bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A new tristichopterid (Osteolepiformes: Sarcopterygii) from the Mandagery Sandstone (Late Devonian, Famennian) near Canowindra, NSW, Australia
Authors: Johanson Zerina , Ahlberg Per Erik 
Published: November 2011

AbstractA new member of the Tristichopteridae (=Eusthenopteridae), Mandageria fairfaxi gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Late Devonian (Famennian) Mandagery Sandstone outcropping near Canowindra, NSW, Australia. It is represented by several complete or partial heads and bodies, preserved as natural moulds. Mandageria shares derived characters with the Late Famennian tristichopterid Eusthenodon wängsjöi from East Greenland; the pineal plate series is large and kite-shaped and is posterior to the middle of the parietals, the intertemporal does not contact the posterior supraorbital, a posterior process of the premaxilla divides the apical fossa, the anteriormost premaxillary tooth is enlarged, the postorbital is excluded from the orbit by a supraorbital–lacrimal contact, and the coronoids lack marginal teeth except posteriorly. Mandageria fairfaxi differs from Eusthenodon in superficial fusion of the supratemporal, tabular and postparietals, in the lateral extrascapulars being separated by only 2–3 mm in the midline anteriorly, and in having proportionately smaller scales. It also has an elongate supracleithrum, which is probably autapomorphic. The postcranial skeleton is comparable to that of the Frasnian genus Eusthenopteron, but differs in the more posterior position of the median fins, the poorly ossified vertebral column, and the flattened ectepicondyle. Mandageria fairfaxi is the second osteolepiform described from Canowindra (the first, Canowindra grossi) and, other than the now-reinterpreted Marsdenichthys, the first tristichopterid described from Australia.
Dowsing physics: interferometry
Authors: Reddish V. C. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractInterferometry, a technique widely used in physics to study radiation fields, has been applied to the investigation of dowsing. Pairs of horizontal linear components, typically some metres in length and a metre or so apart, and parallel in a vertical plane, produce patterns of lines that can be mapped by dowsing rods. The lines are parallel to each other and to the components, and are equally spaced. The spacing of the lines depends on the length, separation and composition of the components. The existence of the patterns shows that the dowsing field is wave radiation. Since there is no detectable difference between patterns produced by pairs of components made of good electrical conductors such as copper, and those produced by good insulators such as uPVC, it is concluded that the radiation field is not electromagnetic. Furthermore, aluminium and tin behave differently from copper and steel. The spacing of the lines has been found to depend on time of year. It increases rapidly in late April and falls rapidly in late November; in between these times it appears to be relatively stable except for an isolated maximum in early March. It shows a high degree of repeatability from year to year.
A microvertebrate fauna from the Llandovery of South China
Authors: Sansom I. J. , Aldridge R. J. , Smith M. M. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractThe late Llandovery (early Silurian) of South China has yielded a locally abundant and diverse microvertebrate fauna. This includes scales of the little-known mongolepids, sinacanthid spines and a whole host of as yet unassigned forms. The material recovered provides a considerable amount of new information about the diversity of fish in the South Yangtze biome during the early Silurian, and suggests that ichthyoliths have a future role to play in Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphic correlation across China and into Mongolia and Siberia. A new family of mongolepids, the Shiqianolepidae, is erected, accommodating the new genus Shiqianolepis with the type species S. hollandi. The description of Shiqianolepis enables the identification of a differentiated squamation in mongolepid fish, a feature which has not previously been recognised. Two further taxa, Rongolepis cosmetica gen. et sp. nov. and Chenolepis asketa gen. et sp. nov., of, as yet, uncertain affinities are also erected.
Functional morphology of the prosoma of Baltoeurypterus tetragonophthalmus (Fischer) (Chelicerata: Eurypterida)
Authors: Selden Paul A. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractThe prosomal morphology ofBaltoeurypterus tetragonophthalmus(Fischer) from the Baltic Silurian is redescribed and reconstructed. The first eurypterid labrum and new secondary sexual characters ofBaltoeurypterusare described. The radially-arranged coxae ofBaltoeurypteruswere capable of adduction and abduction for food mastication, but not promotor-remotor movements for locomotion. Joint diagrams are presented for the first time for an extinct arthropod. Promotion and remotion of the limbs occurred about subvertical trochanteral pivots, as in all other chelicerates except xiphosurans.Baltoeurypterusprobably walked in a &ldquo;slow&rdquo; gait; a method of choosing possible gaits for extinct arthropods is outlined. Swimming inBaltoeurypteruswas effected by means of a rowing action of the posterior limb pair, which is provided with complex joints for collapsing the paddle during the recovery stroke. The limb arrangement and joint mechanisms ofBaltoeurypterusare intermediate between those of the xiphosurans and the arachnids. It is possible that a sister relationship exists between the eurypterids and some arachnid groups, which would render Merostomata and Arachnida unnatural assemblages.
Revision of the fossil ricinuleids
Authors: Seiden Paul A. 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTThe fossil ricinuleids are described, and their systematic relationships revised, based on a study of all British and American specimens. Phylogenetic analysis, utilising a new character set, indicates a probable basal dichotomy between the fossil and extant forms. The order is divided into two new suborders: Neoricinulei subordo, nov., for the extant genera, and Palaeoricinulei subordo. nov., for the fossil forms. Two new genera are erected:Amarixysgen. nov. forCurculioides gracilis(Petrunkevitch, 1945) andA. stellarissp. nov., andTerpsicrotongen. nov. forPoliochera alticepsPocock, 1911. Three new species are erected in the genusCurculioides: C. mcluckieisp. nov.,C. pocockisp. nov., andC. gigassp. nov., and one in the genusPoliochera: P. gibbsi, sp. nov.
The structure and petrology of ultrabasic rocks in the southern part of the Cuillin Igneous Complex, Isle of Skye
Authors: Claydon R. V. , Bell B. R. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractThe ultrabasic rocks of the southern portion of the Early Tertiary Cuillin Igneous Complex, Isle of Skye, are recognised as forming a Peridotite Series s.l. and have been separated into six distinct structural–lithological units. These units range from almost pure dunite (Unit 1, at the lowest structural level), through to feldspathic peridotites and allivalites (Units 5 and 6, at the highest structural levels). Detailed field and mineralogical studies indicate that both cumulus and postcumulus processes involving ultrabasic (picritic) magmas may be identified, and that the latter processes have significantly modified many of the primary features of these rocks.Layering, both modal and phase, is present within all six units, although it is more prominent within the higher units, especially Units 5 and 6. Differing orientations of fabrics defined by cumulus spinel and intercumulus plagioclase layers within Unit 3 indicate the important role of compaction and intercumulus melt migration. Unit 4 is extremely heterogeneous, involving material ranging in composition from peridotite to allivalite, and provides clear evidence for postcumulus melt movement, magma-mixing, disruption and brecciation. Units 5 and 6 developed with a more porous cumulus framework, giving rise to dendritic growths involving cumulus olivine and poikilitic plagioclase.It is concluded that postcumulus melt movement, injection and magma-mixing, involving ultrabasic magmas, were significant processes in the formation of the ultrabasic rocks of the Cuillin Igneous Complex.
Basin history deduced from subtle changes in fluvial style: a study of distal alluvium from the Devonian of southwest Ireland
Authors: Graham John R. , James Andrea , Russell Kenneth J. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractTwo detailed sections through 4 km of distal alluvium of the Upper Devonian Old Red Sandstone in the Munster Basin, southern Ireland, display a limited number of lithofacies. There is little ordering of these lithofacies on a small scale but changes in the proportions of lithofacies through time define a sequence of stages of basin evolution. The depositional environments changed progressively from sheetflood dominant, via mobile ephemeral channels and floodplains to a more fixed channel–overbank system and eventually to a coastal plain. On the basis of the sedimentary record a progressive reduction in subsidence rate with time is deduced as the main control on the evolution of the basin fill. This deduction is consistent with predictions from previously applied extensional basin models, but is insufficiently refined at present to distinguish between the different models.
Depositional environments within Middle Jurassic oyster-dominated lagoons: an integrated litho-, bio- and palynofacies study of the Duntulm Formation (Great Estuarine Group, Inner Hebrides)
Authors: Andrews Julian E. , Walton William 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTThe Duntulm Formation of the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) Great Estuarine Group represents a marine-brackish lagoonal complex which was transgressively established on the drowned delta of the underlying Valtos Sandstone Formation. Duntulm Formation sediments accumulated in adjacent basins, the Sea of the Hebrides-and Inner Hebrides-basins. Litho-, bio-, and palynofacies analysis of these rocks show that the most distinctive lithologies, monotypic shell banks of the oyster Praeexogyra hebridica (Lithofacies 1), accumulated under variable, but distinctly marine conditions. Argillaceous carbonate muds (Lithofacies 2), probably accumulated in the lee of the oyster banks under variably marine-freshwater conditions, while the supralittoral lagoon shores were fringed by algal marshes (Lithofacies 3). The palynology of Lithofacies 3 shows that some marshes accumulated close to the lagoon (dominated by marine dinocysts), while others formed further inland (dominated by terrestrial pollen and spores). In the N of the Sea of the Hebrides Basin, small deltas continued to prograde into the lagoons (Lithofacies 4), and toward the end of Duntulm Formation times, muds and sands colonised by freshwater molluscs (Unio and Neomiodon), the planktonic alga Botryococcus, and dominated by terrestrial pollen and spores (Lithofacies 5), accumulated in this area, representing a basin-wide change from marine to freshwater conditions. The structural high which divided the basins exerted a strong control on lithofacies evolution, effectively preventing any material coarser than silt grade entering the Inner Hebrides Basin. Thickness variation in the Formation is similarly structurally/facies linked, with thick sequences accumulating where sandstones (Lithofacies 4) predominate, and thin sequences occurring close to the structural high.
The pelvic girdle and hind limb ofCrassigyrinus scoticus(Lydekker) from the Scottish Carboniferous and the origin of the tetrapod pelvic skeleton
Authors: Panchen A. L. , Smithson T. R. 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTOur knowledge of the primitive and aberrant early tetrapodCrassigyrinus scoticuswas based on a partial skull roof and mandibles from the Lower Carboniferous of Gilmerton, Edinburgh, plus a skeleton lacking the hind limb and tail from the Namurian, basal Upper Carboniferous, of Cowdenbeath, Fife. New specimens from Cowdenbeath include the pelvic girdle, presacral and sacral rib and most of the hind limb. The ilium of the girdle had a firm articulation with the vertebral column via the sacral rib. The ischium, separated from the ilium by cartilage, was, like that found with the Cowdenbeath skeleton, ornamented as though a dermal bone. No pubis is preserved. The femur lacks an adductor crest, but has a strongly developed internal trochanter. Tibia and fibula are short stout bones, but axial torsion is present in the fibula rather than the tibia. This, and the structure of the femur, suggests a swimming rather than a walking limb. Probable metatarsals and phalanges are recorded. A skeletal reconstruction and a life restoration ofCrassigyrinusare presented in the light of its reconstructed anatomy and physiology.The ornamentation of the ischium ofCrassigyrinus, and that of the colosteidGreererpeton, suggests that the bone may be at least in part dermal. Its homology wth the pelvic fin basal scute of osteolepiform fishes is proposed and the homologies of pectoral and pelvic fins, and thus limbs, discussed.
The Blairgowrie magnetic anomaly and its interpretation using simplex optimisation
Authors: Farquharson Colin G. , Thompson Roy 
Published: November 2011

AbstractThe large magnetic anomaly which runs along the Highland Boundary Fault of Scotland immediately to the NW of Blairgowrie has been studied by both a ground-based magnetic survey and a palaeomagnetic investigation. A newly developed optimisation program, making use of a simplex algorithm, was used to model the long wavelength component of this effectively two-dimensional anomaly. The consequent model consists of a vertical, rectangular body, 3 km wide and 13 km deep, whose top surface is 2 km below ground level, with a magnetisation directed vertically downwards. The composition of this body is most likely to be that of an ultra-basic, metamorphic complex which has been brought up to its present position between two of the many near-vertical faults in the area. The medium wavelength structure of the anomaly was modelled using the common technique of trial and error, and can be interpreted in terms of a pair of Devonian andesitic lavas and a small extension of the main ultrabasic block. Subsequent palaeomagnetic remanence measurements confirmed that the magnetisation of the two lavas recorded a Devonian polarity reversal. The magnetisation of the ultrabasics is directed vertically downwards, exactly as deduced from the earlier modelling work.
Field relations, geochemistry, origin and emplacement of the Baltoro granite, Central Karakoram
Authors: Searle M. P. , Crawford M. B. , Rex A. J. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractThe Miocene Baltoro granite forms a massive plutonic unit within the Karakoram batholith, and is composed of comagmatic monzogranites and leucogranites with a mineralogy consisting of quartz-K-feldspar-plagioclase-biotite ± muscovite ± garnet, with accessory sphene, zircon, monazite and opaques. Geochemically the Baltoro granites are mildly peraluminous, and show a calc-alkaline trend on trace-element normalised diagrams with high LIL/HFS element ratios and negative Nb, P and Ti anomalies. REE are strongly fractionated with little or no Eu anomaly. Leucogranites are depleted in most elements compared to monzogranites with notable exceptions being Rb, K and the HREEs. Initial87Sr/86Sr ratios are 0·7072-0·7128, considerably lower than High Himalayan leucogranites (0·74-0·79), and are indicative of a lower continental crust source. The probable petrogenesis of the Baltoro granite involves dehydration melting of a biotite-rich pelite to produce a voluminous, hot, water-undersaturated magma which could then separate from its source and intrude through an already thickened and still hot crust. Fractional crystallisation of the monzogranites produced the leucogranites and a pegmatite dyke swarm. A suite of lamprophyre dykes including amphibolerich vogesites and biotite-rich minettes intrude the country rock, dominantly to the north, around the Baltoro granite. These calc-alkaline shoshonitic lamprophyres are volatile-rich mantle-derived melts intruded around the same time as the granite, indicating simultaneous melting of the mantle and lower crust beneath the Karakoram during the Miocene, approximately 30 Ma after the India-Asia collision which initially caused the crustal thickening. Intrusion of mantle melts provided heat to promote crustal melting and may have selectively contaminated the granite magma.The Baltoro granite intrudes sillimanite gneisses with melt pods along the southern margin indicating temperatures above 700°C at the time of intrusion. Locally, internal fabrics and numerous aligned xenoliths along the southern margin in the Biafo glacier region indicate steep, southward-directed thrusting during emplacement. Along the northern contact, the Baltoro granite intrudes anchimetamorphic to greenschist facies metasedimentary rocks with an andalusite-bearing contact aureole. Northward-directed culmination collapse normal faulting during Miocene emplacement is inferred, in order to explain the P-T differences either side of the pluton. This also provided an extensional stress regime in the upper crust to accommodate the rising magma.
Parallel geological development in the Dunnage Zone of Newfoundland and the Lower Palaeozoic terranes of southern Scotland: an assessment
Authors: Colman-Sadd S. P. , Stone P. , Swinden H. S. , Barnes R. P. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractThe Notre Dame and Exploits subzones of Newfoundland's Dunnage Zone are correlated with the Midland Valley and Southern Uplands of Scotland, using detailed comparisons of two key Lower Palaeozoic successions which record similar histories of extension and compression. It follows that the Baie Verte Line, Red Indian Line and Dover Fault are equivalent to the Highland Boundary Fault, Southern Upland Fault and Solway Line, respectively.The Betts Cove Complex and overlying Snooks Arm Group of the Notre Dame Subzone are analogous to the Ballantrae Complex of the Midland Valley, both recording the Arenig evolution and subsequent obduction of an arc and back-arc system. The Early Ordovician to Silurian sequence unconformably overlying the Ballantrae Complex is poorly represented in the Notre Dame Subzone but important similarities can still be detected suggesting corresponding histories of continental margin subsidence and marine transgression.In the Exploits Subzone, Early Ordovician back-arc volcanic rocks are overlain by Llandeilo mudstones and Late Ordovician to Early Silurian turbidites. A similar stratigraphy occurs in the Northern and Central Belts of the Southern Uplands and both areas have matching transpressive structural histories. Deeper erosion in the Exploits Subzone reveals Cambrian and Early Ordovician volcano-sedimentary sequences structurally emplaced on the Gander Zone, and such rocks are probably present beneath the Southern Uplands. Combined data from the Notre Dame Subzone and Midland Valley suggest an Arenig southeast-dipping subduction zone. Early Ordovician volcanic rocks in the Exploits Subzone and Southern Uplands have back-arc basin geochemistry and support the model of the Southern Uplands as a transition from back-arc to foreland basin. Preferential emergence of the Dunnage Zone and contrasts between Exploits Subzone and Southern Uplands turbidite basins are attributed to collision of Newfoundland with a Laurentian promontory and Scotland with a re-entrant. This hypothesis also explains the transpressive structural regime common to both areas.
The palaeoenvironment of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland: stable isotope evidence from silicates and sulphides
Authors: McGill R. A. R. , Hall A. J. , Fallick A. E. , Boyce A. J. 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTStable isotope data from the East Kirkton succession are used to elucidate the extent of hot-spring influence in the palaeoenvironment by constraining conditions of deposition of the silica and the formation of sulphides.Petrographically silica occurs as chert laminae thought to be primary, and as patchy chert considered as replacive. No evidence for biogenic silica was observed. For 20 silica samples δ18O was measured for structural oxygen and δD for bound water. δ18O(SMOW) varied between +21 and +27‰ with no sample groupings related to petrography. The range in δD(SMOW) was from −50 to −90‰ with lower values characterising replacive or altered silica; water contents of both petrographic groups were similar. A plot of δ18O versus δD for the laminated primary silica defines a grouping about the line defined by Scottish agates (Fallick et al. 1985). This suggests for the unaltered silica a formation temperature of about 60°C and a fluid containing a strong component of meteoric water. The data imply a Lower Carboniferous meteoric water δ18O composition of −3‰ and δD of −15‰, consistent with the known palaeolatitude.The only sulphide observed was pyrite; 34 samples were selected from a wide variety of lithological and textural occurrences. δ34S(CDT) ranges widely and continuously between +8 and −34‰ with no strong mode. The sulphur appears to be derived from several sources, and pyrite formation from a variety of conditions as indicated by such wide ranging data, but for the samples with the lowest δ34S the involvement of bacteria in sulphate reduction is inferred.
Fossil plants from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland
Authors: Scott A. C. , Brown R. , Galtier J. , Meyer-Berthaud B. 
Published: November 2011

ABSTRACTPlant fossils are a common and important element in the East Kirkton biota of Brigantian (late Viséan age). The most important taxa are preserved as compressions or anatomically preserved as permineralisations. The basis of the quantitative study of the flora and the distribution of individual plant species was the trenched section excavated for the East Kirkton Project. The largest diversity of compressions have been recorded from loose blocks. In the trenched section, the uppermost ashes contain only lycopsid compressions including Stigmaria. Nodules in the underlying shales yield mainly lycopsid leaf and sporophyll compressions. The uppermost limestones (Units 39-52) contain drifted fragments of pteridosperm fronds mainly Sphenopteridium crassum, S. pachyrrhachis, Spathulopteris obovata and Adiantites antiquus. Permineralised Lyginorachis spp. occur at this level. Large permineralised woody gymnosperm axes have been found loose (including Pitus, 50 cm in diameter). Permineralised axes, mainly reworked, including the gymnosperms Bilignea, Eristophyton, Stanwoodia and possibly Protopitys, have been found in Units 72-88. Poorly preserved permineralised lycopsids are rare, but include Lepidophloios. Loose chert blocks contain root mats of permineralised Stigmaria, together with Lepidocarpon, the sphenopsid Archaeocalamites and the fern Botryopteris. Similar material is found in Unit 83 of the Limestone sequence. Unit 82, the black shale containing many of the articulated vertebrates, contains predominantly pteridosperm frond and pinnule material including Spathulopteris obovata. The distinctive changes in the flora from the base to the top of the trenched sequence reflect mainly ecological and taphonomic controls upon plant distribution and preservation. Evidence suggests a close relationship between climate, fire, erosion, deposition and vegetation type through the sequence and a climatic change, from a drier to a wetter environment, is suggested at the top of the East Kirkton Limestone sequence.