Seismic Response of the Central Part of Indo-Gangetic Plain

In spite of high seismic risk, there is no numerical model of Indo-Gangetic Plain. In this paper, seismic response of the central part of Indo-Gangetic Plain, i.e., Ganga Plain is studied using a two-dimensional plane strain finite element model. Seismic source is assumed to be located beneath the Himalayas near Himalayan Frontal Thrust. Basin response is simulated for a hypothetical M_w 8.0 Himalayan earthquake. Ground motion amplification and sensitive frequency band of the basin, obtained from the numerical simulation, show that the sediment depth and epicentral distance at a site play significant role in the seismic response of the site.     

Fluid environment for preservation of pore spaces in a deep dolomite reservoir

Well TS1 reveals many uncemented pores and vugs at depths of more than 8000 m in a deep Cambrian dolomite reservoir in the Tarim Basin, northwestern China. The fluid environment and mechanism required for the preservation of reservoir spaces have yet not been well constrained. Carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotope compositions and fluid inclusion data suggest two types of fluids, meteoric water and hydrothermal fluid, affecting the Lower Paleozoic carbonate reservoirs in the Tarim Basin. Based on simulation using a thermodynamic model for H₂O‐CO₂‐NaCl‐CaCO₃ system, meteoric water has the ability to continuously dissolve carbonate minerals during downward migration from the surface to deep strata until it reaches a transition depth, below which it will begin to precipitate carbonate minerals to fill preexisting pore spaces. In contrast, hydrothermal fluid has the ability to dissolve carbonate in deep strata and precipitate carbonate in shallow strata during upward migration. Based on the dissolution–precipitation characteristics of the two types of fluids, the ideal fluid environment for the preservation of preexisting reservoir spaces occurs when carbonate reservoir is neither in the CaCO₃ precipitation domain of meteoric water nor in the CaCO₃ precipitation domain of hydrothermal fluid. Taking the Lower Paleozoic carbonate reservoirs in the north uplift area as an example, the spaces in the deep Cambrian dolomite reservoir near well TS1 were seldom filled because thick Ordovician deposits blocked meteoric water from migrating downward into the Cambrian dolomite reservoir and because the Cambrian dolomite reservoir has been in the domain of hydrothermal dissolution since the Permian. The deep carbonate layers in basins elsewhere with a similar fluid environment may have high uncemented porosity and consequently have good hydrocarbon exploration potential.     

First record of the trace fossil Protovirgularia from the Middle Permian of southeastern Gondwana (southern Sydney Basin,Australia)

LUO, M. &; SHI G.R., February 2017. First record of the trace fossil Protovirgularia from the Middle Permian of southeastern Gondwana (southern Sydney Basin, Australia). Alcheringa 0, 000–000. ISSN 0311-5518.

This study reports the first examples of well-preserved chevronate trails referable to Protovirgularia longespicata De Stefani, 1885 Stefani, DE.C., 1885. Studi paleozoologici sulle creta superiore e media dell' Apennino settentionale. Atti della Reale Accademia dea Lincei, Memorie 22, 101?134. [Google Scholar] from the early Middle Permian (Roadian) upper Wandrawandian Siltstone of the southern Sydney Basin, southeastern Australia. The highly meandering trace with closely spaced, papillate chevrons is interpreted to have been produced by the locomotion-feeding behaviour of certain protobranch bivalves in an offshore environment. The dense trails occurring on the upper bedding planes of pebbly siltstone may represent a gregarious lifestyle, where junior and senior individuals of the trace-maker bivalves coexisted while moving within sediments. The Wandrawandian Protovirgularia also represents the first known occurrence of this ichnotaxon from a glaciomarine environment in the Permian eastern Gondwana. The global record of Protovirgularia occurrences suggests that these trails had a wide environmental distribution since the Cambrian, and there is no obvious difference in the environmental distribution of Protovirgularia after the Permian?Triassic transition.

Mao Luo [m.luo@deakin.edu.au] and G.R. Shi [guang.shi@deakin.edu.au], Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, VIC 3125, Australia.     

Biostratigraphic potential of Middle Cambrian hyoliths from the eastern Georgina Basin

Fourteen hyolith taxa are documented from the Middle Cambrian (Templetonian to Floran) of the eastern (Queensland) portion of the Georgina Basin, Australia, as a contribution toward a prospective Australian Cambrian hyolith biozonation. The described fauna is from the Beetle Creek Formation (including Monastery Creek Phosphorite Member) and Gowers Formation. Additionally, the enigmatic Cupittheca and some indeterminate hyoliths are figured to illustrate aspects of hyolith morphology. Guduguwan hardmani, widespread in Ordian-early Templetonian strata of northern Australia, is here recorded from the early Templetonian of the eastern Georgina Basin. A new family Gakidae is established for sulcavitide hyolithomorphs with a conch of pentagonally tabernacular transverse section, to include Gaka, Kalkatungu gen. nov. and possibly Dorsolinevitus. New genera are the hyolithid Yalarrnga mara gen. et sp. nov., sulcavitid Kulangarra kutjurru gen. et sp. nov., gakid Kalkatungu murlu gen. et sp. nov. and angusticornid Yuku tjurtu gen. et sp. nov.; new species are Loculitheca kunka sp. nov., Carinolithes tjikilirri sp. nov., ?Sololites kankari sp. nov., ?Shandongolithes thakal sp. nov., ?Gerkella thuka sp. nov. and ?Yacutolituus rakatju sp. nov. Taxa in open nomenclature are Foersteotheca cf. dubecensis, ?Holmitheca sp. and ?Dorsojugatus sp. On present knowledge, the potential for an Australian Cambrian hyolith biozonation is limited in the Early Cambrian, but for the Middle Cambrian, G. hardmani is a widespread Ordian-early Templetonian indicator, while hyolith distribution in the Monastery Creek Phosphorite Member suggests a faunal turnover at or about the incoming of Acidusus atavus which may provide a basis for biozonation in the Floran stage.     

Pennsylvanian (Carboniferous) brachiopods from the Itaituba Formation of the Amazon Basin,Brazil

A new brachiopod fauna is described from the lower Itaituba Formation at the Caima Quarry 2 section in the Itaituba area, Amazon Basin, Brazil. The Amazonoproductus amazonensis-Anthracospirifer oliveirai Assemblage is proposed for this fauna, which is considered early Pennsylvanian (Morrowan) as constrained by associated conodont and fusulinacean faunas. Nine brachiopod taxa are described herein, including Amazonoproductus amazonensis gen. et sp. nov., and Buxtonioides itaitubensis sp. nov. and Linoproductus caima sp. nov. The new tribe Marginovatini of the Linoproductoidea (the Productida) is also proposed.     

Nogoa nom. nov., a replacement name for Cometia McLoughlin

MCLOUGHLIN, S. June 2012. Nogoa nom. nov., a replacement namefor Cometia McLoughlin. Alcheringa, 279–281. ISSN 0311-5518.

A junior homonym was detected among the Rigbyaceae (Glossopteridales). The replacement name Nogoa is here proposed for Cometia McLoughlin, 1990 McLoughlin, S. 1990c. “Palaeobotany and palaeoenvironments of Permian strata, Bowen Basin”. 312Queensland: PhD thesis, University of Queensland. (unpublished) [Google Scholar] with a single included species, Nogoa biloba (McLoughlin) comb. nov.

Stephen McLoughlin [steve.mcloughlin@nrm.se], Department of Paleobotany, Swedish Natural History Museum, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden. Received 29.9.2011, revised 10.10.2011.     

Sauropod (Saurischia: Dinosauria) material from the Early Cretaceous Griman Creek Formation of the Surat Basin,Queensland, Australia

An isolated ischium and possible neural arch recovered from the lower–middle Albian Griman Creek Formation near Surat, are the only sauropod postcranial elements from that unit in Queensland. This is the southernmost occurrence of sauropod post-cranial remains in eastern Australia. Comparison with other sauropod remains suggests that the ischium might represent an indeterminate titanosaur that is different from taxa previously named from Australia.     

Stable isotopes,diet, and taphonomy: a look at using isotope-based dietary reconstructions to infer differential survivorship in zooarchaeological assemblages

Archaeology has always faced the problem of making informed inferences based on an incomplete record. Zooarchaeological studies of prehistoric hunting and diet offer a clear case in point, where a range of behavioral and taphonomic factors can produce a substantial disconnect between what people actually captured and ate and what archaeologists recover and interpret. We explore this disconnect by presenting stable C and N data for wild faunas, archaeological maize, and three human burials from Fremont-period sites in southeastern Utah, the United States. We use these data to estimate faunal contributions to prehistoric diets and compare the results with previous zooarchaeological analyses of faunas from the same sites. Results for the two approaches differ sharply, with isotopic estimates showing much higher contributions of small and lowland game. We discuss these results in terms of both local prehistory and wider issues of taphonomy and dietary analysis.     

Asphaltum hafting and projectile point durability: an experimental comparison of three hafting methods

The design of a projectile delivery system often plays a critical role in the durability and breakage patterns associated with spent projectile points. This paper presents the results of an experimental project designed to examine projectile point durability and breakage patterns between three different hafting methods. Specifically, we compare two asphaltum hafting techniques drawn from archaeological and ethnohistoric accounts from the Central Valley of California with a more stereotypical cross-hatched sinew hafting system. Our results suggest a small yet statistically significant increase in durability among asphaltum hafted points, opening the door to future research on these ethnohistorically documented hafting techniques.     

A new damsel-dragonfly (Odonata: Anisozygoptera: Campterophlebiidae) from the earliest Jurassic of the Junggar Basin,northwestern China

Zheng, D., Wang, H., Nel, A., Dou, L., Dai, Z., Wang, B. & Zhang, H. 27 June 2019. A new damsel-dragonfly (Odonata: Anisozygoptera: Campterophlebiidae) from the earliest Jurassic of the Junggar Basin, northwestern China. Alcheringa XX, X–X. ISSN 0311-5518.

A new genus and species of campterophlebiid damsel-dragonfly, Jurassophlebia xinjiangensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Lower Jurassic Badaowan Formation in the Junggar Basin, northwestern China. Jurassophlebia differs from all other campterophlebiid genera in having PsA in the same orientation as the distal branch of AA, and in its uniquely open subdiscoidal cell with very acute apical angle in the hind wing. The new discovery adds to the Asian diversity of damsel-dragonflies in the earliest Jurassic.

Daran Zheng* [dranzheng@gmail.com], He Wang [hwang@nigpas.ac.cn], Bo Wang [bowang@nigpas.ac.cn], and Haichun Zhang [hczhang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China; André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr], Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB-UMR 7205-CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 50, Entomologie, F-75005, Paris, France; Longhui Dou [345317122@qq.com], Comprehensive Geology Exploration Team, Xinjiang Coalfield Geology Bureau, West Mountain Road, Ürümqi 830000, PR China; Zhenlong Dai [286321388@qq.com], No.9 Geological Team, Xinjiang Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Ürümqi 830011, PR China; Daran Zheng also affiliated with Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, PR China.