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GFBIO (as a partner of the NFDI4Biodiversity) works together with ten data centers that provide support in the submission and archival of biodiversity, ecological, and environmental data. In this workshop, you get to know about two of the most used data centers: ENA (focused on molecular data) and PANGAEA (focused on environmental and biodiversity data). For both data centers, the expected data types, best practices, and templates are explained.

Fires are an integral part of modern and ancient ecosystems, serving as friends for renewal or foes for complete destruction and extinction. Indicators of palaeowildfire were so far absent from the Lower Triassic. Lack of plants in the Early Triassic due to the end-Permian mass extinction event and low atmospheric oxygen levels were proposed as the major reasons for the scarcity of wildfires. We present macroscopic charcoals from the Olenekian (Lower Triassic) in northwestern China, indicating probable ground/smoldering fires occurred on landscapes in mid-latitudes of northeastern Pangaea. Atmospheric oxygen concentration during the Olenekian would have been above 18.5%. These findings demonstrate that wildfires continued to be a source of disturbance of terrestrial ecosystems in Bogda Mountains after the end-Permian marine biotic crisis. There were adequate supplies of fuels and oxygen during this critical time period in the Earth history.

Two lectures presented at the GfÖ & NFDI4Biodiversity Winter School on Data Management in Ecology and Environmental Science December 5-9, 2022. These lectures provide researchers with a hands-on guide for publishing their research data at open-access repositories. In particular the content addresses: Why is it important to share and publish research data? Where to publish research data? How to prepare research data for publication How to publish and cite research data Two more files contain the output of two practice sessions, which gathered general information about five popular data repositories and how they present data publications. A data curation checklist compiled as Jupyter notebook for Python users, can be found at the PANGAEA GitHub repository.

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Massif (SNSM) in the Northern Andes affords an insight into lower crustal section structural relations. This polymetamorphic basement comprises high-grade gneisses,...

The geodynamic process from the evolution of supercontinent has distinct isotope characteristics explorable using zircon Hf isotopic composition. Since Peninsular Malaysia associates with Gondwana dispersal and Pangaea formation, analyzing the U-Pb and Hf-isotopic content of its 500–200 Ma magmatic zircon could reveal the signal left by the transitional geodynamic process between the supercontinents. We collected two groups of magmatic rocks from West Malaya: Ordovician meta-volcanics (n = 8), and Triassic Main Range granitoid province (MRGP) (n = 6); and three groups from East Malaya: Carboniferous meta-volcanics (n = 2), Permian-Triassic Eastern granite province (EGP) (n = 6), and Permian-Triassic EGP volcanics (n = 8). Difference in magmatic zircon Hf isotopic crustal model ages uphold the previous rationale which separates Peninsular into two blocks: West Malaya (part of Sibumasu terrane) magmatic zircon Hf isotopic crustal model ages (Average TDM2: 1.3 Ga) are older than East Malaya (part of Chanthaburi-Sukhothai-Lincang arc of Indochina terrane) (Average TDM2: 0.9 Ga). During the final assembly of Gondwana from 500 to 450 Ma, West Malaya and East Malaya were at the outboard of Gondwana Proto-Tethys margin. The shift of East Malaya zircon Hf array towards higher eHf(t) (external orogenic system) after ca.370 Ma may infers Paleo-Tethys ocean broadening and East Malaya separation from Gondwana. The 370–350 Ma juvenile zircon Hf isotopic composition in East Malaya is a significant improvement over radiolarian age to show the broadening and subduction of the Paleo-Tethys ocean between the two terranes. After ca.280 Ma, East Malaya zircon Hf array shifted towards lower eHf(t) (internal orogenic system). Coinciding with the Indosinian collision at ca.230 Ma, crustal reworking signal increases in both blocks, signifying the end in Peninsular Malaysia Gondwana to Pangaea transitional geodynamic process. As the Paleo-Tethys segment was completely subducted after 230 Ma, the peninsular crustal thickening starts from 230 to 218 Ma. The post-collision phase would begin at ca.215 Ma.

Supercontinents signify self-organization in plate tectonics. Over the past ~2 billion years, three major supercontinents have been identified, with increasing age: Pangaea, Rodinia and Columbia. In a prototypal form, a cyclic pattern of continental assembly and breakup likely extends back to ~3 billion years ago, albeit on the smaller scale of Archaean supercratons, which, unlike global supercontinents, were tectonically segregated. In this Review, we discuss how the emergence of supercontinents provides a minimum age for the onset of the modern global plate tectonic network, whereas Archaean supercratons might reflect an earlier geodynamic and nascent tectonic regime. The assembly and breakup of Pangaea attests that the supercontinent cycle is intimately linked with whole-mantle convection. The supercontinent cycle is, consequently, interpreted as both an effect and a cause of mantle convection, emphasizing the importance of both top-down and bottom-up geodynamics, and the coupling between them. However, the nature of this coupling and how it has evolved remains controversial, resulting in contrasting models of supercontinent formation, which can be tested by quantitative geodynamic modelling and geochemical proxies. Specifically, which oceans close to create a supercontinent, and how such predictions are linked to mantle convection, are directions for future research. Repeated amalgamation and dispersal of continents over Earth history is known as the supercontinent cycle; however, the geodynamic processes driving this cyclicity remain debated. This Review synthesizes observations, plate reconstructions and geodynamic models of supercontinent, and older Archaean supercraton, cycles.

Sea surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) data with a high spatiotemporal resolution are important in studying the global carbon cycle and assessing the oceanic carbon uptake. However, the observed sea surface pCO2 data are usually limited in spatial and temporal coverage, especially in marginal seas. This study provides an approach to reconstruct the complete sea surface pCO2 field in the South China Sea (SCS) with a grid resolution of 0.5∘×0.5∘ over the period of 2000–2017 using both remote-sensing-derived pCO2 and observed underway pCO2, among which the gridded underway pCO2 data in 2004, 2005, and 2006 are presented for the first time. Empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) were computed from the remote-sensing-derived pCO2. Then, a multilinear regression was applied to the observed pCO2 as the response variable with the EOFs as the explanatory variables. EOF1 explains the general spatial pattern of pCO2 in the SCS. EOF2 shows the pattern influenced by the Pearl River plume on the northern shelf and slope. EOF3 is consistent with the pattern influenced by coastal upwelling along the northern coast of the SCS. When pCO2 observations cover a sufficiently large area, the reconstructed fields successfully display a pattern of relatively high pCO2 in the mid and southern basin. The rate of sea surface pCO2 increase in the SCS is 2.4±0.8 µatm yr−1 based on the spatial average of the reconstructed pCO2 over the period of 2000–2017. This is consistent with the temporal trends at Station SEATS (SouthEast Asia Time-series Study; 18∘ N, 116∘ E) in the northern basin of the SCS and at Station ALOHA (A Long-Term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment; 22∘45′ N, 158∘ W) in the North Pacific. We validated our reconstruction with a leave-one-out cross-validation approach, which yields the root-mean-square error (RMSE) in the range of 2.4–5.2 µatm, smaller than the spatial standard deviation of our reconstructed data and much smaller than the spatial standard deviation of the observed underway data. The RMSE between the reconstructed summer pCO2 and the observed underway pCO2 is no larger than 31.7 µatm, in contrast to (a) the RMSE from 12.8 to 89.0 µatm between the remote-sensing-derived pCO2 and the underway data and (b) the RMSE from 32.6 to 44.5 µatm between the neural-network-produced pCO2 and the underway data. The difference between the reconstructed pCO2 and those calculated from observations at Station SEATS is in the range from −7 to 10 µatm. These comparison results indicate the reliability of our reconstruction method and output. All the data for this paper are openly and freely available at PANGAEA under the link https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.921210 (Wang et al., 2020).

Herbivory is a common ecological function among extant lepidosaurs, but little is known about the origin of this feeding strategy within Lepidosauria. Here we describe a sphenodontian (Lepidosauria) from the Late Triassic of western North America, Trullidens purgatorii n. gen. n. sp., that reveals new aspects of the earliest radiation of herbivorous lepidosaurs. This taxon is represented by an isolated lower jaw with robust structure bearing transversely widened dentition and extensive wear facets, suggesting a masticatory apparatus specialized for herbivory. An unusual 'incisor-like' tooth is present at the anterior end of the jaw; a unique feature among lepidosaurs, this tooth is convergent with the incisors of extant rodents and lagomorphs. Phylogenetic analyses support the placement of this taxon within opisthodontian sphenodontians, a group sharing derived cranio-dental morphologies specialized for herbivory. The new taxon was recovered in a recently discovered and unnamed series of Upper Triassic strata in southeastern Colorado, USA, exposed in Canyons incised by the Purgatoire River and its tributaries. These strata comprise a dominantly red-bed sequence of conglomerates, sandstones, and siltstones deposited in a fluvio-lacustrine setting, preserving a Late Triassic biota of invertebrate and vertebrate ichnofossils, plant macrofossils, bony fish, temnospondyl amphibians, and reptiles. We use aetosaur osteoderms as biostratigraphic links to the nearby Chinle Formation of Arizona, USA, establishing a middle Norian age for these strata. The presence of an opisthodontian from western equatorial Pangaea in the Norian Stage reveals a near-global radiation of this clade across the Pangaean supercontinent during the Late Triassic. UUID: http://zoobank.org/A737c03f-863a-488e-a860-5cc914548774. Virginia Tech Paleobiology Group Published version M.R. Stocker and S.J. Nesbitt of the Virginia Tech Paleobiology Group provided funding for and conducted mu CT scanning, which was conducted at the Duke Shared Instrumentation Facility and facilitated by J. Gladman. J. Autry, the Southeast Colorado Project Director at The Nature Conservancy, facilitated access to the J.E. Canyon Ranch and provided logistical support, supplies, and housing for the authors. B. Preston, S. Korbitz, B. Small, and Y. Huang assisted in field work. The Virginia Tech Paleobiology Research Group provided useful critiques and suggestions for figures in the manuscript. M. R. Stocker provided useful critiques and discussions on the manuscript. W.G. Parker of Petrified Forest National Park provided assistance in identifying aetosaur osteoderms. K. MacKenzie and J. Sertich of the DMNH facilitated curation of specimens used in this study. B. Creisler provided valuable etymological assistance. D. Whiteside and an anonymous reviewer provided valuable reviews of the manuscript. Public domain – authored by a U.S. government employee

Virioplankton are a key component of the marine biosphere in maintaining diversity of microorganisms and stabilizing ecosystems. They also contribute greatly to nutrient cycles/cycling by releasing organic matter after lysis of hosts. In this study, we constructed the first global viral oceanography database (gVOD) by collecting 10 931 viral abundance (VA) data and 727 viral production (VP) data, along with host and relevant oceanographic parameters when available. Most VA data were obtained in the North Atlantic (32 %) and North Pacific (29 %) oceans, while the southeast Pacific and Indian oceans were quite undersampled. The VA in the global ocean was 1.17(±3.31)×107 particles mL−1. The lytic and lysogenic VP in the global ocean was 9.87(±24.16)×105 and 2.53(±8.64)×105 particlesmL-1h-1, respectively. Average VA in coastal oceans was higher than that in surface open oceans (3.61(±6.30)×107 versus 0.73(±1.24)×107 particles mL−1), while average VP in coastal and surface open oceans was close. Vertically, VA, lytic VP and lysogenic VP deceased from surface to deep oceans by about 1 order of magnitude. The total number of viruses in the global ocean estimated by bin-averaging and the random forest method was 1.56×1030 and 1.49×1030 particles, leading to an estimate of global ocean viral biomass at 35.9 and 34.4 Tg C, respectively. We expect that the gVOD will be a fundamental and very useful database for laboratory, field and modeling studies in marine ecology and biogeochemistry. The full gVOD database (Xie et al., 2020) is stored in PANGAEA (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.915758).

A fragment of Hadean continental crust has been postulated to underlie the North China Craton based on the discovery of >3.8 Ga detrital zircons, but these detrital zircons may be transported from a lateral source. Here we report new U Pb ages of 3823 to 230 Ma for zircon xenocrysts directly from Cretaceous granites (129 Ma), which rules out a lateral source. Our results for the first time demonstrate the existence of 3.85 Ga crustal precursors beneath the southern North China Craton based on the Hf isotopic compositions of the 3.82 Ga zircon. The crustal precursors might be a granitic source that was produced by the wet melting of ancient continental crust. We further show that the southern North China Craton has experienced the global Columbia, Gondwana, and Pangaea supercontinent events, based on the inherited zircon age groups of 2017–1896 Ma, 1792–1776 Ma, 584–570 Ma and 251–230 Ma. These Eoarchaean to Triassic U Pb ages document the evolution of the early continental crust and the geological process in the development of the North China Craton.

Gabbros and ultramafic rocks of the Huargualla Gabbro unit exposed in faulted slivers along the western Cordillera Real of Ecuador crystallised between 623and531 Ma (40Ar/39Ar dates), were derived from asthenospheric sources with minor crustal contamination, and form part of the Central Iapetus Magmatic Province. These rocks formed in an early rift environment during the opening of the Iapetus Ocean, and represent the only igneous record of Iapetus rifting north of the Huancabamba deflection (5°S) in South America. The age and composition of the Huargualla Gabbro unit is consistent with the reconstruction of Tegner et al. (2019) , which juxtaposes Baltica and northwestern Gondwana within Panotia. 206Pb/238U dates of detrital zircons combined with fossil assemblages shows that the Chiguinda unit of the Cordillera Real, and La Victoria Unit of the Amotape Complex were deposited during the Carboniferous. These new data, combined with previous studies of magmatism and sedimentation from southern Peru, Colombia and Venezuela, imply that the rocks of the Cordillera Real were in the Ordovician and Carboniferous back-arcs, while the arcs occur in conjugate margins that separated during the Triassic rifting of Pangaea. Faulted remnants of Ordovician arc rocks in the Cordillera Central of Colombia are probably allochthonous, and have been displaced from an Ordovician margin that did not face the rifted crustal sections.

Chamberlin and Salisbury's assessment of the Permian a century ago captured the essence of the period: it is an interval of extremes yet one sufficiently recent to have affected a biosphere with near-modern complexity. The events of the Permian – the orogenic episodes, massive biospheric turnovers, both icehouse and greenhouse antitheses, and Mars-analog lithofacies – boggle the imagination and present us with great opportunities to explore Earth system behavior. The ICDP-funded workshops dubbed “Deep Dust,” held in Oklahoma (USA) in March 2019 (67 participants from nine countries) and Paris (France) in January 2020 (33 participants from eight countries), focused on clarifying the scientific drivers and key sites for coring continuous sections of Permian continental (loess, lacustrine, and associated) strata that preserve high-resolution records. Combined, the two workshops hosted a total of 91 participants representing 14 countries, with broad expertise. Discussions at Deep Dust 1.0 (USA) focused on the primary research questions of paleoclimate, paleoenvironments, and paleoecology of icehouse collapse and the run-up to the Great Dying and both the modern and Permian deep microbial biosphere. Auxiliary science topics included tectonics, induced seismicity, geothermal energy, and planetary science. Deep Dust 1.0 also addressed site selection as well as scientific approaches, logistical challenges, and broader impacts and included a mid-workshop field trip to view the Permian of Oklahoma. Deep Dust 2.0 focused specifically on honing the European target. The Anadarko Basin (Oklahoma) and Paris Basin (France) represent the most promising initial targets to capture complete or near-complete stratigraphic coverage through continental successions that serve as reference points for western and eastern equatorial Pangaea.

Long-term time-series are a fundamental prerequisite to understand and detect climate shifts and trends. Understanding the complex interplay of changing ocean variables and the biological implication for marine ecosystems requires extensive data collection for monitoring and hypothesis testing and validation of modelling products. In marginal seas, such as Mediterranean Sea, there are still monitoring gaps, both in time and in space. To contribute filling these gaps, an extensive dataset of dissolved inorganic nutrients profiles (nitrate, NO3; phosphate, PO43−; and silicate, SiO2) have been collected between 2004 and 2017 in the Western Mediterranean Sea and subjected to quality control techniques to provide to the scientific community a publicly available, long-term, quality controlled, internally consistent biogeochemical data product. The database includes 870 stations of dissolved inorganic nutrients sampled during 24 cruises, including temperature and salinity. Details of the quality control (primary and secondary quality control) applied are reported. The data are available in PANGAEA (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.904172, Belgacem et al. 2019).

The fossil trunks and rhizomes of Osmundaceae provide important information about its evolutionary history. Due to limited records of the Mesozoic trunks and rhizomes in the Eurasia of the Northern Hemisphere, our understanding on the fossil diversity of the Osmundaceae is hindered. Two new species of the Osmundaceae trunks, Osmundacaulis asiatica sp. nov. and Osmundacaulis sinica sp. nov. representing the first discovery of the Mesozoic tree fern genus Osmundacaulis in Eurasia, are described from Wudalianchi and Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China, which enriches the plant diversity of the Osmundaceae in the Eurasia, and provides vital evidence for studying the distribution, radiation and evolution of the genus during the Cretaceous. The fossil records suggest that Osmundacaulis species may have evolved from a common ancestor, which first appeared in the Australian portion of Pangaea, and then spread to ancient northern North America and ancient East Asia. Since then, they developed into different species through their own evolutionary lines. The Chinese species have a special local feature that the outer cortex is thicker than the inner cortex, in contrast with reported Osmundacaulis species having thinner outer cortex and thicker inner cortex. Long-term geographic isolation may have led to the radiation of diverse Osmundacaulis species and the appearance of region-specific features, such as the thick outer cortex and the thin inner cortex of the Chinese species. Among all reported Osmundacaulis species, the two new species found in China, O. nerii from the Jurassic of Australia and the O. lemonii from the Jurassic of the USA, have special groups of mucilage-sacs inside sclerenchyma ring of petiole base. Mucilage sacs probably originated independently among taxonomic groups, representing convergent adaptations to similar habitats, rather than indicating genetic inheritance from a common ancestor.

U Pb geochronology along a north-south transect from central Sonora to northern Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico indicates several changes in provenance sources through time and space. Lower Cambrian arenites of the Proveedora Quartzite yield a single main age peak at 1075 Ma with minor Paleoproterozoic contribution. Arenites from the Sonobari Complex of southwestern Sonora-northwestern Sinaloa, purportedly assigned to the early Paleozoic, yield main peaks at 1424, 1662, and 1736 Ma, probably derived from the Yavapai and Mazatzal provinces, which are pervasively intruded by early Mesoproterozoic granites coeval to those forming the Granite-Rhyolite Province. Lower to Upper Ordovician units deposited on shelf, slope, and abyssal environments display very similar zircon age patterns, with main peaks ca. 2700 and 1850 Ma, indicating a large drainage system arising from the Archean cratons of Laurentia such as the Wyoming or Superior Provinces, and Paleoproterozoic sources similar to the Trans-Hudsonian orogen, which are older than the Yavapai Province. The Rio Fuerte quartzites from southern Sonora-northern Sinaloa contain main peaks at 534, 542, and 637 Ma whose sources may be peri-Gondwanan blocks similar to Avalonia or Carolina terranes. A minor peak at 475 Ma suggests input from igneous suites reported from the Acatlan Complex in southern Mexico. U Pb geochronology permit inference of a late Paleozoic collisional orogen in northwestern Mexico that was originated by the collision of Gondwanan blocks against southern Laurentia and outline the boundary between terranes related to continental blocks in the Pangaea supercontinent.

Deep lithospheric processes associated with the formation of major orogens, including the removal of lower crust and underlying mantle through delamination associated with orogen building are poorly constrained. With a view to evaluate the potential link between deep geodynamic processes and magmatic events, we performed in situ zircon Hf-O-Li isotopic analyses of granitoids from the Eastern and Western Junggar, Altai and Beishan orogens, within the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The eHf(t) and δ18O values of magmatic zircons crystallized during 443 Ma and 252 Ma indicate diverse and heterogeneous magma sources. The corresponding δ7Li peaks at ~440 Ma and ~250 Ma, suggesting two distinct high-temperature magmatic events. Based on a comparison with global data, we argue that large-scale delamination formed through Gondwana and Pangaea supercontinent assembly, may have occurred at Ordovician to Silurian boundary (OSB) and Permian to Triassic boundary (PTB), which we term as super-delamination. The subsequent widespread magmatism and volcanism might have made significant impact on the Earth surface ecosystems, ultimately leading to the OSB and PTB mass extinction events. We propose super-delamination as a potential mechanism to explain the link between Earth's internal and external processes, thus providing novel insights into the trigger for mass extinction events.

The Earth’s mantle is currently divided into the African and Pacific domains, separated by the circum-Pacific subduction girdle, and each domain features a large low shear-wave velocity province (LLSVP) in the lower mantle. However, it remains controversial as to whether the LLSVPs have been stationary through time or dynamic, changing in response to changes in global subduction geometry. Here we compile radiogenic isotope data on plume-induced basalts from ocean islands and oceanic plateaus above the two LLSVPs that show distinct lead, neodymium and strontium isotopic compositions for the two mantle domains. The African domain shows enrichment by subducted continental material during the assembly and breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea, whereas no such feature is found in the Pacific domain. This deep-mantle geochemical dichotomy reflects the different evolutionary histories of the two domains during the Rodinia and Pangaea supercontinent cycles and thus supports a dynamic relationship between plate tectonics and deep-mantle structures. Earth’s deep-mantle domains are geochemically distinct. The African domain is enriched in subducted material, which suggests a different history from the Pacific domain and a dynamic relationship between plate tectonics and deep-mantle structures.

Carboniferous–Permian strata in basins within the Central Pangean Mountains in France archive regional paleoequatorial climate during a unique interval in geological history (Pangea assembly, ice-age collapse, megamonsoon inception). The voluminous (∼1.5 km) succession of exclusively fine-grained red beds that comprises the Permian Salagou Formation (Lodève Basin, France) has long been interpreted to record either lacustrine or fluvial deposition, primarily based on a local emphasis of subaqueous features in the upper ∼25% of the section. In contrast, data presented here indicate that the lower-middle Salagou Formation is dominated by up to 15-m-thick beds of internally massive red mudstone with abundant pedogenic features (microscale) and no evidence of channeling. Up-section, limited occurrences of ripple and hummocky cross-stratification, and mudcracks record the intermittent influence of shallow water, but with no channeling nor units with grain sizes exceeding coarse silt. These data suggest that the most parsimonious interpretation for the Salagou Formation involves eolian transport of the sediment and ultimate deposition as loess in shallow, ephemeral lacustrine environments. Provenance analyses of the Salagou Formation indicate coarse-grained protoliths and, together with geochemical proxies (chemical index of alteration [CIA] and τNa) that correspond respectively to a low degree of chemical weathering and a mean annual temperature of ∼4 °C, suggest that silt generation in this case is most consistent with cold-weathering (glacial and associated periglacial) processes in the Variscan highlands. Together with previous studies that detailed voluminous Permian loess in western equatorial Pangea, this work shows a globally unique distribution of dust at low latitudes that can be linked either directly to glaciated alpine terranes or to reworked and deflated deposits of other types (e.g., fluvial outwash) where fine-grained material was originally generated from glacial grinding in alpine systems. These results further support a revised model for early Permian climate, in which extratropical ice sheets coexisted with a semiarid tropics that may have hosted significant ice at moderate elevation.

The Southern Ocean may contribute a considerable amount to the proposed global network of marine protected areas (MPAs) that should cover about 10 % of the world's oceans in 2020. In the Antarctic, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is responsible for this task, and currently Germany leads a corresponding scientific evaluation of the wider Weddell Sea region. Compared to other marine regions within the Southern Ocean, the Weddell Sea is exceptionally well investigated. A tremendous amount of data and information has been produced over the last 4 decades. Here, we give a systematic overview of all data sources collected in the context of the Weddell Sea MPA planning process. The compilation of data sources is comprised of data produced by scientists and institutions from more than 20 countries that were either available within our institutes, downloaded via data portals or transcribed from the literature. It is the first compilation for this area that includes abiotic data, such as bathymetry and sea ice, and ecological data from zooplankton, zoobenthos, fish, birds and marine mammals. All data layer products based on this huge compilation of environmental and ecological data are available from the data publisher PANGAEA via the six persistent identifiers at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.899595 (Pehlke and Teschke, 2019), https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.899667 (Teschke et al., 2019a), https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.899645 (Teschke et al., 2019b), https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.899591 (Teschke et al., 2019c), https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.899520 (Pehlke et al., 2019a) and https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.899619 (Pehlke et al., 2019b). This compilation of data sources including the final data layer products will serve future research and monitoring well beyond the current MPA development process.

Direct observations of marine microbial metabolism are sparse in the Arctic, particularly under sea ice during winter. This paper presents the first observations of Arctic winter microbial activity under sea ice in a west Greenland fjord (Lillefjord, ∼ 70∘ N). Here, measured changes in dissolved oxygen (DO) content in light and dark in situ incubations were used to calculate net community productivity, respiration and photosynthesis rates. Data were collected at two fully ice covered sites during February 2013, shortly after the end of the polar night. Averaged over the full study period, dark incubations showed statistically significant decreases in DO of -0.36±0.24 (near shore) and -0.09±0.07 g O2 m−3 d−1 (fjord centre), indicating respiration rates that were 2–20 times greater than rates previously reported under sea ice in the Arctic. Meanwhile, a lack of significant evidence for photosynthesis suggests that the rate of photosynthesis – if it was occurring – was much lower than that of respiration. The data also show no significant evidence of a temporal trend in metabolism rates over the study period; however, ambient seawater DO increased significantly at the fjord centre (0.023±0.013 g O2 m−3 d−1), possibly attributable to processes not occurring in the incubations (such as sea ice algal photosynthesis). These data may improve our understanding of microbial activity in the fjord during winter, and its contribution to Arctic ecosystems under present and future conditions. The data are archived at PANGAEA (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.906332, Chandler and Mackie, 2019; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.912677, Chandler and Mackie, 2020).

The Middle Permian Guadalupian witnessed significant environmental changes in the Phanerozoic such as large-scale sea-level drop, supercontinent Pangaea assembly, and transition from Early Permian glaciation to Late Permian non-glacial intervals. Carbonisotope tracers can provide insights for these environmental changes. The δ13C studies of the entire Guadalupian epoch are rare, and most of them has focused on near the end of Guadalupian and carbon isotopes of inoragnics. Here, we present carbon isotopic compositions of organic matters in the Guadalupian from two sections (Chaohu and Xiaolao) in the Lower Yangtze area, South China. Our results show that δ13Corg profiles in the Guadalupian show a peak in the Roadian and a gradual negative shift from the Roadian to the middle Capitanian. These trends can be matched by δ13C changes of carbonate rocks or organic matter in South China and other places in the world, representing a global carbon cycle signal. The Roadian positive peak was probably due to high productivity which was caused by upwelling during cooling time. The gradual negative shift of δ13C was caused mainly by a decrease of organic matter burial on land and in the ocean, resulting from global sea-level drop and anoxia-caused benthos decline, respectively. The less important causes for the gradual δ13C negative shift are volcanic-gases releasing, decreased mountain belts, and the resultant reduced silicate weathering-consumption of CO2. The gradual negative shift of δ13C coincides with the gradual extinction in the Guadalupian. Therefore, global sea-level drop and marine reducing conditions may be the main causes of the gradual extinction in the Guadalupian.

The Wordiekammen Formation, a carbonate ramp on Spitsbergen developed on the Northern Pangaean margin in Moscovian (Carboniferous) through Sakmarian (Permian) time at a paleolatitude of 30–35° N. The study site on the Nordfjorden High was isolated from any source of fluvio-deltaic input, such that detrital material that occurs in this system experienced eolian transport, thus forming a proxy for atmospheric dust loading. We analyzed two intervals, of Moscovian (10 m) and Asselian (27 m) age, at 20 cm resolution, and identified five mid-ramp subtidal facies organized in upwardly shallowing, high-frequency sequences 3–5 m thick. High-frequency sequence boundaries commonly exhibit signs of subaerial exposure (e.g., Microcodium) developed atop subtidal facies, recording glacioeustatic falls (glacial phases), although the Moscovian section has a severe karst overprint attributable to prolonged exposure on a paleohigh. Samples were processed to isolate the silicate-mineral fraction (SMF), which includes both detrital silicate material and authigenic silica mostly in the form of (fine-sand-size) doubly terminated quartz crystals. Detrital cores in these crystals, together with other evidence, indicate recrystallization from fine-grained (silt- and clay-size) dust. Analysis of the dust record demonstrates that the Asselian (peak icehouse) had a significantly higher atmospheric dust load than the Moscovian (moderate icehouse). In the Asselian interval, dust input varies commensurate with glacial–interglacial cyclicity. Highest dust contents correspond to transgressive facies immediately above sequence boundaries, indicating peak atmospheric dust loading at lowstand to incipient interglacial times. Provenance data from detrital-zircon and whole-rock geochemistry indicate two distinct source regions for the dust. Dust from the Moscovian and lower Asselian intervals reflects a continental island-arc signature consistent with sourcing from the basement of northeast Greenland. Dust from the upper Asselian interval is more consistent with recycling from Devonian and Carboniferous strata of the east Greenland Caledonides, likely deflated from fluvial systems draining this orogenic system, indicating an expansion of regions of eolian deflation.

The article presents the climatological dataset from the Polish Polar Station Hornsund located in the southwest part of Spitsbergen – the biggest island of the Svalbard archipelago. Due to a general lack of long-term in situ measurements and observations, the High Arctic remains one of the largest climate-data-deficient regions on the Earth. Therefore, the described time series of observations in this paper are of unique value. To draw conclusions on the climatic changes in the Arctic, it is necessary to analyse and compare the long-term series of continuous, in situ observations from different locations, rather than relying on the climatic simulations only. In recent decades, rapid environmental changes occurring in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic are reflected in the data series collected by the operational monitoring conducted at the Hornsund station. We demonstrate the results of the 40-year-long series of observations. Climatological mean values or totals are given, and we also examined the variability of meteorological variables at monthly and annual scale using the modified Mann–Kendall test for trend and Sen's method. The relevant daily, monthly, and annual data are provided on the PANGAEA repository (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.909042, Wawrzyniak and Osuch, 2019).