Search

The results of a palynological study of the middle Eocene-lowermost Oligocene strata of the Shagap and Landzhar outcrop sections (southern Armenia) are presented. A series of stratigraphically important dinoflagellate cyst events were recognized in the uppermost Lutetian-lowermost Rupelian parts of the sections, including the lowermost occurrences of the key-species Rhombodinium draco, Schematophora speciosa, Hemiplacophora semilunifera, Hapsocysta kysingensis, Thalassiphora? cf. rota, Rhombodinium porosum, Glaphyrocysta semitecta, Reticulatosphaera actinocoronata, Stoveracysta ornata-group and Wetzeliella gochtii. Based on the first-order calibrations with calcareous nannoplankton and foraminifers, R. draco first occurs at the Lutetian-Bartonian transition, while the lowermost occurrence of R. actinocoronata is very close to the Bartonian-Priabonian boundary. The analysis of the ratios of palynogroups and dinoflagellate eco-groups permits to interpret the environmental conditions during the accumulation of regional formations: (1) a major marine transgression started at the beginning of the Lutetian and the gradual deepening of the marine basin occurred during the middle-late Lutetian (Arpa Formation); (2) the marine transgression, accompanied by deepening, continued during the early Bartonian, but towards the end of the Bartonian slightly shallower depositional conditions were established (Azatek Formation); (3) the sea continued to gradually become shallower during the Priabonian (Urtsadzor Formation) and, finally, the maximum of regression was observed at the Eocene-Oligocene transition, ending with the establishment of brackish environments at the beginning of Rupelian (Shagap Formation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Zagros fold and thrust belt as one of the structurally complex areas have been considered chiefly only for hydrocarbon reserves, despite having other mineral deposits like the Surmeh lead and Zinc mine. This study was conducted in the Fars region, one of the structural zones in the Zagros, to detect hydrothermal alteration minerals associated with Pb–Zn mineralization and fracture distribution using ASTER, Landsat 8, and Sentinel 2 satellite imagery. Using different algorithms and approaches, we demonstrate the interesting distribution of Pb-Zn-related mineral deposits controlled by structures on different scales. These methods included the spectral band ratios and spectral angle mapping for alteration detection and manual extraction of structural lineaments (i.e. fault and fractures) from ETM+. Also, an augmented circular scanline method, along with areal sampling, was used to prepare a fracture intensity map of the area. According to the results, the intersection of NW-SE and N-S trending fracture sets are promising areas for Pb-Zn-related mineral exploration. These fracture sets are likely associated with the main Karebas tear fault and its horsetail splay terminal. The findings of this study were validated by field observation of the Pb-Zn deposit and its related mineral associations in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new ichnospecies of the ichnogenus Nummipera Hölder, 1989 has been documented in the carbonate packstone and wackestone of the Ypresian (early Eocene) Naredi Formation from the western Kutch (Kachchh) Basin, India. This new ichnospecies is distinguished from Nummipera eocenica (the existing sole ichnospecies of ichnogenus Nummipera) on the basis of the burrow orientation, taxonomy and orientation of foraminifera lining the burrow walls, and burrow filling. Nummipera saraswatii isp. nov. represents the earliest occurrence of Nummipera. It is a horizontal to gently inclined, straight to feebly curved, intermittently vertically flattened tubular burrow closed at one end, displaying circular to elliptical cross-sections, and representing three-distinct morphotypes. The analyzed specimens are characterized by walls mostly lined with unbroken and well-sorted megalospheric tests of Assilina laxispira. Burrows are characterized by active massive fill akin to the host material consisting of organic-rich muddy material and bioclasts or active concentric fill displaying a distinct outer and inner lumen, filled with organic-rich materials of different grain-sizes varying from mud to sand. Crustaceans and vermiform animals can be envisaged as the probable producers based on the distinctive morphotypes and ethological affinity. The shallow-tier N. saraswatii shows association with the deep-tier Cylindrichnus concentricus. The association manifests key features of a stressed Cruziana Ichnofacies and characterizes an Assilina bank of a proximal carbonate open shelf setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mean values of the grade of enclosure of the protoconch by the deuteroconch (Ai), the number of adauxiliary chamberlets (C), the number of annuli within 0.5 mm from the embryonic apparatus (N05) and the degree of stolonic distalization (FD5) were evaluated for several Nephrolepidina populations from the western Mediterranean. Data from two new populations were added to the various populations biometrically investigated in the last decades. The routinely employed Ai and C indexes alone seem to be not sufficient to provide biostratigraphic constraints for each Nephrolepidina chronospecies, whereas N05 appears to be dependent to the embryonic size. By including the index FD5, and thus the concept of neanic acceleration, it becomes possible to clearly separate the different chronosubspecies of Nephrolepidina from the Mediterranean bioprovince. Nephrolepidina praemarginata praemarginata is restricted to the late Rupelian SBZ22A. N. pramarginata elenamoroi n. ssp. is erected for those early Chattian (SBZ22B) populations with 32%mean<42%. N. morgani, characterised by 42%mean<50%, stands as a long-ranged species, spanning from the whole Chattian to the lowermost Aquitanian. N. tournoueri antonioi n. ssp. marks the Aquitanian (SBZ24) and is characterised by Aimean >45% and 50%mean<55%. N. tournoueri tournoueri characterises the Burdigalian (SBZ25), with Aimean>45% and FD5mean>55%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pontils fossil site (middle Eocene, Ebro Basin, Spain) includes several vertebrate-bearing levels situated in a sequence recording a continental to marine transition. Although the locality has been known since the 1980s and scarce mammal remains have been already documented, an intensive sampling has not been developed until now. This work presents the first results of the recent field campaigns carried out at this site. Seven levels have yielded significant vertebrate remains, revealing a diverse assemblage which includes chondrichthyans, actinopterygians, amphibians, crocodilians, squamates, metatherians, eulipotyphlans, apatotherians, chiropterans, rodents, artiodactyls, perissodactyls, and primates, besides other non-vertebrate fossils. The Pontils assemblage indicates a mangrove swamp environment with warm and humid conditions and increasing marine influence towards the top of the sequence. Among mammals, primates are particularly diverse, including abundant remains of a minuscule, still undetermined omomyiform, and scarce teeth of Pseudoloris, Necrolemur, and an undetermined anchomomyin. The occurrence of larger benthic foraminifera allows the assignment of Pontils to Shallow Benthic Zone 17 (Bartonian), solving the debate about the age of the locality, previously assigned either to the Bartonian or the Lutetian. These data, together with previous magnetostratigraphic analyses, allow correlation to chrons C18r or C18n.1r, constraining the age of Pontils to between 39.58 and 41 Ma. Therefore, the Pontils site represents a new reference section for the correlation of marine and continental biostratigraphy during the middle Eocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed geological map of the Les Avellanes salt Diapir (South-Central Pyrenees, Spain) that includes both the diapir body and adjacent areas is presented to understand the diapir evolution and geometry. Structural, stratigraphical, and sedimentary data north and south of the diapir is used to infer the timing of its emplacement. The northern diapir boundary is characterized by a set of extensional faults oblique to the main Pyrenean trend, while the southern boundary is an extrusive salt sheet that overlays the late Eocene-early Oligocene sequence in three adjacent sub-basins. Salt extrusion occurred due to synorogenic folding. The topography created as salt extruded trapped the arrival of external sediments from the north, blocking the transport pathways southward. Low sedimentation rates southwards allowed for the lateral salt extrusion, advancing southwards from the feeder. The salt sheet emplacement was postdated by Oligocene conglomerates, indicating that the salt extrusion was a relatively quick event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is the construction of computerized 3D visualization of geological structures. Several Python applications have been used to adapt the paper map-based geological classical information to numerical geological maps represented in HTML files. The models include a map with the stratigraphic and structural contacts and symbols, five serial vertical sections, and a geological block diagram, all with real topography. This block diagram made with 2D figures allows a 3D visualization. Palomeque area (Murcia region, southeastern Spain) has been used as a key-case. This area consists of a deformed Upper Cretaceous to Oligocene succession belonging to the Internal Zone Malaguide Complex. The main structure consists of two thrust-fold sheets forming an imbricate system, also affected by a set of strike-slip faults with a sinistral regime. The constructed maps show a good agreement with the published classical geological maps and cross-sections demonstrating the benefits of using these Python applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Călata site (north-west of Transilvanian Basin, Romania) includes the Ciuleni Member of the middle Eocene-age Mortănușa Formation, a marine deposit in an outer, open marine facies, from where fossil vertebrates were very poorly known. In the last four years, nearly 150 remains of fish (mostly teeth) were recovered from the Călata site. We identified 21 taxa representing 20 genera that belong to 12 orders of chondrichthys and teleostei fishes. This study is the first to report Rostroraja and Palaeocybium from Romania, and we report seven additional genera from the Bartonian of Romania for the first time. We performed analysis of calcareous nannoplankton and foraminifera which allowed us to refine the age of the deposits and corroborate palaeoecological data. The combined data from the microfossils and fishes document the first middle-late Bartonian (NP17) marine fish fauna from Romania. This fauna was deposited in tropical waters with relatively shallow depths and with increased terrigenous input from a probable close-by shoreline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite belonging to an important time slice in the geological history, the Eocene shallow-marine beds of the Alborz region in Iran have received little attention from researchers. We selected two stratigraphic sections (Mojen and Kalateh) ascribed to the Ziarat Formation as suitable representatives for the current analysis, emphasising on their constituent microfacies and paleoenvironmental implications. The biotic communities are characterised by larger benthic foraminifera (LBF), coralline algae, corals, and bivalves as the major carbonate facies components. The microfacies gradients and paleoenvironmental analysis suggest deposition in a shallow-marine oligotrophic ramp environment within two platform stages. Both these stages indicate an increase in water depth from the inner to the middle ramp settings with spatial distribution of the LBF and other benthic components. Our data support the previous view that the early Eocene witnessed an increase in LBF taxa with near obliteration of the coral reefs in the sedimentary platforms across the Tethys. The corals reinitiated building reefal structures in the Middle Eocene, marking an important phase in the Tethyan paleoenvironmental evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(Carsey) represents a middle-lower upper Albian orbitolinid marker taxon, endemic to the American-Caribbean realm (Gulf Coast area, Mexico, Venezuela). The species has a number of features incompatible with Dictyoconus Blanckenhorn, namely the presence of a simple and slightly eccentric embryo instead of an initial spire with an embryo that may be septulated, lack of marginal apertures, and a rather simple exoskeleton. Based on the combination of these characteristics, the new genus Carseyella is herein established with the new combination Carseyella walnutensis (Carsey). The upper Aptian Carseyella algeriana (Cherchi & Schroeder) comb. nov. is considered a more primitive representative due to the lack of horizontal partitions in the marginal zone. Dictyoconus once used as a catch-all term for various larger foraminifera of Jurassic to Palaeogene age is now removed from the Early Cretaceous and restricted to the Maastrichtian – Palaeogene. The phylogenetic relationship of the Maastrichtian (D. bakhtiari Schlagintweit, Rashidi & Babadipour) and the Eocene species [e.g., D. egyptiensis (Chapman), D. indicus Davies] requires further clarification. This once commonly used generic name can now be used in a much more precise and stratigraphically restricted sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphometric analysis of the marginal spiral outline of Heterostegina populations belonging to the ocalana-matteuccii lineage reveals that it fully fit with a logarithmic spiral identified by two variables: the initial radius (IRex) and the radius increase (Rinc). Spirals tend to become more looser through time as observable also in well-known Mediterranean lineages. Rinc tends to increase along a phyletic line leading to the definition of a trend of neanic acceleration in Heterostegina, defined as the tendency of the marginal spiral to become looser. Ecophenotypical variations, with high value of Rinc in respect to coeval populations, may occur as for other routinely employed biometric values for nummulitids, but the investigated populations can be well-constrained in a Rinc-X bivariate plot, where X indicates the number of undivided chambers. The spiral outline, going looser, seems to tend become a golden spiral, a spiral defined by value of Rinc of 0.306, leading to a recognition of golden selection in Heterostegininae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The upper Palaeocene shallow-water carbonates of the Qorban member (Sachun Formation) in Iran are characterised by a well-diversified larger Foraminifera and green algae assemblages. A new ornatorotaliid species, Ornatorotalia pila n. sp., is described from such deposits. The age of the new taxon is assigned to SBZ4 (late Thanetian) by the co-occurrence of Daviesina langhami, Idalina sinjarica, Lockartia retiata and Dictyokathina simplex. This new record gives further evidences on the biogeographic expansion of throughout the Neo-Tethys during the Palaeocene-early Eocene. Ornatorotaliids were shallow-water dwellers taxa that thrived in both vegetated and unvegetated bottoms. Possibly, Ornatorotalia pila n. sp. rooted in the Selandian, likely related to a possible ancestor described in open nomenclature from the Central Apennines of Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The upper Maastrichtian Tarbur Formation of the Zagros Zone, SW Iran, contains a rich assemblage of larger benthic Foraminifera including agglutinating, porcelaneous, and lamellar-perforate taxa. The occurrence of such a diversified foraminiferal fauna represents a prominent high diversity that took place in the Arabian platform during the latest Cretaceous. Several new species have been reported in the past decades from these carbonates, whereas many others have been described in recent times. However, the list of unknown taxa is still far from being complete. In the present contribution, we describe a new taxon referred to the miliolid genus Idalina. Idalina praecaenozoica n. sp. displays the typical basal layer that characterises the genus, whereas it differs from the other well-known Cretaceous and Paleogene allies by some morphometrical parameters. Compared to the dispersal of other Maastrichtian larger Foraminifera, the paleogeographic distribution of Cretaceous Idalina appears less extensive. Pseudonummoloculina kalantarii, another characteristic miliolid from the Tarbur Fm. is here figured with poorly known axial sections. The latest representative of the Siderolitidae, the late Maastrichtian marker taxon Canalispina iapygia is here reported as well. All such taxa give further evidence to the enhanced biogeographic radiation especially in this area before the K-Pg boundary extinction event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diverse Eocene charophyte flora from a section at Gánt (Vértes Hills), Transdanubian Central Range, north-western Hungary, provides significant new information building on previous studies based only on sub-surface data published from the mid-twentieth century. This newly acquired material facilitates the taxonomic revision and emendation of the species Raskyella peckii and thereby defines a new anagenetic lineage based on three successive varieties that were formerly considered as separate species or subspecies: Raskyella peckii var. peckii (early Lutetian–early Bartonian), Raskyella peckii var. caliciformis (early Bartonian), and Raskyella peckii var. vadaszii (late Bartonian). Based on this lineage, we propose a new local charophyte biozonation that consists of a 'Raskyella peckii Superzone' (Lutetian–Bartonian), sub-divided into three successive charophyte partial range zones: the 'Raskyella peckii peckii Zone' (Lutetian–lower-most Bartonian) characterized by an assemblage of R. peckii peckii, Gyrogona caelata forma caelata, G. caelata forma monolifera and Nitellopsis (Tectochara) aff. palaeohungarica, the 'Raskyella peckii caliciformis Zone' (lower Bartonian) characterized by the assemblage of R. peckii var. caliciformis, G. caelata forma caelata, G. caelata forma monolifera, G. caelata forma baccata, Nitellopsis (Tectochara) aff. palaeohungarica and Chara media, and the 'Raskyella peckii vadaszii Zone' (upper Bartonian) characterized by R. peckii var. vadaszii, G. caelata forma bicincta, G. caelata forma baccata, G. caelata forma fasciata, G. tuberosa, Psilochara polita, Psilochara sp., Chara media and Chara subcylindrica. Future research may show the new local biozonation as applicable to the whole of Europe and complementary to the current European charophyte biozonation. Our results show that the sequences from Gánt, which were previously regarded as upper mid-Eocene (upper Lutetian–lower Bartonian) in age, appear to represent a longer chronostratigraphic interval: lower Lutetian to upper Bartonian. Our chronostratigraphic results imply a longer and more stepwise Eocene major transgression in the Transdanubian Central Range than previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biostratigraphic information from the last remnants of the Tethys Seaway in northern Pakistan was used to date the cessation of marine sedimentation as a result of the closure of the eastern Tethys Seaway and to give a minimum time for the India–Asia collision. The current detailed biostratigraphic investigations of the Eocene Kohat Formation in the Kohat Basin divulged that the rock unit in the study area contains age-diagnostic larger benthic foraminiferal (LBF) species of middle Eocene age. Based on the association of identified LBF species, two local biozones, i.e. PKBZ 1 and PKBZ 2, are documented and are comparable with published SBZ 13 and SBZ 14 zones, suggesting an early to middle Lutetian age of the rock unit. The integration of current biostratigraphic information of the Kohat Basin with detailed literature on other basins suggests that the closure of the eastern Tethys Seaway in Pakistan occurred in four stages: (i) closure of the northwestern Kohat region during the early Ypresian (55.9–55 Ma), (ii) followed by the closure in the Potwar region, apart from its northwestern domain, during the middle to late Ypresian (54–49.9 Ma), (iii) closure of the Tethys Seaway in the Hazara–Kashmir and northwestern Potwar regions during the early Lutetian (49–45.8 Ma) and (iv) the final stage of Tethys closure has occurred in the Kohat region during the middle Lutetian 1 (45.8–43.6 Ma). The biostratigraphic information in the current study suggests that the final stage of eastern Tethys closure in northern Pakistan occurred at 45.8–43.6 Ma, and thus it gives a minimum age for the India–Asia collision. Such diachroneity can be observed elsewhere in the eastern Tethys, including Iran, Nepal, Bangladesh, Turkey and Tibet. The closure started first in eastern Tethys, continued in both eastern and western Tethys, and was finally completed in eastern Tethys. Biostratigraphic investigations of the youngest marine remnants of the Kohat Basin, northern Pakistan, show an early Lutetian to middle Lutetian 1 age. The current results, augmented by published data, suggest diachroneity in the closure of Tethys Seaway in northern Pakistan. The diachroneity in the closure of Tethys Seaway also exists in southern Pakistan, Iran, Nepal, Bangladesh, Turkey and Tibet. The closure initiated first in eastern Tethys, continued in eastern and western Tethys, and was finally completed in eastern Tethys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lophiodontidae are endemic perissodactyls from Europe that flourished during the Eocene. Despite their preponderance in the European fossil record, their exact origin and relationships within the perissodactyls remain unknown due to the rare and fragmentary material in the early Ypresian, the time of their earliest radiation. Lophiaspis maurettei is the oldest and earliest diverging lophiodontid known to date but is unfortunately poorly known. We describe here the results of new excavations of the type locality of Palette. Important new material including complete skulls, mandibles, post-cranial elements and juvenile specimens lead us to revise Lophiaspis maurettei from Palette and other localities and to describe novel morphology for this species. According to an original phylogenetic analysis, based on a revised matrix of dental, cranio-mandibular and postcranial characters, Ls. maurettei is an early diverging lophiodontid morphologically close to Protomoropus and Paleomoropus, two basal chalicotheres, known from Asia and North America, respectively. Our resulting topology does not support the previously proposed inclusion of the lophiodontids within the Ceratomorpha and supports a position within the suborder Ancylopoda, close to some Eomoropidae representatives. These results imply that Ls. maurettei was restricted to Southern Europe during the early Eocene, which would be compatible with an Asian origin for lophiodontids in accordance with the evolutionary history of other perissodactyls and placental mammals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Santo Domingo-Salinas ranges represent a unique Natural Area in the south-central Pyrenees, and they were declarationas a Protected Landscape in 2015. Available biological and geological knowledge is extensive but lacks of information on groundwater quality. In this work we provide new hydrogeological results and integrate them with previously available hydrogeological data. To do so, we have: (i) compiled existing hydrogeological information, (ii) exhaustively developed an inventory of water points, (iii) sampled, analyzed and interpreted the hydrochemical facies detected, and (iv) developed a preliminary conceptual model for the hydrogeological functioning of the area. These information has been integrated in an map that displays the chemical analyses of the two new campaigns (Stiff diagrams), the flow rates and the three aquifer systems defined. This new information improves and synthetizes the knowledge of the hidrogeology of the Santo Domingo-Salinas ranges Protected Landscape and it will help in its future management and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ichnospecies Nummipera eocenica occurs in thick-bedded, tabular bioclastic massive sandstone of the upper Eocene San Jacinto Formation in the San Jacinto Fold Belt Basin, Colombia. Nummipera eocenica is a vertical to oblique burrow locally displaying a conical shape. The lining structure of the specimens studied consists of uniformly distributed lepidocyclinids and operculinids, with tests typically dipping towards the burrow wall, and well-compacted lining. The burrow infill is identical to the host rock, a bioclastic sandstone with abundant bivalve fragments. The diagnosis of Nummipera is emended to include as components of burrow lining all representatives of the Subclass Rotaliana characterized by being lenticular to discoidal in shape. In the San Jacinto Formation, Nummipera eocenica is present in the transition between deltaic mouth-bar and carbonate platform deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anatomy of Cambaytherium, a primitive, perissodactyl-like mammal from the lower Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of Gujarat, India, is described in detail on the basis of more than 350 specimens that represent almost the entire dentition and the skeleton. Cambaytherium combines plesiomorphic traits typical of archaic ungulates such as phenacodontids with derived traits characteristic of early perissodactyls. Cambaytherium was a subcursorial animal better adapted for running than phenacodontids but less specialized than early perissodactyls. The cheek teeth are bunodont with large upper molar conules, not lophodont as in early perissodactyls; like perissodactyls, however, the lower molars have twinned metaconids and m3 has an extended hypoconulid lobe. A steep wear gradient with heavy wear in the middle of the tooth row suggests an abrasive herbivorous diet. Three species of Cambaytherium are recognized: C. thewissi (∼23 kg), C. gracilis (∼10 kg), and C. marinus (∼99 kg). Body masses were estimated from tooth size and long bone dimensions. Biostratigraphic and isotopic evidence indicates an age of ca. 54.5 Ma for the Cambay Shale vertebrate fauna, the oldest Cenozoic continental vertebrate assemblage from India, near or prior to the initial collision with Asia. Cambaytheriidae (also including Nakusia and Perissobune) and Anthracobunidae are sister taxa, constituting the clade Anthracobunia, which is sister to Perissodactyla. We unite them in a new higher taxon, Perissodactylamorpha. The antiquity and occurrence of Cambaytherium—the most primitive known perissodactylamorph—in India near or before its collision with Asia suggest that Perissodactyla evolved during the Paleocene on the Indian Plate or in peripheral areas of southern or southwestern Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present new species of an enigmatic family of mammals, which is endemic to Europe, the Paroxyclaenidae: Merialus bruneti sp. nov., Fratrodon tresvauxi gen. et sp. nov., Paraspaniella gunnelli gen. et sp. nov., and Sororodon tresvauxae gen. et sp. nov. The fossils described come from six localities of the Ypresian of the Paris Basin (France): Pourcy (MP7), Mutigny, Avenay, Condé-en-Brie (MP8 + 9), Grauves and Prémontré (MP10). They allow the description of three new genera and four new species belonging to the subfamilies Merialinae and Paroxyclaeninae. Two of these new species represent the earliest occurrence of each subfamily. Fossils from Mutigny, Avenay and Condé-en-Brie indicate that merialines were more abundant than paroxyclaenines during the Ypresian. Surprisingly, merialines disappeared from the fossil record at the end of the Ypresian – the youngest records are close to MP10 – while the paroxyclaenines were present in Europe until the end of the middle Eocene. Based on comparison with the data presently available for European mammals during the Ypresian, we suggest the existence of two periods of faunal turnover that must be more extensively studied in the future in order to be fully characterized: the 'Intra-Ypresian Mammal Turnover' and the 'Ypresian–Lutetian Mammal Turnover'. Finally, because the oldest paroxyclaenids appear morphologically closer to cimolestids such as Procerberus than to pantolestans, it is suggested that similarities between paroxyclaenids and pantolestans could be due to convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paleocene orthophragminids from the American bioprovince were studied from the Nonsuch Formation in Jamaica and the Salt Mountain Limestone in Alabama, the latter being the type locality of Discocyclina blanpiedi (Vaughan) and Discocyclina cookei (Vaughan). Species traditionally assigned to Athecocyclina Vaughan, Neodiscocyclina Caudri and Hexagonocyclina Caudri are redescribed and a new systematic classification of American orthophragminids is proposed based on the newly discovered microspheric forms of Paleocene species of Hexagonocyclina and Neodiscocyclina and Eocene Stenocyclina Caudri. Hexagonocyclina, questionably placed in Orbitoclypeidae Brönnimann in previous works, possesses an orbitoclypeid-type microspheric juvenarium justifying its placement in this family, whereas Stenocyclina and Pseudophragmina are transferred to Discocyclinidae Galloway after identifying the discocyclinid-type microspheric juvenarium. The genus Proporocyclina Vaughan & Cole is considered invalid and is assigned to Pseudophragmina. The genus Neodiscocyclina Caudri, possessing an orbitoclypeid-type juvenarium, is interpreted as a junior synonym of Orbitoclypeus Silvestri, a genus widely occurring in the Tethys. Athecocyclina has a typical discocyclinid-type microspheric juvenarium and is characterized by the development of immature radial subdivisions in the annular chambers, which never form complete septula. An evolutionary lineage for Orbitoclypeus weaveri consisting of O. weaveri blanpiedi and O. weaveri weaver is established for the first time herein. The Hexagonocyclina cristensis lineage, consisting of H. cristensis cristensis and H. cristensis meandrica, and the Athecocyclina stephensoni lineage, consisting of A. stephensoni macglameriae and A. stephensoni stephensoni, are provisionally suggested based on the morphometry and early chamber arrangement of megalospheric forms. The superposition of the two subspecies in the Orbitoclypeus weaveri lineage is shown from the Salt Mountain Limestone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anatomy of Cambaytherium, a primitive, perissodactyl-like mammal from the lower Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of Gujarat, India, is described in detail on the basis of more than 350 specimens that represent almost the entire dentition and the skeleton. Cambaytherium combines plesiomorphic traits typical of archaic ungulates such as phenacodontids with derived traits characteristic of early perissodactyls. Cambaytherium was a subcursorial animal better adapted for running than phenacodontids but less specialized than early perissodactyls. The cheek teeth are bunodont with large upper molar conules, not lophodont as in early perissodactyls; like perissodactyls, however, the lower molars have twinned metaconids and m3 has an extended hypoconulid lobe. A steep wear gradient with heavy wear in the middle of the tooth row suggests an abrasive herbivorous diet. Three species of Cambaytherium are recognized: C. thewissi (∼23 kg), C. gracilis (∼10 kg), and C. marinus (∼99 kg). Body masses were estimated from tooth size and long bone dimensions. Biostratigraphic and isotopic evidence indicates an age of ca. 54.5 Ma for the Cambay Shale vertebrate fauna, the oldest Cenozoic continental vertebrate assemblage from India, near or prior to the initial collision with Asia. Cambaytheriidae (also including Nakusia and Perissobune) and Anthracobunidae are sister taxa, constituting the clade Anthracobunia, which is sister to Perissodactyla. We unite them in a new higher taxon, Perissodactylamorpha. The antiquity and occurrence of Cambaytherium—the most primitive known perissodactylamorph—in India near or before its collision with Asia suggest that Perissodactyla evolved during the Paleocene on the Indian Plate or in peripheral areas of southern or southwestern Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-five genera and 32 species of Eocene shallow-marine ostracods from Madagascar were examined for taxonomy and palaeobiogeography. Eight new species – Paijenborchellina madagascarensis sp. nov., Neocyprideis polygonoreticulata sp. nov., Alciella irizukii sp. nov., Neomonoceratina afroangulosa sp. nov., Muellerina eocenica sp. nov., Stigmatobradleya hunti gen. et sp. nov., Uroleberis paranuda sp. nov., Xestoleberis renemai sp. nov. – and one new genus – Stigmatobradleya gen. nov. – are described. Eocene Malagasy ostracods showed a strong affinity to the Eocene East Tethyan fauna in Arab-Africa and Indo-Pakistan. They also showed certain affinity to the Eocene West Tethyan fauna in Europe. One species, Pokornyella lamarckiana sensu lato, showed a very wide Eocene geographical distribution, covering Europe, Indo-Pakistan, Arab-Africa, Japan and perhaps North America. These results indicate that the East African, Arabian, and Indo-Pakistan regions constitute the East Tethyan palaeobiogeographical sub-realm, with considerable faunal similarity found across the regions. This sub-realm extends to south-eastern Africa in the south and is a part of the broader Tethyan palaeobiogeographical realm with certain, but less, palaeobiogeographical similarity. The spatial extent of the Tethys palaobiogeographical realm sensu lato includes Asia-Oceania in the east and eastern America in the west. Based on our results, we suggest a need to update the scheme of global ostracod biogeographical division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Megalospheric specimens of Nummulitidae from eight localities in western and central Cuba were morphometrically investigated using test characters described by 11 growth-independent and growth-invariant attributes that provide a complete geometric reconstruction of nummulitid equatorial morphology. The species Nummulites striatoreticulatus, Palaeonummulites trinitatensis, Operculinoides floridensis and O. soldadensis were classified by an agglomerative cluster analysis. Discriminant analysis yielded significant morphological separators between the species such as the backbend angle, marginal radius increase, perimeter ratio and first chamber length. The transition of tightness to laxity of the spiral was an important morphological separator at the generic level, representing a clear general trend coupled with the change in palaeodepth. Based on further discriminant analysis, an increase in proloculus size was detected in Nummulites striatoreticulatus from the middle Eocene to early late Eocene, supporting this important evolutionary pattern in many lineages of Nummulites. Operculinid forms showed an opposite and more weakly pronounced time-dependent trend in the size decrease of the proloculus. In the Cuban localities, Nummulites striatoreticulatus occurs from the Lutetian to Priabonian, while Palaeonummulites trinitatensis is restricted to the Bartonian to Priabonian. The moderately to loosely coiled operculinid taxa O. floridensis and O. soldadensis have longer stratigraphical ranges from the middle Eocene to probably the early Oligocene. Operculinoides floridensis and O. soldadensis show a broader variability in marginal radius increase, and thus probably occupied wider niches than N. striatoreticulatus. The latter seems to be restricted to the shelf edge and to the shallowest parts of the upper slope. A possible phylogenetic connection between Heterostegina and Operculinoides is suggested by the closest equatorial morphology of Heterostegina sp. indet. to tightly coiled forms of Operculinoides floridensis. Discriminant analysis documents the strongest similarities in perimeter ratio, backbend angle, initial marginal radius and proloculus mean diameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orthophragminids from the Bartonian Fulra Limestone in Kutch, India and the coeval units in Sulaiman Range in Pakistan suggest the establishment of a significant number of endemic species in the Indian subcontinent (Eastern Tethys). Among a total of fifteen species of Discocyclina, Orbitoclypeus and Asterocyclina, six of them appear to be confined to Indian subcontinent while seven species are common both to the peri-Mediterranean/Europe region (Western Tethys) and Indian subcontinent. Two species, Asterocyclina sireli, a four-ribbed species of possibly Indo-Pacific origin, and Orbitoclypeus haynesi that form large populations in Fulra Limestone, appear to have spread into North Africa and Turkey but not into European platforms as a response to Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO). The lack of Lutetian and Priabonian fauna in the studied sections, either due to a hiatus or unsuitable depositional environments, hampers the establishment of the actual stratigraphic ranges of the identified taxa. Our record provides us to characterize the orthophragminids in shallow benthic zone (SBZ) 17 for Eastern Tethys in detail by comparing the data from the above localities with those from the North Africa, Europe and Turkey, showing the change in diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its intermediate geographical position between the Mediterranean and W Pacific, the Oligocene shallow-marine sequence of Kutch (India) is of key importance in paleobiogeographical interpretations. Larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) are a fundamental link for the correlation between the Mediterranean shallow benthic zones (SBZ) and the W Pacific 'letter stages'. LBF were re-evaluated by morphometric studies of the internal test from five stratigraphic sections of the Maniyara Fort Formation. Based on their significant affinity to coeval fauna in the Mediterranean, they were assigned to W Tethyan SBZ zones, supported by Sr-isotope stratigraphy. In the Basal Member, traditionally considered as early Rupelian, we identified Nummulites bormidiensis, N. kecskemetii and Heterostegina assilinoides assigning it to the early Chattian SBZ 22B Zone. The Coral Limestone Member, previously considered as late Rupelian, is also assigned to this zone, for the presence of N. bormidiensis, Eulepidina formosoides-dilatata and Nephrolepidina morgani-praemarginata. Its early Chattian age (26.5-29 Ma) is further supported by Sr-isotope data. Miogypsinoides complanatus and Spiroclypeus margaritatus in the Bermoti Member (the top of the formation) document the late Chattian SBZ 23 Zone and the Sr-isotope data (22.5-24 Ma) place it close to the Oligocene-Miocene boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paleogene sections of Kutch are the reference for the regional chronostratigraphic units of India. The ages of these dominantly shallow marine carbonates are mainly based on larger benthic foraminifera (LBF). The taxonomic revisions of the LBF and the progressively refined shallow benthic zonations (SBZ) have necessitated the present study on updating the stratigraphy of the area. The sedimentation in Kutch commenced with the deposition of volcaniclastics in terrestrial environments in the Paleocene. The marine transgression in SBZ 5/6 deposited finer clastics and carbonates, designated as Naredi Formation, in early Eocene. There is no evidence of marine Paleocene in Kutch. A major hiatus spanning SBZ 12 to SBZ 16 was followed by the development of a carbonate platform and deposition of Harudi Formation - Fulra Limestone during the Bartonian, SBZ 17. The hiatus corresponds to a widespread stratigraphic break in Pakistan and India to Australia, referred as the 'Lutetian Gap.' The Maniyara Fort Formation is assigned to SBZ 22 B and SBZ 23, and its age is revised to Chattian. Climate played a major role in building up of the Paleogene stratigraphic succession of Kutch, the carbonates formed during the warming intervals and the stratigraphic gaps were in the intervening cooling periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pirkoh and Drazinda formations in the Sulaiman Range, central Pakistan, yielded assemblages of (early) Bartonian orthophragminids, characterized predominantly by discocyclinids with a significant number of species probably endemic to Indian Subcontinent. The rarity of Asterocyclina and the absence of Orbitoclypeus and Nemkovella are noteworthy. Ten species of Discocyclina Gümbel and two species of Asterocyclina Gümbel, referable to the Shallow Benthics Zone (SBZ) 17 are described for the first time from Pakistan. The discocyclinids, i.e. Discocyclina praeomphalus, D. sulaimanensis, D. kutchensis, along with the new taxa established here, D. zindapirensis sp. nov., D. rakhinalaensis sp. nov., and D. pseudodispansa sp. nov., seem to be confined to the Indo-Pakistani region (Eastern Tethys). The Discocyclina dispansa, D. discus, D. nandori, and D. augustae lineages known from Western Tethys are also common in the Indian Subcontinent, as are asterocyclinids, such as Asterocyclina sireli and A. stellata. The upper part of the Drazinda Formation ('Pellatispira beds'), referable to latest Bartonian and/or the early Priabonian, is poor in orthophragminids and is characterized by the occurrence of reticulate Nummulites, Heterostegina, Pellatispira and Silvestriella. The records of 'Lepidocyclina of Caribbean affinity' with large embryons from the Eocene of the Indian Subcontinent correspond to misidentified Discocyclina discus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excellently preserved natural casts of sponge borings Entobia Bronn from the Early Eocene rocks of the Kachchh basin, India are reported for the first time. The entobian bioerosion is represented by four ichnospecies viz., Entobia cateniformis, E. geometrica, E. ovula, and E. paradoxa. Molds and casts of bivalves belonging to family Carditidae served as substrate for these sponge borings. The relation between mode of preservation of the natural casts, sea water chemistry, and time of emplacement of borings is discussed. The bored bioclasts are associated with Schaubcylindrichnus, Thalassinoides, and Rhizocorallium. This study indicates that the sediments of Assilina Limestone Member were deposited in turbidity-free, shallow water with nil or low rates of sedimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two charophyte lineages from the Upper Cretaceous-Palaeocene of southern Europe are described here, constituting a useful biostratigraphic tool for correlating non-marine stratigraphic sequences. The Peckichara pectinata lineage, ranging from the middle Campanian to the middle-upper Maastrichtian, consists of four successive gyrogonite morphotypes that displayed progressively more complex gyrogonite ornamentation and increasingly smaller gyrogonites with time. The Peckichara sertulata lineage, ranging from the middle Campanian to the Danian, consists of three morphotypes that followed a more common evolutionary trend, developing progressively larger gyrogonites without any changes in ornamentation. Intermediate forms between the successive morphotypes suggest that they corresponded to anagenetic varieties of the same evolutionary species rather than to separate species. The different trends observed appear to be palaeoenvironmentally controlled. The grades of the P. pectinata lineage first occurred in permanent lakes that later shifted to fluvial influenced floodplain ponds, this shift accounting for the reduction in gyrogonite size. By contrast, the P. sertulata lineage mainly occurred in permanent lakes, where stable palaeoenvironmental conditions enabled a steady rise in gyrogonite size to increase the space available for the zygote. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systematics and phylogenetic relations of the Oligocene species of Heterostegina (Nummulitidae) are poorly known compared to those of Eocene and Miocene species. The new species Heterostegina matteuccii sp. nov., characterized by the combination of an advanced nepionic stage (i.e. very few operculine chambers) and a relatively small proloculus, is here described from the lower Oligocene Caltavuturo Formation of Portella Colla (Madonie Mts, Sicily, Italy). The same species is recorded also in the 'Calcaire àa astéeries' Formation of Illats (Northern Aquitaine, near Bordeaux, France). Biometrically, H. matteuccii sp. nov. does not fit within any known Neo-Tethyan lineage of Heterostegina from the Eocene to the Miocene, and hence is considered to be a member of a distinct phyletic lineage. The advanced nepionic stage of H. matteuccii sp. nov., however, calls for the existence of predecessors. The Priabonian (and possibly also earliest Oligocene) H. ocalana Cushman, 1921 from the American-Caribbean realm is here interpreted as the most probable ancestral form for the H. matteuccii lineage. Thus, an early Oligocene eastward transatlantic migration of this lineage may be inferred. New results of strontium isotope stratigraphy from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean are consistent with this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exhaustive sampling of the Cenomanian deposits corresponding to the Natih Formation in the Oman Mountains has been carried out in several field trips. The larger foraminifera representatives of the superfamily Alveolinoidea Ehrenberg, 1839 found in the collected material have been studied in order to more precisely identify and constrain their stratigraphical distribution. The following new taxa are introduced: Decastroinae subfam. nov., Praealveolininae subfam. nov.,Reicheliagen. nov.,R. magnasp. nov.,Decastoria serrakielisp. nov.,D. oblongasp. nov.,D. miaidinensissp. nov.,Praealveolina arabicasp. nov. andP. acutasp. nov. Other simpler alveolinoids, such asSimplalveolinagr.simplex, have been found together with these forms. The alveolinoids have been found in four successive assemblages. Assemblage I containsAlveocella wernliana,Myriastyla omanensis,M. grelaudaeandCisalveolina nakharensis; assemblage II containsDecastroia serrakielisp. nov. andSimplalveolinagr.simplex; assemblage III containsD. razini,D. oblongasp. nov.,Reichelia magnagen. et sp. nov.,D. miaidinensissp. nov. andSimplalveolinagr.simplex; and assemblage IV, which is only found in Wadi Mi'Aidin, contains abundantD. miaidinensissp. nov.,Praealveolina arabicasp. nov. andP. acutasp. nov. The age attributed to assemblage I is lowermost Middle Cenomanian, the age of assemblages II and III is Middle Cenomanian, and assemblage IV is interpreted as Middle Cenomanian to early Late Cenomanian. From a phylogenetic point of view, alveolinoids diversified and evolved in two successive episodes: a lower maturation cycle, corresponding to assemblage I, and an upper cycle, corresponding to assemblages II to IV. Cenomanian alveolinoids are more abundant and diverse than was previously thought and it seems that they split and evolved in parallel lineages, probably from unknown simple alveolinoids of milioline origin. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B7A96EE3-BEF7-49E9-A3E0-9FE6094FB0A2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shallow marine carbonates of Kutch temporally correspond to the globally recognised warming period called Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) that extended from later part of planktic foraminiferal zone E11 to E12 and Shallow Benthic Zone (SBZ) 17. The present study aims to investigate how foraminifera responded ecologically to the warming event. It involves identification and distribution of foraminifera, and cluster and detrended correspondence analyses of the species distribution data. Selected samples across E11 and E12 were analysed for carbon isotopes. The major conclusions are: (i) bloom ofJenkinsina columbianain zone E11, possibly marking the initiation of warming in a shallow, eutrophic sea, (ii) increased foraminiferal diversity, appearance ofOrbulinoides beckmanniandAcarininaand a sharp rise in the sea level in the early part of E12 (iii) significant jump in diversity and abundance of larger benthic foraminifera in E12, signifying warm, clear-water oligotrophic seas, promoting the formation of platform carbonates, (iv) MECO does not seem to have adversely impacted the foraminifera in shallow seas, and larger benthic foraminifera were rather ultimately superior in their diversity, abundance, size and latitudinal distribution and (v) δ13C excursions up to 1.5 ‰ are noted in the upper parts of E11 and lower parts of E12. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a geological map and cross-section of the Falcón Basin based both on published and unpublished work and on new data collected in the northern and southern basin margins. The geological map covers an area of 4600 km2at 1:100,000 scale. The cross-section is oriented NNW-SSE, traversing perpendicular to the main structures. In general, the structure of the study area results from the inversion of a graben (Oligocene-early Miocene back-arc basin), that started in the middle Miocene due to the convergence between the Caribbean and South American plates. The map, the cross-section and the observations made in the field have been used to generate a tectonostratigraphic reconstruction of the Falcón Basin. The Oligocene-early Miocene sedimentary succession mapped and described is relevant to the hydrocarbon exploration in the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Venezuela, where new hydrocarbon resources have recently been discovered (i.e. Perla gas field). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ReticulateNummulitesare a widespread and distinctive group ofNummulites, frequently used in biostratigraphy, but their evolution is poorly understood. Studies from the Western Tethys suggest they form a single lineage, theNummulites fabianiilineage, with an increasing proloculus size over time. This has led to their use as one of the diagnostic taxa for larger benthic foraminiferal biostratigraphy. However, outside of this region, additional taxa have been recorded. The most widely discussed example isNummulites ptukhiani, which was described from Armenia, whose morphology does not fit with theN. fabianiilineage. This raises the question whether reticulateNummulitesare monophyletic, or the result of multiple independent convergent evolutionary lineages. Here we present data from three newly identified populations of Lutetian to Bartonian reticulateNummulitesfrom the stratigraphically well-constrained Tanzania Drilling Project records, which shed new light on the ancestry of these aberrant forms. These populations are characterized by extremely large proloculi and unusual morphology. We demonstrate that the populations are consistent with an evolutionary lineage that is morphologically distinct but contemporaneous with theN. fabianiilineage of the Tethys. These forms are remarkably similar in external and internal morphology to the ArmenianNummulites ptukhiani.We therefore refer to them as theN. ptukhianilineage. The existence of a second lineage of reticulateNummulitesindicates that their evolution is more complex than previously thought and raises questions as to whether they evolved from a common ancestor, or independently. It also underlines the importance of carrying out thorough studies of larger benthic foraminifera with independent stratigraphical control from outside of the Tethyan region to more fully understand their evolution and to enable accurate biostratigraphy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The upper member of the Jafnayn Formation in Wadi Rusayl and Al Khoud, Seeb Area in north Oman containsNemkovella stockariLess & Özcan, 2007, an Early Eocene orthophragminid recorded here for the first time from the Arabian Peninsula.N. stockari, the only orthophragminid identified in Jafnayn Formation, is quite distinct from any other species from Tethys in having spiral and orbitoidiform chambers around the isolepidine embryon developed before the onset of annular chambers. The Oman specimens exhibit equal-sized principal auxiliary chambers and symmetrical spirals and are assigned toN. stockari bejaensisÖzcan, Boukhalfa & Scheibner, 2014, an advanced form of theN. stockarilineage. The associated alveolinids, revised in this study, rotaliids and other age-diagnostic foraminiferal taxa in the transgressive basal part of the upper member have enabled us to revise the age as middle Ilerdian (Early Eocene), assignable to SBZ 7/8 and 8; OZ 3/4. Integrating a new record of this species from Arabian Plate margin in Belen, S Turkey, and previous records from north Africa,N. stockariappears to be a diagnostic marker for the Early Eocene along the southern peri-Tethys platforms, facilitating the Tethyan correlation by orthophragminids. The palaeobiogeographic distribution ofN. stockariis discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study of isolated orthophragminid tests at the type-locality ofDiscocyclina ranikotensisDavies from the Patala Formation in Thal area (Upper Indus Basin, NW Pakistan) revealed new associations of generaDiscocyclinaGümbel, andOrbitoclypeusSilvestri, not yet reported from eastern Tethys. We demonstrate thatD. ranikotensisDavies, the species identity of which has been a subject of controversy in earlier works, is a valid species endemic at least to the Indo-Pakistan region.D. ranikotensisis associated withDiscocyclina archiaci(Schlumberger), and very sparseOrbitoclypeus schopeni(Checchia-Rispoli), both species being key taxa for orthophragminid zonation in peri-Mediterranean Tethys. We have also identified a few discocyclinid specimens suggesting possible connection to western Tethys speciesD. fortisi, and a few specimens showing affinity toD. dispansa. The assemblages of orthophragminids suggest orthophragminid zone (OZ) 3 according to western Tethyan zonation scheme. The occurrence ofD. archiaciextends the geographical distribution of this taxon to eastern Tethys, which hitherto was only known from peri-Mediterranean region. The typical western Tethyan asterocyclinids, nemkovellids and ribbed orbitoclypeids, first appearing at or around Paleocene/Eocene boundary (OZ 1B/2, SBZ4/5), have not been identified. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Şereflikoçhisar-Aksaray Fault (SAF) and Sülüklü–Cihanbeyli–Gölören Fault (SCGF) zones are located at the eastern and the western margins of the Salt Lake Basin-SLB (Tuzgölü Basin), central Anatolia, Turkey. These fault zones display intense magnetic anomalies along their trends and the positive amplitudes of these anomalies may reach up to 650 nT. In this paper, the body magnetisation directions are estimated from the selected five different magnetic anomalies with positive and negative peaks along these fault zones. Results of calculations indicated that local clockwise rotations are in the range of 34°E and 70°E. These magnetic anomalies were mainly created by the buried intrusive rocks. Locations of buried causative sources along the fault zones were determined from the analytic signal transformation of magnetic anomaly data. Curie Point Depths (CPDs) are also estimated from the aeromagnetic data to determine the thermal structure of the study area and they are correlated with the SAF and SCGF zones. It was found that the depth of magnetic crust varies from 11 to 22 km, consistent with the tectonic fault zones in the study area. The average value was determined as 16.7 km. These depths were correlated with the deep seismic reflection data and depths obtained from two windows in the seismic section, GTRS-87-801 are consistent with the CPDs. Shallow CPDs of magnetic sources are located along the SAF and SCGF to the east and west of the Lake Tuzgölü (Salt Lake) and it may be suggested that magnetic sources are probably located at the upper part of the crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New litho- and biostratigraphic data for the Uitoé Limestone on the southwest coast of New Caledonia constrain its age to the E13–E15 zone (late middle–late Eocene or late Bortonian–Runangan in the New Zealand nomenclature). From the base up, the limestone sequence records a shallowing trend with evidence of emergence followed abruptly by deep basinal turbidite, indicating rapid submersion. Comparison with the adjacent area to the northwest shows that the Uitoé Limestone is part of a diachronous carbonate ramp extending in age from middle to late Eocene. Moreover, a forebulge environment is confirmed for this unit which, at a larger scale, was deposited on the distal part of a foreland basin system that had been propagating southeastwards through New Caledonia since the Paleocene. The Uitoé Limestone and its thin turbidite cover represent the youngest sedimentary deposits in a forebulge environment prior to the collisional stage and obduction of the allochthonous units over New Caledonia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Bourail Anticline in central New Caledonia has been a target for petroleum exploration since the 1950s. It is a broad structure in which a 4-km-thick pile of Eocene turbidite (Eocene Bourail Flysch) is exposed. The Cadart-1 exploration borehole (1930 m deep) was drilled on the anticlinal axis in 1999, intersecting the Paleogene and underlying Late Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. A sedimentological, stratigraphic and provenance analysis is presented. Volcanic debris appears progressively in the upper part of the flysch, becoming predominant upwards along with the intercalation of upward-thickening and -coarsening debris flow breccia. Clinopyroxene and basalt clasts in the upper part of the flysch were derived from enriched tholeiite (E-MORB) of the Poya Terrane. The Eocene paleogeography can be interpreted as a foreland basin system with a depocentre close to the area of Bourail Anticline, an accretionary complex to the northwest and a forebulge to the southeast. This system migrated southeastward through New Caledonia from the Paleocene to the Late Eocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Zagros Mountains of Iran formed by continental collision from closure of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean. The Zagros Orogen underlying the mountain range reflects a much longer history with the Pan-African basement and Phanerozoic successions. New mapping, radiometric ages, and stratigraphic analyses have enabled advances in our understanding of the Jurassic to Cenozoic tectonic history. The northwestern Zagros Orogen consists of three belts: (1) the Zagros Fold and Thrust Belt, divided into the outer Zagros Simply Folded Belt and the inner High Zagros Belt; (2) the Zagros Suture Zone including radiolarite, ophiolite, and Bisotun limestone thrust sheets; and (3) the Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone, which contains abundant metamorphic rocks. Late Cretaceous ophiolites of the Kermanshah region are part of the outer ophiolite belt of the Zagros Orogen and have formed in passive margin and supra-subduction zone settings. Major events include early Mesozoic rifting, Jurassic subduction followed by a more cryptic interval of subduction in the Cretaceous, multiple ophiolite emplacement on the Arabian margin in the Late Cretaceous to Eocene, and collision of central Iran and the Arabian margin in the Oligocene with final closure of the shallow Tethyan seaway in the mid-Miocene. A Middle to Late Jurassic plutonic belt, the Qorveh–Aligodarz Plutonic Belt, formed a magmatic arc with subdued topography related to a moderately NE-dipping subduction zone under the Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone. An Early Cretaceous unconformity reflects limited uplift followed by widespread marine deposition with intercalated volcanic rocks in the Sanandaj region. Subduction continued with a low-lying arc that underwent trenchward advance. In the Late Cretaceous to Oligocene interval, the Neo-Tethyan Ocean closed with ophiolite obduction over the Arabian Peninsula margin and major shortening affected the Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone with uplift and plutonism. Much of the forearc of the Jurassic to Cretaceous arc system has been lost by tectonic erosion along a low-angle Eocene subduction zone prior to collision. Flattening of the subducting slab in the Late Cretaceous and Palaeogene explains the inland retreat of the arc to central Iran. Continental collision initiated in the Oligocene but the Tethyan seaway remained open until the mid-Miocene. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nummulites bahariyaensisn. sp., typical ofNummulites partschigroup,Nummulites gizehensissubgroup, is biometrically studied, described and photographed through both generations from El-Hamra Formation, Garra El Hamra, northern plateau of Bahariya Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt. From the biometric analysis,N. bahariyaensisis phylogenetically parallel toNummulites lyelli, both of Bartonian age based on the presence ofNummulites decrouezaeandNummulitesaff.pulchelluswhich were dated as Bartonian from Gebel Mokattam, the species which is equated with those from Naalon stratigraphic section, Fayum, by Morsi et al. (2003).Nummulites bahariyaensiscould be compared withNummulites champollionias both are thick in the microspheric generation. However, the phylogeny of the present new species should be searched on. The described species spans SBZ 17 of the Shallow Benthic Zones of Serra-Kiel et al. (1998, Bull Soc Geol France 169(2):281–299), which denotes an Early Bartonian ( = BiarritziansensuHottinger and Schaub 1960, Eclogae Geol Helv 53: 453–479). At Garra El Hamra, El-Hamra Formation withN. bahariyaensisunconformably overlies the Qazzun Formation (Late Ypresian) emphasising that the Lutetian and the top part of Ypresian possibly are missing.http://zoobank.org/22549148-0BD6-4097-A22C-01CA614B5CE1 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A Middle–Late Eocene diagnostic larger foraminiferal assemblage is described and illustrated from carbonates of the uppermost Dammam Formation, on both sides of Gebel Hafit anticline in the Northern Oman Mountains in the United Arab Emirates. The Middle Eocene carbonates yieldedNummulites obesusd'Archiac, 1852,N. ismailiBoukhary, Hamdan & Bahrn. sp.,N. papazzoniiBoukhary, Hamdan & Bahrn. sp.andN. kenawyiBoukhary, Hamdan & Bahrn. sp.(a species of theN. burdigalensisgroup). In addition,N. cf.boussaciRozlozsnik, 1924,N.cf.lorioliDe La Harpe, 1879,N. hottingeriSchaub, 1981,N. strougoiBoukhary, Hamdan & Bahrn. sp.(of theN. partschigroup),N. ansaryiBoukhary, Hamdan & Bahrn. sp.(of theN. gizehensisgroup),N.cf.praebullatusSchaub, 1981,N. cizancourtiSander, 1962 (of the group ofN. fabianii),N.cf.stamineusNuttall, 1927 (of theN. discorbinusgroup),N. maculatusNuttall, 1926 (of theN. laevigatusgroup) andAssilina giganteaDe La Harpe, 1926 are recorded. On the top of the sequence, an assemblage withN. hottingeriSchaub, 1981, which was assigned by Schaub 1981 to the Biarritzian ( = Bartonian), was found associated withN. ptukhiani,Silvestriella tetraedra(Gümbel, 1870) andPellatispira madaraszi(Hantken, 1875); these findings suggest that this association should be assigned to the Priabonian stage, confirming for the sampled succession of a Late Eocene age for sediments deposited in an inner-shelf environment, which was possibly related to the eustatic fall of sea level at the end of the Priabonian. http://zoobank.org/2EBD2891-293F-465A-AE1C-F419F0CDB970 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Adio Limestone at the base of the Palaeogene flysch in the central part of New Caledonia has long been attributed to the Late Eocene. New data now enable us to assign it a Palaeocene age based on a characterisation of its benthic foraminiferal microfauna and also on the presence of an overlying sequence of typical calciturbidite dated as Early Eocene by its planktonic microfauna. This new age assignation indicates a major Palaeocene reorganisation of this northern part of the Norfolk Ridge, which can be associated with the beginning of the convergence phase and the onset of the northeast-dipping subduction in the oceanic South Loyalty Basin. The Adio area in this scenario would represent the initial expression of a foreland bulge uplifted in response to the onset of subduction to the northeast. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nummulites beaumontid'Archiac & Haime, 1853, originally described from El Basatin, Gebel Mokattam, Greater Cairo, is redefined from a nummulitic bank at the base of the Maadi Formation from its type locality as neotype. Schaub (1981) described the species from Libya and the type example of this species is still unknown.N. discorbinusSchlotheim (1820) is described as neotype from a nummulitic bank in the Mokattam Formation, which is located in the site of the Citadel tombs, near the Salah El Din Citadel, Gebel Mokattam, Egypt. According to Schaub (1981), the type example of this species is also unknown. For this reason the establishment of the neotypes of these two widespread nummulites species:N. discorbinus(Late Lutetian) andN. beaumonti(Bartonian) is important and tackled in this paper.N. qurnensisn. sp. ( = N.sp. cf.beaumontiin Boukhary et al. 2002) is introduced as a new species from the lower Bartonian part of the Qurn Formation of Helwan. Biometrical studies are carried out on the three species to present up to date information on theseNummulites, with particular attention to their biostratigraphic correlation with the Shallow Benthic Zones (SBZ) of Serra-Kiel et al. 1998. The authors would like to stress the importance of a careful designation of a neotype to avoid the introduction of complicated and unnecessary taxonomic problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paleocene–Eocene Taleh Zang Formation of the Zagros Basin is a sequence of shallow-water carbonates. We have studied carbonate platform, sedimentary environments and its changes based on the facies analysis with particular emphasis on the biogenic assemblages of the Late Paleocene Sarkan and Early Eocene Maleh kuh sections. In the Late Paleocene, nine microfacies types were distinguished, dominated by algal taxa and corals at the lower part and larger foraminifera at the upper part. The Lower Eocene section is characterised by 10 microfacies types, which are dominated by diverse larger foraminifera such as alveolinids, orbitolitids and nummulitids. The Taleh Zang Formation at the Sarkan and Maleh kuh sections represents sedimentation on a carbonate ramp. The deepening trends show a gradual increase in perforate foraminifera, the deepest environment is marked by the maximum occurrence of perforate foraminifers (Nummulites), while the shallowing trends are composed mainly of imperforate foraminifera and also characterised by lack of fossils in tidal flat facies. Based on the facies changes and platform evolution, three stages are assumed in platform development: I; algal and coralgal colonies (coralgal platform), II; coralgal reefs giving way to larger foraminifera, III; dominance of diverse and newly developing larger foraminifera lineages in oligotrophic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larger foraminifera of the Late Paleocene-Early Eocene lower slope to toe-of-slope deposits of the southern Galala, Egypt, are described. Sulcocassidina nakkadyi n. gen. et sp. (base) and Vacuolicassidella dakhlensis n. gen. et sp. (top) represent a phylogenetic line related to the family Cassidinidae (new family), superfamily Miscellanacea (new superfamily) in the latest Paleocene (shallow benthic zone 4) of the southern Galala, Egypt. In addition, Oscucassidella cassis n. gen. et sp., Pellatispiroides youssefi n. gen. et sp. and Chordcassidella ainshamsiana n. gen. et sp. are described and illustrated. Genus: Pomerolina n. gen. (Type species: Alveolina meandrina Carter, 1861, is newly erected and it belongs to Cassidinidae. In this family, the chambers are initially arranged streptospirally, whereas in later stages they are planispirally enrolled. Lateral chamberlets (retral process) are separated from the laminae by a passage and a marginal crest is added during growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]