Pliocene Mollusca (Bivalvia,Gastropoda) from the Sørsdal Formation,Marine Plain,Vestfold Hills,East Antarctica: taxonomy and implications for Antarctic Pliocene palaeoenvironments

Quilty, P.G., Darragh, T.A., Gallagher, S.J. & Harding, L.A. July 2016. Pliocene Mollusca (Bivalvia, Gastropoda) from the Sørsdal Formation, Marine Plain, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica: taxonomy and implications for Antarctic Pliocene palaeoenvironments. Alcheringa 40, XXX–XXX. ISSN 0311-5518.

Pliocene shallow-water marine sediments at Marine Plain (centred on 68°37.7?S; 78°07.8?E) and covering approximately 10 km² in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, have yielded six species of gastropods, and 11 species of bivalves from two beds within the Sørsdal Formation. Most of the material is close to in situ but some specimens have been disturbed from their life position; there is no evidence of significant transport. The gastropods include Nacella concinna (Strebel, 1908), Falsimargarita parvispira Quilty, Darragh, Gallagher & Harding sp. nov., indeterminate species of trochids and naticids, Chlanidota (Chlanidota) sp. cf. C. signeyana Powell, 1951, and two species of Trophon/Trophonella. Bivalves include Ennucula sp. aff. E. grayi (d’Orbigny, 1846), Aequiyoldia defossata Quilty, Darragh, Gallagher & Harding, sp. nov., ‘Pectunculina’ sp., Lissarca sp., Austrochlamys anderssoni (Hennig, 1911), Ruthipecten campestris Quilty, Darragh, Gallagher & Harding sp. nov., Adamussium necopinatum Quilty, Darragh, Gallagher & Harding sp. nov., Limatula (Antarctolima) sp. cf. L. hodgsoni (Smith, 1907), Cyclocardia magna Quilty, Darragh, Gallagher & Harding sp. nov., ?Hiatella sp. cf. H. arctica (Linnaeus, 1767) and Laternula elliptica (King, 1832). Preservation varies considerably owing to recrystallization, dissolution or distortion through compaction, so several species are left in open nomenclature. Oxygen isotope data indicate that water temperature was 4–7.5°C at the time of shell growth. Many species or species groups are now extinct or have migrated away from the Antarctic to the sub-Antarctic region. An Antarctic mollusc fauna has been characteristic of the region for much of the Cenozoic.

Patrick G. Quilty [p.quilty@utas.edu.au], Discipline of Earth Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 79, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia; Thomas A. Darragh [tdarragh@museum.vic.gov.au], Museum Victoria, GPO Box 666 Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia; Stephen J. Gallagher [sjgall@unimelb.edu.au], School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; Lucy A. Harding [harding.lucy.a@edumail.vic.gov.au], School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.     

Choosing Peace and Order: National Security and Sovereignty in a North American Borderland, 1837–42

This article considers the international ramifications of the Canadian Rebellions of 1837, in particular their impact on US politics and policy-making as well as on the state of the international border. The Rebellions and the ensuing border raids led to the deployment of US and British forces in the borderlands, not in pursuit of war but in the interest of peace. Ignoring popular agitation in the Canadian colonies and in border states, the British and US governments expressed their commitment to peace and recognised that continued friendly relations required further assertion of central state authority on both sides of the boundary line. Thus, the events of 1837–42 mark an important advance in the development of national security and national sovereignty in North America. This paper expands upon purely national depictions of the Canadian Rebellions and integrates international developments by utilising a borderlands approach and traditional diplomatic history.     

Medieval Britain and Ireland in 2014

This section of the journal comprises two core sets of reports linked to work in 2014: on finds and analyses relating to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and on site-specific discoveries and reports in medieval Britain and Ireland (MB&I), with a selection of highlighted projects. For the PAS report, reviews on coin and non-coin finds and on specific research angles are presented. For MB&I, the Society is most grateful to all contributors (of field units, museums, universities, developers, specialist groups and individuals) who have provided reports on finds, excavations, field-surveys and building analyses for 2014. For MB&I, see below for the format and content of the Fieldwork Highlights section and for contact details of the compilers. The annual Specialist Groups Reports appear in the Society’s Newsletter.     

James Preston,Malting and Malthouses in Kent. Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2015. 235 × 165mm, 93 pp., b/w and col. illus. throughout. £14.99. isbn 978-1-4456-5306-8

Abstract

Beehive coking ovens had virtually monopolised coke oven design by the middle of the nineteenth century and their physical remains have been described in several recent articles. The following account identifies an alternative oven arrangement on one of the smaller and less well known British coalfields.     

Late Paleocene foraminiferal faunas with Chapmanina and Reticulophragmium from offshore southeastern Australia: a Tethyan influence

Samples from off southern New South Wales in approximately 1750 m water depth have yielded late Paleocene faunas of benthic and planktonic foraminifera and other invertebrates. Two faunal associations with a strong Tethyan influence, dominated respectively by Chapmanina conjuncta sp. nov. and Reticulophragmium naroomaensis sp. nov., are described; this is the first formal record of these genera from Australasia. The age of the host sediment is based on both benthic species and few planktonic foraminifera.

The environment at the time was warm temperate to subtropical at the southwestern extremity of a counter-clockwise Pacific Ocean gyre. The new occurrence extends the record of Palaeogene marine sediments and palaeoenvironments along the eastern margin of Australia and confirms earlier observations that conditions in the marine environment at that time were considerably warmer along the east coast of Australia than those along the southern margin; the biogeographic association was Tethyan. The circulation model may go some way to explaining coeval warmth along the east Antarctic coast.     

清乾隆红铜嵌宝石太平有象薰炉

高39、宽26．8厘米。 薰炉由器盖和炉身两部分组成,为点燃香料后投入炉中,合盖后使用。炉取分裆鼎式,口沿纹饰系规矩的云雷纹,器身饰缠枝莲纹。三足皆采用圆雕手法铸成象首形,阔耳长牙,垂鼻为鼎炉之足;面额缰绦璎珞相交处结宝相花图案,备节点镶嵌红、黄、蓝、绿、紫五色宝行。鼎炉两耳分铸后铆接,㈤为象酋形,以高扬的象鼻为鼎炉双耳。     

也谈洋彩 浅析一件乾隆佛八宝缠枝花卉纹荸荠瓶

清三代的彩瓷工艺堪称中国古代瓷器的巅峰,从康熙到乾隆朝的五彩、斗彩、珐琅彩、＂洋彩＂,都达到了历史上前所未有的高度。其中五彩和斗彩是继承和发展明代成就的结果,珐琅彩和＂洋彩＂则属于创新的釉上彩技艺,情况也,     

Is the Future of Mobility Electric? Learning from Contested Storylines of Sustainable Mobility in Iceland

Planning for sustainable mobility is a complex and demanding task and the knowledge of how to trade off multiple, often conflicting, goals is not entirely clear. One of the most contentious and confounding issues in the context of urban planning has been, and continues to be, the place of the automobile within the evolving sustainable mobility paradigm. The recent emergence of strong policy and planning support for the introduction of electric vehicles raises thorny questions as to whether or not this development will be complementary to, or conflicting with, other sustainable mobility planning goals, such as the pursuit of compact cities, restrictions on automobiles, promotion of walking and bicycling, and support for public transport. The results of a recent pilot study conducted in the Reykjavik city region suggest that a strategy of provision for electric vehicles on a large scale may represent a continuation of the dominant transport engineering approach, drawing scarce financial and institutional resources away from path-breaking measures such as the efforts to create denser development patterns and promote non-motorized and public forms of transport.