Aspidoceras

Aspidoceras is an extinct ammonoid cephalopod genus belonging to the family Aspidoceratidae.
Taxonomy.
"Aspidoceras", named by Zittel, 1868, is the type genus for the persphictacian family Aspidoceratidae and subfamily Aspidoceratinae in which it is included. It is considered related to genera like "Chinamecaceras", "Cubaspidoceras", "Euaspidoceras", "Extranodites", "Intranodites", "Neaspidoceras", "Oligopsychopsis", "Orthaspidoceras", "Schaireria" and "Simaspidoceras".
Fossil record.
"Aspidoceras" mainly lived during the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) until Cretaceous (Berriasian), with a fairly broad distribution. Fossils have been found in Italy, Chile, Spain, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Madagascar, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Somalia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, United States and Canada.
Description.
"Aspidoceras" has an evolute shell with quadrate-rounded or depressed whorls that have two rows of tubercles, the outer near the middle of the whorl sides. The outer row soon fades in many species. Some species are also ribbed. The venter, or outer rim, is generally wide and broadly arched. "Aspidoceras" was predated by "Euaspidoceras", possibly its ancestor.


List of volcanoes in Argentina

This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Argentina.


Forillonaria

Forillonaria is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, that existed during the lower Devonian in what is now Canada. It was described by Lesperance in 1975, and the type species is "Forillonaria russelli". The type locality was the Grand Grève Formation in Quebec.


Aude

Aude (; ) is a department in Southern France, located in the Occitanie region and named after the river Aude. The departmental council also calls it "Cathar Country" (French: "Pays cathare") after a group of religious dissidents active in the 12th century.
Its prefecture is Carcassonne and its subprefectures are Limoux and Narbonne. As of 2016, it had a population of 368,025. Aude is a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and mother of Eudo, brother of Saint Hubertus. Aude was the name of Roland's fiancée in the "chansons de geste".
Geography.
Location.
Aude is located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees Mountains.
It is part of the current region of Occitanie. It is surrounded by the departments of Pyrénées-Orientales, Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Tarn, and Hérault, with the Golfe du Lion on the east.
Natural regions.
The countryside in this department falls into several natural regions:
Landscapes.
Each natural region of the Aude has its own particular landscape. In the east, lagoons or coastal lakes form a barrier between land and sea. These were formed by accumulated sediments brought down by the rivers Aude, Orb and Hérault. There are many such lakes of brackish water. This environment is demanding for flora and fauna, as it suffers from the rigours of sea, sun, dryness and floods. Halophile (i.e., salt-loving) plants grow there. The area is also noted for the pink flamingo and white stilt.
Inland to the east, shrub and scrub dominate the landscape of the drylands of the Aude and the Corbières Massif. This landscape is the result of forest clearance and was maintained by the raising of livestock. The flora is varied and typical with many species of orchids. The Sault countryside is dominated by beech groves and fir plantations up to the mountains. These forests are known for their mushrooms and have a rich flora and fauna, including the Pyrenean lily, the euproctis moth and horsetail of the woods.
To the north and west, the Black Mountain country is made up of forests of oak and beech. The Lauragais is a wooded landscape where grain farming has shaped the hills. There are bodies of water like the Lac de la Ganguise. Finally, the high valley of the Aude, otherwise called the Razès, consists of a riparian forest made of beech, alder, poplar or ash. It includes some peatlands that are very rare in southern France.
Geology.
The landscapes of Aude can be explained by geology. In the south, there are sedimentary rocks folded during the formation of the Pyrenees. To the north and centre, the sedimentary rocks are less folded. At the extreme east, near the Mediterranean, the rocks are carved by normal collapse faults which are due to the opening of the Golfe du Lion.
The Black Mountain and Minervois to the north consist of schist and marble forming the southern boundary of the Massif Central. These ancient rocks were formed over 300 million years ago and deformed by the formation of the Hercynian chain. The Montagne d'Alaric (Alaric's Mountain) is an antiform fold in the shape of a vault and made of limestone.
Climate.
Aude is under the influence of a Mediterranean climate.
The autumn is characterized by violent and short storms.
The summer is often hot and dry, which is favorable to the culture of the vine and the olive-trees. Yet, the department has several contrasts in climate:
In the north, the Montagne Noire and, in the south, the Pays de Sault, have a mountainous climate with temperatures sometimes very low in winter.
In the west, the climate is under Aquitaine influence with heavier precipitation, while in the east the climate is purely Mediterranean.
In the centre, in the Limouxin, Carcassonnais and Razès areas, the climate is known as intermediary with significant exposure to winds.
The winds are often present in Aude. It is one of the windiest French departments, with 300 to 350 days of wind per year. This phenomenon is due mostly to the variations in relief north and south which create a kind of corridor.
In the north-west blows the Cers, called Tramontane in Provence, which is a ground wind. It is a dry, somewhat violent wind and cold in winter. In the south-east blows the Autan, locally called the Marin, which is hot and wet and comes from the sea.
These regular winds made it possible to install an industrial park of wind turbines, as in the area of Avignonet-Lauragais.
Hydrography.
The drainage system of Aude is dominated by its river of the same name. The river rises at the Roc d'Aude and passes through the Matemale and Puyvalador dams on the Capcir plateau at 1500m, then crosses the department from south to north across Axat, Limoux, and Quillan following the upper valley of the Aude. At Carcassonne, the river changes direction toward the Mediterranean Sea to the east, where it empties near Fleury.
History.
Prehistory.
Human traces have been found dating between 690,000 and 300,000 years before present in the form of hammers and worked tools on the hill of Grazailles at Carcassonne. The most interesting discovery, however, is that of the skull of Tautavel Man, made by Henry de Lumley in 1971 in the commune of Tautavel in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. It is the oldest skull known in Europe. It dates from about 450,000 years BC. It is likely that Tautavel Man lived in all of this region.
Roman Era.
The Romans, led by the consul-general Domitius Ahenobarbus, first occupied Narbonne in 118 BC on the oppidum of Montlaurès. This became the provincial capital and a very active mercantile port. The position was strategically important since it stood at the crossroads of two Roman roads, the Via Aquitania and the Via Domitia, as well as by the sea near the mouth of the river Aude. Carcassonne became Latin in 30 BC with the creation of numerous grain farms. For almost two centuries, Aude enjoyed peace and strong economic growth.
Barbarian invasions.
The Visigoths invaded the area in 435 AD at a time when Flavius Aetius, the Roman senator, was busy suppressing the Bagaudes, who were brigands or lawless types in central and northern Gaul. Roman authority was restored until 462. In 507, the victory of Clovis I at the battle of Vouillé permitted him to conquer Toulouse and Aquitaine. However, he could not recover the Aude territory, which remained in the hands of the Visigoths, thanks to the help of the King of the Ostrogoths. His troops defeated Clovis's son in 508. The region was part of Septimania, so called because it was composed of seven bishoprics that the Visigoth kings had established there: Elne, Agde, Narbonne, Lodève, Béziers, Maguelonne, and Nîmes. Septimania covered the Aude but also the whole region of Languedoc-Roussillon.
Middle Ages.
In 817, Louis le Débonnaire detached Carcassès and Razès from Septimania to reunite them with the marquisate of Toulouse and the kingdom of Aquitaine. The first Count of Carcassonne was Oliba from the family of the Counts of Barcelona who established himself in 819. Razès was another county that was formed by an archbishop of Narbonne who had been chased from his town by the Saracens. He had transferred his episcopal seat to Razès and had procured the honours of the feudal title for the area. Narbonne formed a third county. Thus, the Aude department was formed in the ninth century from three counties: Carcassonne, Razès and Narbonne. In 880, the County of Razès was united by marriage to that of Carcassonne, never to be separated.
Catharism in Aude.
In the 13th century, the region saw the development of Catharism, a dualistic Christian sect with similarities to Gnosticism. This religion was very quickly judged to be heretical by the Catholic Church. Faced with its growing strength in the counties of Carcassonne and Toulouse, Pope Innocent III in 1209 declared a crusade against the Albigensians. The barons of the north united to form an army under the command of Simon de Montfort. Whereas the count of Toulouse Raymond VI received absolution, the Count of Carcassonne confronted the army alone. The city of Carcassonne became the refuge of numerous Cathars.
The Protestant Crisis and Economic Expansion of the department.
In 1561, religious troubles appeared at Carcassonne in the form of a Protestant crisis. Duke Henri I de Montmorency, the Governor of the Languedoc, joined the Reformed side in 1574. On the Catholic side, the Duke Anne de Joyeuse became head of the Catholic League. Henri II de Montmorency was defeated at the Battle of Castelnaudary in September 1632 against the royal troops then was condemned to death and executed at Toulouse.
The Creation of the Department.
The present department is one of the original 83 departments created by the Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.
Administrative divisions were amended by the Act of 28 Pluviôse of Year 8, which created four arrondissements (reduced to three by Premier Raymond Poincaré in 1926) and reduced the number of cantons from 45 to 31.
The 20th Century.
The Aude enjoyed strong wine production while grain farmers of Lauragais faced great difficulties. However, the department suffered from oversupply and a slump in sales of wine. In 1907 the crisis produced a winemakers' revolt. This led to the establishment of many Winemaking cooperatives in Aude from 1909.
Economy.
Agriculture and fisheries.
Aude is an agricultural area dominated by vineyards. In the east are the wines of Corbieres and La Clape, in the centre are Minervois and Côtes de Malepère, and in the south Limoux wine. In Lauragais grain is predominant, whereas in the Montagne Noire only sheep farming is possible. More recently there has been an increase in cultivation of olive trees for their oil.
Port-la-Nouvelle is the biggest fishing port in the department followed by Gruissan. In 1996 there were 127 vessels in Aude including 75 in Port-la-Nouvelle and 52 in Gruissan. These vessels were as follows:
Small craft are recreational boats such as dinghies with one man fishing a lake or motor launches with up to three people fishing in coastal waters. About 85% of small craft are intended for lake fishing as in the Étang de Thau.
Viticulture.
Viticulture is the main economic activity of the department due to its rich and varied soils. It was the Greeks who established vineyards in Aude and the Romans who determined the rights of exploitation. The first vines were planted in Minervois in the 1st century.
But the grapes and wines were not consumer products or self-sufficient for many years. Cereals and olive trees dominated the fertile plains of Aude. It was at the beginning of the 19th century that the wine industry developed in Aude and the rest of Languedoc-Roussillon. Wine then became a consumer product. Higher output was needed and vineyards replaced cereals on the plains. There was an initial period of prosperity to 1850 before phylloxera appeared towards 1870. At the end of the 19th century, Aude experienced a second period of prosperity but there was a wine crisis triggered in 1901 because of over-production, fraud, and slumping sales. It reached its peak during the winemakers revolt in 1907. The wine growers regrouped themselves into winemaking cooperatives to prevent fraud and deception. In 1919 then in 1935, a law of AOC was adopted under the leadership of Jean Capus. The INAO was set up as a body to control the application of the new laws.
After the Second World War, the vineyards were revitalized and the region saw a mass of viticulture. The wine was produced in large quantities and satisfied a very demanding population. The product was supplied in large quantities at very low prices. In 1970 the market evolved replacing demand for quantity with demand for quality and causing a second wine crisis. Many events, negotiations, and attacks paralyzed the region and the economy. Emile Pouytès and the CRS Joel le Gof died at Montredon-des-Corbières on 4 March 1976 during this crisis. A large change in the Aude viticulture business started with a reorganization of the profession and the wine-growing region. Quality had to become the mark of wine from Aude.
The rich and varied soil of Aude together with abundant sunshine abounds enables Aude to produce quality wines. Many wines emanate from the department, ranging in quality from table wines to AOCs, passing through vins de pays and VDQS.
There are seven main areas of production:
These areas produce different wines such as "Blanquette de Limoux", Chardonnay and sparkling wine from Limoux, "La Clape", Corbières, Fitou, and Cabardès.
Industry and energy.
Industrial activity is strong in the upper valley of the Aude. It has been especially prominent around Limoux since the late nineteenth century; and the Lafarge brick plant there is still booming.
Since the 1970s, however, the Aude has seen a rapid decline in its traditional industries such as shoe and hat making. More recent activity is mostly centred around Narbonne, particularly dock facilities and oil depots in Port-la-Nouvelle.
From 1889, the high valley of Aude became increasingly important in generating hydroelectric power. Aude was the first department in France to transmit such power, from its plants at Alet-les-Bains and Quillan. Joachim Estrade established the first electricity company in France, the Southern Power Transmission Company (SMTF), in 1901. Its plant at Axat-Saint-Georges supplied the cities of Carcassonne and Narbonne at 20 kilovolts.
Today Aude is the leading department in France for the number of wind turbines installed. There are 113 in operation. They produce some 91 megawatts, which is the domestic electricity consumption of about 100,000 people. With the proliferation of these machines, the prefecture is seeking to establish with stakeholders a charter of good conduct for wind turbines.
Crafts.
Crafts are very well represented in Aude with 14.6% of the population involved. Some 5,400 businesses operating in 250 craft professions achieved in the late 1990s an annual turnover of 3 billion francs (400 million Euros).
Demography.
The inhabitants of Aude are known as 'Audois'. The 1990 census confirmed a growth in population since the 1960s with about 700 people more per year. This growth is explained by the return of pensioners aged over 60 years to their place of origin and to immigration from the Mediterranean basin.
At the last census, the population of Aude represented 0.5% of the French population and 14.1% of the population of Languedoc-Roussillon. It is predominantly rural with a density of 48 inhabitants per km2, which is slightly less than half the national average. The two main cities, Carcassonne and Narbonne, are medium-sized cities comprising only one third of the inhabitants of the department. In 2017, the department had 370,260 inhabitants.
Transport.
Two major roads cross the Aude. From west to east the A61 autoroute (Autoroute des Deux Mers) connects Narbonne and Toulouse via Carcassonne. From north to south, following the Mediterranean coast, the A9 autoroute links Montpellier with Spain.
The rail network follows the same route as the road network. It is a low speed system, but a project is under way to build a fast line to Spain as part of the Trans-European Rail network.
Finally, Aude is crossed by the Canal du Midi which is a major waterway that allows tourists to pass from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. It comes into the west of Aude at Seuil de Naurouze then joins the Mediterranean at Sète.
Politics.
The people of Aude expressed royalist opinions until the end of the Bourbon Restoration. In 1830 republican ideas began to develop and made this department a bastion of the left. This growth is symbolized by two men, Armand Barbès and Theophile Marcou. Armand Barbès is a symbol of the struggle for a social democratic Republic.
It was in Aude that François Mitterrand had his highest score in the 1981 presidential election with just over 63% of the vote.
Only affluent coastal areas surrounding Narbonne and the department's prefecture, Carcassonne give consideration to the right.
Current National Assembly Representatives.
The President of the General Council is Marcel Rainaud of the Socialist Party.
Education.
Aude department in 2008 had 364 primary schools (schools of the first degree) serving 30,771 students.
 Between 2000 and 2007, primary school enrollment steadily increased from 28,331 students to 30,491 students At secondary level, the department had 31 colleges and 17 public and private high schools for about 23,000 students in 2006.
Education in Aude now includes teaching in the Occitan language.
Culture.
Festivals and traditions.
The Carnival of Limoux is an Aude festival which takes place over a period of ten weeks or more. This is one of the longest carnivals in the world. It takes place in the town of Limoux on the Place de la République every weekend from mid-January to the end of March. It is characterized by bands in Pierrot costumes (known as "les fécos") accompanied by musicians. In the region around Limoux a major celebration of gastronomy known as "Toques et Clochers" (literally, "Tall Hats & Steeples') organized by the winegrowers from Sieur d'Arques' takes place over the weekend of Palm Sunday. It permits the sale of a large quantity of wine in order to enhance local patronage.
Sport.
Aude is the land of rugby league (rugby à XIII) with the teams of Limoux, Carcassonne and Lézignan among the elite. Puig Aubert (1925–1994) was a famous rugby league player who played with AS Carcassonne. There are numerous amateur rugby league clubs dotted all over the area.
Rugby union (rugby à XV) is also played in Aude. It appeared early in the twentieth century and the US-Quillan club dominated in the late 1920s. Jean Bourrel won the title in 1929 against Lézignan. After the Second World War, the Carcassonne team took the lead. Recently, however, rugby union in the Aude has faced an uphill struggle in a sport that has become both globalized and more professional. The Narbonne team (known as Racing Club Narbonne-Mediterranean) has nevertheless managed to develop in the Pro D2 championship.
Every 15 August, in Quillan, an international cycling competition takes place. This is the oldest of such contests in France.
The Tour de l'Aude is one of the most important female cycling events in the calendar. It generally takes place in May.
Gastronomy.
"Fréginat", a traditional type of fricasee of pork from Corbières, can be found throughout the department. It is made from pork and pig's liver with a local variety of white beans (Lingots de Castelnaudary) flavoured with garigue herbs. On the coast, eel stew (borrida d’anguilles) is a dish of choice. Finally, the cassoulet of Castelnaudary, made from white beans and sausage, is a typical dish of the Lauragais.
Other specialties exist such as oysters from Gruissan and Leucate. Olive oil is also very widespread in the Aude and is a speciality of Bize-Minervois. "Cartagena" is a liqueur marketed by some manufacturers. Finally, the Blanquette de Limoux is a sparkling white wine popular in the department whose origin dates back to the sixteenth century.
Occitan.
Occitan is spoken in the Aude in its Languedoc variant. The language emerged during the High Middle Ages from the Latin used in the south of Gaul.
In Aude, Occitan was rarely used in writing before the 11th century. However, several poets and troubadours such as Raimon de Miraval used language based on courtly love in the 12th and 13th centuries. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Occitan was used to draw up local administrative documents. In the 16th century, Occitan was used less than royal French, whose use was made compulsory by the edict of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539. However, it survived very well among the people until the 19th century, when public schools were established with teaching solely in French.
In the 1970s and the 1980s, new demands were made for the dignity of the language and for its teaching. Occitan speech reached a wider audience and singers like Claudi Marti, "Mans de Brèish", and "La Sauze" promoted its use.
It was in Aude that the first Occitan radio station broadcast in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon: Ràdio Lenga (Occitan) at 95.5 FM.
Tourism.
Aude is a tourist department with a rich cultural heritage and varied natural sites. Since the 1990s, the Aude has developed the attractiveness of its territory by focusing on the development of the publicity surrounding Catharism. The Aude has been named "Cathar Country" by the General Council to mark the authentic and mysterious nature of the department, especially with its many Cathar castles.
Tourism is also promoted through a stock of hotel rooms in all categories of 313,500 beds available year-round. Aude estimates the number of tourist overnight stays to be 17.11 million in 2010 with a turnover of 842 million euros providing 5,800 full-time jobs and 9,500 seasonal jobs.
In a very limited section of the Orbiel Valley the department has had occasional pollution problems because of its abandoned gold mines (with mercury and arsenic).
Overview of tourist areas.
Carcassonne has been restored to much of its medieval appearance. Narbonne is a tourist destination due to its Roman ruins.
Other towns and villages worth visiting include Limoux, Quillan, Lézignan-Corbières, Lagrasse, Sigean and Leucate.
Limoux lies in the upper Aude valley, 24 km south of Carcassonne. It is known for its local wine, Blanquette, a sparkling white wine which is said to have been the forerunner of Champagne. Limoux hosts an extensive and varied market each Friday.
Quillan lies 27 km further south in the upper Aude valley and is at the head of the branch railway from Carcassonne.
Lézignan-Corbières lies on the main road between Carcassonne and Narbonne. It is called the capital of the Corbières and has a Wednesday morning market.
Lagrasse stands on the River Orbieu and has an 8th-century abbey, two very attractive bridges and an unchanged and very compact and delightful medieval stone village centre.
Sigean, 18 km south of Narbonne, lies between the A9 autoroute and the coast and has an African Reserve.
Leucate is a hilltop village, about 30 km south of Narbonne, which has spread down to the coast where Leucate Plage is a popular beach resort.
The Corbières Massif forms the central part of the department. This is an area of dissected plateaux and escarpments which form an effective barrier to direct road communication. It is a very attractive and sometimes wild area of steep hills, hidden valleys, woodland and vines, and contains some of the most memorable Cathar sites including Quéribus, Peyrepertuse and Villerouge-Termenès.
The Lauragais, that spreads on both sides of the administrative border between Aude and Haute-Garonne, is a historic and cultural area known since the Middle Ages for its abundant agricultural productions. With Castelnaudary as a central and major city, this region is also famous for the role it played during the Albigensian Crusade and for its local heritage: Canal du Midi and its springs, abbeys and churches, castles, disk-shaped steles, dovecotes, windmills, bastides, etc.
Wine production is extensive across Aude, and local chateaux and domaines provide free tastings as well as sales of wine and other local produce. With the decline of some local wine production, local government policy is now to attract more tourists to the area, and to assist with this the Corbières area is now labelled on maps and road signs as Cathar country.
Architectural heritage.
The Aude has about fifteen bastides which were built after the Treaty of Meaux in 1229 when the region was attached to the Capetian crown of France. The bastide is a type of town based on a grid created in one building project on a greenfield site. The purpose of such construction was to weaken the local lords and attract people to new economic centres. These bastides came into competition with fortified villages based on ecclesiastical or seigneurial power. Chalabre, Camps-sur-l'Agly and the Bastide Saint-Louis in Carcassonne are examples of bastides in the Aude.
The department has many castles that have been developed by the General Council of the Aude to stimulate tourism. The fortresses are often located on rocky peaks, such as the castles of Quéribus and Lastours, which gave them a strategic position. The city of Carcassonne was the logistical hub of the country at the time of conflict with the Kingdom of Aragon.
Many abbeys exist throughout the department of Aude. The best known are Fontfroide Abbey, Lagrasse Abbey, the abbey of Sainte-Marie Villelongue-d'Aude, and the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire.
Narbonne Cathedral is a remarkable Gothic cathedral and remains unfinished. It is a symbol of the French presence in Languedoc in the Middle Ages.
Caving.
Aude has many caves suitable for speleological exploration. The "Pays de Sault" consists of one of the largest limestone areas of the Pyrenees. This geology lends itself to the formation of cavities and there are many 'barrencs' (the local name for Pit caves). This plateau is home to a cave, the TM71, which is a superb cavity classified as a natural reserve since 1987. This is unique in France.
Other natural cavities of the Aude contain concretions like the Pit cave of Cabrespine, the Aguzou Grotto, and the grotto of Limousis. The latter contains the largest block of aragonite yet discovered. In the Massif of Corbières on the plateau of Lacamp there are cavities formed by detrital rocks (marls, clays and puddingstone) carved by erosion.
Secondary housing.
According to INSEE 25.4% of available housing in Aude consisted of secondary residences. The following table indicates the main communes in Aude (population more than 2,000) where second homes or occasional residences comprise more than 10% of total housing.
Communes with more than 10% Secondary Residences (2017)
Arts.
Cinema.
The diversity of the landscape, its authenticity, and the uniqueness of its monuments have attracted many filmmakers. Thus, the city of Carcassonne has been the setting for many films. The excellent state of preservation of this city offers an outstanding setting for historical films. In 1908 filmmakers abandoned scenery on canvas and Louis Feuillade filmed in front of the city towers for the "Return of the cross", "Engagement oath", and "Enchanted guitar". In 1924 major films were produced such as "Le Miracle des Loups" by Raymond Bernard. In 1928 for the two thousandth anniversary of the city of Carcassonne, Jean Renoir made "Le Tournoi dans la cité". In 1965 the city of Carcassonne appeared in "The Sucker" by Gerard Oury. In 1968 "The Little Bather" by Robert Dhéry (with Louis de Funès and Michel Galabru) shot at "Cabanes de Fleury" (at the mouth of the Aude).
More recently, the Count's castle in the city was the setting for "The Visitors" by Jean-Marie Poire in 1972, while the Château de Puivert was used in "La Passion Béatrice" by Bertrand Tavernier in 1987, and "The Ninth Gate" by Roman Polanski in 1999. The Beach at Gruissan is present in Betty Blue by Jean-Jacques Beineix.
Painters.
As for the cinema, it is the city of Carcassonne which attracts the greatest painters. Jacques Ourtal is the one who painted most of the city in trying to depict the city in different eras. Originally from Fontiers-Cabardès, the Aude painter "Eugène Pech" has created paintings of the city many times which are today scattered in various public and private collections. The four eras of the city can still be found in settings for "The City Hall".
Another Aude artist, Marie-Louise Petiet, is known for her transcriptions of scenes of popular life such as "La marchande d'oranges" (The Orange Seller) or "La jeune fille aux oies" (The young girl and the geese). Several of her works are visible at the Petiet Museum in Limoux. "Les blanchisseuses" (The Laundresses) depicting a laundry lesson is particularly remarkable and well-known. Finally, Paul Sibra, an expert in landscape-painting, nicknamed "le peintre du Lauragais", produced thousands of paintings and drawings of scenes from or based on the rural life of the people of "Lauragais" in the 1940s.
Achilles Laugé (born 1861 in Arzens, died 1944 in Cailhau), misunderstood because of his pointillist technique, was able to show the dawning of spring especially with the broom and almond trees in bloom.
Another artist, Lina Bill (Louis Bonnot), born at Gruissan in 1855 and died in Avignon in 1936, painted Provence and the Mediterranean (museums of Narbonne, Carcassonne, and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris).


Izombe

Izombe in the northeast of Niger Delta is an oil town in Njaba River basin, Imo State Southeastern Nigeria.
Location.
Located in Oguta Local Government, Izombe is some 30 kilometres from Owerri and 150 kilometres north of Port Harcourt. It covers about 59 km2 in Njaba River basin, South East Nigeria. The estimated human population as of 1991 National Census was 86,565.
Oil and Gas Exploration.
Oil exploration and production in Izombe area started in the early 1960s. Three major multinational oil companies including ChevronTexaco, Shell and Addax Petroleum operate in the area, producing over 70% of total oil from Oguta LGA. Ossu (some 55 km south of Onitsha), Izombe and Njaba are some of the oil wells in the area. By end of Q4 of 2008, Addax Petroleum Corporation announced it was set to expand its Operations in the Njaba River basin through its new oil discovery in its Njaba field in the neighbouring Awo-Omamma town. The new discovery in the company's OML124 license area on the Northeast edge of the Niger Delta contains undeveloped Njaba 2 well onshore Nigeria and other exploratory prospects, On February 5, 2015, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc ("Seplat" or the "Company"), announced that it has completed the acquisition of a 40.00% working interest in OML 53 in the area from Chevron Nigeria Limited ("CNL") with NNPC holding the remaining 60.00% interest in Oil Mining License block.
Gas flaring.
Gas flaring in Izombe started as soon as oil exploration commenced in the early 1960s. This activity has resulted to poor yield of crops, respiratory diseases and other health problems due to the release of poisonous chemicals including greenhouse gases.
Izombe Gas Processing.
There has been an ongoing project to develop an Integrated Gas Processing Plant in Izombe. This is in response to Federal Government directive to Oil and Gas companies to stop routine gas flaring by end of 2008. The plant, estimated to cost about $135 million, is designed to produce 200 metric tonnes of LPG; and about 1000 barrels of condensate from a feed gas of about 40 million standards cubic feet per day. Izombe Gas Processing Company Limited would help smaller companies operating in the area to save operational costs as companies whose gas volumes are not enough to feed major gas utilization projects would avoid the cost of constructing private gas gathering facilities to meet the Government's directive.
Owel–Linkso Group obtained approval from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to progress the project in July 2010. The company had earlier signed a Heads of Agreement with Addax Petroleum Development (Nigeria) Limited, APDNL, in 2004, to develop and operate an LPG plant at Izombe in the OML 124 area. The Izombe Gas processing plant once operational will take feed gas from the Izombe flow station and other flow stations within the immediate vicinity and deliver dry gas to 381MW Egbema Power Station, an open cycle gas turbine power plant being developed in neighbouring Ohaji/Egbema.
In August, 2012, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago said she was awaiting a report on the proposed Izombe Gas Processing Project between the National Gas Company, the National Energy Corporation and Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited of Trinidad and Tobago and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. The Izombe Gas Processing Company is projected to serve as a major inland gas processing hub for most stranded gas within the oil-rich Njaba River basin and other stranded gas in that axis. Specifically, the project offers a total gas utilization strategy for gas that had been flared from ChevronTexaco’s OML 53 and Addax’s OML 124 in the area.
Agriculture and Infrastructure.
Izombe is predominantly a farming community. The area cultivates crops such as cassava, yam, three-leaf yams, and maize among others. Like many other parts of Njaba River basin, tree crops produced in the area include oil palm fruits, cocoanuts, breadfruits and pear. These farmers experience economic constraints that militate against efficient operation of their farming activities. in their villages. To alleviate transportation problems of rural dwellers and farmers on Njaba River Basin, assistance is needed to construct new motorable roads to link farming villages and river landing sites such as Umuezukwe and Ubahaeze both in Awo-Omamma, and Abiaziem and Izombe both in Oguta LGA


List of mountains in Peru

Peaks above 6,000 metres.
This is a list of the thirty-seven 6000 metre peaks in Peru as defined by a regain height, or prominence, above a col of 300m or more. This list is taken from the full set of Peruvian IGM maps alongside various climbing and mountaineering records. Heights are taken from the Peruvian IGM 1:100,000 series maps with the OEAV survey maps of the Cordillera Blanca (north and south) used where the IGM maps do not give spot heights. SRTM data has been used in a few places to confirm these heights, but due to the steep terrain is often unusable
Peaks less than 6000m.
Many peaks in Peru frequently quoted as being over 6000m are under this height according to the most recent surveys published by the Peruvian IGM. These peaks include:- Pumasillo 5,991m, Lasunayoc 5,936m, Yanarahu 5,954m, Artesonraju 5,999m, Sabancaya 5,976m, Palumani 5,723m, Sara Sara 5,505m, Helancoma 5,367m.
Sub-peaks with less than 300m re-ascent.
Other 6,000 m peaks which are often defined as individual peaks but which have less than 300 m of re-ascent or prominence, include:- Huandoy W 6,342 m (prominence between 200-250m), Sarapu 6,127 (prominence between 180-230m), Callangate North 6,000 m (less than 295m prominence).
Qaras E (6025m) and Rasac (6,017 m) may or may not have 300m prominence. There is insufficient data on the relevant Peruvian IGM maps.
Mountain ranges.
Peru is home to a number of mountain ranges, including the following:
External links.
The lists can be contradictory but are all useful. They use different criteria of prominence or re-ascent for defining major peaks and sub-peaks.


Aye Formation

The Aye Formation is a geologic formation in the Dinant synclinorium, Ardennes, Belgium. It is part of the Condroz Group, at the base of the middle Famennian (Upper Devonian). It is characterized by the presence of a conodont fossil "Palmatolepis rhomboidea".
It is composed mostly of greenish shales and siltstones with some lenses of sandstone. As it formed in an offshore position, in a subtidal wave-influenced environment, bioturbation features are significant. Cross-bedding structures also occur.
The stratotype is located in the area of Houyet and Aye in Belgium.


Barbatteiidae

Barbatteiidae is an extinct family of lizards, endemic to the paleoisland Hațeg Island in the Tethys Ocean during the final stages of the Cretaceous, In what is now Romania. It contains two monotypic genera, "Barbatteius" and "Oardasaurus", alongside some indeterminate material. It appears to be closely related to the Barremian lizard genus "Meyasaurus"


Catemaco

Catemaco () is a city in Catemaco Municipality located in the south of the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located on Lake Catemaco, with the municipality stretching north to the Gulf of Mexico. Catemaco is a tourist destination with its main attractions being the lake, remnants of the region's rainforest and a tradition of sorcery/witchcraft that has its roots in the pre Hispanic period and mostly practiced by men. This tradition is well known in Mexico and attracts clients from various walks of life, including businessmen and national level politicians. Catemaco holds an annual event in March dedicated to sorcery which can draw up to 5,000 visitors.
The city.
The city of Catemaco is located in southern Veracruz, about 160 km from the port of Veracruz and 220 km from the state capital of Xalapa. It is located inland, extending 2.5im along the shore of Lake Catemaco, a large freshwater lake, which is one of the city's main tourist attractions, along with its cuisine and its tradition of sorcery. Along the lake, the city has a 1.5 km breakwater/boardwalk, which is frequently crowded with both visitors and vendors, especially those selling charms and a local freshwater snail called tegogolo. The city's docks are located in the center of this area, classified as a fishing and tourism port by the federal government. Most of the boat traffic is for tourism, especially during vacation periods.
The other main section of the city is the main plaza, popular with both residents and visitors. The main structure here is the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Veneration of this version of the Virgin Mary, the patroness of the municipality, began in the early colonial period, as a substitute for the local worship of Chalchiuhtlicue, the goddess of water and fishermen. This basilica contains an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which has been credited with miracles. It is rivaled in devotion only by a shrine on an island in Lake Catemaco called El Tegal, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared. The current structure was begun in 1799 but was not finished until 1961. The church is a combination of Baroque and Neoclassical with a cupola 21 meters high. The surrounding stained glass windows depict the lives of Jesus and Mary. Each year, Our Lady of Mount Carmel is celebrated at this basilica, a launching of boats in procession to Agaltepec Island and traditional music including danzón, Son Jarocho and other tropical music, using guitars, violins, the vihuela and double bass.
Other landmarks in the city include the Statue of the Fisherman, the Torre del Reloj (Clock Tower), the Brizuela Absalón House, the Gasca Blanco House and the Herrera García House. The Casa de los Tesoros is a large gift shop, which offers bagels, bizcochos and Mexican handcrafts and folk art.
There is a bus station principally connecting the city with the ports of Veracruz and Coatzacoalcos.
The “witches” of Catemaco.
Catemaco is known in Mexico for its community of “"brujos"", which can be translated as 'witches' or 'sorcerers', as most are men. The history of magical practices here extends back to the pre-Hispanic period and may have survived because of its relative isolation, but Lake Catemaco is said to emit a kind of energy, along with the Mono Blanco Mountain that rises above it.
These magical practices are an uneasy mix of Catholic rite, especially the invocation of saints and pre-Hispanic beliefs and rituals. Though many tourists are simply amused by the kitschy T-shirts of witches or other souvenirs or attractions, some do take the practice seriously. There are practitioners of both “white” and “black” magic, with the white version being more acceptable. Those who practice the black version charge more.
Sorcery is one of the main attractions of Catemaco. The belief in magical practices has attracted people from all walks of life, from waiters and taxi drivers to national-level politicians. Veracruz governor Fidel Herrera Beltrán even pushed for a national school for sorcery in Catemaco, without success and is a regular at the annual event. Visitors usually seek limpias (ritual cleansings), healing or something to give them an edge in business. These magical practices have also migrated out of the Catemaco area as residents move to other places such as Ciudad Juárez to work.
Although the sorcery is a main attraction, it is not promoted as part of Halloween or Day of the Dead . The main event for practitioners is the annual Congreso Nacional de Brujos de Catemaco (officially called the Ritos, Ceremonias y Artesanías Mágicas because of objections from the Catholic Church) . The main event is the opening, on the first Friday of March. This begins with a “black mass” on the edge of Lake Catemaco by the “brujo mayor” (loosely translated as “high witch or sorcerer”), which attracts up to 5,000 people. The event was founded in the 1970s by former brujo mayor Gonzalo Aguirre and today attracts around 200 shamans, healers (curanderos), herbalists, psychics and fortune tellers. It also brings in as much as three million pesos to the local economy.
The popularity of the brujos and the event has created problems as well. Many con artists have taken advantage of the situation, making the finding of genuine practitioners difficult. There have been disputes among the practitioners over clients, tourism, and who leads the rites at the annual gathering. There has also been controversy related to those who sacrifice animals or petition Santa Muerte or the Devil.
History.
In the early pre Hispanic period, the area was dominated by the Olmecs, but the name is derived from Nahuatl, meaning “place of the burned houses.” This name is probably in reference to an eruption of the San Martin Volcano.
From the 16th century, the area was part of the province of Santiago Tuxtla, which became a municipality after Independence. The city itself was founded in 1774. In 1881, it officially became a town and in 1966 declared a city.


Cantal

Cantal (; or ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour (the episcopal see) and Mauriac and its residents are known as Cantalians ( or ""). Cantal borders the departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Aveyron, Lot, Lozère and Corrèze, in the Massif Central natural region.
Along with Lozère and Creuse, Cantal is among the most sparsely populated and geographically isolated departments of France and Aurillac is the departmental capital farthest removed from a major motorway. It had a population of 145,969 in 2016, making it the country's 97th most populated department. Of the 96 metropolitan departments, it is the 5th least populated.
Etymology.
The department is named for the Plomb du Cantal, the central peak of the bare and rugged mounts of Cantal (French: "Monts du Cantal") mountain chain which traverses the area.
Geography.
Cantal lies in the middle of France's central plateau. The Cantal range is a group of extinct and eroded volcanic peaks. Its highest point is the Plomb du Cantal, which reaches an elevation of . Its neighbors are Puy Mary (elev. ) and Puy Chavaroche (elev. ). To their north lie the ' and Dore ranges and the arid Artense Plateau. Immediately to their east is the fertile Planèze Plateau, bound on its east by the '.
The principal rivers are the Alagnon, which is tributary to the Allier; the Celle and Truyère, tributary to the Lot; and the Cère and Rhue, tributary to the Dordogne. At an elevation of above sea level, the low point of the province lies in the Lot valley. The Truyère valley skirts the Planèze on the south and divides it from the ", whose foothills include the thermal springs of Chaudesaigues. The western area of the department consists of grassy plateaus and river valleys.
At first, Cantal was divided into four arrondissements—Aurillac, Mauriac, Saint-Flour and Murat (later merged with Saint-Flour).
Climate.
The climate of the department varies considerably. Prevailing winds and mountain ranges divide Cantal into four climatic zones:
Generally, the weather is mild and dry in the alluvial plain between Murat and Saint-Flour and around Aurillac, while summer storms and winters can be long and severe in the northern and central areas. The west—nearer precipitation coming in from the Atlantic—is well watered. There is abundant snowfall which can remain up to six months on the mountaintops. Winter temperatures can fall to below , whereas in summer is often reached. The southern part of the department, on its borders with Aveyron and Lot, is the hottest region. Aurillac averaged 2080 hours of sunlight per year over the period from 1991 to 2000. Fog is rare and disappears quickly. Wind is usually not very strong, but the lightning flashes in this department are among the most spectacular in France.
Televised French weather forecasts often note Aurillac as the coldest city in France in the mornings. This status should be understood in light of their derivation from temperature readings by . Of the 30 cities included on its maps, Aurillac is by far the one with the highest altitude, at above sea level.
History.
The area of Cantal was historically part of the southern, upper area of Auvergne (").
Cantal is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. Prior to the First World War, it comprised parts of the XIII. Army Corps military region and the Clermont-Ferrand educational division (").
Diocese of Cantal.
After the 1790 Constitution Civile du Clergé, the Diocese of Saint-Flour in Cantal (whose bishop refused to swear the republican oath of allegiance, constituting a schism from Rome) was among the almost half of the French sees being abolished to realign the new bishoprics to coincide with the new departments, such as Cantal, where outsider parish priest Anne-Alexandre-Marie Thibault was elected Bishop. It was formally abolished in turn after the Napoleonic Concordat of 1801 (Thibault refusing to resign), in favor of the reinstated bishopric of Saint Poul, but actually retained the departemental borders.
Economy.
The climate being generally too cool and damp for grain, much of Cantal is given over to pasture for Aubrac and Salers cattle, sheep, and, formerly, horses. This in turn supports a dairy industry responsible for butter and Roquefort cheese and the appellation-controlled cheeses Cantal, Salers, and Bleu d'Auvergne. Cantal is the French department with the greatest number of appellation-controlled cheeses, although proper Roquefort is now restricted to cheese produced in the Aveyron department. The region's mineral products include coal, copper, lead, iron, antimony, granite, slate and lime, but the department's isolation and poor infrastructure long precluded their exploitation. Before the First World War, the primary exports were livestock, cheese, butter, and coal and the main imports were coal, wine, grain, flour, and pottery. By then, it had been connected to both the Orleans and Midi railways.
Traditionally, many Cantalians roamed France during the year plying humble trades but now the area's relative lack of industry and development permits tourism. An area has been set aside as the Auvergne Volcanos Regional Park (").
Demographics.
The Occitan language was historically spoken in Cantal.
The official population count for 2017 was 145,143. The population peaked at 262,117 in 1836. It has been below 200,000 for the last 90 years. The department has experienced a particularly drastic level of depopulation, although the phenomenon was a feature of many of the country's rural departments throughout the twentieth century, as agricultural wages failed to keep pace with those available in the industrialising regions outside the department.
Population development since 1791:
Tourism.
Architecture.
The department counts several remarkable buildings. Among them, the Romanesque religious buildings like the churches of Cheylade (eleventh century), Dieno or Massiac. The area's Catholic cathedral—dependent on the archdiocese of Bourges—is the 15th-century St Pierre de St-Flour, erected in the Gothic style.
Art.
The characteristic folk dance in Cantal is "La Bourrée". In the countryside it would be danced in folk costumes with accompaniment by accordion. The dance form was long ago adapted for use in courtly music and features prominently in the Baroque dance suites of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Prominent museums in Cantal include:
Cuisine.
The traditional articles of Cantalian cuisine were rye, buckwheat, and chestnuts, as well as ham, cheese, and vegetables. The area's simple recipes were designed to satisfy hill farmers and herders. Notable dishes include:
Outdoor activities.
In the 19th century, the hills and valleys abounded with game and the streams with fish, the countryside producing a "vast variety" of aromatic and medicinal plants.
At present, the most visited places are Puy Mary, the Plomb du Cantal, the village of Salers, and the gorges of the Truyère (with the Garabit viaduct, the castle of Alleuze, and the towns of Boisset, Pierrefort). The "Parc Naturel des Volcans d’Auvergne" features several inactive volcanoes. Cantal also has numerous castles. Puy Mary can be accessed by car easily. and is accessible to hikers. It is also possible to hike to the nearby Puy de Peyre-Arse (1806 m). Le Lioran or Super-Lioran are the best places to start the hike. Le Lioran is accessible by rail or bus and Super-Lioran is just a kilometre away from Le Lioran. From Super-Lioran it is also possible to hike to Plomb du Cantal. There is also an option of taking the cable car to Plomb du Cantal from Super-Lioran. Super-Lioran tourist office has various hike routes in the region. There are also various adventure courses, dirt bikes, summer luges etc. that run in Super-Lioran.
Among the various activities offered in this department, the "Massif Cantalien" can be discovered through walking, horseback riding or mountain biking excursions (tracks are especially designed for this). Aquatic sports are also common, due to numerous lakes. The department also offers activities such as mountaineering, canoeing and fishing. The landscape also allows the practice of free flight: base jumpers frequent the sector around the Puy Mary and the Brezon valley.
Thanks to its terrain, Cantal can count on a good snow level, which allows winter sports. The station of Le Lioran, largest ski-resort of the Massif Central offers alpine skiing (with specific adaptations for snowboard) and ice-skating. Excursions in snow shoes are also possible. The department has several hundred kilometres of cross-country skiing tracks.
Politics.
This staunchly Catholic department is an old stronghold of the French Right and was the electoral base of the late Georges Pompidou. Only the area around Aurillac, historically anti-clerical and Radical, has some left-wing support.
The current president of the departmental council is Bruno Faure (The Republicans).
Paul Doumer, French president from May 1931 to May 1932, was born in Aurillac in this department.
References.
Attribution:


Pseudoellimma

Pseudoellimma gallae is an extinct species of clupeiform fish which existed in the Coqueiro Seco Formation, Brazil during the early Cretaceous period. It was described by Francisco J. De Figueiredo in 2009, in a new genus, Pseudoellimma.


Unwindia

Unwindia is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (Albian stage) of what is now modern-day Brazil.
Discovery and naming.
The German State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe obtained a pterosaur fossil from an illegal commercial digger who had found it somewhere near Santana do Cariri in the Araripe Basin. The deposits it was recovered from likely belong to the Santana Formation of northeastern Brazil, which was dated by Martill to the latest Albian stage of the Cretaceous period. The specimen is catalogued as SMNK PAL 6597, and represents a partial skull consisting only the fused premaxillae and maxillae, some teeth and parts of the palate. The frontmost centimeter of the snout tip is missing. Due to the fragility of the specimen, the right side has undergone more preparation.
In 2011, the specimen was named and described as the type species "Unwindia trigonus" by David Martill. The generic name honours the British pterosaur expert David Unwin. The specific name is derived from the Greek "trigonos", "triangular", in reference to the triangular shape of the snout in cross-section.
Description.
The preserved length of the snout fragment of "Unwindia" is . Martill estimated that the distance between the large opening in the skull side, the "fenestra nasoantorbitalis", and the snout point had been . In 2013, Mark Witton estimated the total skull length at a minimum of , which would indicate a wingspan of over .
Martill indicated two distinguishing traits. The first of these is an autapomorphy, or a unique specialization: there are seven pairs of teeth present, all of them placed in front of the nasoantorbital fenestra. The second trait sets "Unwindia" apart from all other pterosaurs known from the Santana Formation: the teeth are homodont, having the same shape. The other species have more robust teeth in the front of the jaws. Overall, the skull is elongated and flat. The teeth are long, straight, up to long, conical, and slightly transversely flattened.
Classification.
Martill concluded that "Unwindia" was a basal ctenochasmatoid, though without a phylogenetic analysis. Witton in 2013 suggested that it could belong to the Lonchodectidae. This would make "Unwindia" the largest known member of the Lonchodectidae, as well as the first species of that group to be identified from the Southern Hemisphere. In 2020 however, Russian paleontologist Alexander Averianov suggested that "Unwindia" did not belong to the Lonchodectidae.


List of caves in Belgium

This is a list of caves in Belgium, all located in Wallonia.


Vassil Tzankov

Vassil Tzankov Tzankov (Bulgarian: Васил Цанков Цанков) (April 2, 1905, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Bulgaria – August 25, 1986, Sofia, Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian geologist and paleontologist. He is best known for his work on Upper Cretaceous ammonites and bivalves. Tzankov was head of Bulgarian Geological Survey from 1941 until 1944. In 1945 he became docent and in 1947 - professor, and was appointed to the paleontology chair at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". In the late 1950s Tzankov organized the launch and became the first editor and one of the principal authors of the multi-volume treatise "Fossils of Bulgaria" (Bulgarian: Фосилите на България). Contributors to the treatise included leading Bulgarian specialists in the field. He served as deputy director of the Geological Institute at the Committee for Geology and Mineral Resources in the period 1960-1966. From 1967 to 1982 Tzankov also served as head of the Department of Paleontology with the Geological Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 1967 he was elected as a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Early life.
Tzankov was raised in Shumen in the family of a veterinary physician, Dr. Tzanko Tzankov (1869-1941). After attending high school in Shumen, he enrolled in Sofia University, taking his A.B. degree in 1928. He took his PhD in 1929, under the supervision of Dr.Stephan Bonchev and became the first student to be awarded a doctorate in natural science in Bulgaria. His dissertation was regional paleontological survey of Shumen plateau, and in particular, stratigraphy and paleontology of the Upper Cretaceous fossils in Northeastern Bulgaria.
Early career.
Tzankov commenced work as an assistant professor in geology at Sofia University in 1930. He did postgraduate research in Vienna (1936), Paris (1938–39) and Berlin (1941). In 1939, he was appointed chief of the Geology section at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Labour. In 1941, he was appointed head of Geology Research within the newly established directorate “Natural Resources”. During that period he introduced micropaleontological research – foraminifera, conodonts, spores and pollen – in Bulgaria. In 1945 he resumed his academic work at Sofia University. In 1947, he was promoted to full professor. He would alternate in his role of director of the Bulgarian Geological Survey for many years, performing double duty as professor for those years.
Fossils of Bulgaria.
Beginning in the 1950s, Tzankov drafted a project in which Bulgarian specialists would write on their area of expertise in paleontology as contributions to a multi volume series, which would be published by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Tzankov became editor, and also provided assistance for definition of morphologic terms, as well as other explanations. He supplied the parts to the treatise which concerned his own specialty areas.
Later career.
In 1967, Tzankov was elected corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In the same year he was also appointed as head of the Department of Paleontology at the Geological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, a position he held until 1982.
Legacy and awards.
In his later years, Tzankov continued his work on "Fossils of Bulgaria" and on phylogeny of the ammonites Holcodiscidae and Asteridiscidae (together with St. Breskovski). He died in Sofia in 1986. Vassil Tzankov was survived by his wife Kincha, daughter Yana and son Tzanko. He received many awards, including an honorary badge of Sofia University, state order Sts. Cyril and Methodius etc. His collection of fossils is preserved in the Museum of Paleontology and Historical Geology at Sofia University.
Selected bibliography.
He is author of more than 100 publications, including 5 textbooks and 3 books.


Hemibos

Hemibos is an extinct even-toed ungulate belonging to the family Bovidae. Its fossil remains were found across Asia and Europe such as from China, Italian Peninsula, Iberian Peninsula, and State of Palestine, Israel, Pakistan, India.
Description.
This animal was a large bovid similar to the modern Asian buffalo ("Bubalus"), of which it is probably ancestral. It was characterized by elongated and non-prominent frontal bones; the bone cores of the horns did not have a neck at the base, and the angle between the horns was variable but usually between 85 ° and 110 °. Also, the orientation of the horns was variable according to the species: the species H. triquetricornis, H. acuticornis and H. galerianus possessed horns directed backwards, outwards and slightly upwards, while H. antelopinus and H. palaestinus possessed different morphologies (Martinez-Navarro and Palombo, 2004). The teeth were hypsodont, with increasing development of dental cement; the upper molars were square (Pilgrim, 1939).
Classification.
The genus "Hemibos" was first described in 1865 by Rütimeyer, based on fossils found in India in plio-Pleistocene soils. The genus includes five species; three of these (H. acuticornis, H. triquetricornis and H. antelopinus) come from the Pinjor formation of the Siwaliks (Plio-Pleistocene, Indian subcontinent), one (H. gracilis) is known from Gansu (China) in the lower Pleistocene, and another (H. galerianus) is the largest and most recent and comes from Ponte Galeria and Ponte Milvio (Rome, Italy) and dates from the lower Pleistocene/middle Pleistocene boundary. In lower Pleistocene Spain, a form similar to H. gracilis was found. Another species attributed to Hemibos is H. palaestinicus, from Israel, but the dating is not certain and a morphological analysis indicates it may belong to the genus Bison. The species Probubalus occipitalis is considered identical to H. triquetricornis.
Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at ; see its history for attribution.


Aguas Calientes (volcano)

Aguas Calientes Volcano or Cerro Aguas Calientes, also called Simba, is a cone-shaped stratovolcano located east of the Lascar volcano and north of Laguna Lejía, Chile. It is located within a area where the Cordón de Puntas Negras and the Cordón Chalviri volcanic chains intersect. The volcano is constructed from andesite and dacite containing hornblende and also anhydrite and its pyroclastics are all older than Lascar. It has a diameter of about . Some xenoliths of calc-alkaline material are found in Aguas Calientes lavas, and magma mixing has generated lavas containing andesite inclusions in dacites. One eruption of Aguas Calientes postdates the first centre of Lascar and was originally linked to the Lascar Piedras Grandes eruption, before sampling on the deposits of this eruption indicated a relationship with the Lascar volcano itself. Effusion of lava ceased after the cone was built. One summit lava flow may be of Holocene age, but no evidence of historical activity is found (González-Ferrán 1985).
The volcano has been affected by glaciation. Glacial U-shaped valleys are found on the northern and western flanks, giving the volcano some angular patterns. One valley with glacial features and a subglacial river channel at altitude is found on the northern flank. It extends down to the valley north of Aguas Calientes and intersects the youngest lavas of the volcano.
Aguas Calientes has a well formed summit crater. A small crater lake is found within the Aguas Calientes summit crater, making it one of the highest lakes in the world at an altitude of . The lake has a surface area of and is tinged red from a population of microorganisms. The lake water is acidic and is frequently influenced by activity from Lascar, with winds carrying sulfuric acid and water vapour clouds to the crater lake. Precipitation was measured at with most precipitation falling during the winter months, and strong UV irradiation. The lake has a bacterial ecosystem that is primarily reliant on photosynthesis but may also be influenced by hydrothermal activity from Aguas Calientes volcano. Research has found only limited numbers of bacterial taxa and a large number of DNA sequences that can't be identified as known phylogenetic groups. The lake has been studied as a possible terrestrial analogy to Mars.
References.
Sources


Majadita

Cumbre de la Majadita is a mountain peak in the province of San Juan in Argentina near the town of Rodeo. It was one of the last 6000m+ peaks in the Andes to be climbed, the first recorded ascent being in December 1996.
The peak has some large but easy angled glaciers on its flanks.


Valdosaurus

Valdosaurus ("Weald Lizard") is a genus of bipedal herbivorous iguanodont ornithopod dinosaur found on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere in England, Spain and possibly also Romania. It lived during the Early Cretaceous.
Discovery and naming.
In the nineteenth century Reverend William Darwin Fox collected two small thighbones near Cowleaze Chine on the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight. In 1868 he incorrectly suggested these may have come from the same individual that had in 1848 been uncovered for Gideon Mantell as a fossil of "Iguanodon", and which in 1869 would be named as the new genus "Hypsilophodon". Regardless, both femora, made part of the collection of the British Museum of Natural History as specimens BMNH R184 and BMNH R185, would be commonly referred to the latter genus.
However, in 1975 Peter Galton named them as a new species of "Dryosaurus": "Dryosaurus canaliculatus". The specific name means "with a small channel" in Latin, referring to a distinct groove between the condyles of the lower thighbone. In 1977 Galton named a new genus for them: "Valdosaurus", the name being derived from Latin "Valdus", "Wealden", a reference to the Wealden Group. Its type species, "D. canaliculatus", was thus renamed "V. canaliculatus". A second species, "V. nigeriensis", was described by Galton and Philippe Taquet from younger rocks from Niger in 1982; this has since been transferred to its own genus, "Elrhazosaurus".
In 1998 William Blows inadvertently named another species, "Valdosaurus dextrapoda", by including this name in a fauna list, but this was an error, and the species has never been supported. Lacking description, it is a "nomen nudum".
Distribution and material.
Having a close European relative of the American form "Dryosaurus" named led to most of the dryosaurid fossil material of Europe being referred to "Valdosaurus". "Valdosaurus" was seen as not only present in England (the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight and the Hastings Beds of West Sussex) but also in Romania (the Cornet Bauxite of Bihor; this species is sometimes referred to as the separate species "Bihariosaurus") and Spain. These rock units were deposited between the Berriasian and Barremian stages, between approximately 145 and 125 million years ago. "V. canaliculatus" would then be known from thigh bones, extensive additional postcranial elements, partial lower jaws, and teeth.
In 2009 however, Galton critically reviewed the "Valdosaurus" material. He concluded that no fossils from outside England could be reliably referred to the genus. He thus gave "V. nigeriensis" its own genus: "Elrhazosaurus". Even of many of the English specimens it was uncertain whether they belonged to "Valdosaurus", including all cranial elements and teeth. Some hindlimb and pelvis bones from the Upper Weald Clay Formation (late Barremian) were referable to "V. canaliculatus". Some material from the earlier Hastings Beds (Valanginian) were referred to a "Valdosaurus" sp. Galton established that Richard Owen had in 1842 been the first to describe "Valdosaurus" thighbones, specimens BMB 004297-004300, assigning them to "Iguanodon". Galton emphasized that though the type femora were very small, fourteen centimetres long (which has led to estimates of a length of 1.2 metres and a weight of ten kilograms), these were from a juvenile individual and that an adult would have been a "medium-sized euornithopod", with some thighbones reaching a length of half a metre.
In 2016, a new specimen of "Valdosaurus" was described. The specimen is the most complete yet found, which was found in articulation and includes a partial dorsal series, an almost complete tail, pelvic material, and both hind limbs. In life, the specimen would have been around long.
Phylogeny.
Galton assigned "Valdosaurus" to the Hypsilophodontidae, but this paraphyletic unnatural group has largely been abandoned. Today "Valdosaurus" is generally considered a member of the Dryosauridae.


Geology of Sicily

The geology of Sicily (a large island located at Italy's southwestern end) records the collision of the Eurasian and the African plates during westward-dipping subduction of the African slab since late Oligocene. Major tectonic units are the Hyblean foreland, the Gela foredeep, the Apenninic-Maghrebian orogen, and the Calabrian Arc. The orogen represents a fold-thrust belt that folds Mesozoic carbonates, while a major volcanic unit (Mt Etna) is found in an eastern portion of the island. The collision of Africa and Eurasia is a retreating subduction system, such that the descending Africa is falling away from Eurasia, and Eurasia extends and fills the space as the African plate falls into the mantle, resulting in volcanic activity in Sicily and the formation of Tyrrhenian slab to the north.
Major tectonic units.
Hyblean foreland.
The foreland consists of exposures of the Hyblean Plateau and the offshore areas of Gela. The subduction forms a northward-dipping monocline in the foreland with a dip of 16–18°, which is a high angle compared to other regional monoclines. It is suggested that this steep angle is caused by a higher subductibility of the African slab. Deformation in the foreland is dominated by normal faulting; most of these faults have been formed in the Neogene by plate flexure. Some of the faults are recognized to be much older, formed in the Mesozoic. The faults are suggested to have separated high-standing platforms from deeper basins.
The simplified stratigraphy includes the following units:
The post-Paleogene geological events of the foreland can be divided into four main stages:
Gela foredeep.
The Gela foredeep extends from the northern margin of the Hyblean plateau on land to the offshore Gela basin of southwestern Sicily. Based on fossil analysis, the basin has been developing since Late Pliocene; its formation is related to the bending of the carbonate platform due to loading at the front of the Gela nappe. The basin fill consists of Late Miocene-Pleistocene sediments, including marly limestones, Messinian evaporites and sandy clays.
The Apenninic-Maghrebian orogen.
The central to western part of Sicily is made of the Maghrebian-Apenninic orogen and represents the fold and thrust belt of the subduction system. A combination of frontal accretion and low-angle detachments formed the present geological structure. The orogen consists of a stack of detached nappes that involves mostly the Mesozoic carbonate, which has subsequently been folded into a syncline, underlying a broad anticline of the Caltanissetta area.
The stratigraphy of the accretionary wedge is composed of the following units:
Calabrian crystalline basement.
The northeastern part of Sicily consists of the Calabrian Arc unit, the tectonic unit that connects the Apennines with the North African Maghrebide. Paleozoic igneous and metamorphic basement rocks are exposed at this part of the island, suggested to have been exposed by exhumation processes between mid-Oligocene and Middle Miocene. The rapid migration of the Calabrian Arc towards the southeast was driven by the retreat of the Ionian slab east of Sicily. In early Miocene, Calabria was still attached to Sardinia. In Middle Miocene, the trench rolled back to the east and normal faulting occurred between Calabria and Sardinia, causing Calabria to split eastward from Sardinia. By Early Pliocene, the retreat of Calabria consumed the oceanic slab of the Ionian sea while new oceanic crust was created in the Tyrrhenian Sea by back-arc magmatism. Since Pleistocene, the eastern portion of the arc formed the Apennine mountain of Italy, while the Calabrian block slid to Sicily through right lateral strike-slip motion, forming the northeastern portion of the island. GPS measurements show that the Calabrian Arc still advances to the southeast at 2-3mm per year at present, due to the ongoing rollback of the Ionian slab.
The simplified stratigraphy consists of the following units:
Mount Etna.
Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano located at the eastern coast of Sicily which is composed mainly of basalt. Its formation began at about 0.5 Ma when submarine volcanism occurred at the Gela foredeep and formed tholeiitic pillow lava. At about 0.3 Ma, a tholeiitic lava plateau was formed on an ancient alluvial plain by fissure-type volcanism. From 0.22 Ma, volcanism mainly occurred at the Ionian coast which formed an alkaline shield volcano with length of 15 km at the N-S direction, until volcanism shifted westward to the current location of Mt. Etna at about 129 ka. Finally, central-vent type volcanism began with the formation of two small parasitic cones, which the eruption of these two cones ended at 106 and 102 ka. It is suggested that the formation of Mount Etna is closely related to the subduction system of Sicily. Although the magma does not originate from the subducted material, the retreat of African slab creates a low-pressure zone at the mantle wedge under Calabria, which pulls the asthenospheric material under the African plate laterally towards the northeast. This process produces a large volume of magma that caused upwelling under Mount Etna, as well as the regional uplift of the Calabrian unit.
Tectonic history.
The tectonic setting of Sicily is controlled by the rate of collision of the African plate and Eurasian plate and the rate of back rolling of the African plate. The tectonic history of Sicily can be divided into four main stages:
Late Triassic–Early Jurassic period.
During Late Triassic, the ancient Neotethys ocean was formed by a major continental rifting event and rapid tectonic subsidence. Traces of the tectonic event can be found at both the Hyblean plateau and western Sicily.
Early Jurassic–Late Cretaceous period.
After the rapid subsidence during Triassic to Early Jurassic, there was a slow thermal subsidence at the Mediterranean basin from Jurassic to Late Cretaceous that formed the Neotethyan carbonate platform.
Late Cretaceous–Palaeogene period.
During Late Cretaceous and Palaeogene, the collision of African and Eurasian plates generated compressive stress in the region. The Neotethyan ocean was closed by the collision and the continental margin became active.
Neogene–Quaternary period.
Sicily has been undergoing a phase of uplifting and subduction since Neogene. The African slab retreats to the east as the collision of Eurasian and African plate continued. Since late Oligocene, the orogenic process started when sediments accreted onto the Calabrian block while flysch was deposited in the foreland basins. The Sardinia block then underwent counter-clockwise rotation and the Calabrian unit subsequently underwent clockwise rotation. During the Early–Middle Miocene, shallow seated thrusting occurred which formed the wedge-top basins. Since Late Miocene, thrusting occurred in the Sicilian orogen and Calabrian accretionary wedge. Extension and back-arc magmatism occurred in the Tyrrhenian slab due to the fast roll back of the Ionian slab, while Calabria migrated to the current position at northeast Sicily.
Mining.
Sicily is known for its history of sulfur production. Sulfur mining was active until the 20th century. The sulfur was extracted in a number of ways involving heating, melting and cooling the semi-purified sulfur in various approaches collectively called Sicilian method. Abandoned sulfur mines includes those in Castelterminin, Enna and Caltanissetta. The major ores were sulfur-bearing sedimentary deposits, formed during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, which thick layers of evaporites including gypsum and other evaporitic sulfur were deposited in the central Sicilian basin when the area was above sea level. These native sulfurs are associated with secondary carbonates and are suggested to be formed by intense microbial sulfate reduction, in which microorganisms 'breath in' sulfate instead of oxygen for anaerobic respiration.


Lake Nyos

Lake Nyos ( ) is a crater lake in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, located about northwest of Yaoundé, the capital. Nyos is a deep lake high on the flank of an inactive volcano in the Oku volcanic plain along the Cameroon line of volcanic activity. A volcanic dam impounds the lake waters.
A pocket of magma lies beneath the lake and leaks carbon dioxide () into the water, changing it into carbonic acid. Nyos is one of only three lakes known to be saturated with carbon dioxide in this way, and therefore prone to limnic eruptions (the others being Lake Monoun, also in Cameroon, and Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda).
In 1986, possibly as the result of a landslide, Lake Nyos suddenly emitted a large cloud of, which suffocated 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. Though not completely unprecedented, it was the first known large-scale asphyxiation caused by a natural event. To prevent a recurrence, a degassing tube that siphons water from the bottom layers to the top, allowing the carbon dioxide to leak in safe quantities, was installed in 2001. Two additional tubes were installed in 2011.
Today, the lake also poses a threat because its natural wall is weakening. A geological tremor could cause this natural levée to give way, allowing water to rush into downstream villages all the way into Nigeria and allowing large amounts of carbon dioxide to escape.
Geography.
Lake Nyos lies within the Oku Volcanic Field, located near the northern boundary of the Cameroon Volcanic Line, a zone of volcanoes and other tectonic activity that extends southwest to the Mt. Cameroon stratovolcano. The field consists of volcanic maars and basaltic scoria cones.
Formation and geologic history.
Lake Nyos is located south of the dirt road from Wum, about to the west, to Nkambé in the east. Villages along the road in the vicinity of the lake include Cha, Nyos, Munji, Djingbe, and Subum. The lake is from the Nigerian border to the north, and lies on the northern slopes of the Massif du Mbam, drained by streams running north, then northwest, to the Katsina-Ala River in Nigeria which is part of the Benue River basin.
Lake Nyos fills a roughly circular maar in the Oku Volcanic Field, an explosion crater caused when a lava flow interacted violently with groundwater. The maar is believed to have formed in an eruption a maximum of 12,000 years ago, and is 1,800 m (5,900 ft) across and 208 m (682 ft) deep. The area has been volcanically active for millions of years—after South America and Africa were split apart by plate tectonics about 110 million years ago, West Africa also experienced rifting, although to a lesser degree. The rift is known as the Mbéré Rift Valley, and crustal extension has allowed magma to reach the surface along a line extending through Cameroon. Mount Cameroon also lies on this fault line. Lake Nyos is surrounded by old lava flows and pyroclastic deposits.
Although Nyos is situated within an extinct volcano, magma still exists beneath it. Approximately directly below the lake resides a pool of magma, which releases carbon dioxide and other gases; the gases then travel upward through the earth. The fumes then dissolve in the natural springs encircling the lake, ultimately rising to the surface of the water and leaching into the lake.
The lake waters are held in place by a natural dam composed of volcanic rock. At its narrowest point, the wall measures high and wide.
Gas saturation.
Lake Nyos is one of only three lakes in the world known to be saturated with carbon dioxide—the others are Lake Monoun, also in Cameroon, and Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A magma chamber beneath the region is an abundant source of carbon dioxide, which seeps up through the lake bed, charging the waters of Lake Nyos with an estimated 90 million tonnes of .
Lake Nyos is thermally stratified, with layers of warm, less dense water near the surface floating on the colder, denser water layers near the lake's bottom. Over long periods, carbon dioxide gas seeping into the cold water at the lake's bottom is dissolved in great amounts.
Most of the time, the lake is stable and the remains in solution in the lower layers. However, over time, the water becomes supersaturated, and if an event such as an earthquake or landslide occurs, large amounts of may suddenly come out of solution.
1986 disaster.
Although a sudden outgassing of had occurred at Lake Monoun in 1984, a similar threat from Lake Nyos was not anticipated. However, on August 21, 1986, a limnic eruption occurred at Lake Nyos, triggering the sudden release of about 100,000–300,000 tons (some sources state as much as 1.6 million tonnes) of . This gas cloud rose at nearly and spilled over the northern lip of the lake into a valley running roughly east–west from Cha to Subum. It then rushed down two valleys branching off to the north, displacing all of the air and suffocating 1,746 people within of the lake, mostly rural villagers, as well as 3,500 livestock. The villages most affected were Cha, Nyos, and Subum.
Scientists concluded from evidence that a fountain of water and foam formed at the surface of the lake. The huge amount of water rising suddenly caused much turbulence in the water, spawning a wave of at least that would scour the shore of one side.
It is not known what triggered the catastrophic outgassing. Most geologists suspect a landslide, but some believe that a small volcanic eruption may have occurred on the bed of the lake. A third possibility is that cool rainwater falling on one side of the lake triggered the overturn. Others still believe there was a small earthquake, but as witnesses did not report feeling any tremors on the morning of the disaster, this hypothesis is unlikely. Whatever the cause, the event resulted in the rapid mixing of the supersaturated deep water with the upper layers of the lake, where the reduced pressure allowed the stored to effervesce out of solution.
It is believed that about of gas was released. The normally blue waters of the lake turned a deep red after the outgassing, due to iron-rich water from the deep rising to the surface and being oxidised by the air. The level of the lake dropped by about a metre and trees near the lake were knocked down.
Degassing.
The scale of the 1986 disaster led to much study on how a recurrence could be prevented. Estimates of the rate of carbon dioxide entering the lake suggested that outgassings could occur every 10–30 years, though a recent study shows that release of water from the lake, caused by erosion of the natural barrier that keeps in the lake's water, could in turn reduce pressure on the lake's carbon dioxide and cause a gas escape much sooner.
Several researchers independently proposed the installation of degassing columns from rafts in the lake. These use a pump to lift water from the bottom of the lake, heavily saturated with , until the loss of pressure begins releasing the gas from the diphasic fluid, thus making the process self-powered. In 1992 at Monoun, and in 1995 at Nyos, a French team directed by Michel Halbwachs demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. In 2001, the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance funded a permanent installation at Nyos.
In 2011, two additional pipes were installed by Michel Halbwachs and his French-Cameroonian team to assure the complete degassing of Lake Nyos.
Following the disaster, scientists investigated other African lakes to see if a similar phenomenon could happen elsewhere. Lake Kivu, 2,000 times larger than Lake Nyos, was also found to be supersaturated, and geologists found evidence for outgassing events around the lake about every thousand years. The eruption of nearby Mount Nyiragongo in 2002 sent lava flowing into the lake, raising fears that a gas eruption could be triggered, but it was not, as the flow of lava stopped well before it got near the bottom layers of the lake, where the gas is maintained in solution by the water pressure.
Weakening dam.
In 2005, Isaac Njilah, a geologist at the University of Yaoundé, suggested that the natural dam of volcanic rock that keeps in the lake's waters could collapse in the near future. Erosion has worn the dam away, causing holes and pockets to develop in the dam's upper layer, and water already passes through the lower section. Meanwhile, landslides have reduced dam strength on the outside. Seismic activity caused by the lake's volcanic foundation could thus cause the lake wall to give way, resulting in up to 50 million m3 (1.8 billion ft3) of water flooding downhill into areas of the Northwest Province and the Nigerian states of Taraba and Benue.
The Cameroonian government, speaking through Gregory Tanyi-Leke of the Institute of Mining and Geological Research, acknowledges the weakening wall, but denies that it presents any immediate threat. A United Nations team led by Olaf Van Duin and Nisa Nurmohamed of the Netherlands' Ministry of Transport and Public Works inspected the dam over three days in September 2005, and confirmed that the natural lip had weakened. Van Duin believed that the dam would breach within the next 10 to 20 years.
One possible means of averting such a catastrophe would be to strengthen the lake wall, though this would take much time and money. Engineers could also introduce a channel to allow excess water to drain; if the water level were lowered by about , the pressure on the wall would be reduced significantly.
Return of population.
Despite the risks from carbon dioxide and collapse of the lake's retaining wall, the area is being resettled. Settlers cite the wish to return to ancestral lands (although some are newcomers) and the great fertility of the land as reasons for their return.
In popular culture.
"" [Nyos: The ceremony of innocence] (2016), a novel by Basileios Drolias focusing on the lake Nyos disaster.
"Stikvallei" [Choke Valley] (2013), a non-fiction account of the lake Nyos disaster by Frank Westerman.


Pamphilites

Pamphilites is an extinct genus of skippers in the family Hesperiidae. It contains only one fossil species, Pamphilites abdita, recovered from the Tertiary of Aix-en-Provence, France.
Discovery.
"Pamphilites abdita" was described in 1875 by the American entomologist and paleontologist Samuel Hubbard Scudder. The fossil was a single forewing recovered from the Lower Oligocene in Aix-en-Provence, France. The fossil wing is believed to have belonged to a female as it was lacking a prominent stigma (a patch of androconial scales).
The type specimen, however, has since been lost.
Taxonomy.
Based on the shape and venation of the fossil wing, Scudder classified it as belonging to the subfamily Hesperiinae of the skipper butterfly family (Hesperiidae). Skipper butterflies belong to the superfamily Hesperioidea of the order Lepidoptera.


Resoviaornis

Resoviaornis is an extinct genus of passerine bird from the Early Oligocene (28.5-29 Ma) of southern Poland. Only one species is recorded for the genus, "Resoviaornis jamrozi".


Hassberge Formation

The Hassberge Formation is a geologic formation in Bavaria, Germany. It preserves fossils dating back to the Carnian stage of the Triassic period.


Santanachelys

Santanachelys gaffneyi is an extinct species of sea turtle. It is the only species in the genus Santanachelys, which itself is a member of the extinct family Protostegidae. The species was first described from a 20-centimeter long fossil specimen unearthed in 1998 from the Santana Formation of eastern Brazil. From the rock layer from which it was excavated, it was determined that the specimen was from the Early Cretaceous period (112 million years old). It is therefore one of the oldest known sea turtles. It was even recorded as the oldest sea turtle in "Encyclopædia Britannica", but a new fossil named "Desmatochelys" "padillai" in 2015 is estimated to be as old as 120 million years.
While the specimen showed many characteristics of modern sea turtles, it differed from the typical sea turtle body plan in several ways. One glaring difference is that "Santanachelys" had distinguishable digits at the tip of its forearms. Instead of the fully fused, hydrodynamic paddles that modern sea turtles possess, the early sea turtle's digits were distinct and movable similar to that of non-marine turtles. Like later sea turtles though, "Santanachelys" had large salt glands situated near its eyes, which aided with the excretion of excess salt. This was an adaptation to the highly saline marine environment.
Evolutionarily, the morphology of "Santanachelys" is typical of what is expected of an early sea turtle. The front appendages not being fully evolved into flippers is a sign of this. The presence of large foramen in the turtle's skull where salt glands where is an interesting evolutionary point. It is pointed out that this suggests that the evolutionary return to oceanic waters of the sea turtle line evolved before the finalization and streamlining of the line's paddles.
Taxonomically, "Santanachelys" has been placed in the family Protostegidae along with many other extinct sea turtles. It is the earliest member of the family to date, and the earliest known member of the sea turtle superfamily, Chelonioidea. Cladistically, it is the sister taxon to the rest of the later protostegids, including "Protostega" and "Notochelone". As a member of its family, its closest living relative belongs to the family Dermochelyidae, the leatherback turtle.
Its genus, "Santanachelys" was named for the Santana Formation, the locality where the fossil was found and "chelys", Greek for "turtle". The species name, "S. gaffneyi" was named in honor of Eugene S. Gaffney, a paleontologist who specialized in turtle phylogeny.


Rogen moraine

A Rogen moraine (also called ribbed moraine) is a subglacially ("i.e." under a glacier or ice sheet) formed type of moraine landform, that mainly occurs in Fennoscandia, Scotland, Ireland and Canada. It is one of the three main types of hummocky moraines. They cover large areas that have been covered by ice, and occur mostly in what is believed to have been the central areas of the ice sheets. Rogen moraines are named after Lake Rogen in Härjedalen, Sweden, the landform's type locality. Rogen Nature Reserve serves to protect the unusual area.
The landform occurs in groups that are often closely and regularly spaced. They consist of glacial drift, with till being the most common constituent. The individual moraines are large, wavy ridges orientated transverse to ice flow. Drumlins are often found in close proximity of Rogen moraines, and are often interpreted to be formed at the same time as the Rogen moraines. Although Rogen moraines can span a large range of sizes, the most common distribution seems to be 10–30 metres high, 150–300 metres wide and 300–1,200 metres long.
The exact mechanics of Rogen moraine formation are not known, but since the 1970s, several theories on the formation have been proposed:
However, it has been suggested that, due to the diversity of morphological characteristics displayed by Rogen moraine, different processes might be able to create the landform. This means that all of the processes mentioned above might be correct. The different theories that proposed a formation near or at the glacial margin have largely been abandoned. Some of these theories proposed that Rogen moraines had an origin as a series of end moraines, that they formed in association with calving ice termini in glacial lakes, or that Rogen moraines formed in dead-ice, where supraglacial material fell down into crevasses in the ice.


Marcello Ruta

Marcello Ruta is an Italian paleontologist.
Ruta's research primarily has focused on the anatomy and evolutionary significance of Paleozoic tetrapods.


Bouri Field

The Bouri Offshore Field is part of Block NC-41, which is located north of the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea. It was first discovered in 1976 at a depth of and is estimated to contain in proven recoverable crude oil reserves and of associated natural gas with an annual production potential of 6 billion m³. Bouri is considered the largest producing oilfield in the Mediterranean.
Discovery and development.
Overview.
In 1974, the Italian oil company Eni S.p.A. signed a Production sharing agreement (PSA) awarded by the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) of Libya for onshore and offshore exploration in areas near Tripoli. This is where the Bouri field was discovered offshore at a depth of in the Gulf of Gabes by Eni's subsidiary company Agip Oil in 1976. The Bouri field is jointly operated by Agip and NOC.
The first phase of development, costing nearly $2 billion, was completed in 1990. This was immediately followed by commencement of a second development phase which entailed the drilling of 55 new wells and construction of three additional platforms, with production initiating from two oil platforms (DP4 and DP3) in August 1998.
In 1995, the Bouri field was producing nearly , followed by a sharp decline to in 1998. This decline was largely a result of the country's inability to import enhanced oil recovery (EOR) equipment under United Nations sanctions, specifically Security Council Resolution 883 of November 11, 1993, which banned Libya from importing refinery equipment. The situation has improved since the UN Security Council officially lifted sanctions against Libya during September 2003 and foreign investment is expected in the future. In 2006, Eni reported that the Bouri field was producing about 55 kbboe per day.
Block NC-41 Facilities.
Block NC-41 contains three known petroleum reservoirs; one oil reservoir and two gas reservoirs. NC-41 has two production platforms: DP4 and DP3. The latter is tied back to the DP4 platform located 6.5 km northeast. The DP4 platform is permanently moored at a single point to a Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) tanker with a storage capacity of approximately . Bouri has three subsea wells independently tied to the DP3 platform by underwater safety valves (USV) mounted on a subsea-deployed skid located 150 meters from the DP3 jacket. The three wells were initially drilled in 1994-1995 and temporarily abandoned until completion in 1998. The subsea trees are an integral protection structure for deflection and protection, preventing the release of oil or gas from wells into the environment and controlling formation fluids. The wells, notable for Hydrogen sulfide, are controlled by chokes on subsea trees. Hydrocarbons are produced by their respective underwater safety valves to the DP3 platform through flexible 4" nominal-diameter flowlines. Topside controls were installed by FMC Technology on the DP3 platform and use a multiplex electro-hydraulic control system with independent production umbilical at each well.
Field Development Since 2004.
In 2004, Agip Oil commissioned Saipem S.p.A. for additional development projects related to the Bouri Field. The project carried out through a joint venture between Saipem and Korea's Hyundai Corporation, which fabricated process and utility modules. Apart from drilling modules, designed and with fabrication follow up by Saipem, the contract covered installation of two drilling and production platforms in 160 meter water depths. Overall, twenty-seven modules, ranging in weight from 500 to 1700 tons, and totalling 26,000 tons, were installed. Work conducted on the Bouri Field DP-4 Rig, included; a Removal project: decommissioning and removal of one of the two drilling rigs and associated modules from the DP-4 platform. These operations were carried out utilising the Saipem 7000, which is the world's second largest crane vessel.
Export Development.
The Western Libyan Gas Project is a 50-50 joint venture between Eni and NOC which came online in October 2004. This project transports natural gas from Bouri and other Eni fields through the $6.6 billion, , 520 km Greenstream underwater pipeline. Currently, per year of natural gas is exported from a processing facility at Melitah, on the Libyan coast, via Greenstream to southeastern Sicily. From Sicily, the natural gas flows to the Italian mainland, and then onwards to the rest of Europe. Throughput on the Greenstream line reportedly can be boosted to per year.
Djeffara-Pelagian Basin Province: Formation.
The Bouri field is situated in the Djeffara-Pelagian Basin Province (also known as the "Pelagian Basin"), and produces from the Bou Dabbous-Tertiary TPS. The Province is primarily an offshore region of the Mediterranean, located off eastern Tunisia and northern Libya (northwest of the Sirte Basin), and extending slightly into Italian and Maltese territorial waters. The Pelagian Province contains over of known (estimated total recoverable, including cumulative production plus remaining reserves) petroleum liquids; consisting of about of recoverable oil reserves and approximately of known natural gas. It is speculated that Tertiary carbonates might contain indigenous hydrocarbon sources, particularly in Eocene rocks (Gir Formation), that could have contributed to the large reserves in Djefarra-Pelagian. In addition to Bouris, other major fields located in the province are the Ashtart and Sidi el Itayem fields.


Juriques

Juriques is a stratovolcano on the border between Bolivia and Chile. It is located immediately southeast of Licancabur volcano. Its summit is at with a crater in its longest diameter. Laguna Verde lies at the foot of this volcano.