Cephalopod specimens assigned to the Argonautidae (Obinautilus pulchra Kobayashi, 1954 and an unknown taxon) from two localities of the Mishan Formation in Gohreh and Khorgu sections, Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, are reported for the first time from the Persian Gulf area. The co-existing foraminifera confirm the middle Miocene age of the strata. Based on micropalaeontological data, the previous Oligocene age of Obinautilus pulchra is extended to the middle Miocene. The palaeobiogeographic distribution of the reported Argonautidae shows that the presence of these faunas is limited to the West Pacific, Indo-Pacific and the East Pacific. The present-day distribution of the Argonautidae is similar to the ancient one and seems to be inherited from their ancestors.
The Shotori Range of east-central Iran (east of Tabas) has yielded Famennian ammonoid assemblages dominated by the family Sporadoceratidae. Four genera Maeneceras Hyatt, 1884, Iranoceras Walliser, 1966, Sporadoceras Hyatt, 1884 and Erfoudites Korn, 1999 are represented. The conodont assemblage of one sample containing Iranoceras revealed an Upper marginifera Zone age. The ammonoid assemblages are characterised by comparatively large specimens; they reach conch diameters of 300 mm (including the body chamber) and the mean size is larger than 100 mm. The preservation of the material from the Shotori Range and size comparison with sporadoceratid assemblages from the Anti-Atlas of Morocco and the Rhenish Mountains of Germany suggest that hydraulic sorting has resulted in a bias towards large conchs, explaining the size distribution, rather than latitudinal differences. The new species Maeneceras tabasense is described; the genus Iranoceras is revised with a new description of the two species Iranoceras pachydiscus (Walliser, 1966) and Iranoceras pingue (Walliser, 1966).
In the first part of this article the author suggests a new etymology for the East Slavic adjective horošiĭ ʻgoodʼ (in Old Russian ʻbeautifulʼ) – from IE *ker(ə)- ʻburn, blazeʼ extended by the determinative -s-: richly attested *kor-s- > Proto Slavonic *xor-x- (> *xoršьjь) with the affective x-, like many other words. As proposed by many scholars, one of the variants of this root is present in Slavonic *krasa ʻbeautyʼ that corresponds to the original meaning of the adjective horošiĭ. The determinative -s- is commonly used for extending the root *ker(ə)-. The second part deals with three proper names in the (Old) Russian mythology and folklore that come, in the author’s opinion, from Iranic languages. The analysis of the early Old Russian written sources (The Ostromir’s Gospel and chronicles) allows to approve that the original form of the theonym Xors was Xorŭsŭ coming from the genitive form of the Iranian word for ‘sun’ in the truncated compound name (most likely, ‘son of the sun’ as a name of the deity of sunrise). The name of the tale bird Mogoveĭ/Magoveĭ corresponds to Avestan (Gath.) magavan-, adj. ‘belonging to the Zoroastrian community’, Old Indic maghá-van(t)- ‘generous; giver (also an epithet of Indra)’, Old Persian magav-, an adjective denoting a Median tribe whose representatives had got the rank of priests, ‘magic, magician’, Pāli maghavā, the name of Sakka. This name corresponds to another fairy bird name recorded on the same territory (in the basin of the Mezen, the region of Archangelsk) ‒ Vostrogot (Vostrogor) that continues Young Avestan a-srāvayaT.gāθā ‘not chanting the Gathas’; i.e., these two mythonyms form an opposition based on the semantic feature ‘initiated ‒ uninitiated (into the Zoroastrian doctrine and ritual)’.
Mining activities from exploration to final material handling up to shipment pass through various stages where environmental pollution results. Mining method can and should be selected in such a way that their impact on individuals and environmental to be minimized. Until now, different mining specialists have carried out many studies on mining method selection. Unfortunately neither of previous approaches takes into account of the environmental consideration and methodology for assessment of environmental impacts criterion. This paper discusses environmental impacts of mining operations associated with different mining methods. For this purpose, the Folchi approach was modified for environmental impact assessment which associates the mining methods inherently and developed of a procedure to assist a selecting of mining method. Firstly, the general and explanatory information about effects of mining on the environmental pollution are given in the paper. Moreover field and purposes of the study are introduced. The paper presents an environmental assessment for different mining methods. And, secondly, the impacts of each mining methods on environment are focused and discussed. Finally, some concluding remarks are made and the related applications for the mining method selection are discussed by using in a case study. As the main advantage, this new algorithm takes several environmental issues and their interaction takes into consideration for environmental assessment of a mining method selection.