The lower (but not lowermost) part of the Upper Cretaceous Anaipadi Formation of the Trichinopoly Group in the area between Kulatur, Saradamangalam and Anaipadi, in the south-western part of the Cauvery Basin in southeast India yielded rich inoceramid and ammonite faunas. The ammonites: Mesopuzosia gaudama (Forbes, 1846), Damesites sugata (Forbes, 1846), Onitschoceras sp., Kossmaticeras (Kossmaticeras) theobaldianum (Stoliczka, 1865), Lewesiceras jimboi (Kossmat, 1898), Placenticeras kaffrarium Etheridge, 1904, and Pseudoxybeloceras (Schlueterella) sp., are characteristic of the Kossmaticeras theobaldianum Zone. The absence of Peroniceras (P.) dravidicum (Kossmat, 1895) indicates the presence of only lower part of this zone, referred to the nominative Kossmaticeras theobaldianum Subzone at the localities studied. The inoceramids present are Tethyoceramus madagascariensis (Heinz, 1933) and Cremnoceramus deformis erectus (Meek, 1877), recorded for the first time from the region. The latter dates the studied interval as early early Coniacian, and allows, for the first time, direct chronostratigraphic dating of the Tethyoceramus madagascariensis Zone, and consequently also of the Kossmaticeras theobaldianum Subzone. As inoceramids occur in the middle part of the ammonite-rich interval, the Kossmaticeras theobaldianum Subzone may be as old as latest Turonian and not younger than early early Coniacian. The base of the Coniacian lies in the lower, but not lowermost part of the Anaipadi Formation. Both inoceramids and ammonites represent taxa known from Madagascar and South Africa.
This malacological analysis was conducted at a site with peat and calcareous tufas in Łapsze Niżne, Podhale
(southern Poland). The study was carried out in 6 main and several complementary sections, in which 37 mollusc
species were recognized represented by almost 11 000 specimens. The study enabled the reconstruction of
environmental changes during the accumulation of the Holocene deposits (from the Boreal Phase till present).
Conclusions drawn from these reconstructions were compared with results of malacological and palynological
studies from other sites in Podhale. As a result, regional environmental reconstructions for the Holocene of the
area were made. The specific composition, ecological structure and succession of molluscan assemblages from
Łapsze Niżne indicate a significant role for local factors, thus demonstrating the variability of environmental
conditions within a geographic region.
An accumulation of glacial sediments is located near Písečná village in the depression between the Sokol Ridge
and Zlaté Hory Highlands NNE of Jeseník town (Eastern Sudetes). The accumulation lies at the lateral side
of the mountain valley of the Bělá River and fills a preglacial palaeovalley of this river. Research combining
facies analysis of outcrops, ground penetrating radar survey, interpretation drilling survey, and modelling of
the preglacial relief was undertaken at the site. According to the results obtained, the upper part of the sedimentary
accumulation represents a coarse-grained terminoglacial glaciofluvial delta of the Gilbert type. The
development of the accumulation has dominantly been driven by the preglacial morphology. Facies typical for
foresets of coarse-grained deltas represented mainly by high-density flows, cohesionless debris flows, debris
falls and less common low-density flows were found in the outcrops. The delta near Písečná prograded into
a lake dammed by the ice-sheet front in the north. The lake was bounded by the slopes of Sokol Ridge, Zlaté
Hory Highlands and Góry Parkowe on other sides. The lake level reached an altitude of up to 430 m a.s.l., as
the coarse-grained delta plain base lies at this level.
The shallow-marine carbonate deposits of the Reuchenette Formation (Kimmeridgian, Upper Jurassic) in
northwestern Switzerland and adjacent France yield highly diverse bivalve associations, but only rarely contain
remains of pinnid bivalves. The three occurring taxa Pinna (Cyrtopinna) socialis d’Orbigny, 1850, Stegoconcha
granulata (J. Sowerby, 1822) and Stegoconcha obliquata (Deshayes, 1839) have been revised. A lectotype for
Pinna (C.) socialis was designated and the taxon is assigned herein to P. (Cyrtopinna) Mörch, 1853, the first record
of the subgenus from the Jurassic. A brief review of Stegoconcha Böhm, 1907 revealed two species groups
within the genus. Species close to the type species S. granulata are characterized by a nearly smooth anterior
shell, followed posteriorly by deep radial furrows and rows of pustules covering the dorsal flank. Another group
comprises radially ribbed species related to S. neptuni (Goldfuss, 1837). It includes among others the Paleogene
species S. faxensis (Ravn, 1902), extending the known range of Stegoconcha from the Middle Jurassic into the
Paleogene. The paper suggests a relationship between Stegoconcha and the Cretaceous Plesiopinna Amano,
1956, with S. obliquata as a possible intermediate species leading to Plesiopinna during the Early Cretaceous.
Furthermore, a possible relationship between Stegoconcha and Atrina Gray, 1842 is discussed.
Triceratium barbadense Greville, 1861a, T. brachiatum Brightwell, 1856, T. inconspicuum Greville, 1861b and
T. kanayae Fenner, 1984a, are among the most common diatoms reported worldwide from lower to middle Eocene
biosiliceous sediments. Due to complicated nomenclatural histories, however, they are often confused. A morphometric
analysis performed herein indicates that T. brachiatum is conspecific with T. inconspicuum, and that both
were previously often misidentified as T. barbadense. Triceratium barbadense sensu stricto is a distinct species
similar to Triceratium castellatum West, 1860. Triceratium brachiatum and T. kanayae are transferred herein
to a new genus, Fenneria, for which a close phylogenetic relationship with Medlinia Sims, 1998 is proposed.
A review of the geographic and stratigraphic distribution of Fenneria shows that the best constrained records of
its occurrences are found at DSDP Site 338, and ODP Sites 1051 and 1260. The ages of the base (B) and top (T)
of each species’ stratigraphic range are calibrated here to the Geomagnetic Polarity Timescale either directly or
inferred via correlation with dinocyst biostratigraphy. Latitudinal diachroneity of ~7 million years is documented
for F. brachiata, which disappears earlier in tropical and mid-latitude sites than in the northern high latitudes. These
observations, coupled with a preliminary compilation of the Chron C20n taxonomic composition of pelagic diatom
assemblages for Sites 338, 1051 and 1260, indicate that diatoms diversified palaeobiogeographically considerably
earlier than the Eocene−Oligocene Transition, as commonly believed. This study also emphasizes the importance
of the detailed examination of specimens from both museum collections and deep-sea cores as a step toward enhancing
the utility of Palaeogene diatoms in palaeoceanographic and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.
The Upper Greensand Formation, mostly capped by the Chalk, crops out on the edges of a broad, dissected
plateau in Devon, west Dorset and south Somerset and has an almost continuous outcrop that runs from the Isle
of Purbeck to the Vale of Wardour in south Wiltshire. The Formation is well exposed in cliffs in east Devon and
the Isle of Purbeck, but is poorly exposed inland. It comprises sandstones and calcarenites with laterally and
stratigraphically variable amounts of carbonate cement, glauconite and chert. The sedimentology and palaeon-
tology indicate deposition in marginal marine-shelf environments that were at times subject to strong tidal and
wave-generated currents. The formation of the Upper Greensand successions in the region was influenced by
penecontemporaneous movements on major fault zones, some of which are sited over E-W trending Variscan
thrusts in the basement rocks and, locally, on minor faults. Comparison of the principal sedimentary breaks in
the succession with the sequence boundaries derived from world-wide sea-level curves suggests that local tec-
tonic events mask the effects of any eustatic changes in sea level. The preserved fauna is unevenly distributed,
both laterally and stratigraphically. Bivalves, gastropods and echinoids are common at some horizons but are
not age-diagnostic. Ammonites are common at a few stratigraphically narrowly defined horizons, but are rare
or absent throughout most of the succession. As a result, the age of parts of the succession is still poorly known
In the Polish sector of the Magura Nappe have long been known and exploited carbonate mineral waters, saturated
with carbon dioxide, known as the “shchava (szczawa)”. These waters occur mainly in the Krynica Subunit
of the Magura Nappe, between the Dunajec and Poprad rivers, close to the Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB). The
origin of these waters is still not clear, this applies to both “volcanic” and “metamorphic” hypotheses. Bearing
in mind the case found in the Szczawa tectonic window and our geological and geochemical studies we suggest
that the origin of the carbon dioxide may be linked with the thermal/pressure alteration of organic matter of the
Oligocene deposits from the Grybów Unit. These deposits, exposed in several tectonic windows of the Magura
Nappe, are characterized by the presence of highly matured organic matter – the origin of the hydrocarbon accumulations.
This is supported by the present-day state of organic geochemistry studies of the Carpathian oil and
gas bed rocks. In our opinion origin of the carbon-dioxide was related to the southern, deep buried periphery of
the Carpathian Oil and Gas Province. The present day distribution of the carbonated mineral water springs has
been related to the post-orogenic uplift and erosion of the Outer (flysch) Carpathians.
Approximately 80% of water extracted from oil and gas deposits in Poland is disposed of by injection into the rock matrix. The aim of the model research was to predict both the hydrochemical reactions of water injected into wells for its disposal and the hydrogeochemical processes in the reservoir formation. The purpose of hydrogeochemical modeling of the hydrocarbon formation was also to determine the potential of formation waters, injection waters, and their mixtures to precipitate and form mineral sediments, and to determine the corrosion risk to the well. In order to evaluate saturation indices and corrosion ratios, the geochemical programs PHREEQC and DownHole SAT were used. The results of hydrogeochemical modeling indicate the possible occurrence of clogging in the well and the near-well zone caused mainly by the precipitation of iron compounds (iron hydroxide Fe(OH)3 and siderite FeCO3) from the formation water due to the presence of high pressures and temperatures (HPHT). There is also a high certainty of the precipitation of carbonate sediments (calcite CaCO3, strontianite SrCO3, magnesite MgCO3, siderite FeCO3) from the injection water within the whole range of tested pressures and temperatures. The model simulations show that temperature increase has a much greater impact on the potential for precipitation of mineral phases than pressure increase.
The Telbesmi Formation, at the northern margin of the Arabian Plate, Turkey, is composed of alternating darkbrown,
pinky-brown fluvial arkosic sandstone/mudstones with thin-bedded cherty limestones and channel
conglomerates. The formation contains rare and poorly diversified trace fossils. The siltstone/sandstone beds of
levels 1 and 2 of the formation yielded, however, a moderately diverse assemblage composed of: Cochlichnus
isp., Palaeophycus isp., Planolites beverleyensis, Teichichnus isp. and ?Treptichnus rectangularis. This assemblage,
made up of traces left by deposit feeding organisms, represents the Scoyenia ichnofacies. Treptichnus
rectangularis and Palaeophycus isp., of the assemblage, can be considered markers for the base of the Cambrian
in southeast Turkey.
During the late Oligocene to early Miocene the residual Magura Basin was located along the front of the Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB). This basin was supplied with clastic material derived from a south-eastern direction. In the Małe (Little) Pieniny Mts. in Poland, the late Oligocene/ early Miocene Kremna Fm. of the Magura Nappe (Krynica subunit) occurs both in front of the PKB as well as in the tectonic windows within the PKB. Lenses of exotic conglomerates in the Kremna Fm. contain frequent clasts of Mesozoic limestones (e.g. limestones with “filaments” microfacies and Urgonian limestones) and Eocene shallow-water limestones. Fragments of crystalline and volcanic rocks occur subordinately. The provenance of these exotic rocks could be probably connected with Eocene exhumation and erosion of the SE part of the Dacia and Tisza Mega-Units.
The long-ranging Early to Middle Triassic coniform conodont form-genus Cornudina Hirschmann occurs
abundantly in the Anisian of NW Turkey, Northern Tethys. Although suggested to represent the P1 element
of an apparatus of the Order Ozarkodinida Dzik, questions concerning the apparatus of Cornudina remain.
A description of the probable phylogenetic trends in the P1 elements of Cornudina is attempted and the role
of the form-genera Ketinella Gedik and Kamuellerella Gedik, as the alternative ramiform skeletal elements in
the Cornudina multi-element apparatus, is investigated. The newly described, Gedikella quadrata gen. nov.,
sp. nov., is an S element, Kamuellerella rectangularis sp. nov., is either an S3 or an S4 element, and Ketinella
goermueshi sp. nov., is an M element.
Very rare chondrichthyan spines from the Famennian (Upper Devonian) of European Russia are referred here to ctenacanthiforms, euselachians and a chondrichthyan group of uncertain systematic position. Ctenacanthus Agassiz, 1837 is recorded from the lower and middle Famennian of the central and north-western parts of the area. Sculptospina makhlaevi Lebedev gen. et sp. nov. originates from the lower Famennian of the Lipetsk Region. The holotype of ‘Ctenacanthus’ jaekeli Gross, 1933 and a new specimen from the upper Famennian of the South Urals are shown to belong to the same taxon, which is transferred to Acondylacanthus St. John and Worthen, 1875. New specimens of Tuberospina nataliae Lebedev, 1995 from the upper Famennian of Central Russia are described in detail. The newly presented material increases our knowledge of the composition of Famennian marine assemblages from the East European Platform. It is suggested that these assemblages may be classified as chondrichthyan-dominated and dipnoan-dominated. Hypothetically, after the end- Devonian Hangenberg extinction event, which affected numerous secondary consumers in vertebrate communities, some chondrichthyan groups could have encroached to take advantage of previously occupied ecological niches. Ctenacanthus, as well as Acondylacanthus and Amelacanthus survived the end-Devonian mass extinction to continue into the Carboniferous.