielded the possibility of a detailed calibration of the faunal successions thus palaeontologists have been able to reconstruct faunal sequences and to propose biochronological scales based on large and small mammals respectively in the present contribution an integration of the two biochronological scales is proposed and the successions of bioevents are carefully compared this integrated approach allows the constraint of the sequence of large and small mammal events in a more reliable way and therefore it results in a more detailed and consistent chronological use of mammalian assemblages particular attention is paid to the faunal changes that correspond to the middle late pliocene 2 6 ma pliocene pleistocene 1 8 ma and early middle pleistocene gauss matuyama transition chronostratigraphical boundaries

magnetostratigraphic dating of an intensification of glacial activity in the southern italian alps during marine isotope stage 22 abstract we applied magnetostratigraphy and mammal biostratigraphy to date climate sensitive pollen cycles and lithostratigraphic units of the pliocene pleistocene leffe sedimentary succession from the southern alps italy the leffe section was correlated to additional sections casnigo fornaci di ranica and pianengo to construct a stratigraphic network along a common fluviatile system the serio river sourced in the southern alps and flowing southward into the po river basin we obtained a coherent scenario of climate variability for the last 2 myr at leffe lacustrine deposition commenced during the olduvai normal subchron 1 94 1 78 ma and lasted up to a chronologic level compatible with marine isotope stage mis 22 0 87 ma pollen analysis revealed that climate varied cyclically from warm temperate to cool during this time interval but never as cold as during glacial intervals at around mis 22 climate cooled globally gravels attributed to high energy braided river systems fed locally by alluvial fans prograded from the serio river catchment area over the leffe basin and toward the po plain in response to a generalized event of vegetation withdrawal and enhanced physical erosion at this time alpine valley glaciers reached their first maximum southward expansion with glacier fronts located at only 5 km upstream from leffe

late pliocene continental magnetochronology in the guadix baza basin betic ranges spain abstract the late pliocene shallow lacustrine sequences in the guadix baza basin betic ranges southeast spain are a suitable setting for mammal chronology because of the abundance of rich mammal bearing sites stratigraphic superposition of late ruscinian and villanyian vertebrate fossils makes the galera section very appropriate for magnetostratigraphic dating sediments are characterized by a weak but measurable magnetization predominantly carried by magnetite other remanence carriers such as iron sulphides and hematite may be significant only in some particular lithologies such as dark palustrine organic silts and red alluvial beds respectively direct correlation of the galera section to the geomagnetic polarity time scale provides a reliable dating of the late ruscinian and villanyian mammal units the ruscinian villanyian boundary mn15 mn16 is found to occur in the lower gauss chron and approximately correlates to the 3 3 ma cooling event observed in stable isotope and planktonic foraminifera deep sea records the earliest occurrence of late villanyian assemblages mn17 in the lower part of the matuyama chron allows dating of the early late villanyian boundary mn6 mn17 to approximately 2 4 2 6 ma based on the presence of late villanyian assemblages underlying the base of the olduvai chron a maximum age of 1 95 ma top of c2r is attributed to the villanyian biharian mn17 mmq boundary a 300 kyr sedimentary gap in the galera section is suggested to correlate with a probable early villanyian hiatus an hypothesis that agrees with the absence of fossils of this age elsewherein the baza formation

interpretation paleoecologique et relations biogeographiques de la faune de vertebrees du miocene superieur d injana irak abstract the discovery of new fossils in the late miocene of injana jebel hemrin iraq enables us to complete the injana vertebrate faunal list which now includes 25 vertebrate taxa 19 of them belonging to mammals the injana paleoenvironment corresponds to a vast fluviatile system where under hot and wet conditions there existed a mosaic of landscapes ranging from grassland to woodland and forest with swampy zones it is similar to that of the middle siwaliks of the indian subcontinent and differs from that of the irano turkish plateau the injana fauna fo iraq established the existence during the late miocene of a biogeographical area which had preferential links with the indian subcontinent in the east and africa in the west this area was more or less isolated from the adjacent northern regions irano turkish plateau by the southern branch of the asian alpine range taurids and zagrids this acted as a geographical barrier which many vertebrates did not cross

early italy and the colonization of western europe abstract the early phases of human occupation in italy are considered in the context of discussions on the chronology and patterns of hominid dispersal out of africa and into western europe this paper is therefore a synthesis and an evaluation of new data on three interrelated topics a the question of direct contacts between italy and north africa in the lower and middle pleistocene through the sicilian channel b the evidence for the successive dispersal in western europe of two different technical traditions and c the nature and chronology of the earliest human occupation of italy interpretations of bifaces and biface industries are discussed as they are an important aspect of out of africa models hominid presence in italy is documented at the beginning of the middle pleistocene their route of entry apparently not through sicily but from the north in contrast to the ubeidiya and gesher benot ya aqov assemblages in israel the earliest dated biface assemblages in italy with a preliminary date at about 640 70 ka show no specific characteristics that would tie them to the african acheulean evidence for a precedence of core and flake over handaxe industries is ambiguous their interpretation as designating different groups of hominids lacks a sound archaeological basis since faunal exchanges with continental europe are documented throughout the pleistocene the hypothesis of multiple episodes of human migration into italy should be considered however we can neither support it or refute it because the archaeological assemblages do not inform us on specific migration events

equus stenonis cocchi as a biostratigraphical marker in the neogene quaternary of the western mediterranean basin consequence on galerian villafranchian chronostratigraphy abstract we cite the different forms of equus stenonis cocchi which allowed us to establish a time scale from middle villafranchian to galerian the various e stenonis forms can characterize the successive faunistic units of montopoli middle villafranchian st vallier olivola tasso and farneta upper villafranchian while the galerian phase is characterized by the appearance of equus caballus the lower villafranchian is characterized by the last form of hipparion hipparion rocinantis hernandez pachelo its age is considered by us to be greater than 3 ma in contrast with the age of 2 6 2 4 ma cited in the french literature for the les etouaires deposit which is incompatible with other documented ages of lower and middle villafranchian deposits we consider the galerian phase to be equivalent to the entire middle pleistocene and we propose a chronostratigraphical subdivision

correlation of selected late cenozoic european mammal faunas with the magnetic polarity time scale abstract three key late cenozoic european mammal faunas e g valensole faunas of southern france triversa or villafranca d asti faunas of northern italy and the hajnacka fauna of southern slovakia are correlated with the magnetic polarity time scale the valensole sequence with mn 13 17 faunas is from sediments correlated with the upper gilbert gauss and lower to middle matuyama magnetic chrons the triversa sequence includes the arondelli fauna mn 16a and the fornace rdb fauna considered herein as mn 15 the fornace rdb fauna is from sediments correlated with the late gilbert magnetic chron the hajnacka sequence with mn 16a fauna is from sediments correlated with the gauss magnetic chron taken separately these mammal sequences would be very difficult to place relative to the magnetic polarity time scale they can be placed now with confidence only because of the abundant paleomagnetic and faunal data from the cabriel jucar and teruel basins of spain in that context there remain some problems of chronologic resolution but collectively the data illustrate a clear pattern that permits correlation of these european late cenozoic mammal faunas with the magnetic polarity time scale

bois de riquet lezignan la cebe herault a late early pleistocene archeological occurrence in southern france the bois de riquet archeological site lezignan la cebe herault france provides significant paleontological and archeological data about the first occupations of western europe although only partially excavated the site has already yielded an exceptionally rich paleontological assemblage as well as some stone artefacts the archeostratigraphical unit us2 is encased within a basalt flowstone radiometrically dated to 1 57 ma the sedimentary infill has preserved large and small mammal fossils as well as coprolites biochronological interpretations suggest an age of around 1 3 1 1 ma for the accumulation a few basalt artefacts were exhumed alongside the fossil bones interpretation of the lithics has required the elaboration of a strict selection protocol based upon extensive knapping experiments with local basalt this paper presents results from the interdisciplinary study of the bois de riquet site in the aim of contextualizing these discoveries the microstratigraphical analysis of the deposits is presented with recent geological interpretations in order to contribute a better understanding of the main features of this assemblage and its remarkable preservation within the thermal and textural boundary between a basalt flowstone s base and its entablature

early middle pleistocene transitions linking terrestrial and marine realms abstract marked by a progressive increase in the amplitude of climate oscillations an evolving waveform and a shift towards a quasi 100 ky frequency the early middle pleistocene transition empt previously known as the mid pleistocene transition or mid pleistocene revolution 1 4 0 4 ma represents a fundamental transformation in the earth s climate state the empt began with a substantial change in climate dynamics and ended with the mid brunhes event signaling the establishment of a new steady state the reasons for the empt while uncertain appear to involve a non linear response of the earth climate system the physical and biotic responses to this transition amplified by the growth of northern hemisphere ice sheets have been profound two important chronostratigraphic markers characterize the empt the jaramillo subchron 1 070 0 988 ma and the matuyama brunhes chron boundary 773 ka the latter has been chosen as the primary guide for the lower middle pleistocene subseries boundary as it lies at the approximate midpoint of the empt and aids in global recognition both in marine and terrestrial deposits the jaramillo subchron has received less attention but the late early pleistocene is important in europe because it saw the progressive transition from the villafranchian to galerian mammal faunas and expansion of hominins into western and northern europe the jaramillo subchron is represented by marine isotope stages mis 31 to 28 with mis 30 already showing the asymmetrical sawtooth pattern characteristic of the middle pleistocene indeed while variation in the 40 ky band obliquity remains strong throughout the empt low frequency variability begins at around 1250 1200 ky which coincides with a progressive increase in global ice volume against a backdrop of increasingly severe glacial cycles notably during mis 36 34 24 22 the so called 0 9 ma event 16 and 12 pronounced phases of warming are also documented globally including the super interglacial mis 31 the early phase of the empt is characterized by important glaciations beginning with mis 36 and continuing to mis 24 22 a major intensification of the east asian monsoon system intensification of loess deposition in northern europe development of open landscapes in western siberia increased fluvial incision higher amplitude sea level change and spread of large mammals across northern eurasia and a strong reduction in the north atlantic thermohaline circulation in europe the loss of thermophilous plant taxa during the empt and indeed throughout the quaternary is a reminder of the progressive cooling that took place here and elsewhere

biostratigraphy and palaeobiogeography of east africa and the iberian peninsula abstract the aim of this paper is to examine the mammalian faunas of the neogene of spain and of east africa with a view to understanding the relationships between the neogene faunas of the two regions the available data indicates that during the neogene faunal similarities between iberia and east africa varied greatly at times the resemblances being relatively great high number of genera in common at others the similarities being weak low number of genera in common changes in faunal similarity appear to be related to latitudinal fluctuations in the position of the boundaries of the proto ethiopian and proto palaearctic zoogeographic realms periods of greater faunal similarity coincide with a northerly position of the boundary zone while periods of greater faunal dissimilarity occur when the boundary zone is located in a southerly position as it is today we related these changes in the position of the boundary zone between zoogeographic realms to geotectonic climatic and astronomic changes which affected the globe

reversed magnetic polarity at an early lower palaeolithic site in central italy isernia la pineta central italy is an extensive open air archaeological site of early lower palaeolithic aspect radiometric and palaeomagnetic dating place it in the matuyama reversed epoch hence before 0 73 myr its early date stratified context abundant stone tool industry of choppers and flakes and rich faunal remains make it one of the most important localities for the question of the earliest human colonization of europe the archaeological horizons fig 1 were discovered during recent road building operations at 4 m below surface near the city of isernia upper volturno basin province of molise see fig 2 excavations in 1979 and 1980 carried out in two areas sectors i and ii fig 2 revealed dense scatters of limestone choppers flint flakes and disarticulated bones of large mammals similar occurrences have been found elsewhere in the valley previous accounts1 2 are revised herein

new chronological data on european plio pleistocene faunas and hominid occupation sites the relative chronology of the continental european plio pleistocene deposits has generally been deduced from the biostratigraphic data with support from radiometric ages derived by k ar or fission track methods in many cases it is impossible to obtain reliable radiometric dates and in such cases palaeomagnetic studies can be a useful tool for the correlation of the local faunas into the magnetic polarity time scale we present here a study of the remanent magnetization of lacustrine sediments and basaltic lavas of the velay region massif central france associated with early and late villafranchian faunas and prehistoric remains

a method for the display and analysis of transitional paleomagnetic data application of a simple coordinate transformation to data from polarity transition and excursion records renders a form of display having strong similarities yet distinct advantages over the use of virtual geomagnetic poles specifically the procedure consists of a single rotation about the east west line so as to align the z axis of the local cartesian system with the normal polarity axial dipole field direction associated with the recording site at the time of the event the method makes possible the redefinition of concepts relevant to transitional field studies in terms of vector directions a more meaningful approach than the use of virtual poles when nondipole field components are significant visually polar stereographic plots in d i space present paleodirectional movement as if one were literally peering down the dipole direction analysis of individual transition records in this rotated directional space makes easy the determination of 1 the angular distance of a given paleodirection from that of the axial dipole field 2 the number of strictly transitional directions contained within a given record and 3 the degree of near sidedness or far sidedness of each paleodirection in addition the comparison of records from distant sites for the purpose of harmonic analysis can be accomplished without the need for additional normalization such comparison plots in d i space display transitional data in a form strongly reminiscent of virtual geomagnetic poles plotted with respect to a common site longitude records of polarity transitions and excursions are presented which illustrate the utility of the proposed approach

hydrothermal rare earth mineralisation in carbonatites of the tundulu complex malawi processes at the fluid rock interface the tundulu carbonatite complex in southeastern malawi was intruded during the late jurassic to early cretaceous over three episodes during the first and second episodes the major rock types were calcite carbonatites ankerite carbonatites and apatite carbonatites these rocks experienced hydrothermal alteration at the close of the second episode during which quartz baryte veins containing a significant level of rare earth fluorocarbonates were deposited veins in calcite carbonatites contain abundant synchysite la ce nd ca co3 2 f with subordinate amounts of parisite la ce nd 2ca co3 3f2 and bastnaesite la ce nd co3f crystallising in the order synchysite parisite bastnaesite some of the parisite is retrograde in origin having formed as an alteration product from synchysite only synchysite has been identified in veins hosted by apatite carbonatites however bastnaesite predominates the hydrothermal assemblage in ankerite carbonatites parisite and synchysite have been found only as a fibrous fringe between wallrock ankerite and bastnaesite the crystallisation sequence seen in calcite carbonatites represents a progressive depletion of both ca2 and co2 3 in the fluids from which this mineral suite precipitated with ca2 and co2 3 poor phases precipitating last clearly the predominance of bastnaesite in veins hosted by ankerite carbonatites suggests insufficient ca2 and co2 3 in the fluids for the ubiquitous precipitation of synchysite and parisite these observations are consistent with a model in which hydrothermal fluids reacted with the various wallrocks which then released different amounts of ca2 and co2 3 that subsequently reacted with rees in the fluid to form the various fluorocarbonates as such the tundulu carbonatites provide a natural laboratory in which compositional phase relationships of rare earth fluorocarbonates can be related to variations in the activities of ca2 and co2 3 within the ln co3 f caco3 f2 co3 1 system

vegetation change in a climatic cycle of early pleistocene age in the leffe basin northern italy abstract the plio pleistocene deposits of the leffe basin in the lombardian pre alps in italy first investigated in quarry and lignite mine shafts by lona in 1950 were recently cored the pollen record of part of this core reveals a sequence of four climatic cycles one of them which is about 1 6 ma old and particularly characteristic is discussed here a long interglacial stage can be identified by the dominance of pollen of deciduous trees of temperate climate it clearly shows a forest succession of a mixed oak forest of dry temperate climate followed by a strong development of a juglandaceae assemblage rich in arcto tertiary elements some of them indicating a wet climate in particular the carya peaks appear to be linked to a warm temperate 14 16 c mean annual temperature humid maritime climate with a long growth season if we compare them with modern and fossil analogs this stage is followed by a cooling leading to a long phase of wet coniferous forest this forest succession is subsequently interrupted by a brief period of open vegetation indicating a drier and colder continental climate followed by a new vegetational cycle the climate evolution is discussed in comparison with other recent pollen successions of uppermost pliocene age in the mediterranean area the cycle described is estimated to have lasted about 30 ka the entire leffe lacustrine succession records eight climatic cycles of moderate amplitude we suggest that this cyclicity has been induced by obliquity forcing correlation of the cold phases with the major glacial events of the southern alps as proposed by venzo 1950 and lona 1950 is excluded

contaminated sediment flux from eroding abandoned historical metal mines spatial and temporal variability in geomorphological drivers abstract abandoned historical metal mines represent significant long term sediment source locations contributing highly contaminated anthropogenic legacy sediments to river systems despite this our understanding of spatial and temporal variability in the rates and geomorphological drivers of specific contaminated sediment source locations across abandoned mines remains poorly constrained in this study sediment flux from two abandoned historical lead mines in the north pennines uk was monitored over an 18 month period using repeat terrestrial laser scanning enabling the spatial and temporal significance of several common geomorphological processes to be quantified for the first time a novel contaminated sediment budget approach is used to integrate topographical change data with a pxrf survey of surface sediment metal concentrations approximately 434 t 289 t a 1 of eroded sediment entered the stream from a source area of 0 023 km2 the majority of the erosion was driven by two dominant processes with gullying accounting for 60 and bank erosion contributing 30 redeposition of eroded material within the survey area was minimal 3 indicating very high levels of coupling between source locations and the stream network and the export of the vast majority of eroded sediments 97 from the mined area rates for all erosive processes were highly episodic and primarily driven by high magnitude low frequency storm events metal concentrations in surface sediments exhibited considerable spatial variability with notable hotspots around the former ore processing areas and on the tailings heaps however 84 of all sediments sampled were in excess of available soil guideline values for pb and 65 in excess of equivalent guideline values for zn indicating that abandoned mine sites still have the potential to be significant sources of contaminant metals and pose a risk to the wider environment in total an estimated 4 59 t of pb and 2 14 t of zn entered the stream network in a sediment associated form during the 18 month monitoring period although these overall contaminated sediment inputs are high they are restricted to particular geomorphological processes are spatially variable in terms of the magnitude of specific source locations and are delivered in fairly discrete events this provides invaluable information for the future management of other abandoned mines and targeted mitigation of their potential legacy effects

the lower early middle pleistocene small debitage productions in western europe new data from isernia la pineta t 3c upper volturno basin italy abstract isernia la pineta archaeological site in central italy dated to about 0 6 ma is one of the earliest archaeological sites of the italian peninsula and one of the key sites for the knowledge of human behaviour during the early middle pleistocene in western europe several archaeostratigraphic units have been recognized and systematically excavated core and flake assemblages were studied as a bulk in the eighties of last century with a typo metrical approach not taking into account a precise stratigraphic provenance here we present a review of the lithic collection from the lowermost archaeostratigraphic unit t 3c which is the first techno economic analysis based on the concept of chaine operatoire our results contrast with those from previous studies our analysis demonstrates that the technical criteria employed in small debitage are not opportunistic and unstructured as previously inferred by contrast they correspond to well established mental templates that led knappers 1 to use mainly a discoid method 2 to apply this debitage method regardless of the size and shape of the original matrix 2 to maintain a high productivity and 3 to produce medium sized flakes to be turned into small tools the new data are discussed in the framework of the lower early middle pleistocene technological complexes of western europe calling into question a number of allegations about the first technical traditions that have been previously accepted without reservation

seasonal and storm related aspects of sediment yield from a rapidly eroding coal refuse deposit in southwestern indiana a 500 m2 watershed on a deposit of coal refuse was instrumented for measurements of runoff and sediment yield and monitored for 15 months the range of 42 storm period sediment yields was greater for the watershed as a whole 16 to 3 480 g m 2 than for a 4 65 m2 portion of interfluve surface 15 to 1 596 g m 2 the ratio of sediment yield values watershed interfluve was not constant ratios of about 7 1 occurred in late spring when gully floors were flushed of colluvium that had accumulated during winter the ratio remained above 2 1 in summer when intense runoff caused gully incision estimates of annual sediment yield from three reaches of gully 82 to 160 kg m 2 yr 1 are about an order of magnitude greater than an estimate for interfluves 12 kg m 2 yr 1 a correlation analysis indicated that 78 of the observed variance in watershed sediment yield values is associated with characteristics of storm rainfall and runoff

amino acid racemization dating of quaternary deposits of central and southern italy abstract results are discussed of amino acid racemization dating of numerous samples of bones teeth tooth enamel and fossil shells racemization dating proved to be a very useful tool to date non marine and marine deposits which are a few hundred thousand years old as well as to correlate and chronologically classify even more ancient marine deposits aspartic acid racemization was used to date samples aged less than 80 000 100 000 yr for more ancient samples isoleucine epimerization instead was resorted to in this work dates were established for some important fragments of human bones and of large mammalian fauna weighing a few grams which would have been impossible to date with the 14 c technique requiring a large amount of bone material the extent of isoleucine epimerization was measured in glycymeris genera to estimate the age of numerous marine deposits of the tyrrhenian coast of centra southern italy and of sardinia in the tarquinia area latium three marine terraces were identified which were estimated to be approx 120 000 200 000 and 350 000 yr old in sardinia five marine horizons were identified the youngest deposit neotyrrhenian proved to be present at punta tramontana and santa reparata while at riola and stagno di sassu the most ancient marine deposits of sardinia were found in the rome area the monte mario formation was estimated to be coeval with monte delle piche formation finally from the terraced coastal deposits of capo milaazzo sicily panarea eolian archipelago archi calabria and gallipoli apulia a tyrrhenian age range of 100 000 120 000 yr was obtained

ree and their relevance to the development of the kupferschiefer copper deposit in poland abstract over one hundred samples representing mainly clayey organic and carbonate rich shales kupferschiefer but also other members of different ore sections including hangingwall dolomites z1 werra and footwall weissliegend sandstone lower permian have been collected in different mines of the lubin glogow mining district mainly near the contact transitional zone between the copper mineralized zone and secondarily oxidized rote faule rf zone in general the polish kupferschiefer shales are enriched in mree in comparison to nasc in a typical copper rich ore section the ree amounts and patterns depend on lithologies being generally similar in shales and dolomite ree vary among sandstones shales and dolomites average 73 143 and 85 ppm respectively probably reflecting mainly their clay contents sandstones have strongly convex ree patterns with positive eu and negative gd anomalies and depletion in lree and enrichment in mree relative to hree the ree patterns of shale and dolomite are similar to one another and rather flat with strong negative eu anomalies and a small positive gd anomaly in the case of shales the ree patterns of shales from the mineralized cu zone are generally convex mree enriched and have negative eu anomalies however in a section with cu zn and pb shales the ree pattern of pb bearing shales shows a positive eu anomaly in contrast to other shales and overlying dolomite more oxidizing conditions of deposition can be assumed for pb shales no significant differences between ree distributions in transitional and oxidized zones have been observed their ree patterns are more convex and are much higher av 247 ppm than those in the mineralized zone and they do not show eu anomalies the strongly convex pattern may suggest either enrichment in mree or relative depletion in lree due to localized precipitation of light ree minerals both in shales and in the uppermost part of the sandstones two unique sections one cu rich and one cu lean partly oxidized comprising three shale beds interbedded with dolomites have been compared generally ree contents are similar in these two sections also similar are changes in contents of ree between beds in both sections which decrease significantly upwards from 157 171 ppm to 54 60 ppm the ree patterns of the lowermost beds directly overlying sandstones are ramp like with lree enrichments the upper beds have concave ree patterns comparison between sections shows generally stronger negative eu and positive gd anomalies in the highly mineralized section there is a highly significant positive relationship between cu and ree contents in cu rich shales and slightly less significant negative relationship for their concentration in oxidized and transitional shales there is a moderate significant positive correlation between p 2 o 5 and ree contents in cu rich shales the observed differences in ree contents cannot be provenance dependent but have been caused by diagenetic processes possibly related to mineralization and oxidation processes europium anomalies generally reflecting different eh conditions in the deposit can be eliminated by the prolonged oxidation strong enrichment of the rf zones in ree may result from their desorption from large volumes of oxidizing including mineralizing solutions which probably emerged from the underlying molasse lithologies into the rote faule areas higher contents of ree in the lowermost shales suggest upward movement of solutions from the underlying sandstones also far away from the rf areas

the middle pleistocene site of guado san nicola monteroduni central italy on the lower middle palaeolithic transition abstract the archaeological site of guado san nicola monteroduni central italy under excavation since 2008 is located in the upper volturno valley near the top of a fluvial terrace attributed to the middle pleistocene several anthropic levels have been recognized within a stratigraphic sequence of more than two meters in thickness characterized by alternating gravelly and sandy fluvial layers rich in pyroclastic materials attributable to the end of mis 11 beginning of mis 10 according to the obtained radiometric dates 40 ar 39 ar and esr u series in this paper we discuss the chrono stratigraphic record the paleontological and zooarchaeological data and we provide a detailed techno economic analysis of the lithic industry characterized by the coexistence of handaxes and levallois debitage the site of guado san nicola represents the oldest evidence of the emergence of prepared core technologies in the italian peninsula adding new data to the debate on the lower middle palaeolithic transition in western europe

human topographic signatures and derived geomorphic processes across landscapes abstract the earth s surface morphology in an abiotic context is a consequence of major forcings such as tectonic uplift erosion sediment transport and climate recently however it has become essential for the geomorphological community to also take into account biota as a geomorphological agent that has a role in shaping the landscape even if at a different scale and magnitude from that of geology although the modern literature is flourishing on the impacts of vegetation on geomorphic processes the study of anthropogenic pressures on geomorphology is still in its early stages topography emerges as a result of natural driving forces but some human activities such as mining agricultural practices and the construction of road networks directly or indirectly move large quantities of soil which leave clear topographic signatures embedded on the earth s morphology these signatures can cause drastic changes to the geomorphological organization of the landscape with direct consequences on earth surface processes this review provides an overview of the recent literature on the role of humans as a geological agent in shaping the morphology of the landscape we explore different contexts that are significantly characterized by anthropogenic topographic signatures landscapes affected by mining activities road networks and agricultural practices we underline the main characteristics of those landscapes and the implications of human impacts on earth surface processes the final section considers future challenges wherein we explore recent novelties and trials in the concept of anthropogenic geomorphology herein we focus on the role of high resolution topographic and remote sensing technologies the reconstruction or identification of artificial or anthropogenic topographies provides a mechanism for quantifying anthropogenic changes to landscape systems this study may allow an improved understanding and targeted mitigation of the processes driving geomorphic changes during anthropogenic development and help guide future research directions for development based watershed studies human society is deeply affecting the environment with consequences on the landscape therefore establishing improved management measures that consider the earth s rapidly changing systems is fundamental

more than three million years of community evolution the temporal and geographical resolution of the plio pleistocene western eurasia mammal faunas abstract in this study we collected in a database faunal lists for more than 800 eurasian fossil localities yielding large mammal remains so as to produce continental level ecologic evolutionary units eurasian paleocommunities ea pcoms via bootstrapped cluster analysis ea pcoms are meant to represent taxonomically distinct assemblages of species ea pcoms allow the evolution of large mammal assemblages to be traced both in time and space this latter attribute spatial resolution represents the most important innovation here and contrasts with classic biochronologic schemes from which ea pcoms clearly depart the merits and limitations of this innovation are discussed in detail

evaluation of the olduvai subchron in the orce ravine se spain implications for plio pleistocene mammal biostratigraphy and the age of orce archeological sites abstract the barranco de orce bo section in the baza basin se spain exposes several fossiliferous layers o 1 to o 7 with plio pleistocene micro and macromammals biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic data from this and other sections in the basin have been extensively used to calibrate the plio pleistocene chronology based on mammal biozonations because of its stratigraphic and geographic proximity the bo section has also been used to date the paleontological and archeological sites of barranco leon fuentenueva 3 and venta micena this study shows that the bo section crosses a mega landslide that produces partial repetitions of the sedimentary sequence the seven fossiliferous layers are actually the repetition of only two o 6 and o 7 which are found in situ in the upper part of the ravine new paleomagnetic results demonstrate the presence of reverse magnetization throughout this section contradicting the normal event previously reported and assigned to the olduvai subchron c2n published and new magnetostratigraphic data show that all archeological and paleontological sites in the orce area are within a reverse magnetochron presumably c1r 2r late matuyama the use of bo in the magnetobiostratigraphical calibration of the pliocene pleistocene boundary for western europe is not advised

plio pleistocene fossil record of large predators in iberia diversity home range and climatic change abstract we investigated the patterns of change in diversity and home range size structure of the latest miocene pleistocene iberian carnivores to recognize the tempo and mode of the major shifts and place them in the context of late cenozoic climatic changes the database consists of 36 selected and taxonomically revised faunal lists a general pattern of carnivore diversity from iberia shows three maxima in diversity that can be correlated with major global changes the first coincides with the glacial trend during pliocene starting at 2 7 2 6 ma with the onset of glacial cycles of 41 ka second maximum happened at the beginning of the middle pleistocene and can be correlated with the switch at 1 ma third maximum in diversity occurs at the end of middle pleistocene when the amplitude of interglacials shifted from cooler to warmer interglacials the most significant shifts in carnivora diversity and home range size patterns were linked to dispersal phases that were tracked by a renovation of the carnivore guild from the patterns in home range size structure it seems that some multifaceted and not always straight interactions exist between ecological and climatic change and shifts in home range size the onset of the holocene home range size structure in iberian carnivores traces back to a high diversity pulse at the end of the middle pleistocene

the early to middle pleistocene boundary in the baza basin spain abstract the continental vertebrate fauna of cullar baza 1 granada spain occur immediately above the matuyama brunhes polarity boundary and therefore represent an initial record for the middle pleistocene all polarity zones for the late pliocene through middle pleistocene are found in an 80 m section which includes this fossil quarry the existing collection of abundant remains of micro mammals macro mammals and lithic artifacts indicating human activity can now be assigned an earliest middle pleistocene age of 0 75 ma another section 25 km across the neogene baza basin also has the matuyama brunhes polarity boundary however in this case the huescar 1 fossil quarry and the puerto lobo sites are both below the polarity boundary thus representing a record of the late early pleistocene at 0 9 ma differences in micro mammal species across these matuyama brunhes boundaries are significant and justify an approximately coincident biostratigraphic boundary between the biharian and toringian stages

erosion of strip mine spoil in iowa and its implications for erosion models abstract spoil banks of abandoned strip mines in southern iowa are composed of crushed shale and are sufficiently acid and steep to preclude the establishment of vegetation over decades rates of sheetwash erosion were studied for different slope components by using erosion pin arrays over a three year period small watersheds lacking gully development were monitored simultaneously with sediment traps and additional erosion pin arrays the frequenct of small landslides was estimated throughout the mine and one landslide was captured in a sediment trap permitting some quantification of this component of erosion slopes affected by landslides erode at a rate about four times greater than areas not affected by landslides and sediment from landslides contributes approximately 11 of the total material delivered to interbank basins excluding sediment from gully erosion which was not quantified in this study rates of sheetwash erosion are rapid with denudation proceeding at 1 5 2 8 cm yr 1 however the slope angle has little influence on rates of erosion and we evaluate the difficulties in applying predictive models such as the usle to these conditions the slopes appear to be undergoing parallel retreat at their angle of repose about 33

agpaitic nepheline syenites a potential source of rare elements abstract the agpaitic nepheline syenites may with regard to their elevated contents of a number of rare elements be compared with the complex granite pegmatites both rock types form highly evolved magmas under closed system conditions which prevent volatiles from escaping agpaitic rocks are peralkaline nepheline syenites characterized by the presence of complex rare element minerals such as eudialyte and mosandrite instead of the simple minerals such as zircon and ilmenite uranium deposits have been found in agpaitic rocks in brazil pocos de caldas china saima and greenland ilimaussaq nb and apetite deposits in russia lovozero and khibina the type locality of agpaitic rocks the ilimaussaq complex in south greenland is characterized by elevated contents of elements such as zr ree y be li nb u th and f not only in pegmatites late veins and contact fenites but also in some of the rocks especially lujavrite and kakortokite the most important rare element containing minerals are eudialyte zr ree y nb steenstrupine u th ree rinkite nb ree y u pyrochlore and perovskite nb ta li mica li chkalovite be and villiaumite f occurrences of eudialyte rich kakortokite and lujavrite are presently being explored in the ilimaussaq complex as sources of zr ree y and nb

within storm variations in runoff and sediment export from a rapidly eroding coal refuse deposit measurements of rainfall runoff and sediment export from a barren deposit of coal mine refuse in south western indiana were collected during three storms in the summer and autumn of 1990 interfluve sheetwash sediment mass flux sediment concentration and to a lesser extent trunk gully discharge all responded quickly to changes in rainfall intensity grain size distributions varied considerably during storms containing exclusively fine grained sediment at low sediment discharges but very large quantities of coarse 2mm sediment at peak sediment discharges although data from a fairly long multipulsed storm indicate that sediment production is limited by supply the imbricated layer of flat chips that exists at the surface of the deposit is apparently mobilized during most high intensity pulses of rainfall thereby producing large volumes of coarse sediment during summer thunderstorms

eurasian mammal biochronology an overview abstract late cenozoic eurasian mammal biochronology has achieved a new and higher level of resolution this has been accomplished by correlation of eurasian mammal biochronology with an independent time frame the geomagnetic polarity time scale gpts the result is a tentative calibration for mn zones and their boundaries for the late miocene pliocene and pleistocene spanning mn zones 8 through 17 vallesian through villanyian villafranchian an interval of about 10 my 2 to 12 ma more or less an overview of papers presented in this special issue is organized under the following headings paleomagnetism and biochronology in spain chronologic resolution of eurasian mammal chronology and late cenozoic mammal chronology in asia excluding the siwaliks sequence of southern asia the chronologic framework presented in this issue should serve as a reliable temporal setting for late cenozoic mammal evolution in europe and asia it is not the last word in eurasian late cenozoic mammal biochronology but must be tested and revised as our knowledge advances

esr dating of tooth enamel a comparison with kar dating abstract the reliability of the esr dating of tooth enamel was tested for a famous italian palaeolithic site isernia la pineta already dated by the k ar method esr ages calculated with early uranium uptake model eu linear uranium uptake model lu and us esr model are between 80 and 251 ka the us model with the hypothesis of inverse correlation between esr signal heights and uranium concentration resulted in an age of about 450 ka for one sample these ages are compared with a k ar age of 736 ka

paleoclimatology of the casas del rincon villafranchian series spain from stable isotope data abstract stable isotope analyses were performed on 49 samples of lacustrine carbonate and 69 samples of carbonatic shells of both aquatic and terrestrial gastropods from the pliocene series of casas del rincon jucar river area spain in agreement with the paleontological data the isotope results indicate that the series was deposited under variable climatic and environmental conditions when compared with the paleoclimatic evolution idicated by marine series in western mediterranean area the series of casas del rincon appears to record the marked climatic deterioration which took place about 3 1 3 2 m y ago a chronological succession is proposed for the faunistic events of the studied series the rincon 1 vertebrate fauna is probably 2 5 2 6 m y old

carbonatite associated with ultramafic diatremes in the avon volcanic district missouri usa field petrographic and geochemical constraints abstract here we report field petrographic and geochemical analyses of the southeast missouri avon volcanic district intrusive rocks and present the first combined textural and geochemical evidence for the presence of a primary magmatic carbonatite phase among ultramafic dikes pipes and diatremes of olivine melilitite alnoite and calciocarbonatite the 13 c vpdb values measured for primary calciocarbonatite as well as carbonates in olivine melilitite and alnoite rocks range from 3 8 to 8 2 which are within the typical range of mantle values and are distinct from values of the carbonate country rocks 0 0 to 1 3 the carbonate oxygen isotope compositions for the intrusive lithologies are in the range of 21 5 to 26 2 vsmow consistent with post emplacement low temperature hydrothermal alteration or kinetic fractionation effects associated with decompression and devolatilization metasomatized country rock and breccia contaminated igneous lithologies have carbonate 13 c vpdb values gradational between primary carbonatite values and country rock values unaltered sedimentary dolomite breccia and mafic spheroids entrained by calciocarbonatite and the lack of microstratigraphic crystal growth typical of carbonate replacement also exclude the possibility of hydrothermal replacement as the cause of the magmatic textured carbonates rare earth element ree patterns for the alnoite olivine melilitite and carbonatite are similar to each other with strong light ree enrichment and heavy ree depletion relative to morb these patterns are distinct from those of country rock rhyolite and sedimentary carbonate these data suggest that rocks of the avon volcanic district represent a single ultramafic carbonatite intrusive complex possibly derived from a single mantle source

tephrochronology and tephrostratigraphy of two pleistocene continental fossiliferous successions from central italy the stratigraphical context of two middle pleistocene fossiliferous palaeosols from central italy abruzzo and tuscany have been studied small mammals and molluscs occur in both palaeosols which are covered by tephra layers that were analysed using an interdisciplinary approach application of fission track dating to apatites separated from the case picconetto tephra pescara abruzzo yielded an age of 0 48 0 04 ma indistinguishable from those previously determined for the campani quarry lower valdarno tuscany 0 46 0 05 ma and 0 48 0 05 ma geochemical and petrographic investigations indicate that these tephra originated from different volcanoes the alban hills volcanic complex and the vico volcano latium respectively small mammal and mollusc assemblages indicate different palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental conditions for the case picconetto and campani quarry palaeosols warm and humid conditions can be inferred for the campani quarry site whereas open and cold conditions can be inferred for case picconetto on the basis of faunal data fission track dates and attribution of tephra to specific volcanic eruptions we suggest a correlation of these faunas with marine oxygen isotope stage 14 case picconetto and with marine oxygen isotope stage 11 campani quarry respectively copyright 2003 john wiley sons ltd

late pliocene to early mid pleistocene mammals in eurasia faunal succession and dispersal events abstract four major dispersal events mark european villafranchian and galerian faunas about 3 2 0 4 ma the beginning of the villafranchian is evidenced by the arrival of leptobos and of large cervids and felids the fauna still retains typical forest elements mammut tapirus etc the elephant equus event about 2 5 2 6 ma brought in grassland elements elephant horse while several forest dwellers disappeared the massive arrival of a primitive wolf a large hyaena and leptobos etruscus approximately marks the plio pleistocene boundary wolf event about 1 7 ma this was followed by a new wave of prairie fauna praeovibos leptobos vallisarni allophaiomys canis arnensis a coyote canis falconeri possibly a lycaonid cervalces and hippopotamus also arrived at this time the villafranchian galerian transition saw a total faunal turnover with massive extinctions and new previously unknown adaptations end villafranchian event 1 0 0 9 ma the late pleistocene and living fauna of eurasia took its origin at this time mammalian stratigraphy of asia is more poorly known but faunas are easily correlated with european ones and the end villafranchian event is clearly recognised faunal events are correlated with climatic and physiographic changes late himalayan orogeny

biochronology and biochron boundaries a real dilemma or a false problem an example based on the pleistocene large mammalian faunas from italy abstract reconstructing the neogene quaternary biostratigraphy in continental environments and recognising boundaries between successive mammalian faunal complexes is a problematic task the definition and application of biochronology has been often tainted by references to and inferences from biostratigraphy actually the discontinuities in the continental sedimentary record environmental conditions taphonomic and sampling biases are responsible for the fact that the stratigraphical order of the lowest and highest occurrences of fossil remains stratigraphic datum does not necessarily reflect the temporal order of actual first last appearances of taxa palaeobiological events in time nonetheless the first last appearance bioevents recorded by lowest highest occurrences of fossil remains in fossiliferous levels of different continental stratigraphical successions have been the principal foundation for establishing the biochronological setting of continental mammal faunas therefore from a theoretical point of view boundaries should be defined by the oldest and or youngest historical occurrence of one or more taxa what about an operational approach some examples of the italian faunas are presented focusing on the transition from the villafranchian to the galerian and from the galerian to the aurelian land mammal ages the results obtained indicate the difficulty of defining a stable scheme that can be applied for correlation by the international scientific community

early middle pleistocene transitions an overview and recommendation for the defining boundary the early middle pleistocene transition c 1 2 0 5 ma sometimes known as the mid pleistocene revolution represents a major episode in earth history low amplitude 41 ka obliq uity forced climate cycles of the earlier pleistocene were replaced progressively in the later pleistocene by high amplitude 100 ka cycles these later cycles are indicative of slow ice build up and subsequent rapid melting and imply a transition to a strongly non linear forced climate system changes were accompanied by substantially increased global ice volume at 940 ka these climate transformations particularly the increasing severity and duration of cold stages have had a pro found effect on the biota and the physical landscape especially in the northern hemisphere this review assesses and integrates the marine and terrestrial evidence for change across this transition based on the literature and especially the following 17 chapters in the present volume orbital and non orbital climate forcing palaeoceanography stable isotopes organic geochemistry marine micropalaeontology glacial history loess palaeosol sequences pollen analysis large and small mammal palaeoecology and stratigraphy and human evolution and dispersal are all considered and a series of discrete events is identified from marine isotope stage mis 36 c 1 2 ma to mis 13 c 540 460 ma of these the cold mis 22 c 880 870 ka is perhaps the most profound however we here endorse earlier views that on practical grounds the matuyama brunhes palaeomagnetic chron boundary mid point at 773 ka with an estimated duration of 7 ka would serve as the best overall guide for establishing the early middle pleistocene subseries boundary

new data on the early villafranchian fauna from vialette haute loire france based on the collection of the crozatier museum le puy en velay haute loire france abstract vialette 3 14 ma like seneze chilhac sainzelles ceyssaguet or soleilhac is one of the historical sites located in haute loire france the lacustrine sediments of vialette are the result of a dammed lake formed by a basalt flow above oligocene layers and show a geological setting typical for this area where many localities are connected with maar structures that have allowed intra crateric lacustrine deposits to accumulate based on previous studies and this work a faunal list of 17 species of large mammals has been established eight species typical of this time period and well known occur in the collection of the crozatier museum of le puy en velay pliocrocuta perrieri lynx issiodorensis mammut borsoni anancus arvernensis stephanorhinus jeanvireti tapirus arvernensis cervus pardinensis and croizetoceros ramosus the presence of gazella cf g borbonica is newly established in addition to which the oldest known occurrences of canis sp cf eucladoceros sp and of the genus equus in western europe are also described these are the new data which pushed back the age of the arrival of the genus equus cf eucladoceros and canis in western europe five taxa are not found in the crozatier collection primates indet agriotherium sp ursus gr minimus thibetanus bovidae middle sized pliotragus ardei or gallogoral meneghinii procapreolus cf cusanus

the last appearance datum of hipparion in western europe magnetostratigraphy along the pliocene pleistocene boundary in the villarroya basin northern spain the villarroya basin in northern spain contains one of the classic villafranchian localities of europe and allows about 100 m of sediments to be explored by magnetostratigraphic techniques besides the occurrence of some other macro and micro mammifera fossils becomes villarroya in one of the most important villafranchian localities of southern europe therefore we have sampled two sections one contains the classic locality to shed some light on its chronostratigraphy detailed stepwise demagnetization has revealed primary and reliable directions carried by magnetite and hematite in more than 250 samples and allows us building a robust local polarity scale the correlation with the geologic time scale locates the local sequence along the gauss and matuyama chrons a reunion chron c2r 1n equivalent age 2 128 2 148 ma is here proposed for the villarroya fossil locality since it is clearly located above the gauss matuyama boundary very well defined in the magnetostratigraphic section and displays normal polarity this correlation implies a new age assignment for the classic paleontological fossil locality of villarroya and a last appearance datum of hipparion sensu lato in western europe significantly younger than previously established taking into account this new dating the hipparion and equus horses could have coexisted in europe up to the complete extinction of hipparion in early matuyama times

a coupled environmental system formed at about 2 5 ma in east asia abstract the somewhat abrupt commencement of loess deposition on a large scale in north central china is palaeomagnetically measured at about 2 5 ma the formation of the dynamical conditions responsible for windblown loess processes implies a reorganization of the atmospheric circulation over eastern asia it is speculated that at that time the accelerated uplift of the tibetan plateau had reached a threshold height giving rise to the intensification and northward shift of the siberian high and deepening of the cyclone in the lee of the tibetan plateau the uplift of tibet and the resulting reorganization of atmospheric circulation at about 2 5 ma would initiate a coupled environmental system tibetan plateau inland desert loess plateau in eastern asia that could be a key system in understanding the onset of glaciation in northern hemisphere and climatic change in the quaternary the climatic shift from near continuous warm condition before 2 5 ma to frequent and chaotic fluctuations after is speculated to be triggered to a significant extent by the uplift of the tibetan plateau an orography cold surge albedo temperature feedback mechanism is developed in explaining the harsher climate over east asia during glacial time and is thought to be one of the major contributors in promoting glacial development on the globe

na fe ca alteration and lree th nb mineralization in marble andgranitoids of sierra de sumampa santiago del estero argentina the jasimampa area in the sierra de sumampa de santiago del estero argentina contains light rare earth element lree th nb mineralization associated with several stages of carbonates and widespread fenitization of marble granite 496 2 9 ma and alkaline and siliceous igneous comendite dikes u pb zircon age of 390 ma derived from fractionation of oceanic island basalts this is the third discovery of lree mineralization in argentina and marks a new alkaline intracontinental magmatic event of devonian age albite ab 97 99 aegirine ae 70 92 ja 1 11 q 6 19 hematite mg arfvedsonite fluorine rich apatite and late ca fe mn carbonates monazite pyrochlore overprint and crosscut granite and comendite outcrops in a 15 km 2 area locally the na rich assemblage is pervasive and results in total destruction of host rocks na fe metasomatism near granite and comendite produced aegirine ae 86 91 ja 1 8 q 6 11 mg arfvedsonite and minor albite ab 98 99 in adjacent marble with multiple stages of late ca mn mg fe carbonates associated with iron and manganese oxides hematite and traces of sulfides sphalerite pyrite galena monazite ce is the main lree bearing mineral and occurs with minor ferrocolumbite pyrochlore strontiopyrochlore and apatite associated with a second generation of fine grained hematite barite and celestine structural controls on na fe ca alteration and lree mineralization in granitoid and marble protoliths include brittle ductile shear zones brittle fracture systems and a series of monolithologic and heterolithologic breccias with hydrothermal aegirine carbonate and chalcedony matrices that occur at granite marble comendite contacts fragments of multiple breccia types within breccias indicate multiple episodes of brecciation alteration and mineralization the fluid responsible for early fenitization of granite and comendite was aqueous carbonic with co 2 of relatively high density between 0 85 and 0 95 g cm 3 salinity near 9 wt percent nacl equiv and minimum temperatures in the range of 250 to 280 c pervasively altered comendite and granite have high total ree content 1 750 ppm and 2 126 ppm respectively mainly lree early banded and mottled aegirine arfvedsonite replacements of marble have high absolute ree abundance 2 513 4 663 ppm compared to the least altered marble 476 ppm subsequent hydrothermal stages with carbonates hematite pyrolusite monazite and subordinate celestine and barite caused alteration of marble that was accompanied by an increase in absolute ree abundance up to 15 45 wt percent and high sr 10 5 wt th 4 390 ppm and ba 1 8 wt alteration and mineralization at jasimampa are the result of late stage carbonatitic magma fractionation and fluid exsolution this is indicated by the strongly alkaline character of early alteration the composition of the hydrothermal carbonates apatite and lree sr and ba rich minerals the chondrite normalized ree patterns showing strong lree enrichment without an eu anomaly and the replacement of marble by assemblages with very high ba th lree and sr and strong k zr and ti depletions the alteration style and mineralization at jasimampa are similar to the giant fe lree nb deposit bayan obo and other hydrothermal lree deposits hosted in carbonatites of china

geochemical study of laterites of the jamnagar district gujarat india implications on parent rock mineralogy and tectonics abstract the laterite deposits occur in a linear stretch along the northern arabian sea coast in the jamnagar and porbandar districts of gujarat state india these deposits are characterised by presence of gibbsite kaoline calcite quartz anatase natroalunite goethite and hematite and relicts of mafic minerals and plagioclase on the basis of petro mineralogy and geochemistry these deposits are grouped as aluminous laterites fe2o3 1 45 3 84 av 3 13 al2o3 39 31 57 24 av 45 80 and laterites fe2o3 9 84 32 21 av 25 13 al2o3 34 74 49 59 av 41 27 the major trace and ree characteristics of laterites indicate that these were formed in situ by the alteration of parent rocks of trachytic andesitic composition and the process of bauxitisation followed the path of destruction of kaolinite and deferruginisation the correlation patterns of several trace and rare earth elements and their preferential enrichment have indicated that there is an influence of precursor rock on the distribution of trace elements the jamnagar laterite deposits occur as capping over the deccan trap basaltic lava flows and pyroclasic deposits lateritisation prevailed during palaeocene age when india was separated from the seychelles and passing over the equator during this time climate morphology and drainage conditions were favourable for lateritisation that result in the formation of jamnagar and other laterite deposits within the deccan province flood basaltic provinces of deccan columbia north australia and hawaii appear good location for hosting laterite deposits due to their wide areal extent small geological time span and uniform chemical composition however comparison of the major flood basaltic provinces of the world has indicated that their palaeopositions along with palaeoclimate morphology and drainage are equally important factors for facilitating lateritisation

large mammal turnover in africa and the levant between 1 0 and 0 5 ma f aunal change at the early middle pleistocene boundary in europe has long been a topic for discussion however analyses of large mammal turnover at this time in africa have been lacking largely because of the low number of sites dated to this interval recent work particularly in the last 10 years has resulted in a much larger published sample of sites and we synthesize these data in this paper in our multivariate twinspan analyses of african and levantine large mammal faunas we found that localities were subdivided by geographic regions not by age there were some small scale changes with the appearance or extinction of particular taxa but there was no large scale turnover such as that seen in europe the levant was included as a possible route for faunal interchange with east africa but no similarities were found between these areas it therefore appears that the modern zoogeographic separation of the levant and north africa into the palaearctic region and sub saharan africa into the african region can be traced back to at least the early middle pleistocene boundary

long plio pleistocene terrestrial record of climate change and mammal turnover in southern spain abstract cyclostratigraphic analysis of the pliocene zujar section guadix baza basin southeastern spain has enabled the recognition of a number of climatically forced cycles reflecting alternating dry and wet periods peaks of aridity are recorded at ca 3 95 3 55 3 2 2 8 and 1 8 myr b p the first dry period at about 4 0 myr b p corresponds to the early ruscinian mammal age while the second arid interval at about 3 6 myr b p corresponds to the establishment of the mediterranean double seasonality the significant mammal turnover between the late ruscinian and early villanyian stages is placed between chron 2an 2n and the very base of chron 2an 1n coincident with the dry phase recognized at about 3 2 myr b p the fourth aridity maximum at 2 8 myr b p roughly coincides with the equus event in western europe and is probably related to the beginning of the glacial interglacial dynamics in the northern hemisphere finally the last dry peak at about 1 8 myr b p is probably related to the set of mammalian events characterizing the transition from the late pliocene faunas to those of the early pleistocene

the stratigraphical significance of deer species in the cromer forest bed formation deer species provide a valuable biostratigraphical tool through cromer forest bed times due particularly to species turnover between the early and early middle pleistocene this study is based on the reidentification of 348 fossil antlers the provenance of most large mammal fossils from the cf bf collected over 150 years was recorded only by the nearest coastal village none the less analysis of the cervid taxa by these localities reveals interesting patterns the fauna of the west runton freshwater bed is of early middle pleistocene complexion and that from the foreshore at east runton is of early pleistocene pure or nearly pure early middle pleistocene assemblages also occur at kessingland pakefield and at trimingham at overstrand sidestrand mundesley bacton and happisburgh there is a mixture of early and early middle pleistocene elements analysis of savin s data shows that fossils of earlier species were generally found further down the beach than those of later ones late nineteenth century geological surveys made when bone collecting was at its peak give additional information about fossil horizons which in several cases can be related to modern stratigraphical units most early pleistocene large mammal bones came from pastonian conglomerates in contrast to small mammal and molluscan assemblages mostly extracted from pre pastonian crag however the diversity of early pleistocene cf bf cervid species in comparison with continental faunas and their pattern of distribution between sites suggests they may span more than one chronostratigraphic stage early middle pleistocene assemblages came from strata now referred to the cromerian and the differing proportions of taxa between sites provide limited evidence of time transgression

human occupation of iberia prior to the jaramillo magnetochron 1 07 myr abstract the first migration out of africa undertaken by the genus homo is documented in georgia at 1 8 myr dmanisi and some 0 4 myr afterwards in the middle east ubeidiya however the debate on when the european continent was populated for the first time remains open the first human presence in europe prior to the jaramillo subchron 1 07 0 99 myr is evidenced at fuente nueva 3 and barranco leon d orce and at sima del elefante atapuerca an occupation that seems to have continued through the jaramillo at gran dolina td3 4 and td5 atapuerca at vallparadis barcelona and up to the matuyama brunhes boundary at gran dolina td6 even so those who still defend a short chronology espouse an intermittent early population limited to the mediterranean area delaying the first occupation until after the jaramillo these hypotheses fail to explain what factors were behind the absence of population in europe prior to this period bearing in mind that there were populations of hominins at the gates of europe between 1 and 0 5 myr before the first archaeological record documented in western europe paleomagnetic analyses of the archaeological sites are rarely able to detect the jaramillo subchron due to its short duration while the radiometric dating methods u series esr usually applied are limited in the accuracy they can achieve for the chronologies in question these limitations make it necessary to depend on the biostratigraphy of small and large mammals to ascertain with precision the time of the first colonization of the continent accordingly in the present article we discuss the chronological data from the older iberian archaeological sites using biostratigraphic data to establish an archaeological sequence that demonstrates the expansion of the first hominin occupation of southern europe prior to jaramillo

the barga basin tuscany a record of plio pleistocene mountain building of the northern apennines italy abstract the barga basin located between the apuane alps and the northern apennines was the site of a fines dominated meandering alluvial plain during the early middle pliocene rivers came from the tyrrhenian side across the apuane alps and carried gravels mostly composed of tuscan units that capped the metamorphic complex apatite fission tracks indicate that the metamorphic core of the apuane alps was deeper than 4 km to the east the apennine divide did not exist and the area was part of the po plain a major unconformity marks the transition to the late pliocene early pleistocene sequence mostly made of metamorphic gravels deposited by braided rivers still coming from wnw at ca 2 ma the apuane mountains following uplift underwent severe denudation wind gaps along the apuane ridge suggest that the drainage still partially extended westward in the area that is now drowned under the ligurian tyrrhenian sea since the early pleistocene rapid uplift of the apennine ridge led to the present day drainage and the deposition of two alluvial terraces the older terrace at monte perpoli is scarcely represented while the late pleistocene one is made of large west flowing telescopic alluvial fans since late early pleistocene uplift of the apennine divide associated with the activity of high angle normal faults generated reversed rivers during this period the activity of the versilia fault isolated the apuane ridge and further drowned the eastern ligurian basin a new interpretation and timing of the tectonic evolution of this sector of the apennine and the adjacent tyrrhenian sea and peri adricatic basin emerges

reassessing the sedimentary deposits and vertebrate assemblages from ponte galeria area rome central italy an archive for the middle pleistocene faunas of europe abstract the ponte galeria area is part of the larger campagna romana and hosted the inner delta of the tiber river since the beginning of the middle pleistocene allowing the deposition of a series of glacio eustatically controlled fluvial lacustrine sedimentary successions very rich in fossil mammal remains due to its richness of fossiliferous sites this area represents an exceptional archive for the study and understanding of the biochronological paleobiogeographical and paleoenvironmental evolution during the middle pleistocene in europe a series of recent studies using the 40 ar 39 ar ages of tephra intercalated within the sedimentary deposits provided a large amount of geochronological data linking these aggradational successions to the different marine isotopic stages in the present paper we present a complete review of the faunal assemblages identified so far in the ponte galeria area and we constrain the ages of the faunal units by placing them within the new chronostratigraphic scheme by means of this interdisciplinary approach we re calibrate the mammal assemblages collected in this area and reconstruct a new biochronological and paleobiogeographic framework for the italian peninsula during the middle pleistocene in particular we distinguish six well defined biochronological units slivia ponte galeria isernia fontana ranuccio torre in pietra and vitinia in the studied area covering a time span of ca 0 6 myr from the early to middle pleistocene transition to at least marine isotope stage 7 this period is characterized in europe by the mid pleistocene revolution global climate change and by the transition at first between villafranchian and galerian taxa and later between the galerian and aurelian ones according to the reviewed data the persistence of villafranchian taxa is recorded in italy at the beginning of the middle pleistocene probably due to favorable climatic conditions or delay in dispersal of competitive species while the faunal turnover between the villafranchian and galerian species was completed around 0 6 0 5 ma during this time bos primigenius and other temperate warm taxa were widespread in the peninsula earlier than in western europe in contrast typical aurelian taxa usually related with temperate cold climatic conditions ursus spelaeus megaloceros giganteus occurred later in italy than in other western european areas