Geology of Quebec

The geology of Quebec involves several different geologic provinces, made up of ancient Precambrian crystalline igneous and metamorphic rock, overlain by younger sedimentary rocks and soils. Most of southern Quebec is dominated by the Grenville Province, while the vast north is divided between the large Superior Province and the Churchill Province to the east, near Labrador.
Geologic History, Stratigraphy & Tectonics.
The Grenville Province, which dominates southern Quebec, particularly the northern shore of the St. Lawrence formed beginning in the Archean, more than 2.5 billion years ago. Geologists subdivide the Grenville Province into the Allochthon along the river itself and the more northern Parautochthon.
The Parautochthon is a band running parallel to the Grenville Front, which varies in width from Labrador to northeastern Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Parautochthonous rocks are made up composed of ancient Archean and Proterozoic rocks that are highly deformed plutonic and metamorphosed supracrustal (metasedimentary and metavolcanic) rocks that reached greenschist to granulite facies on the sequence of metamorphic facies during the Grenville orogeny. These rocks correlate with the least deformed rocks north of the Grenville Front in the Superior Province and show signs of east-west lateral extension.
The Allochthon includes all the lands of the Grenville Province south of the Parautochtone. The Allochthon juxtaposed on the Parautochthon during the Grenville orogeny cycle from 1.09 billion to 985 million years ago. The Allochthon is composed of Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic rocks. In the western part, it is mainly marble, quartzite, and pelite platform levels and Mesoproterozoic amphibolite-grade rocks. There are also charnockite and anorthosite intrusions that intersect metasediments and orthogneiss. In the center, migmatite, quartzo-feldspathic orthogneisses and mangerites predominate. In its eastern part, it consists mainly of gneissic rocks of varied composition and origin, metasedimentary rocks, granitoid intrusions, gabbro, gabbronorite and anorthosite. There are also several anorthositic intrusions scattered throughout the Allochthon belt.
The Canadian Shield spans much of northern Quebec, which is primarily underlain by the Superior Craton, a 160-mile thick section of stable continental crust formed beginning 4.03 billion years ago. In the northwest and at the northern tip of the Ungava Peninsula is the large Churchill Craton, which extends into Labrador and Nunavut as the eastern extent of the Canadian Shield. Quebec's northern bedrock is also regionally composed of the Hudson Platform along the shore of James Bay and a small section of the Nain Province, near the northern tip of Labrador.
The St. Lawrence Platform occupies the lowlands where much of Quebec's urban population lives, while the Gaspe Peninsula, Anticosti Island and the Magdalene Islands are part of the Appalachian Province.
Paleozoic (541-251 million years ago).
During the Taconic orogeny that began the formation of the Appalachian Mountains, amphibolite, mica schist and other metamorphic rocks formed a belt running down the Gaspe Peninsula to Sherbrooke. Muscovite bearing granites and metamorphic rocks around Asbestos formed over a broad span from 468 to 379 million years ago. While slate and plutonic tonalite formed in the vicinity of Becancour and Quebec City respectively.
Around 292 million years ago, volcanism deposited tuff in the Magdalene Islands.
Mesozoic (251-66 million years ago).
Sedimentary deposition and some volcanic activity took place during the Mesozoic, particularly in the lowlands of the St. Lawrence Platform. Central Montreal is underlain by 119 to 117 million year old plutonic basanite, lamprophyre and camptonite while to the immediate southeast amphibole gabbro and peralkaline rocks formed from 141 to 123 million years ago.
Cretaceous intrusive rocks formed hills housed in the sedimentary rocks of the St. Lawrence Lowlands Platform, notably Mount St. Bruno.
Cenozoic (66 million years ago-present).
Quebec experienced intense erosion during the past 2.5 million years of the Quaternary, which often mobilized older rocks, such as Proterozoic granite boulders found offshore in the moraines which formed parts of the Magdalene Islands.
Some of the youngest rocks in Quebec are situated along the western border with Ontario, including the Bedford Hill Rhyolite and dacites which are less than one million years old.


Riedaster reicheli

Riedaster reicheli is an extinct species of starfish in the family Astropectinidae. "Riedaster reicheli" was first described by Kutscher and Röper in 1999 from a three-dimensional body fossil. Its type locality is Papierschiefer, which is in a shallow subtidal mudstone in the Papierschiefer Formation in the Ried district of Germany. It is the type species of the genus "Riedaster" and dates back to the Late Jurassic.


Zolhafah

Zolhafah is an extinct genus of bothremydid pleurodiran turtle that was discovered in the Western Desert of Egypt. The genus consists solely of type species "Z. bella".
Discovery.
"Zolhafah" was discovered in the Ammonite Hill Member of the Dakhla Formation, Egypt, which dates back to the Maastrichtian.
Description.
The preserved skull of "Zolhafah" is 7.2 centimetres in length. Its describers note that it differs from "Bothremys" and "Rosasia" by its slightly more rounded snout, with the posterior section of the skull being shortened. Similar to "Bothremys", its choanae are at the same level as the triturating surface of the palate. It also differs from "Bothremys" and "Rosasia" by many small details, such as a frontal longer than its prefrontal, elongated orbits smaller than those of "Rosasia" and larger than those of "Bothremys"', and a higher anterior premaxillary surface. The occipital condyle is slightly posterior to the quadrate's articular process, similar to "Rosasia" and "Bothremys". The skull is the only element from the Ammonite Hills locality that can be positively assigned to "Zolhafah".
Etymology.
The etymology of "Zolhafah"'s name is derived from the Arabic "salifhafa" "turtle", and the Latin "bella" "beautiful".


Crozonaspis

Crozonaspis is a trilobite in the order Phacopida, that existed during the middle Ordovician in what is now France. It was described by Henry in 1968, and the type species is "Crozonaspis struvei". It was described from Brittany.


Tapuiasaurus

Tapuiasaurus (meaning "Tapuia lizard") is a genus of titanosaur which lived during the Lower Cretaceous period (Aptian age) in what is now Minas Gerais, Brazil. Its fossils, including a partial skeleton with a nearly complete skull, have been recovered from the Quiricó Formation of the São Francisco Basin in Minas Gerais, eastern Brazil. This genus was named by Hussam Zaher, Diego Pol, Alberto B. Carvalho, Paulo M. Nascimento, Claudio Riccomini, Peter Larson, Rubén Juárez Valieri, Ricardo Pires Domingues, Nelson Jorge da Silva Jr. and Diógenes de Almeida Campos in 2011, and the type species is "Tapuiasaurus macedoi".
Classification.
"Tapuiasaurus" was originally assigned to Nemegtosauridae by its original describers, but two subsequent cladistic analyses have recovered it as only distantly related to "Nemegtosaurus", with Wilson "et al." (2016) recovering the genus outside the Lithostrotia, and Carballido "et al." (2017) recovering it as closely related to the Gondwanan lithostrotians "Isisaurus" and "Rapetosaurus".


Queen Charlotte Basin

The Queen Charlotte Basin is a structural basin mostly beneath the continental shelf offshore, between the Queen Charlotte Islands, Vancouver Island, and the British Columbia mainland, roughly coincident with the physiographic region named the Hecate Depression.
The term "Queen Charlotte Basin" normally refers to the Cenozoic rocks, but these are underlain by what seems to be a thick Mesozoic succession. The Queen Charlotte Basin was formed by periods of extension, including thinning and volcanism during the mid-Cenozoic era. The large Cenozoic plutons that magnetic data suggest exist in the southeastern part of the Queen Charlotte Basin seem to be related to the Anahim hotspot.
Geology.
Renewed interest in western Canadian shelf basins results from widespread expectations that the long-standing government moratorium on offshore exploration there may soon be lifted. The best oil prospects seem to exist in Cretaceous reservoirs in the southwestern part of the Queen Charlotte Basin, in western Queen Charlotte Sound.
With widespread oil seeps from rocks of all ages, two dozen wells were drilled in the Queen Charlotte and Tofino areas before the 1970s; many land areas were mapped in the 1980s and 1990s. However, Vancouver and Queen Charlotte islands mostly lack caprock. Hecate Strait seems to lack adequate source and reservoir rocks, and the offshore wells did not significantly test the Mesozoic horizons. Rocks on the mainland are crystalline. The Tofino, Winona, Georgia and Juan de Fuca basin lack significant known source rocks. By contrast, southwestern Queen Charlotte Basin seems to contain a stack of source, reservoir and caprock strata, largely at oil-window burial depths, as well as large block-fault trap structures.
While some workers (e.g., Lyatsky and Haggart, 1993; Lyatsky, 2006) regard the Mesozoic horizons to be the primary oil-exploration targets, others (e.g., Dietrich, 1995; Hannigan et al., 2001) focus more on the overlying Cenozoic rocks. Rohr and Dietrich (1992) considered the Queen Charlotte Basin to have formed largely by strike-slip movements in the Cenozoic. On the other hand, Lyatsky (1993, 2006) considered significant strike-slip movements to be impossible in this basin since at least the Late Oligocene, based on kinematic indicators and cross-cutting relationships of major faults and dated dikes; instead, he viewed the basin's Cenozoic evolution to be a product of reactivation of older networks of block-bounding faults.
Economic basement in the Queen Charlotte Basin area is massive, thick Upper Triassic flood basalts, underlain onshore by partly metamorphosed older rocks. Above, high-quality source rocks exist in the ~-thick Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic assemblage, with oil-prone Type I and II kerogen and TOC (total organic carbon) up to 11%. Geochemical evidence suggests these rocks provided most of the basin's oil, and a major pulse of oil generation and migration was in the Cenozoic. The overlying Upper Jurassic-Upper Cretaceous clastic succession, ~ thick, has negligible source potential but contains high-quality reservoirs with largely secondary porosity of ~15% or more. Above, mostly offshore, lie Cenozoic mudstone, sandstone and volcanic deposits, up to ~ thick in some fault-bounded depocenters.
The Cenozoic deposits have gas-prone Type III and II kerogen, with up to 2.5% TOC locally. However, clay products of feldspar decomposition greatly degrade their permeability, especially at basal levels. Reservoir-quality sandstone facies are found largely near the top of this unit, where migration routes from below and the seal above may be inadequate. The Cenozoic deposits thus seem to be predominantly caprock, perhaps with some secondary exploration targets.
Stratigraphic and sedimentological studies indicate the Triassic-Jurassic source rocks were deposited in a broad shelfal basin encompassing this entire region and beyond. However, the Cretaceous basin was confined to western Queen Charlotte Islands and northwestern Vancouver Island, with uplands to the east shedding detritus. Western Queen Charlotte Sound was probably part of the same Cretaceous basin, while eastern Queen Charlotte Sound and Hecate Strait largely lost their pre-existing source rocks and received few, non-marine, Cretaceous deposits. Cenozoic caprock, with thickness variable block to block, then blanketed Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound.
Western Queen Charlotte Sound should thus contain a favourable source-reservoir-seal stack. Gravity data also indicate a great thickness of undrilled low-density (sedimentary?) rocks is present beneath western Queen Charlotte Sound but not elsewhere in the Queen Charlotte Basin.
Caprock-breaching faults are sparser in Queen Charlotte Sound than in northern parts of the basin; the Queen Charlotte Basin is not overpressured. Regional geological and geophysical correlations suggest the major Mesozoic block-fault networks were reactivated in the Cenozoic. Seismic and gravity data show the fault-bounded Cenozoic depocenters and raised blocks to be comparatively broad in western Queen Charlotte Sound.
The caveats are several. Cretaceous rocks, deposited near their provenance areas, tend to be petrologically immature, and secondary porosity in them may be hard to predict. Buried source rocks beneath the deepest depocenters may be overmature. Some traps may be breached by Neogene faults: one offshore well encountered oil staining, suggesting oil passed through these Cenozoic rocks and escaped. A major influence on local hydrocarbon-maturation levels on Queen Charlotte Islands is proximity to the mostly Jurassic and Cenozoic igneous plutons. Similar potential-field anomalies suggest massive igneous bodies may be present beneath eastern Queen Charlotte Sound, and correlations with mainland igneous suites of the Anahim Volcanic Belt put their age at Miocene. The pluton-related(?) magnetic anomalies do not seem to significantly extent into western Queen Charlotte Sound.


Stagonosuchus

Stagonosuchus is an extinct genus of loricatan, or possibly a species of "Prestosuchus". Fossils have been found from the Late Triassic Manda Formation in Tanzania that are Anisian in age.
Unlike other rauisuchians, which have a prominent ridge on the illium called the supra-acetabular buttress that overlies the femur, "Stagonosuchus" possesses only a slight thickening on the surface of the bone. In "Stagonosuchus", the pubis is broad and plate like, while in other genera it is narrower and may have a prominent "foot" like that of some theropod dinosaurs.
The centra of the vertebrae are constricted to some extent, though not as much as in other rauisuchians such as "Saurosuchus". In the vertebrae, the neural canals (through which the spinal cord would pass) extend into the centra, forming deep concavities. A wide articulation between the hyposphene and hypantrum in successive vertebrae prevented any lateral movement of the spine. A small accessory neural spine projects near the larger main spine, possibly as an extra attachment for bracing ligaments. "Stagonosuchus" also has many laminae, or ridges of bone on the vertebrae.
Friedrich von Huene, who named the genus in 1938, first classified "Stagonosuchus" as a rauisuchid. In 1967, Alfred Romer placed "Stagonosuchus" in the newly erected family Prestosuchidae. However, this was likely due to the close similarities shared between the two families which made classification difficult. "Stagonosuchus" has since been considered a rauisuchid. A 2010 study on archosaurian phylogeny found "Stagonosuchus" to be outside both Rauisuchidae and Prestosuchidae in a more basal position within Rauisuchia. The study erected the name Rauisuchoidea to include it and other basal taxa that were closely related to rauisuchids and prestosuchids, including "Ticinosuchus" (traditionally thought to be a prestosuchid) and "Arganasuchus" and "Fasolasuchus" (previously considered rauisuchids). A 2011 study found "Ticinosuchus" to be the closest relative of "Stagonosuchus" despite a conspicuous difference in size between the two forms ("Ticinosuchus" is much more gracile than the larger "Stagonosuchus"). A 2020 study argued that "Stagonosuchus" was a second species of "Prestosuchus", "Prestosuchus nyassicus".


Baugur (crater)

Baugur is the informal name of one of three volcanic craters which have appeared as of 7 September 2014 - according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office website - in the Holuhraun lava field in Iceland as a result of an eruption in August 2014.


Cromus

Cromus is a genus of phacopid trilobites in the family Encrinuridae, that existed during the upper Silurian in what is now the Czech Republic. The genus was described by Barrande in 1852, and the type species is "C. intercostatus". It also contains the species "C. canorus".
The type specimen was described from the Kopanina Formation.


Pasaichthys

Pasaichthys pleuronectiformis is an extinct, prehistoric moonyfish that lived during the Lutetian epoch of Monte Bolca, Italy. The average length of its fossils is about 6 centimeters. In life, it would probably resemble its living relatives of the genus "Monodactylus".


Cyclocardia elegans

Cyclocardia elegans is an extinct species of clam in the family Carditidae.
The specimen MNHN.F.J07579 was found at Parc de l'Institut national agronomique, in Thiverval-Grignon, Yvelines, France.


Potrok Aike

Potrok Aike is a maar in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. It has a roughly circular shape and an average diameter of 2,700 metres. It is located just 2,200 metres north of the Argentina-Chile border. It is a maar lake and part of the Pali-Aike Volcanic Field. The Potrok Aike Maar Lake Sediment Archive Drilling Project (PASADO) bore a number of ICDP drill holes for October–November 2008. The aim is to investigate the crater-filling sediments and the underlying volcaniclastic deposits.


Incapillo

Incapillo is a Pleistocene caldera, a depression formed by the collapse of a volcano, in the La Rioja province of Argentina. Part of the Argentine Andes, it is considered the southernmost volcanic centre in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes with Pleistocene activity. Incapillo is one of several ignimbritic or calderic systems that, along with 44 active stratovolcanoes, are part of the Central Volcanic Zone.
Subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South America plate is responsible for most of the volcanism in the Central Volcanic Zone. After activity in the western Maricunga Belt volcanic arc ceased six million years ago, volcanism started up in the Incapillo region, forming the high volcanoes Monte Pissis, Cerro Bonete Chico and Sierra de Veladero. Later, a number of lava domes formed between these volcanoes.
Incapillo is the source of the Incapillo ignimbrite, a medium-sized deposit comparable to the Katmai ignimbrite. With a volume of about , the Incapillo ignimbrite was erupted 0.52 ± 0.03 and 0.51 ± 0.04 million years ago. A caldera with dimensions of was formed during the eruption. Later volcanism generated more lava domes within the caldera and a debris flow in the Sierra de Veladero. The lake within the caldera may overlie an area of ongoing hydrothermal activity.
Geography and structure.
Incapillo is located in Argentina's La Rioja province. The name "Incapillo" means "Crown of the Inca" in Quechua and is the highest caldera stemming from explosive activity in the world. It is also known as Bonete caldera, Corona del Inca or Inca Pillo.
Incapillo is part of the Andean Central Volcanic Zone, which extends through the countries of Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina and includes six or more Quaternary caldera or ignimbrite systems, about 44 stratovolcanoes, and over 18 smaller centres. One of these stratovolcanoes, Ojos del Salado, is the world's highest volcano. This zone also includes the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex and the Galan caldera farther south. Incapillo is the southernmost volcano of the Central Volcanic Zone with Pleistocene activity; the next such volcano to the south is Tupungato in the Southern Volcanic Zone at 33° southern latitude.
Incapillo is a caldera with a diameter of at an elevation of or . The three adjacent volcanic centres of Monte Pissis (), Cerro Bonete Grande (), and Cerro Bonete Chico () are also considered part of this volcanic complex and are among the highest on Earth. These centres surround the ignimbrite and lava domes. The walls of the caldera are high; the caldera is about deep. A uniform ignimbrite, called the Incapillo ignimbrite, is rich in pumice and forms the bulk of the caldera walls.
Around the caldera lie 40 lava domes, which extend northwest-southeast. There is an eastern group between Monte Pissis and Cerro Bonete Chico and a western one on the Sierra de Veladero. Overall, the domes have heights of and a basal apron of about width of erosional material. Some domes have water-filled craters with widths of at their top. Domes on the caldera's northern side are dacitic and show signs of alteration. Some domes are probably part of the pre-caldera complex, and several rhyodacitic domes were modified by erosional processes after caldera formation; these were formerly considered erosional remnants. Older domes have reddish oxidized colours in satellite images. The total volume of the domes is about .
Next to a heavily hydrothermally altered lava dome in the centre of the caldera lies the Laguna Corona del Inca. This or deep and or high lake measures , or and is considered to be the highest navigable lake in the world. The lake has probably generated the evaporite and lacustrine deposits that lie on the caldera floor. Water temperatures of obtained by satellite measurements suggest that some hydrothermal activity persists. The lake is fed by meltwater and its surface area declined between 1986 and 2017.
Geology.
The Nazca plate subducts beneath the South America plate at a speed of per year in the area of the Central Volcanic Zone. The subduction results in volcanism along the occidental Cordillera east of the trench formed by the subduction.
Incapillo is one of at least six different ignimbrite or caldera volcanoes that are part of the Central Volcanic Zone, in Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. The Central Volcanic Zone is one of four different volcanic arcs in the Andes. About west of Incapillo lies the Maricunga Belt, where volcanism started 27mya and involved phases of ignimbritic and stratovolcanic activity, including Copiapo volcano, until activity ceased with the last eruption of Nevado de Jotabeche 6mya. South of Incapillo, the Pampean flat slab region is associated with tectonic deformation and lack of volcanic activity until Tupungatito volcano farther south.
S. L. de Silva and P. Francis suggested in their 1991 book "Volcanoes of the Central Andes" that the Central Volcanic Zone should be subdivided into two systems of volcanoes, one in Peru and another in Chile, on the basis of the orientation (northwestsoutheast versus northsouth). C.A. Wood, G. McLaughlin and P. Francis in a 1987 paper at the American Geophysical Union suggested instead a subdivision into nine different groups.
Local.
Incapillo is found on a crust thick, among the thickest in volcanic regions of the Earth. Several studies by Suzanne Mahlburg Kay and others indicate that trends in the isotope ratios are because of a thickening crust and increased contribution thereof to the magmas. At the latitude of Incapillo, the northern Antofalla terrane borders the Cuyania terrane, both of which were attached to South America during the Ordovician but are of different provenance.
At the latitude of Incapillo, the Nazca plate subducting beneath the South America plate abruptly shallows towards the south. This shallowing forms the limit between the volcanically active Central Volcanic Zone and the magmatically inactive Pampean flat slab region farther south. This magmatic inactivity occurs because the flat slab removes the asthenospheric wedge.
Incapillo is part of a volcanic system active between 3.5 and 2mya that includes Ojos del Salado and Nevado Tres Cruces. It was the last volcanic centre formed in the region; subsequently, the shallowing of the subducting slab prevented volcanism east and south of it. Another volcanic trend considers Incapillo as part of a northeastsouthwest trend with Cerro Galan and Cerro Blanco. This trend may be related to delamination of the lower crust. Also, these centres are located between two domains of different rigidity, an Ordovician sedimentary domain of low rigidity and a higher rigidity basement.
The formation of the older lava domes may have been influenced by buried faults or the supply systems of the older Pissis and Bonete Chico volcanoes. Isotope and composition data suggest that the magma of Incapillo forms at relatively constrained depths of above the shallow slab. A focus of seismic activity is found at Incapillo.
Composition.
The Incapillo ignimbrite is formed by potassium-rich and magnesium-poor rhyodacite, forming glassy and porous pumice with individual clasts of in diameter. Typical pumice contains crystals of biotite, hornblende, plagioclase, quartz, and sanidine, with minor amounts of apatite, iron oxides, and titanite. The lava domes have uniform crystalline compositions that are richer in magnesium than the ignimbrite. Within the lava dome rocks lie phenocrysts of amphibole, biotite, plagioclase, quartz, and titanite with some alkali feldspar in some domes. Older domes have higher amphibole and lower quartz content than younger domes. Post-caldera domes are strongly hydrothermally altered.
Rocks from Incapillo are rich in sodium and have high ratios of lanthanum and samarium to ytterbium and high ratios of barium to lanthanum, as well as high lead-206 to lead-204 and strontium-87/strontium-86 ratios. These rare-earth element patterns are similar to the Late Miocene Maricunga Belt rocks and contrast to early Miocene rocks. The changes occurred at the same time as the arc migrated eastward, terminating activity in the Maricunga Belt. The element ratios are pronouncedly arc-like with some adakitic signatures. The rocks contain considerably more sodium and alumina than almost all Central Andes siliceous volcanic rocks.
The composition of the lava domes suggests that they were formed by degassed magma left behind by the caldera-forming eruption. The pre-caldera lava domes were generated either directly from a common magma chamber or indirectly through secondary chambers. The lead isotope ratios are consistent with the volcano having formed at the edge of an area of granite and rhyolite of Paleozoic age. Incapillo magmas probably formed as adakitic high-pressure mafic magmas derived from the crust, either directly by anatexis or indirectly by dragged-down crustal fragments. The magmas are then modified by crustal contamination and fractional crystallization. As the subducting slab shallowed, crustal garnet-containing lherzolite and granulite-eclogite, contributed both from the crustal basis and forearc rocks that were dragged down by the subducting slab, became an increasingly important component of erupted magmas. Eventually, the Incapillo magma chamber was disconnected from the mantle and lower crust.
The Incapillo ignimbrite contains xenoliths with sizes of formed by amphibolite. Amphibole crystals are enclosed in intersitital plagioclase crystals and sometimes contain secondary biotite crystals. Amphibole is the dominant component. Raw sulfur deposits occur on the volcano.
Climate, hydrology and vegetation.
Incapillo as a high altitude location has an alpine climate, with low temperatures and low oxygen, high winds and predominantly summer precipitation. Incapillo itself has no weather stations and thus climate data from there are not available, however Laguna Brava farther south has an average precipitation of and temperatures of . The Desaguadero River originates on Bonete.
Vegetation varies depending on the water supply and altitude of the site, with an upper altitude limit of beneath of which the vegetation takes the form of a scrub steppe. Grasses at include "Festuca", "Stipa" and in wetter areas also genera like "Calamagrostis". Scrub like "Adesmia" and "Nototriche copon" occasionally form dense scrub patches.
History.
Activity at Incapillo commenced shortly after the end of the Maricunga Belt volcanism and occurred first at Monte Pissis between 6.5 and 3.5mya. Later volcanism occurred south of Incapillo 4.7±0.5mya, at Sierra de Veladero 5.6±1–3.6±0.5mya, and in the region of Cerro Bonete Chico 5.2±0.6–3.5±0.1mya. Some of the 32mya Pircas Negras mafic andesites appear to be associated with the Incapillo volcanic complex. These rocks form the last pulse of the Pircas Negras volcanism. Specific ages of the Pircas Negras flows in the Incapillo region include 4.7±0.5mya, 3.2±0.3mya and 1.9±0.2mya. Later, andesitic-rhyolitic volcanism formed ignimbrites and lava domes 2.9±0.4–1.1±0.4mya, with the youngest pre-caldera dome being 0.873±0.077mya old. The lava domes formed through non-explosive extrusion.
The Incapillo ignimbrite is an unwelded ignimbrite that covers a surface area of , extending to a distance of from the caldera. The ignimbrite appears in an eastward-heading ephemeral river valley and the southern Quebrada del Veladero, possibly also next to the Rio Salado headwaters. Thicknesses range from ; the ignimbrite is underlain by a lithic-and-ash rich surge deposit with a thickness of . The ignimbrite displays banding features away from the caldera and in Quebrada de Veladero football-sized clasts are mixed within fine ash. Rocks from the ignimbrites farther away from their source indicate the ignimbrite probably formed from the mixing of less viscous dacitic magma with rhyolite. The total volume of the ignimbrite is about . Ages have been found of 0.52 ± 0.03 and 0.51 ± 0.04mya ago. It is a rhyodacitic to rhyolitic ignimbrite with a high crystal and pumice and low lithic content. The dense rock equivalent volume is about . The volume of the Incapillo ignimbrite is comparable to that of the Katmai ignimbrite. The ignimbrite was probably formed from a low-height fountaining eruption without a high eruption column, forming a base surge first and pyroclastic flows later. The change from lava dome to ignimbrite-forming eruptions may have been triggered by the injection of hotter magmas into the magma chamber or less likely by changes in the tectonic context. During the eruption, a piston-like collapse formed the caldera.
Later, a debris flow named Veladero (also known as Quebrada de Veladero Ignimbrite) occurred in a glacier valley south of the caldera. It is rich in lithics and pumice. These lithics are derived from Sierra de Veladero, Cerro Bonete Chico, and Pircas Negras lavas. The debris flow ranges from in thickness south of the caldera to farther south, the total volume being . The debris flow does have a different composition from the main Incapillo ignimbrite, as it contains red-brown dacite and clasts. It has a massive ungraded composition and is likely a lahar or debris flow deposit, probably influenced by glacial or crater lake water. Wind-driven effects have generated hummocky ridges.
There are no dates available for post-caldera lava domes, which probably arose from magma ascending through the caldera forming conduits, seeing as these domes are found only inside the caldera. The elevated temperatures of the caldera lake suggest that hydrothermal activity still occurs beneath Incapillo. Seismic tomography has identified the presence of an at least partially molten structure beneath the volcano.


Paralititan

Paralititan (meaning "tidal giant") was a giant titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur genus discovered in coastal deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Bahariya Formation of Egypt. It lived between 99.6 and 93.5 million years ago.
Description.
Joshua Smith, who informally led the research team that found the dinosaur fossils, told an interviewer, "It was a truly enormous dinosaur by any reckoning."
Little of "Paralititan" is known, so its exact size is difficult to estimate. However, the limited material, especially the long humeri, suggested that it is one of the most massive dinosaurs ever discovered, with an estimated weight of . The complete right humerus measured 1.69 meters (5.54 ft) long which at the time of discovery was the longest known in a Cretaceous sauropod; this was surpassed in 2016 with the discovery of "Notocolossus" which had a 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) humerus. Using "Saltasaurus" as a guide, Carpenter estimated its length at around in 2006. Scott Hartman estimates an animal that is massive, but still smaller than the biggest titanosaurs such as "Puertasaurus", "Alamosaurus", and "Argentinosaurus". In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 20+ meters (66+ ft), and its weight at 20 tonnes (24.2 short tons). In 2012 Holtz gave a length of 32 meters (105 ft) and an estimated weight of 65.3–72.5 tonnes (72–80 short tons). In 2016, using equations that estimate body mass based on the circumference of the humerus and femur of quadrupedal animals, it was given an estimated weight of ~. In 2019 Gregory S. Paul estimated "Paralititan" between 30–55 tonnes (33–60.6 short tons). In 2020 Molina-Perez and Larramendi estimated the size of the animal at 27 meters (88.6 ft) and 30 tonnes (33 short tons).
From the formation another sauropod had already been known, "Aegyptosaurus". "Paralititan" differs from "Aegyptosaurus" in its larger size, the latter genus weighing only fifteen tons, possibly in not having pleurocoels in its front tail vertebrae, and in possessing a relatively longer deltopectoral crest on its humerus.
Discovery.
Joshua Smith in 1999 in the Bahariya Oasis rediscovered the Gebel el Dist site where Richard Markgraf in 1912, 1913 and 1914 had excavated fossils for Ernst Stromer. In 2000, an American expedition was mounted to revisit the site. However, apparently Markgraf had already removed all more complete skeletons, leaving only limited remains behind. At a new site, the nearby Gebel Fagga, the expedition succeeded in locating a partial sauropod skeleton. It was identified by Lacovara as a species new to science. It was named and described by Joshua B. Smith, Matthew C. Lamanna, Kenneth J. Lacovara, Peter Dodson, Jennifer R. Smith, Jason Charles Poole, Robert Giegengack and Yousri Attia in 2001 as the type species "Paralititan stromeri". The generic name means "Stromer's tidal (Greek "para" + "halos" "near sea") titan" or "Stromer's tidal giant", in reference to the "paralic" tidal flats the animal lived on. The specific name honors Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach, a German paleontologist and geologist who first established the presence of dinosaur fossils in this area in 1911. "Paralititan" represents the first tetrapod reported from the Bahariya Formation since Romer's publication of 1935.The holotype specimen of "Paralititan", CGM 81119, was found in a layer of the Bahariya Formation, dating from the Cenomanian. It consists of a partial skeleton lacking the skull. It is incomplete, apart from bone fragments containing two fused posterior sacral vertebrae, two anterior caudal vertebrae, both incomplete scapulae, two humeri and a metacarpal. The "Paralititan" type specimen shows evidence of having been scavenged by a carnivorous dinosaur as it was disarticulated within an oval of eight metres length with the various bones being clustered. A "Carcharodontosaurus" tooth was discovered in between the clusters. The holotype is part of the collection of the Cairo Geological Museum.
The large anterior dorsal vertebra 1912V11164, in 1932 by Stromer referred to an undetermined "Giant Sauropod", was in 2001 tentatively referred to "Paralititan".
Ecology.
The autochthonous, scavenged skeleton was preserved in tidal flat deposits containing in the form of fossil leaves and root systems, a mangrove vegetation of seed ferns, "Weichselia reticulata". The mangrove ecosystem it inhabited was situated along the southern shore of the Tethys Sea. "Paralititan" is the first dinosaur demonstrated to have inhabited a mangrove habitat. It lived at approximately the same time and place as giant predators "Carcharodontosaurus", "Spinosaurus", and the sauropod "Aegyptosaurus".


Mambilla Plateau

The Mambilla Plateau is a plateau in the Taraba State of Nigeria. The plateau is Nigeria's northern continuation of the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon.
The Mambilla Plateau has an average elevation of about above sea level, making it the highest plateau in Nigeria. Some of its villages are situated on hills that must be at least high above sea level.
Some mountains on the plateau and around it are over high, like the Chappal Waddi (more appropriate name: Gang) mountain which has an average height of about above sea level. It is the highest mountain in Nigeria and the highest mountain in West Africa if Cameroon's mountains, such as Mount Cameroon, are excluded.
The Mambilla Plateau measures about along its curved length; it is wide and is bounded by an escarpment that is about high in some places. The plateau covers an area of over . Gang ('Chappal Waddi') Mountain is found at the northeastern flank of the Plateau.
Location.
The Mambilla Plateau, somewhat to the north of the cradle of the Bantu-speaking peoples (Zeitlyn & Connell, 2003; Griffith, 2007; Martin, 2009),and continuously inhabited for over four millennia by a developing Mambillobantu culture, is found in the southeastern part of Taraba State of Nigeria under Sardauna local government area (the former Mambilla District set up in January 1940, which became known as 'Mambilla Local Authority' of Mambilla Division in 1970, and then as 'Mambilla Local Government Area' in 1981). The current 'Sardauna' title is believed to be an inappropriate cognomen for this historically famous spot in Africa, given that the combination of three local government areas in one, which was the tenuous basis for the new appellation, has since ceased to exist. The false premise of a "sardauna" "discovering" the area is untenable, since the entire former Northern Cameroon Province headquartered at Mubi has since reverted to the use of their various true names. The people of the Mambilla Plateau are equally entitled to their ancient and historical identity and to be appropriately named, just as all other areas in the defunct "Sardauna" Province. The name "Mambilla" is a derivative of the ancient name "Mamberre" which has been used for the Mambilla Plateau from ancient times and which concomitantly denotes its inhabitants.
The plateau has its south and eastern escarpments standing along the Cameroonian border, while the remainder of its giant northern escarpment and its western slope are in Nigeria.
Climate.
The climate of the plateau is comparatively cold. Daytime temperatures hardly ever exceed making it the coolest region in Nigeria. Strong winds prevail during the daytime, and the rainy season lasts from mid-March until the end of November. As a result of its high elevation, the plateau experiences temperate weather conditions but on a smaller scale due to its location in a tropical environment.
Rainfall.
The rainy season on the Mambilla Plateau is associated with frequent and heavy rainfall due to orographic activities on the plateau involving moist winds from the south Atlantic Ocean in southern Nigeria and the steep edges and escarpments of the plateau. The Mambilla Plateau receives over 1850 millimetres of rainfall annually. It is also mosquito and tse-tse fly free.
Topography.
The Mambilla Plateau is hilly with deep gorges and travelers are constantly passing from one panoramic view to the other. The plateau is entirely covered by soil with occasional occurrence of granite.
Drainage.
The plateau is dissected by many streams and rivers; notably among them are the Donga River and Taraba River, with both having their sources on/from the Mambilla Plateau.
Vegetation.
Vegetation on the plateau comprises low grasses with trees being noticeably absent except for man-made forest planted by German colonialist during the period of German administration of the cameroons (c. 1906-1915)and other Nigerian government tree planting programs. The plateau is the only region of Nigeria that grows the tea plant on a large scale, and there are several tea farms, although the sector remains mostly underdeveloped. It is also home to the Gashaka Gumti National Park, which is the largest national park and protected area in all of Nigeria, as well as the Majang Forest known officially as Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve, both of which harbor rare and endangered West/Central African plant and animal species endemic to the area.
The eucalyptus tree is the dominant tree is these man made forest as a result of the easily adaptability of the eucalyptus tree to the height and the cool climatic conditions on the plateau.
The abundance of low lush green grasses on the plateau has attracted a large number of cattle, whose advent beginning during British rule affected the plateau's vegetation. This has resulted in overgrazing and widespread erosion on the plateau and has created problems between the cattle herders, referred to as the fulanis, and the indigenous people, the Mambila.
Towns.
The Mambilla Plateau constitutes one of Taraba State's largest local government areas. There are numerous towns on the plateau with populations ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 people except for Bommi (Gembu), Nigeria|Gembu]]), which is a sprawling ancient Mambilla city with a much higher population. The latter contains the headquarters of new-christened "Sardauna" Local Government Area which is synonymous with the Mambilla Plateau. Other important towns on the plateau are Liimil (Mbamga), Mvurr (Warwar), Bang, Mbuk (Tapnyia), Ndik (Kabri), Gam (Vakude), Mbar, Kara, Mang, Dembe, Nge (Leme), Mbun (Kakara) (Which is home to Mambilla Beverages Company Ltd, the only Tea Production Company in West Africa), Furu (Yerrmaru), Yirrum, Ngumbun, Kuma, Kerke (Titong), Mbungnu (Nguroje), New Ndaga (Mayo Ndaga), Benene (Maisamari), and Mamal (Hainare). According to Percival (1938), the Germans met some 200 villages on the Mambilla Plateau, all being of Mambilla origin then.
Today, there are, besides the Mambilla towns and villages, Kaka-Yamba settlements in the southwest along the Cameroonian border which are believed to be of recent emergence (Connell, 1997; Hurault, 1998; SIL ethnologue, 2010) and include Anterre and Inkirri established by splinter groups from Mfumte area of Cameroon's North-West Region, both being place names still in use in Mfumte area. Others are Ndum, Warrkaka, and their satellites emanating from the Donga-Mantung Division of the same Region of Cameroon Republic.
People.
The major, original and predominant groups of the Mambilla Plateau are the Fulani fulbe with from Cameron Mambilla since C19th. Since the British occupation and thereafter, there has been immigration of other groups including the Yamba (Kaka), and trading communities of Igbo, Wimbum (Kambu), Hausa and Banso. The major Languages spoken on the Mambilla Plateau are Fulfulde (the language of the predominant population, (used for commercial transactions by various groups), Mambila, Yamba (Kaka), Banso, Igbo, etc. English is used as official language. Note, however, that only the Fulani, Mambilla and Kaka have existing villages while the Fulanis established cattle-farm settlements nestling between these villages in British times.
Christianity and Islam are the main religions today, having gradually displaced the Mambilla Traditional Religion based on Suu, which was the predominant religion before the coming of Christian missionaries and Hausa-Fulanis; and particularly before the 1970s.
Attractions.
A rich culture,
with spectacular cultural dances across the plateau.
Splendid waterfalls dot the Mambilla landscape.


Pascal Godefroit

Pascal Godefroit is a Belgian paleontologist. He discovered dinosaurs like the Olorotitan in 2003 Godefroit is the director of earth and life sciences at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.


Perplexicervix

Perplexicervix is a genus of bird appearing in the eleventh Mammal-Paleogene zone of Hessen, Germany.


Manzaz volcanic field

Manzaz volcanic field is a volcanic field in Algeria. It consists of scoria cones with lava flows and has been active until recently.
Geography and geomorphology.
The field lies in Hoggar, close to the Atakor volcanic field. A dome-like uplift has been associated with the volcanism in the region. The presence of volcanism has been explained by tectonic events associated with the collision between Europe and Africa, and the resulting reactivation of ancient tectonic lineaments.
The field consists of scoria cones and covers a surface of . Many of these have breaches and are heavily eroded. The cones were strombolianically active and have erupted lava flows. Volcanic ash and pyroclastics are also found. Oukcem is a maar in the field that consists of two separate craters with diametres of and respectively. They are surrounded by tuffs and natron is found at the bottom of the larger crater.
Geology.
The basement consists of metamorphic and plutonic rocks of Precambrian age, which are part of the Tuareg shield. Outcrops of granite are found in some places. These were first buried by tholeiitic basalts between 35 and 30 million years ago.
The field has mostly erupted basalt and basanite. Xenoliths include peridotite and pyroxenite, and amphibole and feldspar form megacrysts in the rocks. Xenoliths appear to, in part, originate from a metasomatized mantle. The total volume of erupted rocks is about .
Eruptive history.
Three phases of volcanic activity have been distinguished at Manzaz, the first between 20 and 12 million years ago, the second between 7 and 4 million years ago and the third between 3 and 0.01 million years ago. Volcanic activity continued into the Holocene. Some young volcanoes developed on terraces of Neolithic age.


Phyxia

Phyxia was a town of ancient Greece on the island of Cos.


Geology of Prince Edward Island

The geology of Prince Edward Island formed as a result of strike-slip extension in the mountains formed by the Taconic orogeny, Salinic orogeny and Acadian orogeny, which created an area of subsidence in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Maritime Rift resulted in the Magdalen Basin, which is actually a series of small basins surrounded the Gulf. In the Permian coal swamps formed in these basins, resulting in Atlantic Canada's extensive coal deposits, while in some cases the swamps evaporated being replaced by gypsum evaporite.
Up to 12 kilometers of late Paleozoic sediments filled the Maritime Rift as rivers transported sediments in from more distant highlands. The rock visible at the surface on Prince Edward Island is principally red sandstone and siltstone deposited during this period. <ref></ref >


Scott A. Thomson

Scott A. Thomson is an Australian paleontologist, taxonomist, and herpetologist specialising in turtles of the family Chelidae.
Education.
Thomson attended the University of Canberra for both his bachelor's and master's degrees in applied sciences, studying zoology and mathematics.
Career.
Thomson is a researcher at the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo and curator at the Chelonian Research Institute in Oviedo, Florida. He is active in resolving nomenclatural issues, a member of the Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission, and co-author of the 2015 checklist of extinct Pleistocene and Holocene turtles. Thomson advocates for science-based rather than political- or conservation-driven taxonomy.
Thomson has described several extant and fossil turtles, including:


Joan Crockford-Beattie

Joan Crockford-Beattie (born Joan Marion Crockford, January 1919 – 2015) was an Australian geologist and palaeontologist who specialised in Permian bryozoan faunas.
Early life.
Joan Marion Crockford was born in January 1919 at Hunters Hill, New South Wales. She attended Quambaar School in Bellevue Hill and enrolled in the University of Sydney in 1937, where she studied geology. She graduated with a B.Sc. in 1939, and took honours and a University Medal in 1940.
Career.
Crockford earned a Science Research Scholarship in 1940, and worked as a demonstrator in 1941. She graduated with her M.Sc. in 1942, and continued her research under a Linnean Society of New South Wales Macleay Fellowship for a further three years. Due to staff shortages during World War II, Crockford continued to teach during her fellowship. Wartime restrictions also affected research, with makeshift motors being devised in the Physics department to run the slide-making tools, and materials having to be mailed to her from colleagues in Queensland (Dorothy Hill), Tasmania and Western Australia (Curt Teichert), rather than conducted on site.
Crockford married George Beattie in 1945 and moved to Cobar in 1946. She continued working on her D.Sc., completing papers on Bryozoa with the help of specimens and thin sections she took with her and from staff at the Australian Museum. She graduated in 1951, and was now the mother of a three-year-old. Crockford-Beattie obtained work through Dr Norman Fisher with the Bureau of Mineral Resources in Canberra, describing photographs and slides of Bryozoans in their collection obtained from the Kimberley region. This work was completed by 1956 and was published in 1957. In total, she published over 16 papers. The family moved to a number of locations due to George Beattie's work as a mining engineer including Cracow, Queensland and Radium Hill. Joan Crockford-Beattie mentored Robin Wass, who would pursue Bryozoa as well as June Phillips-Ross.
Personal life.
Joan Crockford-Beattie and her husband had four children. She died in 2015.
Legacy.
During her career, Crockford-Beattie recorded 79 species, 42 of which were new identifications. She named three new genera and the family Cyclostomata. She erected two families and seven genera—"Pesnastylus", "Minilya", "Streblocladia", "Stenodiscus", "Etherella", "Evactinostella" and "Liguloclema"—as well as an estimated 100 other species of Bryozoa. One was named for her, namely "Fenestella crockfordae Campbell".


Susisuchus

Susisuchus is an extinct genus of neosuchian mesoeucrocodylian crocodyliform from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil. Fossils have been found from the Nova Olinda Member of the Aptian-age Crato Formation in the Araripe and Lima Campos Basins of northeastern Brazil. Named in 2003, "Susisuchus" is the sole member of the family Susisuchidae, and is closely related to the clade Eusuchia, which includes living crocodilians. The type species is "S. anatoceps", known from a single partial articulated skeleton that preserves some soft tissue. A second species, "S. jaguaribensis", was named in 2009 from fragmentary remains.
Discovery.
The genus "Susisuchus" was first erected with the description of the type species "S. anatoceps" in 2003. "S. anatoceps" was found in the Aptian-age Crato Formation in the Araripe Basin, and was the first crocodyliform to be described from the formation. The holotype skeleton is the most complete known specimen of "Susisuchus", including most of the bones except for those of the hindlimbs, and even traces of soft tissue. The specimen is thought to have been a desiccated carcass before it was buried and later fossilized. A second species, "S. jaguaribensis", was named in 2009 from the Lima Campos Basin about from where the skeleton of "S. anatoceps" was uncovered.
A new crocodyliform specimen from the Crato Formation was described in 2009. It can be distinguished from the two other crocodyliforms known from the formation, "Araripesuchus" and the trematochampsid "Caririsuchus", on the basis of characteristics of the fibula and proportions of the femur and tibia. Since the limb elements differ from all other known crocodyliforms from the Araripe Basin, the specimen was tentatively classified as cf. "Susisuchus" sp.
Description.
The holotype specimen of "Susisuchus anatoceps" includes a skull and lower jaw, forelimbs, parts of the axial skeleton, and some osteoderms. There are traces of soft tissue around both forelimbs and the digits of the right hand. "S. jaguaribensis" is known from far less material, but the fragmentary remains are enough to diagnose the species. Both species have a contact between the squamosal and parietal bones that is situated on the posterior border of the supratemporal fenestra, a hole in the skull table.
Osteoderms.
"Susisuchus" has a dorsal shield of osteoderms that is similar to those of the more derived clade Eusuchia, which includes living crocodilians. "Susisuchus" was one of the first mesoeucrocodylians to have a tetraserial paravertebral shield, which is formed from the dorsal osteoderms to make the back more rigid. In a tetraserial paravertebral shield, there are four separate rows of paravertebral osteoderms (osteoderms near the midline of the back). Earlier mesoeucrocodylians such as "Bernissartia" have biserial paravertebral shields, in which there are only two rows of paravertebral osteoderms. These two rows of large osteoderms became segmented into four smaller rows in "Susisuchus". "Susisuchus" also has two rows of accessory osteoderms to either side of the paravertebral osteoderms which are not part of the shield.
The segmentation of the paravertebral shield allowed for a greater degree of lateral flexibility in the trunk of "Susisuchus". This flexibility would have enabled lateral undulation while swimming, resulting in greater efficiency in locomotion. Because the width of the paravertebral shield was not compromised by this segmentation, the back would remain rigid enough to overcome the forces encountered during high-walking, or walking semi-erect. However, the ability to high-walk would have restricted the size of "Susisuchus". If "Susisuchus" grew any larger than , the forces encountered during high-walking would have been too great for the paravertebral shield to counteract.
Classification.
"Susisuchus" is closely related to "Pachycheilosuchus" from Glen Rose, Texas, United States, and "Isisfordia" from Winton, Queensland, Australia. All three genera are highly derived Early Cretaceous mesoeucrocodylians. In the initial description of Susisuchidae, "Isisfordia" was considered a possible member of the family, although the genus had not yet been named. However, with its naming in 2006, "Isisfordia" was placed within Eusuchia as the most basal member of the clade, while "Susisuchus" was placed outside Eusuchia as its sister taxon. Below is a cladogram from Salisbury "et al." (2006) showing the relationships of "Susisuchus" and "Isisfordia" within Mesoeucrocodylia:
"Susisuchus" has amphicoelus thoracic, lumbar and caudal (tail) vertebrae, meaning that the ends of the centra of these vertebrae are concave. The presence of this feature in a crocodyliform with a tetraserial paravertebral shield is unusual, and has been used to erect the family Susisuchidae, of which "Susisuchus" is the only member. "Susisuchus" can be considered a transitional form because it has a tetraserial paravertebral shield characteristic of eusuchians, but retains more primitive amphicoelus vertebrae characteristic of more basal crocodylomorphs.
With the description of "S. jaguaribensis" as a second species of "Susisuchus", the genus has been phylogenetically redefined as a node-based taxon including the last common ancestor of "Susisuchus anatoceps" and "Susisuchus jaguaribensis" and all of its descendants.


Callaqui

Callaqui is a stratovolcano located in the Bío Bío Region of Chile. It is a large ice-capped, basaltic andesite volcano which is elongated in the northeast-southwest direction, due to its construction along an 11 km (7 mi) long fissure. Numerous cinder cones and lava flows have erupted from vents along this linear fissure. Most of the activity at Callaqui has been fumarolic. Minor eruptions were reported 1751, 1864, and 1937, and the latest eruption was a small phreatic eruption in 1980.
Together with Hekla in Iceland, Callaqui is one of the few volcanoes with have a morphology between a crater row and stratovolcano (built from mixed lava and tephra eruptions).
The volcano is the centerpiece of Ralco National Reserve.


Apatoraptor

Apatoraptor ("Apatè robber") is a genus of caenagnathid dinosaur which contains a single species, A. pennatus. The only known specimen was discovered in the Campanian-age Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta.
Discovery.
In 1993, at Drumheller in Alberta, three kilometres west of the "Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology", a skeleton was found of a theropod. As it was initially identified as some unimportant ornithomimid specimen, preparation only started in 2002 and was almost immediately discontinued when no skull was thought to be present, the fossil again being covered in plaster. In 2008, research was resumed, and only then was it discovered that the fossil represented a species new to science.
In 2016, the type species "Apatoraptor pennatus" was named and described by Gregory F. Funston and Philip John Currie. The generic name is derived from the Greek goddess of deceit, Apatè, and Latin "raptor", "robber", in reference to the specimen hiding its true identity for many years. The specific name means "feathered" in Latin, referring to the find of quill knobs on the ulna, showing the animal had wings.
The holotype TMP 1993.051.0001 was found in a layer of the Horsethief Member of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation dating from the Campanian. It consists of a partial skeleton with skull. The fossil was largely found articulated. It contains a palatine bone, the lower jaws, a hyoid, a complete series of neck and back vertebrae, ribs, the right shoulder girdle, the right arm, a sternum, belly ribs, a right ilium, a right thighbone, a right shinbone and a right calfbone. It was further investigated by means of a CAT-scan.
Classification.
"Apatoraptor" was, within the Oviraptorosauria, placed in the Caenagnathidae, in a derived position as a possible sister species of "Elmisaurus".


Euptychognathus

Euptychognathus is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid. The type species "E. bathyrhynchus" was first named in 1942 as "Dicynodon bathyrhynchus". Fossils of the genus have been recovered from the Usili Formation of the Ruhuhu Basin in Tanzania.


Nuciruptor

Nuciruptor is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 Ma). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is "N. rubricae".
Etymology.
The name "Nuciruptor rubricae" is derived from the Latin "nuci" ("nut") and "ruptor" meaning "to break". "Rubricae" refers to the red beds where the fossils have been found.
Description.
A lower mandible fossil of "Nuciruptor" was discovered in the El Cardón redbeds of the Cerro Colorado Member of the Villavieja Formation, Honda Group, just below the San Francisco Sandstone which has been dated to the Laventan, about 12.8 ± 0.2 Ma. From the same locality, fossils of "Saimiri annectens" were recovered.
"Nuciruptor" resembles living pitheciins in having elongate, procumbent, and styliform lower incisors with very weak lingual heels. Moreover, as in living pitheciins, the incisors are set in a procumbently oriented mandibular symphysis, and its mandibular corpus deepens appreciably under the molars. At the same time, "Nuciruptor" does not possess several of the distinctive synapomorphies of extant pitheciins. "Nuciruptor" remains more primitive than living pitheciins in that no diastema separates its lower incisors from the canine. Its lower canines retain the primitive structure in not having a sharply deﬁned protocristid. P2 is not a robust or high-crowned tooth and does not have a metaconid. Nor are the other premolars molarised by the addition of large talonids. The estimated weight of "Nuciruptor" was . The genus shows similarity with another fossil primate from La Venta, "Cebupithecia".
As "Cebupithecia", "Nuciruptor" is thought to be an ancestral saki (Pitheciidae).
Habitat.
The Honda Group, and more precisely the "Monkey Beds", are the richest site for fossil primates in South America. It has been argued that the monkeys of the Honda Group were living in habitat that was in contact with the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, and that La Venta itself was probably seasonally dry forest.


Los Gemelos-El Saladillo

Los Gemelos-El Saladillo are monogenetic volcanoes in Argentina.
Geologic context.
The Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South America Plate, giving rise to the volcanism in the Andean Central Volcanic Zone, including mafic back-arc volcanism which is often associated with tectonic lineaments.
Los Gemelos () and El Saladillo () lie in the Calchaqui Valley, close to the towns of La Poma and El Saladillo. The valley is bordered by two thrust faults, at least one (the Calchaqui fault) of which has had historical earthquakes; the Los Gemelos volcanic cones were constructed along the fault.
Geology.
Los Gemelos consists of three individual vents, the northern two have generated scoria cones the southern features a fissure. The vents have produced about of lava, three from the northern and two from the central vent; lava flows reach the bed of the Calchaqui River and have flowed along its bed, damming the river and forming a lake. El Saladillo consists of two partially eroded cones which have generated lava flows and several smaller cones generated by explosive eruptions.
The two volcanoes have erupted shoshonitic rocks, consisting of trachybasalt andesite. They contain phenocrysts of clinopyroxene, mica, olivine and plagioclase but also xenoliths.
Eruption history.
The volcanoes were constructed during the Pleistocene. The activity at Los Gemelos appears to be associated with an episode of tectonic activity, and on the basis of sediments in the lava-dammed lake the eruption occurred about 35,000 years ago.


Lunz Formation

The Lunz Formation is a geologic formation in Austria and other Tethyan regions. It is composed of quartz sandstone, shales and claystones, locally with coal interbeds. Basal part of the formation may contain marine fossils. It preserves fossils dating back to the Carnian stage of the Triassic period and represents significant siliciclastic input into the European carbonate shalef due to the Carnian Pluvial Event.
Formation is traditionally divided into 3 members (Lunz Sandstone, Coal-bearing shales and Upper Sandstone), this concept was later modified and Trachyceras Beds and Reingraben shales were included into the basal part of the formation:
The Lunz Formation overlies the Ladinian-Carnian Wetterstein Formation and is covered by the Norian Main Dolomite.
Formation was originally defined by M.V. Lipold as "Lunzer Schichten", according to Austrian town Lunz am See. It occurs in the Northern Calcareous Alps, Western Carpathians. The Lunz Formation of the Northern Calcareous Alps is well known for well preserved Carnian flora - the so-called Lunz Flora.


Chapi Urqu

Chapi Urqu (Quechua "chapi" tin, "urqu" mountain, "tin mountain", Hispanicized spelling "Chapeorcco") is a mountain in the Andes of Peru, about high. It is located in the Huancavelica Region, Huancavelica Province, Huacocolpa District. Chapi Urqu lies northeast of Inqhana and Yana Urqu.


Hermann Trautschold

Gustav Heinrich Ludwig Hermann Trautschold (, tr. ; 17 September 1817 – October 22, 1902) was a German-Russian geologist and paleontologist and also pharmacist. From 1869-1888 he was a professor at the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy. Trautschold was known as a specialist in the paleontology and stratigraphy of Carboniferous, Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits of the European part of Russia. He was brother of painter Wilhelm Trautschold.
Life.
Hermann Gustav Heinrich Ludwig Trautschold was born on September 17, 1817 in Berlin, in the family of the Berlin merchant Adolf Christoph Ludwig Trautschold and Maria Charlotte Wilhelmine Trautschold (née Müller). He graduated from primary school in Spandau and a grammar school in Berlin.
In 1844, Trautschold made a trip to Spain, during which he studied botanical research, and then moved to the University of Giessen, where he studied chemistry, mineralogy and crystallography in depth; He showed special interest in geology and paleontology. During his studies in Giessen, Trautschold worked for about one and a half years as an assistant in the laboratory of Justus von Liebig. In 1847, after completing his studies, he obtained a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Giessen.
Career.
In 1847-1849 Trautschold traveled to Italy, Germany and Russia, where he was engaged in geological research. During his stay in Russia, he settled for a time as a home teacher in the family of the landowner of Kostroma Province, F.N. Luginin, who lived in Moscow at that time, whom he had met in Germany (one of Trautschold's students, Vladimir, later became a major physicist, professor at Moscow University ); In Russia, Hermann Trautschold was known as "Gérman Adólʹfovich". In 1848 Hermann Trautschold returned to Germany, where in 1849-1857 he was dean of private educational institution.
In 1863 he was invited to teach German at the Physics and Mathematics and Medical Faculties of Moscow University. In the course of classes with students and work on translation of natural scientific works, Trautschold mastered the Russian language perfectly; But to do his favorite thing - geological research - he still could only in his spare time from the main job.
During his work at the Petrovsky Academy, Trautschold devoted much time to researching the deposits of the Carboniferous and Jurassic periods of the Moscow province, and also repeatedly undertook long-term trips with the purpose of geological survey of the Volga, Ural, Donbass, Crimea and Northern Caucasus regions. Pedagogical work of Trautschold was not limited only to conducting classes and lecturing; He arranged geological excursions for students, took care of replenishing the mineralogical collection of the Petrovsky Academy (which he was in charge of).
Some of his geological collections went to Strasbourg and Lisbon, but are no longer preserved. In Russia, much of its collection is in the State Vernadsky Museum of Geology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He was a follower of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and supported it with paleontological finds and his teaching. In Russia he also promoted the darwinist and paleontologist Vladimir Kovalevsky. He contributed to the recognition of Alexander von Humboldt in Russia.
Faced with the lack of educational manuals on geology in Russian, he created a textbook "Fundamentals of Geology" in three volumes: "Geography and Geomorphy", "Paleontology" and "Stratigraphy."
From 1872 to 1886 he was secretary of the Imperial Society of Natural Scientists in Moscow. In 1884 he became a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. 1894 Honorary member of the and he was a member of the and honorary member of the Belgian Geological Society.
Death.
Trautschold died in Karlsruhe on October 22, 1902.
Memory.
In honor of G. A. Trautshold, two types of ammonites were named - "Acanthohoplites trautscholdi Simonovitsch et al., 1876", "Alphachoristites trautscholdi" and "Sanmartinoceras (Sinzovia) trautscholdi (Sinzow 1870)"(Cretaceous); view of the brachopod " Zeilleria trautscholdi (Neumayr, 1876)" (Jurassic); view of ichthyosaurs " Undorosaurus trautscholdi " (Jurassic); view synapsid "Vivaxosaurus trautscholdi (Amalitzky 1922)" ( Perm); two types of horn corals - " Lophophyllum trautscholdi (Stuckenberg, 1904)" and "Stereophrentis trautscholdi (Fomitshev, 1953)" ( Carbon)) ; genus of sea lilies " Trautscholdicrinus "


Aguillane

Aguillane or Aquillane (possibly from Aymara silver bowl (for a beverage), "-ni" a suffix, "the one with a silver bowl (or silver bowls)") is a mountain in the Andes of Peru, about high. It is located in the Cusco Region, Espinar Province, Condoroma District. Aguillane lies southwest of Atawallpa.


Langstonia

Langstonia (meaning "[crocodile] of Langston", in honor of paleontologist Wann Langston, Jr.) is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorph of the family Sebecidae. It lived in the middle Miocene (specifically in the Laventan land-mammal age), in the "Monkey Beds" of the Colombian Villavieja Formation. "Langstonia" was named in 2007 by Alfredo Paolillo and Omar Linares for fossils originally described by Langston in 1965 as "Sebecus huilensis". Thus, the type species is "L. huilensis".
Discovery and naming.
The first fossils of "Langstonia" were discovered in the province of Huila in Colombia by the Spanish geologist José Royo y Gómez, during the expeditions in the region by the American paleontologist Robert Stirton. They were found in the area called the Tatacoa Desert at the locality V-4517, characterized by gray claystone overlying sandstone sediments. These have been named the Honda Group, of the La Venta fauna, the geological formation named the "lechos de monos" (Monkey Beds) in 1945. Many of the remains discovered were then be sent to the collections of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley (UCMP), where they are still housed. The description of the specimens did not come until 1965, when the American paleontologist Wann Langston Jr. published his monograph "Fossil Crocodylians from Colombia", in which he made a detailed analysis of several fossils of crocodylomorphs in Colombia, including the remains of other species as "Purussaurus neivensis", "Mourasuchus atopus", "Gryposuchus colombianus" and "Charactosuchus fieldsi" (plus a possible dyrosaurid) As for the sebecid material he designated the dentary UCMP 37877 as the holotype of a new species a fragmentary taxon, which he called "Sebecus huilensis"; thus extending the time range of this genus and the family, hitherto known only from remains of the Eocene of Argentina. Langston gave the taxon a new species considering that besides being larger, as the dentary fragment is 68% larger than the Argentine species, "S. icaeorhinus", it was also proportionally thinner, and had with more recurved teeth being laterally compressed. Additionally Langston referred a series of zyphodont teeth in the area found this species, with some teeth referred to as similar but classified generally to "Sebecus" sp., which do not come from the Miocene but the Eocene, found in the department of Santander in Colombia.
Subsequently, Éric Buffetaut and Robert Hoffstetter (1977) reported from the Ipururo Formation in the Amazon region of Peru the presence of a huge cranial portion (area of the snout), referring it to this genus, and although its age coincides with "S. huilensis", distinguished it through it being larger and more robust.
Arthur Busbey (1986) later brought new remains of the species also from the "Monkey Beds" of Huila in Colombia, this time a fragment of premaxilla, smaller than " S. icaeorhinus", and equally thin. He also described the first remains of the jugal bone, the suspensory and retroarticular joint in the jaw, and a fragment of bone scute (osteoderm), which were the earliest known for this family. Busbey also ruled out the Peruvian fossil belonging to "S. huilensis", based on its unique anatomy, less spaced teeth and a wider nose.
Langston, along with the Argentine paleontologist Zulma Gasparini, reported new remains of the species in a contribution on fossil crocodylomorphs of Colombia for the book "Vertebrate Paleontology of the Neotropics: The Miocene Fauna of La Venta" (1997). In this case it would be new specimens of teeth, a somewhat fuller premaxilla, an anterior fragment of dentary, and two vertebrae: a sacral and a caudal, which also were unknown to this group. The specimens discovered on this occasion were deposited in the Geological Museum of Ingeominas (previous name of Colombian Geological Service).
Moreover, Alfredo Paolillo and Omar Linares described a new genus of a large Venezuelan Miocene sebecid, "Barinasuchus" of Venezuela. In their article they considered that the traits of two species of "Sebecus", "S. huilensis" and "S. querejazus" of Paleocene of Bolivia, and their age justified the creation of separate genres for both: "S. huilensis" was given the genus "Langstonia", in honor of its initial descriptor and his "(..)advances in knowledge of crocodylians of Tertiary Colombia in particular and South America in general", while "S. querejazus" was renamed "Zulmasuchus", although some authors (, and ) still maintain both species within "Sebecus". Paolillo and Linares also clarified the status of the Peruvian fossil before assigned to the species, assigning it to "Barinasuchus", although this does not rule out its presence in more southern areas; in the area of the Peruvian Amazon known as the Fitzcarrald Arch has been found a characteristically flattened tooth from the middle Miocene therefore assigned to "Langstonia".
Finally, a premaxilla and maxilla fragment found in Itaboraí Basin in Brazil dating from the Middle Paleocene (and where have been found fossils of other sebecids) has been classified as related to this species, under the name of "Sebecus" cf. "huilensis", whose main features are very similar to "Langstonia", suggesting that the latter is part of a lineage of sebecids with an extensive temporal and geographical record.
Specimens known.
Here is a list of specimens assigned to the species, with a brief description of these. They are grouped according to the institution in which they are preserved:
Museum of Paleontology at the University of California.
Not all materials from this collection were assigned to " Langstonia huilensis " but are included because of their similar morphology.
Paleobiology.
Due to the fragmentary remains generally known for this family, its possible only describe some general aspects of the appearance and biology of "Langstonia". As mentioned above, the fossil type of the species is larger than "Sebecus icaeorhinus" with jaws and teeth even more flattened, although its general proportions are reminiscent of this species, which suggests that their skull would be higher and laterally flattened, in contrast to modern crocodilians, which generally have a horizontally flattened skull with conical teeth. Teeth are of the zyphodont kind, with very flattened sides, slightly curved back and with serrated edges with small denticles (between 5-6 denticles per millimeter in the teeth of this genus) and also without any grooves on its surface. This type of teeth appears in the close relatives of sebecids, the peirosaurids and baurusuchids of the Cretaceous and some crocodilians of the Cenozoic as the pristichampsids and some mekosuchines. These forms were land animals that used their teeth to cut and tear their prey, because the traditional method of capture of the crocodiles, using its pressure force to retain and drown his victims is not viable on land; these crocodylomorphs also had more elongated limbs, stiff back, ideal to hold the weight and give strength to run. Langston had already suggested that these teeth were indicative that this animal had more terrestrial habits than those of existing species and the Miocene contemporary crocodylians, and in the modern world only could be vaguely compared with the less aquatic habits of the caimans of the genus "Paleosuchus", which have a higher muzzle and a higher degree of ossification around the eye socket, so that they partially resemble sebecids. Busbey suggested the fact that his skull was high implied that these animals seek not to make pressure during the bite indefinitely, but to produce cuts then back quickly so that the bleeding weakens their prey slowly up to devour, similar to what has been thought to be the case for the extant Komodo dragon, thereby adopting a strategy of stalking in areas where prey transit frequently.
Since in the fauna of La Venta, although there were some large mammalian predators (sparassodonts, "Lycopsis longirostrus" and "Dukecynus"), neither of them equated in size to the contemporary crocodylomorphs, , and given the absence of large predatory birds phorusrhacids as in the southern part of the continent, these sebecids were probably the terrestrial apex predators in its ecosystem. The fossils found of other species - big fishes, manatees, large browsing meridiungulates as "Granastrapotherium" and "Huilatherium", and some grazers as "Pericotoxodon" - indicate that the climate was warm and humid with heavy rainfall and with droughts periods no extending beyond 3–4 months, consisting of watersheds, forests and certain adjacent areas of open grasslands where it could hunt down a large variety of megafauna.
The disappearance of the system of large rivers of the Amazon lake system and the gradual uplift of the Andes caused major ecological changes in South America in the mid-Miocene. The last sebecids, "Langstonia" and "Barinasuchus" were likely apex predators in their environment, and as an effect they would be particularly susceptible to ecological changes that caused other lineages, particularly hoofed mammals (such as groups Astrapotheria, Leontiniidae, Adianthidae and Notohippidae) to die out, thus leading to extinction to the last notosuchians crocodilomorphs of the world.
Phylogeny.
"Langstonia" is considered part of Sebecosuchia, a lineage of ziphodont terrestrial crocodylomorphs forming part of a separate lineage of the southern continent of Gondwana. As noted earlier, this species formerly part of the genus "Sebecus" and phylogenetic analyzes have consistently shown that these forms a clade within Sebecidae next to "S. icaeorhinus" and "Zulmasuchus", not so closely related to "Barinasuchus" and "Bretesuchus". Cladogram based on .


Katberg Formation

The Katberg Formation is a geological formation that is found in the Beaufort Group, a major geological group that forms part of the greater Karoo Supergroup in South Africa. The Katberg Formation is the lowermost geological formation of the Tarkastad Subgroup which contains the Lower to Middle Triassic-aged rocks of the Beaufort Group. Outcrops and exposures of the Katberg Formation are found east of 24 degrees on wards and north of Graaff-Reniet, Nieu Bethesda, Cradock, Fort Beaufort, Queensdown, and East London in the south, and ranges as far north as Harrismith in deposits that form a ring around the Drakensberg mountain ranges.
Geology.
The Katberg Formation overlies the Balfour Formation of the Adelaide Subgroup and the Burgersdorp Formation of the upper Tarkastad Subgroup, all pertaining to the greater Beaufort Group. The appearance of the Katberg Formation rocks starkly differs from the underlying Balfour Formation due to its high sandstone content and reddish colored mudstones. The high sandstone content of the Katberg Formation, which range from light olive grey, greenish grey, or light brownish grey in color, is a key characteristic of this formation. However, the rocks of the Katberg Formation are differentiated into southern and northern sedimentary facies which grade laterally into one another from the south upwards. The southern and northern Katberg Formation deposits also vary drastically in thickness.
The southern Katberg Formation deposits are the most sandstone-rich, comprising approximately 90 percent sandstone and are fine to medium-grained. Along the coast outcrops and exposures, especially close to East London, the Katberg sandstones are coarse-grained and contain pebbles up to in diameter. In the north the sandstones remain consistently fine-grained and exhibit fining upward cycles. The ratio between the sandstones and mudstones grows more equal in the northern deposits, making differentiation between the northern Katberg and Burgersdorp Formations tricky in areas. The Katberg Formation reaches its maximum thickness near East London at 1238m, thinning out gradually northwards. The sandstones are predominantly tabular although exhibit some planar and trough cross-bedding along with horizontal laminations and ripple cross-laminations. The sandstones contain much thinner beds of brownish-red shale and reddish to purple and some minor greenish mudstones, which are frequently structureless or horizontally laminated. Mudstones become redder in colour in the upper Katberg deposits as it grades laterally into the Burgersdorp Formation. Intraformational mud clasts, pedogenic and calcareous nodules are found commonly throughout.
The appearance and proliferation of the sandstone deposits, especially in the southern and lower Katberg Formation, marks the change to an alluvial fan and braided river environment in the Early Triassic due to the presence of coarser-grained sandstones that lack fining upward sequences. Due to the ongoing biotic crises in the aftermath of the Permo-Triassic extinction event, rampant erosion took place as there was a stark drop in plant and animal species diversity. This resulted in unstable ecological niches. The environment at this time was also arid and hot where the rivers seasonally ran dry. When the rainy season arrived, flash floods took place. In the northern Katberg, a drop in the level of preserved sandstones reveals that by the beginning of the Middle Triassic ecosystems were beginning to stabilize after the Permo-Triassic extinction event. The presence of fine-grained sandstones and more plentiful mudstones show that there was a decrease in energy levels in the depositional environment, meaning that the fast flowing braided rivers were steadily replaced by slower flowing, meandering river channels. The environment was still semi-arid, however, due to the presence of the redder mudstones.
Paleontology.
The Katberg Formation documents the marked drop in species abundance due to biotic crises that followed the Permo-Triassic extinction event. The most ubiquitous fossils found are different species of "Lystrosaurus" as the Katberg Formation contains the rocks of the "Lystrosaurus" Assemblage Zone. The most common fossils found are those of "Lystrosaurus murrayi" and "Lystrosaurus declivis". In the lower Katberg Formation, complete and sometimes mummified articulated skeletons of "L. murrayi" and "L. declivus" are found in bone beds containing several individuals. The bone beds are almost always overlain by mudstone infilled with sandstone and capped by other coarse-grained sediments. This provides substantial geological and taphonomical evidence that these "Lystrosaurus" died near to dried up river channels and were mummified in the arid climate before their remains were buried by flash floods.
The Permo-Triassic extinction event caused the extinction of all gorgonopsians and almost all dicynodont species except for "Lystrosaurus" and a select few other species such as "Myosaurus gracilis". Therocephalian species experience a Lilliput effect where only smaller species survived and thrived after the extinction event. By the upper sections of the biozone, ecological niches began to recover as evidenced by the appearance of new species. Cynodonts experienced the greatest diversification with species such as "Thrinaxodon liorhinus" and "Galesaurus planiceps" being found. Small procolonphonid parareptiles such as "Owenetta kitchingorum" and "Procolophon trigoniceps" are also found in the Katberg Formation. In addition, the earliest ancestors of Archosauria appear in the lower Katberg Formation.These species are known as archosauromorphs and archosauriformes. Examples of these are "Prolacerta broomi" and "Proterosuchus fergusi" respectively. Notably, the Katberg Formation frequently yields burrow casts left by "Lystrosaurus".
Correlation.
The lower Katberg Formation is known to correspond in age with the Santa Maria Formation of the upper Paraná Basin in southern Brazil.


Pinacate Mountains


Bombaso Formation

The Bombaso Formation, also known as Waidegger Conglomerate, Waidegger Group, Waidegg Formation or Collendiaul Formation, is a geologic formation in the Carnic Alps in southern Austria. It preserves fossils dating back to the Moscovian of the Carboniferous period.
Fossil content.
The following fossils have been reported from the formation:


Titanonarke

Titanonarke is an extinct genus of large electric rays known from the Ypresian age of the Eocene epoch. It currently contains two species from the Bolca Lagerstatte of Italy, "T. molini" and "T. megapterygia". The exceptional preservation of multiple entire individuals has allowed a detailed reconstruction of their lives. Specimens of both species have been found with various ontogenetic stages and with parasitic isopods preserved. One specimen contains a fossilized embryo, showing this species to be viviparous. This species seems to prefer shallow water habitats associated with coral reefs, not unlike modern relatives. Stomach contents reveal a diet which included an extinct large benthic foraminifera genus, Alveolina.


Aeolodon

Aeolodon is an extinct genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform reptile from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) of Germany. Although previously synonymized with "Steneosaurus", recent cladistic analysis considers it distantly related to the "Steneosaurus" type species.
The holotype of "Aeolodon priscus" was found at Daiting, Bavaria, Germany, in the same quarry that produced the "Geosaurus giganteus" holotype.


Tatahuicapan

Tatahuicapan de Juárez or Tatahuicapan is a municipality located in the south-east of the state of Veracruz in Mexico. It was created in 1997 with an area of 208.06 km2.
Geography.
The municipality of Tatahuicapan is delimited to the north, south and east by Mecayapan, and to the west by Soteapan. The rivers Tatahuicapán, Zapoapan, Piedra Labrada, Texizapan, and Temoloapan run through the region.
Climate.
The weather in Tatahuicapan is typically warm all year round, with regular rains in summer and autumn.
Celebrations.
A celebration takes place in March in honour of San Gabriel, patron saint of the town, and another in December in honour of the Virgen de Guadalupe.


2008 El Calvario earthquake

The 2008 El Calvario earthquake occurred in central Colombia on 24 May and measured 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale. The earthquake occurred at 2:20:43 p.m. (19:20:43 UTC) at the epicenter (El Calvario, Meta). The depth was 35 km; it was superficial according to an Ingeominas report. The epicenter was located 35 km from Villavicencio and 50 km from Bogotá. There were 11 confirmed fatalities and 4,181 injured, mostly in the towns of Puente Quetame, Fosca, Fomeque and Guayabetal in Cundinamarca, and in El Calvario, Meta.
A M4 foreshock occurred at 12:08 local time (17:08 UTC) near San Juanito, in the Meta Central Department, at a depth of 30 km.
The town of Quetame, Cundinamarca was the most affected. Several houses collapsed in this small town of 6,500 inhabitants. The reconstruction of the affected structures cost 10 million USD (exchange rate COP 2000). In Bogotá, a partial collapse of the building of "Lotería de Bogotá" was reported, with no major consequences. The emergency network in the Capital District was put on maximum alert. A collapse of fixed phone lines and cell phones occurred, due to the great number of people calling to find out about their relatives. The quake was also felt in cities as far away as Medellín and Bucaramanga.
In Guayabetal, Meta, civil defense workers could only reach the town from Villavicencio using motorcycles, because fallen buildings blocked cars from passing. The workers found two people dead and another 26 people trapped in a bus. Now there is a bypass to that point coming from Villavicencio, because 2 km of Highway 48 was closed due to fallen debris.


Sierra Mazateca

The Sierra Mazateca is a mountainous area, part of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca mountain range, located in the northern part of the state of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico. It is named after the Mazatec people, who are indigenous to the area.
Geography.
Its western part is within the district of Teotitlan del Camino in the Cañada Region; and its eastern part is within the district of Tuxtepec, in the Papaloapan Region.
The main towns of the region are Huautla de Jimenez, Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón and Jalapa de Díaz.
In 1954 the eastern part of the Sierra Mazateca region was submerged by the construction of the Miguel Alemán Dam, now under Miguel Alemán Lake reservoir.


2008 Peloponnese earthquake

The 2008 Peloponnese earthquake killed two people, injured more than 220 and left at least 2,000 people homeless in north western Peloponnese, Greece, on June 8. The earthquake hit the area at 1525 EET (1325 UTC), with a moment magnitude of 6.5, according to the Athens Geodynamic Institute. It was strongly felt as far away as in Athens and in parts of southern Italy. The US Geological Survey reported that the quake had a magnitude of 6.4. The epicenter of the tremor was located about 15 miles (32 km) southwest of the Greek port city of Patras, at a depth of 16 km. Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos dispatched rescue and recovery teams (including members of five government agencies), the Red Cross and units of the army in order to assess the damage and the needs of survivors in the earthquake affected areas.
Earthquake.
The earthquake of June 8, 2008, was generated by stresses resulting from the motion of the small Aegean Sea plate southwest with respect to the Eurasia plate with a velocity of about 30 mm/y. The boundary between the Aegean plate and the Eurasia plate in central Greece is diffuse. Seismicity is concentrated in east-trending and northeast-trending zones of deformation. The east-trending zones are characterized by predominantly normal faulting. The northeast-trending zones are characterized by predominately strike-slip faulting earthquakes. The focal mechanism of the earthquake of June 8 is consistent with the shock having been caused by strike-slip faulting similar to that occurring within the northeast-trending zones. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the largest crustal earthquakes of central Greece have had magnitudes of about 7.2.
Damage.
At least 1,156 buildings damaged or destroyed in the cities of Achaea and Elis. This earthquake generated enough power to cause damage to structures over an area of 2000 square kilometers. Although it was reportedly felt 350 kilometers away from the epicenter. Within the 2000 square kilometers of the damaged area many landslides and rockfalls took place. Heavily affected villages by this natural disaster were Portes, Santomeri and Valmi. Although there were occurrences of rockfalls and landslides as far away as on the island of Leukas. This island is located 100 kilometers away from the epicenter. The villages of Portes and Santomeri are located at the foot of the mountain, Skollis Mountain. This is a mountain with very steep cliffs of loose rocks such as sandstone, and higher up there are cliffs of limestone. During the earthquake there was significant damage done to these cliffs of the Skollis Mountain. This damage resulted in rockslides and landslides. There is account of limestone rock falling from this mountain, which struck a house in the village of Santomeri and caused serious structural damage, but there were no casualties in this incident.
Ground effects.
A search was conducted in order to locate any damage done to the Earth's surface in the form of surface ruptures. This search was heavily conducted in and around the Kato Achaea train station. The Kato Achaia Train station is located about four fifths of a kilometer from the coastline. This search took place two days after the incident of the earthquake. The search consisted of a mapping of the train station, discussion with a station operator, and a careful process of observing the ground. There was significant notable damage done to the rails of the station. In the northern part of the station there was both compression and extension damage noted on the ground. This did damage to the Kato Achaia train station's rails. Although the rails were replaced before the inspection began. This was done to continue the operation of the station immediately after the earthquake occurred. On the southern side of the station there was obvious evidence of compression damage done to the rails. The movements of the Earth caused the southern rails to buckle together, making them unusable.
Aftermath.
The villages of Santomeri and Portes have both been declared hazardous areas. They have been evacuated due to the damage done to the Skollis Mountain by the earthquake. The falling Limestone from the village is a major Hazard, and the government decided that no more risks are to be taken. Along with the evacuation, some of the damage done to the Kato Achaia train station has been repaired in the form of replaced rails within two days of the occurrence of the earthquake. This was to keep the train station in operation.


Bohemiatupus

Bohemiatupus is an extinct genus of griffenfly in the family Meganeuridae and containing a single species Bohemiatupus elegans. The species is known only from the Late Carboniferous, Bolsovian stage, Kladno Formation near the village of Radnice in the Radnice Basin, Czech Republic.
History and classification.
"Bohemiatupus elegans" is known only from one fossil, the holotype, specimen number "M00485" which is composed of an isolated fore-wing and hind-wing. The wings are preserved as a negative imprint fossil in a sedimentary tuff. The fossil specimen is from outcrops of the Kladno Formation exposed in the Ovčín opencast mine. "Bohemiatupus elegans" is the first described occurrence of large griffenflies found in the continental basins of the Bohemian Massif. The type specimen is currently preserved in the collections housed in the West Bohemian Museum, located in Plzeň, Czech Republic. "Bohemiatupus" was first studied by Jakub Prokop of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic and André Nel of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, France. Their 2008 type description of the genus and species was published in the journal "Annales de la Société Entomologique de France". The generic name was coined by Prokop and Nel from a combination of the "Bohemia" in reference to the historical central European region and the meganeurid genus "Tupus" to which "Bohemiatupus" is related. The etymology of the specific epithet "elegens" is Latin and refers to the "magnificent state of preservation" displayed by the holotype.
The ecosystem in which "Bohemiatupus elegans" lived is interpreted as a shallow lake that developed into a peat-mire due to sediment infill from volcanic ash during the Bolsovian. "Bohemiatupus elegans" shared this environment with the notably large insect species "Bojophlebia prokopi" and "Carbotriplura kukalovae", which were described from the Kladno Formation earlier.
Description.
The holotype wings are mostly complete with the apical section of the fore-wing folded and indistinct while only the basal section of the hind-wing is present. The wings shows no indications of any color pattering that may have been present in life and are interpreted to have been hyaline in nature. The preserved segment of the fore-wing is giving an estimated full length for the wing of approximately . An adult "Bohemiatupus elegans" would have had a full wingspan of around . The overall size larger than the wingspan of the older genus "Sinomeganeura huangheensis". However this is still smaller than other members of the subfamily such as "Meganeuropsis permiana" which is noted for a wingspan exceeding . Several key vein structure features present in the fore-wing show "Bohemiatupus elegans" to be a member of the meganeurid subfamily Tupinae close to the genus "Tupus". The AA1 vein possesses several rearward branches, and the CuP vein has a number of concave branches, while the braces CuP and CuA are oblique but not fused into a single vein. Overall the hind-wing is distinctly wider in the cubito-anal area than that of "Tupus", where the hind and fore wings are similar in width. "B. elegans" can be separated from other genera in the subfamily by various aspects of the fine vein structuring in the wing.


Oskar Kuhn

Oskar Kuhn (7 March 1908, Munich – 1990) was a German palaeontologist.
Life and career.
Kuhn was educated in Dinkelsbühl and Bamberg and then studied natural science, specialising in geology and paleontology, at the University of Munich, from which he received his D. Phil. in 1932.
He worked in the University of Munich Geological Institute, among other things on the "Fossilium Catalogus" (Catalogue of Fossils), and then in 1938 on a stipend from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, moved to the University of Halle, where he worked on the Geiseltal fossils. In 1939 he achieved his Habilitation with a thesis on the Halberstadt Keuper fauna, and in 1940 was named Privatdozent in geology and paleontology.
Informed by his Catholic religion, Kuhn was an exponent of idealistic morphology: he viewed evolution as operating only within predetermined morphological classes. In 1943 he declared, "The theory of descent has collapsed." After a political conflict with his mentor, Johannes Weigelt, over evolution, Kuhn's teaching certification was withdrawn (in an act known as "remotion") in November 1941. He had to leave Halle and was immediately called up for wartime service in the Wehrmacht. In February 1942 he was released because of lung disease. (He had been a member of the SA from 1933 to 1936 but left for health reasons.)
In 1947 he became professor "extraordinarius" at the University of Bamberg, but left after a short time.


Kirtonryggen Formation

The Kirtonryggen Formation is a geologic formation in Norway. It preserves fossils.


Monte Sarmiento

Monte Sarmiento is a pyramidal peak with a glaciated saddle-shaped summit located within Alberto de Agostini National Park, in the Chilean portion of Tierra del Fuego. It rises abruptly from the east shore of the Magdalena Channel and marks the western border of the Cordillera Darwin. The mountain is frequently shrouded in clouds, but when it is visible is "the most sublime spectacle in Tierra del Fuego" according to the words of
Charles Darwin, one of the many people who have been captivated by the beauty of this mountain.
History.
The mountain was called "Volcán Nevado" (Snowy Volcano) by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, who thought it was a volcano. Phillip Parker King named it Mount Sarmiento in honor of the mentioned explorer.
Several unsuccessful attempts were made to reach its summit, including those of
Martin Conway in 1898 and of Alberto María de Agostini in 1913.
The eastern summit of Monte Sarmiento was climbed on 7 March 1956 by an expedition including the Italian mountaineers Clemente Gueret and Carlo Mauri. It was organized by Padre Alberto Maria De Agostini.
The West Summit was climbed on 24 December 1986 by an Italian expedition of Ragni di Lecco including Gigi Alippi, Salvatore Panzeri, Lorenzo Mazzoleni, Pinuccio Castelnuovo, Bruno Pennati, Clemente Maffei, Gian Maria Confalonieri, Franco Baravalle, Salvatore Fantozzi e Luciano Bovina. This expedition opened a new route on the North Face.
The west summit of Monte Sarmiento was climbed in 1995 by a party including the British mountaineers Stephen Venables, John Roskelley and Tim Macartney-Snape. (Source: Ollie, by Stephen Venables). A German team composed of Robert Jasper, Jörn Heller and Ralf Gantzhorn, climbed the North Face to the western summit on April 4, 2010. This team followed the route opened in 1986.
In literature.
The mountain is mentioned in the novels "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "Robur the Conqueror," both by Jules Verne, and in "This Thing of Darkness" by Harry Thompson.
In cinema.
An attempt to climb the mountain in 2003 is the subject of the Brazilian documentary film Extremo sul.