Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gongle Shi, Fabiany Herrera, Patrick S. Herendeen, Elizabeth G. Clark, Peter R. Crane
Summary: The discovery of well-preserved fossils with recurved cupules from the Early Cretaceous in Inner Mongolia, China, suggests that these plants are fundamentally comparable to angiosperms in their structure, specifically the second integument of the ovule. This finding provides insight into the origin of angiosperms and will guide future research in seed plant phylogenetics.
Article
Geography, Physical
Alexander Wheeler, Jian Shen, Tim A. Moore, Ofentse M. Moroeng, Jingjing Liu
Summary: In this study, we analyzed the palynology, organic petrography, and carbon isotopes of the #16 Seam in the Hailar Basin, Inner Mongolia, China. Our results showed a diverse microflora consisting of ferns, conifers, horsetails, lycopsids, bryophytes, ginkgoes, and cycads. The accumulation of the coal was likely controlled by rising water table, flooding, and fires. The top of the coal seam indicated the gradual drowning of the paleomire. Interestingly, no angiosperm pollen was found in the samples, suggesting they were not adapted to the extreme conditions of the mire.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Paleontology
Vasiliy B. Kolesnikov, Ilya S. Turbanov, Kirill Yu Eskov, Evgenia A. Propistsova, Alexey S. Bashkuev
Summary: Pseudoscorpiones is one of the oldest arachnid orders, with fossil records dating back to the Middle Devonian period, but reliable fossil evidence has been found in Early Cretaceous amber. The discovery of a new fossil pseudoscorpion in Triassic deposits of Ukraine sheds light on the evolution and distribution of the family Feaellidae.
PAPERS IN PALAEONTOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Yong Du, Huyue Song, Jacopo Dal Corso, Yuhang Wang, Yuanyuan Zhu, Haijun Song, Li Tian, Daoliang Chu, Jiandong Huang, Jinnan Tong
Summary: This study examines the Lower Triassic ichthyosaurs from the Chaohu area in China, showing a significant marine ecosystem recovery after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. The preservation of the ichthyosaurs is closely related to redox environments, with well-oxygenated conditions before the ichthyosaur horizon and anoxic conditions during the major ichthyosaur fossil yielding horizon. The occurrence of reptiles decreases as anoxic conditions develop, and the ichthyosaurs likely evolved earlier in an ameliorated living environment with abundant food.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Bao-Xia Du, Ming-Zhen Zhang, Jing Zhang, Ai-Jing Li, Shao-Hua Lin, Guo-Rong Ma, Jian-Guo Hui
Summary: A complete fossil plant from the early Cretaceous period was discovered in Northwest China, featuring slender adventitious roots, simple and deeply dissected leaves, and solitary fruits attached to creeping stems. Based on its morphological characteristics, it is identified as a herbaceous eudicot. Fossil records from contemporaneous deposits in Northwest China and eastern North America suggest a geographical radiation of Fairlingtonia on Laurasia. Its morphological features indicate a colonization of lake-shore environments under wet and bright conditions, with fast-growing and rapid propagation habitats.
JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jiyuan You, Yiqun Liu, Dingwu Zhou, Yiyao Yang
Summary: The study presents the original discovery of well-preserved hydrothermal chimneys in the geological record and provides evidence of hydrothermal activity in sedimentary rocks. The ancient chimneys may be related to oil production and serve as important indicators for future oil investigations. Their in situ geochemistry and sulfur isotopes suggest a possible magmatic trigger for these hydrothermal vents.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Christopher J. Cleal, Barry A. Thomas
Summary: A more natural taxonomy of Carboniferous lyginopteridalean seed-plant fronds has been achieved by considering additional characters related to frond architecture and rachial features. This revised classification now recognizes eight fossil-genera, clarifying their diagnostic descriptions, nomenclatural types, and stratigraphical/chronological distribution. This improved classification will enhance studies on past plant diversity and floristics, and also requires reclassifying some fossil-species of fern fronds into fossil-genera defined by reproductive structures.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Juan Hu, Xiaochun Liu, Mengmeng Xia, Longyao Chen, Jianen Han, Daogong Hu
Summary: This study presents a petrological and geochronological analysis of the Mulantou Metamorphic Complex in Hainan Island, China, which provides evidence for Permian-Triassic tectono-thermal events. The results indicate a peak metamorphic condition of 720-770°C and 4.4-5.8 kbar, with metamorphism occurring at 250-235 Ma. Integration of published data suggests that the Triassic metamorphism of the Mulantou Metamorphic Complex resulted from the collision between the South China and Indochina blocks after closure of the Paleo-Tethys.
JOURNAL OF ASIAN EARTH SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Zhen Ye, Jakob Damgaard, Christian W. Haedicke, Xiuxiu Zhu, Silvia A. Mazzucconi, Martin B. Hebsgaard, Tongyin Xie, Huanhuan Yang, Wenjun Bu
Summary: The water boatmen of Corixoidea, a group of aquatic bugs, diversified in Gondwana during the late Triassic and the most diverse subfamily Corixinae in Corixidae arose during the separation of Laurasia from Gondwana. The large-scale expansion of the temperate and cold zones on the northward-moving Laurasian landmass provided new aquatic niches and ecological opportunities for the rapid diversification of the Holarctic corixid lineage.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Yuangeng Huang, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Siqi Wu, Xueqian Feng
Summary: This study documents new stromatolite deposits in the Boyun section of eastern Yunnan Province, China. The stromatolites are characterized by undulating laminations and indicate a different environment compared to the Lower Triassic stromatolites. The study also reveals a possible link between the diameter of cyanobacteria filament and marine deoxygenation in the Triassic.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Yanhua Xu, Dengfa He
Summary: This study investigates the provenance of the southeast Ordos Basin using petrology, sedimentology, subsidence and geochronology. The results show a shift in provenance from recycled orogenic to a mixture of recycled orogenic and arc magmatic materials. Tectonic subsidence and zircon age distribution suggest a transition from short and rapid uplift to remote continuous uplift. This study provides new insights into the closure process of the Mianlue Ocean during the Triassic and its impact on the tectonic environment of the southern North China Craton.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geology
Albert Prieto-Marquez, Jonathan R. Wagner
Summary: We announce the discovery of a new genus and species of basally-branching hadrosaurid dinosaur, Malefica deckerti, from the upper shale member of the Aguja Formation in Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA. Despite the partial nature of the fossil (a partial left maxilla), several unique characteristics allow for its diagnosis. Phylogenetic analysis places M. deckerti within Hadrosauridae but outside Sau-rolophidae, indicating a previously unrecognized diversity of early hadrosaurid offshoots.
CRETACEOUS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
He Zhao, Stephen E. Grasby, Xiangdong Wang, Lei Zhang, Yongsheng Liu, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Zhaochu Hu, Yuangeng Huang
Summary: The Carnian Pluvial Event was a significant global climatic and environmental change that occurred during the early Late Triassic. This study provides evidence of increased volcanism injecting large amounts of mercury and isotopically light carbon into the atmosphere during this event, which had a negative impact on the global environment and biotic evolution.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Y. Priyananda Singh, K. Milankumar Sharma, Raghavendra Prasad Tiwari, Rajeev Patnaik, Nongmaithem Amardas Singh, Ningthoujam Premjit Singh
Summary: The Tiki Formation in India is known for its diverse vertebrate fossil assemblages. In this study, indeterminate Sphenodontia and indeterminate Lepidosauromorpha were reported from this formation. These early diverging lepidosauromorphs likely fed on small invertebrates and vertebrates/insects. The presence of these early diverging lepidosauromorphs extends their geographic range to the Indian sub-continent and supports the idea of vertebrate assemblage affinities between Laurasia and Gondwana.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL SCIENCE ACADEMY
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Yu Jiao, Lian Zhou, Thomas J. Algeo, Jun Shen, Lanping Feng, Yating Hu, Jinhua Liu, Liwei Chi, Minghui Shi
Summary: This study provides insights into the regional arc magmatism linked to volcanism in South China during the Permian-Triassic transition.
Article
Plant Sciences
Gar W. Rothwell, Ruth A. Stockey
Summary: This study utilizes anatomical analysis of fossils from Vancouver Island, Canada, to support the development of a whole plant concept for the Eocene species of Gleichenia and provide data for the first organismal concept of an extinct species of Gleichenia from the Cenozoic fossil record. The findings suggest that the characteristics of the Gleicheniaceae family were present during the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods, with modern species well-established and diversifying.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Plant Sciences
Kathrin Ganz, Cesar Morales-Molino, Erika Gobet, Dmytro Kiosak, Nadezhda Kotova, Jacqueline van Leeuwen, Sergey Makhortykh, Christoph Schworer, Willy Tinner
Summary: This study presents a palaeoecological reinvestigation from the Kardashynskyi mire in southern Ukraine, reconstructing the vegetation dynamics, fire history, and land use for the past 8300 years. The results show that both climate and human activities have driven the vegetation changes, and the remaining special vegetation types are severely threatened under current conditions.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Plant Sciences
Willem O. van der Knaap, Bas van Geel, Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen, Frans Roescher, Dick Mol
Summary: Pollen analysis of fossilized teeth from a giant deer found in The Netherlands provides insights into the diet, landscape, and climate of the specimen. The study suggests that the giant deer most likely lived during the early Eemian or an early Weichselian interstadial.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Plant Sciences
Yun Guo, Yu Zhou, Josef Psenicka, Jiri Bek, Jana Votockova Frojdova, Zhuo Feng
Summary: A new species of adpressed leptosporangiate fern, Szea yunnanensis sp. nov., is described from Yunnan Province, Southwest China. The fronds of this new species have unique characteristics such as fertile pinnules with triangular to falcate shape and abaxial sori arranged in one row on each side of the midvein.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Plant Sciences
Adele C. M. Julier, Glynis J. Humphrey, Caitlin Dixon, Lindsey Gillson
Summary: The relationships between woody vegetation cover and fire, climate, herbivory, and human activities in African savanna ecosystems are complex. Fire suppression policies implemented in a national park in northeast Namibia from 1888 to 2005 did not lead to noticeable decreases in fire or enhanced tree recruitment, suggesting that fire occurrence in savanna ecosystems is more closely linked to climate than management. Fire management should adapt to rainfall variability and integrate customs of early dry season burning.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Plant Sciences
Milan Libertin, Jiri Kvacek, Jiri Bek
Summary: This paper revises the genus Aberlemnia from the Early Devonian of Scotland based on its type-material A. caledonica and describes a new species, Aberlemnia krizii sp. nov, from the Silurian of Czechia. The study provides detailed diagnoses and highlights the differences between the two species. Aberlemnia is positioned on an evolutionary clade line leading to the Lycophytina.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2024)