Nevado El Fraile

Nevado El Fraile () ("the Friar") is a volcanic mountain in the Andes of Chile. Along with numerous other volcanic peaks in the region, including Ojos del Salado, the highest volcano in the world, it is part of the Central Volcanic Zone. The closest higher peak is Incahuasi, which is to the east.


Wunyelfia

Wunyelfia is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur, a type of long-necked marine reptile, that lived in the oceans of Late Cretaceous Chile. It contains one species, W. maulensis.
Etymology.
The generic name, meant to be pronounced as "goo-niel-fiah", comes from "Wüñelfe", the Mapudungun name for the planet Venus, also seen as a mystic symbol of the flower of the "Foye", a sacred tree, and a representation of the Mapuche freedom and untamed spirit. The specific name comes from the Región del Maule of Chile where it was found.
Description.
"Wunyelfia" belongs to the elasmosaurid subfamily Aristonectinae and come from the Quiriquina Formation. The holotype SGO.PV.6507 is an associated postcranial remains of a single individual, including the atlas-axis, five anteriormost cervical vertebrae, an isolated mid cervical centrum, the posteriormost cervical centrum, two successive pectoral centra (sensu Sachs et al., 2013), thirteen dorsal vertebrae, three sacral centra, ten caudal centra, most of both coracoids, mid portion of the interclavicular arch, symphyseal portion of left pubis, the acetabular portion of right pubis and the ventral part of the left ilium.


Dinohippus

Dinohippus (Greek: "Terrible horse") is an extinct equid which was endemic to North America from the late Hemphillian stage of the Miocene through the Zanclean stage of the Pliocene (10.3—3.6 mya) and in existence for approximately . Fossils are widespread throughout North America, being found at more than 30 sites from Florida to Alberta and Panama (Alajuela Formation).
Taxonomy.
Quinn originally referred ""Pliohippus" mexicanus" to "Dinohippus", but unpublished cladistic results in an SVP 2018 conference abstract suggest that "mexicanus" is instead more closely related to extant horses than to "Dinohippus".
Description.
"Dinohippus" was the most common horse in North America and like "Equus", it did not have a dished face. It has a distinctive passive "stay apparatus" formed from bones and tendons to help it conserve energy while standing for long periods. "Dinohippus" was the first horse to show a rudimentary form of this character, providing additional evidence of the close relationship between "Dinohippus" and "Equus". "Dinohippus" was originally thought to be a monodactyl horse, but a 1981 fossil find in Nebraska shows that some were tridactyl. The species "D. leidyanus" had an estimated body mass of approximately .


Mettmann (district)

Mettmann () is a Kreis (district) in the middle of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring are the Ennepe-Ruhr, Rhein-Kreis Neuss, Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis and the
district-free cities Cologne, Leverkusen, Wuppertal, Solingen, Düsseldorf,
Duisburg, Mülheim, Essen. It is the most densely populated rural district in Germany; it borders Düsseldorf Airport in the northwestern district borders, on the city limits of Ratingen, and is also near Cologne Bonn Airport. It was named after Mettmann, its district seat.
History.
In the 12th century the area of today's district became the property of the earldom Berg. When Napoleon occupied the area in 1792 it became a canton in the arrondissement Düsseldorf.
After the Congress of Vienna the area went to Prussia in 1816 as part of the province Westphalia, and the first district Mettmann was created. This district was merged from 1820 till 1861 with the district Elberfeld, which then became a city in its own right, now it is part of Wuppertal. In 1877 the administrative seat was moved to Vohwinkel. In 1929 more of the area was given over to Wuppertal, and the district was merged with the district Düsseldorf ("Landkreis", excluding the city itself), to form the district "Düsseldorf-Mettmann", with administrative seat in Düsseldorf. In 1952 the seat went back to Mettmann, and after the last reorganization of 1975/76 the district got back the old name. The cities Langenfeld and Monheim were included into the district then, while Kettwig became part of the city Essen.
Geography.
The district Mettmann is located just south of the Ruhr area, next to the big cities of Düsseldorf.
Points of interest.
Most famous is the valley of the small river "Düssel", the "Neanderthal", where the fossils of the human species Neanderthals were first found.
Coat of arms.
The red lion with the blue tongue is the sign of the earldom Berg. In the black border it has the symbols for the two most important industries of the district - the production of locks, and agriculture. The coat of arms was designed in 1936 by the painter and herald Pagenstecher from Düsseldorf.


List of earthquakes in South Africa

The following is a list of notable earthquakes or tremors that have been detected within South Africa.
According to Professor Andrzej Kijko from the University of Pretoria's Natural Hazard Centre, mining can activate natural faults. He believes that 95% of South Africa's earthquakes are caused by mining, especially around the areas of Klerksdorp, Welkom and Carletonville. According to earth science consultant Dr Chris Hartnady, "This part of Africa is in the vicinity of the African Rift system, which is being pulled apart by a few millimetres annually." He says "earthquakes are caused by a slip on a fault line and the release of stored elastic energy" and mining activity can trigger earthquakes.
Earthquake data.
For earthquakes prior to the modern era, the magnitude and epicentre location are only approximate, and were calculated based on available reports from the time. The magnitude where given is measured using the Richter scale ("formula_1") unless stated otherwise.


Bolbochasmops

Bolbochasmops is a genus of trilobite in the order Phacopida, which existed in what is now Estonia. It was described by McNamara in 1980, and the type species is "Bolbochasmops emarginata", which was originally described as "Chasmops bucculenta", and later as "Phacops bucculenta" by Schmidt in 1881.


Denise Sigogneau-Russell

Denise Sigogneau-Russell (born "c." 1941/42) is a French palaeontologist who specialises in mammals from the Mesozoic, particularly from France and the UK. She is currently based at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle.
Background.
Denise Sigogneau-Russell completed her PhD in 1969 on therapsids - the forerunners of mammals - from South Africa, where she spent two years. In 1976 a Belgian amateur fossil hunter brought her a mammal tooth from a quarry in eastern France, and this inspired her to change direction and begin research on mammals from the Mesozoic. She subsequently studied them in France, Portugal, Madagascar, Morocco, and England. Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska said that due to Sigogneau-Russell's "scholarship and diligence, she has contributed enormously to the knowledge of early mammal evolution.".
She was married to Donald E. Russell, also a palaeontologist specialising in mammals, with whom she carried out field projects and collaborated.
Research.
Sigogneau-Russell has published on many mammals and their predecessors, but she is best known for her work on Triassic triconodonts and morganucodontans, haramiyids and multituberculates, and British Cretaceous mammals with collaborator, Percy Butler. She has also written reviews of the anatomy and taxonomy of synapsids and therapsids, as well as co-authoring papers on more recent fossil mammals.
In 1983 Sigogneau-Russell published her first review of the mammals from Rhaetian rocks in Saint-Nicholas-de-Port in Lorraine, France. She later published on more material from this area, including over 200 teeth obtained by screen-washing sediment. In 1991 she published a book on Mesozoic mammals, "Les mammifères au temps des dinosaures"
She has authored over 56 research papers and contributed many more articles on palaeontology. She has named at least 3 orders and families, 5 genera, and 5 species of Mesozoic mammal from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
Scientific contributions.
Taxonomic names erected by Denise Sigogneau-Russell:
Haramiyidans:
Docodontans:


Gold Mining Water Race, Windeyer

Gold Mining Water Race is a heritage-listed piece of mining infrastructure at Old Hargraves Road, Windeyer, Mid-Western Regional Council, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1855 to 1865 by Chinese miners, probably from Southern China. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 22 December 2000.
History.
The Chinese built aqueduct wall is believed to have been built around the gold rush days of Windeyer district which started in the late 1850s. There was a considerable Chinese presence in the area reaching as many as 1200 at the peak of the gold rush. There were a number of gold strikes, and the strike nearest to this location was the strike at "Deep Crossing". Whether the Chinese were the first or only prospectors in this vicinity is not known, but they often reworked claims that had been already left by Europeans, and this may have been the case here.
The wall is believed to have been built by 12 Chinese men, supported by a cook.
The time it would have taken to build the wall implies these men were supported by wages or kept in supplies while on the project. They may have been contract workers.
Description.
This Chinese built aqueduct wall is built near the banks of, and following, the Meroo River. The nearest officially known gold settlement was Deep Crossing, which is on the next bend of the river down stream.
This dry stone wall follows the Meroo River water course for approximately 350 metres. The wall ranges in height from a few stones to 3.6 metres in height. A large portion of it being over 1.8 metres in height.
The wall is made of the shale rocks from the site, of flat rectangular shape and of various sizes, laid dry on their large sides. Rocks approximately 600mm x 600mm x 120mm deep are common.
There are long sections of the wall fully intact. After the first 50 metres travelling from the south small breaks occur about every 15 to 20 metres, with a large break, due to a landslip at approximately the 140 metre line. By 230 metres the wall begins to break up generally, and soon after the blackberry infestation generally makes it inaccessible.
At the top of the wall is a water race, which runs past the wall at each end, eventually travelling approximately 1 kilometre in total from its source, up-steam in the Meroo, to its finish at the end of Wall B.
The river flows towards the South, from above the dry stone wall (A), past a central section (B) and past another dry stone wall (C) The central section contains the continued water race dug into the hillside, numerous deep round hole diggings, remains of a possible dwelling and mounds of tailings.
Wall A faces the East, it is almost without biological growth. It looks quite a recent construction. Almost the whole of the top of the wall can be accessed except where the wall turns to face the south east, and the blackberry growth makes it difficult to continue.
Wall (C) however faces predominantly south and is covered in biological growth including mosses and considerable blackberry infestation. This makes the section (C) wall difficult to access from anywhere except the top, and makes it also hard to measure or record with photographs.
The wall was reported to be in fair to good physical condition as at 4 July 2000, with high archaeological potential.
This cast facing wall is remarkably intact. In parts the wall is in immaculate condition looking as if it were built in quite recent decades. Very tall sections show the great skill of the masons. Weed and other plant growth on its face is minimal for about 90% of its length, making it almost all accessible.
There are also considerable additional constructions associated with this site, in the central section, the second wall, across the River and the upper reaches of the race where the water was dammed and redirected from the river.
Comparison with other Chinese built walls, and of other water race constructions, in Australia and overseas, would be valuable.
Heritage listing.
This site shows significant evidence of Chinese presence in Australia, especially as this wall appears to be wholly attributed to the Chinese. The wall which was built to support a water race for alluvial gold mining in the valley of the Meroo River, is exceptional in its scale, being higher than most similar constructions having been built in very difficult terrain. It was built with only primitive implements, using a wooden bow and plumb bob to accurately provide minimum fails to the water course over a long distance. The wall is in excellent condition, a testimony to the considerable masonry skills of the Chinese builders.
Gold Mining Water Race was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 22 December 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.
The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.
Gold was discovered in the district of Windeyer around 1850, and by 1858 there was a considerable Chinese presence in the district. This wall was built between 145 and 130 years ago by Chinese gold miners. They were part of the general Gold Rush phase of Australia.
The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.
The wall displays excellent masonry skills. A remarkably long and high wall the area of the face is approx 400sm. It is an dramatic feature in the landscape , yet it blends beautifully with the winding river, and rocky hillside. The wall has remained largely "undiscovered" probably due to its remoteness and the way it blends with the landscape. It is also not marked on the local topographical maps while most other "diggings" are.
The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
A remnant of the Chinese presence in Australia during the gold rush period. It is important in that this wall is attributed solely to the Chinese workers. As the project was obviously a shared venture , over a long period of time, the social significance of the brotherhood and friendship of these 12 Chinese expatriates, and their achievement together with minimal materials and primitive tools is most impressive.
The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
The Chinese designers used their considerable ingenuity and skill to collect water from the upper reaches of the Meroo River, where the stream drops quite rapidly. Using a small dam construction to collect the water initially, then a water race. The water was carded thus until the terrain became difficult, steep and rocky. Here the Chinese constructed a shale stone wall to support the race, and so carried the water around the bend in the river.
The tool that was used to measure the level of the water course, and so to carry the water a long distance with a minimal drop, was a wooden bow and plumb bob. Taking the water at this higher level to the area of diggings and sluicing, allowed the workers then to process much more pay-dirt than the more typical method of digging it out and carrying it to the water.
The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
Wall constructions of this scale (height & length) are rare. This was principally due to the circumstances of the landscape: the steep sides of the hill, the available shale rocks, and the rich gold find that made it feasible.
The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.
There are similar, but less imposing walls in other Gold Mining sites. For example in the Palmer River Catchment area (see Eric Rolls' book "The Sojouners" p. 214, and the Stoney Creek aqueduct (p. 215), 1300M long and an average 1M high. The use of an aqueduct was a common practice in many gold fields.


Tepetate Formation

The Tepetate Formation is a geologic formation in Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Paleogene period.


Coelophysis

Coelophysis ( traditionally; or , as heard more commonly in recent decades) is an extinct genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 216 to 196 million years ago during the latter part of the Triassic Period in what is now the southwestern United States and also in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
"Coelophysis" was a small, slenderly-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, that could grow up to long. It is one of the earliest known dinosaur genera. Scattered material representing similar animals has been found worldwide in some Late Triassic and Early Jurassic formations.
The type species "C. bauri", originally given to the genus "Coelurus" by Edward Drinker Cope in 1887, was described by the latter in 1889. The names "Longosaurus" and "Rioarribasaurus" are synonymous with "Coelophysis". Another dinosaur genus, "Megapnosaurus", has also been considered to be a synonym. This primitive theropod is notable for being one of the most specimen-rich dinosaur genera.
History of discovery.
Named in 1887, the type species of "Coelophysis" was originally named as a species of "Coelurus". Edward Drinker Cope first named "Coelophysis" in 1889 to name a new genus, outside of "Coelurus" and "Tanystropheus" to which "C. bauri" was previously classified in for "C. bauri", "C. willistoni" and "C. longicollis". An amateur fossil collector working for Cope, David Baldwin, had found the first remains of the dinosaur in 1881 in the Chinle Formation in northwestern New Mexico. Early in 1887, Cope referred the specimens collected to two new species, "C. bauri" and "C. longicollis" of the genus "Coelurus". Later in 1887 Cope reassigned the material to a yet another genus, "Tanystropheus". Two years later, Cope corrected his classification after realizing differences in the vertebrae, and named "Coelophysis", with "C. bauri" as the type species, which was named for Georg Baur, a comparative anatomist whose ideas were similar to Cope's. The name "Coelophysis" comes from the Greek words κοῖλος/koilos (meaning 'hollow') and φύσις/physis (meaning 'form'), thus "hollow form" which is a reference to its hollow vertebrae. However, these first finds were too poorly preserved to give a complete picture of this new dinosaur. In 1947, a substantial 'graveyard' of "Coelophysis" fossils was found by George Whitaker, the assistant of Edwin H. Colbert, in New Mexico, at the Ghost Ranch, close to the original find. American Museum of Natural History paleontologist Edwin H. Colbert conducted a comprehensive study of all the fossils found up to that date and assigned them to "Coelophysis". The Ghost Ranch specimens were so numerous, including many well-preserved and fully articulated specimens, that one of them has since become the diagnostic, or type specimen, for the entire genus, replacing the original, poorly preserved specimen.""Syntarsus" rhodesiensis" was first described by Raath (1969) and assigned to Podokesauridae. The taxon "Podokesauridae", was abandoned since its type specimen was destroyed in a fire and can no longer be compared to new finds. Over the years paleontologists assigned this genus to Ceratosauridae (Welles, 1984), Procompsognathidae (Parrish and Carpenter, 1986) and Ceratosauria (Gauthier, 1986). In 2004 "Syntarsus" was found synonymous with "Coelophysis" by Tykoski and Rowe (2004). Ezcurra and Novas (2007) and Ezcurra (2007) also concluded that "Syntarsus" was synonymous with "Coelophysis", which is the current scientific consensus.
Description.
"Coelophysis" is known from a number of complete fossil skeletons of the species "C. bauri", which was a lightly built dinosaur which measured up to in length and which was more than a meter tall at the hips. Paul (1988) estimated the weight of the gracile form at , and the weight of the robust form at . "Coelophysis" was a bipedal, carnivorous, theropod dinosaur that was a fast and agile runner. Despite being an early dinosaur, the evolution of the theropod body form had already advanced greatly from creatures like "Herrerasaurus" and "Eoraptor". The torso of "Coelophysis" conforms to the basic theropod body shape, but the pectoral girdle displays some interesting special characteristics: "C. bauri" had a furcula (wishbone), the earliest known example in a dinosaur. "Coelophysis" also preserves the ancestral condition of possessing four digits on the hand (manus). It had only three functional digits, the fourth embedded in the flesh of the hand.
"Coelophysis" had narrow hips, forelimbs adapted for grasping prey, and narrow feet. Its neck and tail were long and slender. The pelvis and hindlimbs of "C. bauri" are also slight variations on the theropod body plan. It has the open acetabulum and straight ankle hinge that define the Dinosauria. The hindlimb ended in a three-toed foot (pes), with a raised hallux. The tail had an unusual structure within its interlocking prezygapophysis of its vertebrae, which formed a semi-rigid lattice, apparently to stop the tail from moving up and down.
"Coelophysis" had a long narrow head (approximately ), with large, forward-facing eyes that afforded it stereoscopic vision and as a result excellent depth perception. Rinehart "et al." (2004) described the complete sclerotic ring found for a juvenile "Coelophysis bauri" (specimen NMMNH P-4200), and compared it to data on the sclerotic rings of reptiles and birds and concluded that "Coelophysis" was a diurnal, visually oriented predator. The study found that the vision of "Coelophysis" was superior to most lizards' vision, and ranked with that of modern birds of prey. The eyes of "Coelophysis" appear to be the closest to those of eagles and hawks, with a high power of accommodation. The data also suggested poor night vision, which would mean this dinosaur had a round rather than a split pupil.
"Coelophysis" had an elongated snout with large fenestrae which helped to reduce skull weight, while narrow struts of bones preserved the structural integrity of the skull. The neck had a pronounced sigmoid curve. The braincase is known in "Coelophysis bauri" but little data could be derived because the skull was crushed. Unlike some other theropods, the cranial ornamentation of "Coelophysis" was not located at the top of its skull. Low, laterally raised bony ridges were present on the dorsolateral margin of the nasal and lacrimal bones in the skull, directly above the antorbital fenestra.
Distinguishing anatomical features.
A diagnosis is a statement of the anatomical features of an organism (or group) that collectively distinguish it from all other organisms. Some, but not all, of the features in a diagnosis are also autapomorphies. An autapomorphy is a distinctive anatomical feature that is unique to a given organism or group.
According to Ezcurra (2007), and Bristowe and Raath (2004) "Coelophysis" can be distinguished based on the following features: the absence of an offset rostral process of the maxilla; the quadrate is strongly caudally; a small external mandibular fenestra, which is 9–10% of the mandibular length; and the anteroposterior length of the ventral lacrimal process is greater than 30% of its height.
Several paleontologists consider "Coelophysis bauri" to be the same dinosaur as "Coelophysis rhodesiensis" (formerly "Syntarsus", alternately "Megapnosaurus"), however this has been refuted by the following: Downs (2000) concluded that "C. bauri" differs from "C. rhodesiensis" in cervical length, proximal and distal hindlimb proportions and proximal caudal vertebral anatomy; Tykoski and Rowe (2004) concluded that "C. bauri" differs from "C. rhodesiensis" in that it lacks a pit at the base of the nasal process of the premaxilla; and Bristowe and Raath (2004) concluded that "C. bauri" differs from "C. rhodesiensis" in having a longer maxillary tooth row.
Classification.
"Coelophysis" is a distinct taxonomic unit (genus), composed of two species; "C. bauri" and "C. rhodesiensis" (the latter formerly classified as the genus "Megapnosaurus"). Two additional originally described species, "C. longicollis" and "C. willistoni", are now considered synonymous with "C. bauri". "C. rhodesiensis" is probably part of this generic complex, and is known from the Jurassic of southern Africa. A third possible species is "Coelophysis kayentakatae", previously referred to the genus "Megapnosaurus". There is not a clear consensus at this point.
In the early 1990s, there was debate over the diagnostic characteristics of the first specimens collected, compared to the material excavated at the Ghost Ranch "Coelophysis" quarry. Some paleontologists were of the opinion that the original specimens were not diagnostic beyond themselves and, therefore, that the name "C. bauri" could not be applied to any additional specimens. They therefore applied a different name, "Rioarribasaurus", to the Ghost Ranch quarry specimens.
Since the numerous well-preserved Ghost Ranch specimens were used as "Coelophysis" in most of the scientific literature, the use of "Rioarribasaurus" would have been very inconvenient for researchers, so a petition was given to have the type specimen of "Coelophysis" transferred from the poorly preserved original specimen to one of the well-preserved Ghost Ranch specimens. This would make "Rioarribasaurus" a definite synonym of "Coelophysis", specifically a junior objective synonym. In the end, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) voted to make one of the Ghost Ranch samples the actual type specimen for "Coelophysis" and dispose of the name "Rioarribasaurus" altogether (declaring it a "nomen rejectum", or "rejected name"), thus resolving the confusion. The name "Coelophysis" therefore became a "nomen conservandum" ("conserved name").
In a situation affecting many dinosaur taxa, some more recently discovered fossils were originally classified as new genera but may be species of "Coelophysis". For example, Prof. Mignon Talbot's 1911 discovery which she named "Podokesaurus holyokensis", has long been considered to be related to "Coelophysis", and some modern scientists consider "Podokesaurus" a synonym of "Coelophysis". Another specimen from the Portland Formation of the Hartford Basin, now at the Boston Museum of Science, has also been referred to "Coelophysis". This specimen consists of sandstone casts of a pubis, tibia, three ribs, and a possible vertebra, and probably originated in a quarry in Middletown, Connecticut. However, both the type specimen of "Podokesaurus" and the Middletown specimen are typically considered indeterminate theropods today.
Sullivan & Lucas (1999) referred one specimen from Cope's original material of "Coelophysis" (AMNH 2706) to what they thought was a newly discovered theropod, "Eucoelophysis". However, subsequent studies have shown that "Eucoelophysis" was misidentified, and is actually a primitive, non-dinosaurian ornithodiran closely related to "Silesaurus".
The genus "Syntarsus" was named by Raath in 1969 for the type species "Syntarsus rhodesiensis" from Africa, and later applied to the North American "Syntarsus kayentakatae". It was renamed by American entomologist Dr. Michael Ivie (Montana State University of Bozeman), Polish Australian Dr. Adam Ślipiński, and Polish Dr. Piotr Węgrzynowicz (Muzeum Ewolucji Instytutu Zoologii PAN of Warsaw), the three scientists who discovered that the genus name "Syntarsus" was already taken by a colydiine beetle described in 1869. Many paleontologists did not like the naming of "Megapnosaurus", partially because taxonomists are generally expected to allow original authors of a name to correct any mistakes in their work. Raath was aware of the homonymy between the dinosaur "Syntarsus" and beetle "Syntarsus", but the group who published "Megapnosaurus" were led to believe Raath was deceased and therefore unable to correct his mistake, and proceeded accordingly. Mortimer (2012) pointed out that "Paleontologists might have reacted more positively if the replacement name ("Megapnosaurus") hadn't been facetious, translating to "big dead lizard". Yates (2005) analyzed "Coelophysis" and "Megapnosaurus" and concluded that the two genera are almost identical, and suggested that "Megapnosaurus" was possibly synonymous with "Coelophysis". In 2004, Raath co-authored two papers in which he argued that "Megapnosaurus" (formerly "Syntarsus") was a junior synonym of "Coelophysis". "Megapnosaurus" was regarded by Paul (1988) and Downs (2000) as being congeneric with "Coelophysis". Then in 1993, Paul suggested that "Coelophysis" should be placed in "Megapnosaurus" (then known as "Syntarsus") to get around the above-mentioned taxonomic confusion. Downs (2000) examined "Camposaurus" and concluded that it was a junior synonym of "Coelophysis", because of its similarity to some of the "Coelophysis" Ghost Ranch specimens. However, a reassessment of the "Camposaurus" holotype by Martin Ezcurra and Stephen Brusatte published in 2011 revealed a pair of autapomorphies in the holotype, indicating that "C. arizonensis" was not a synonym of "C. bauri", although it was a close relative of "C. rhodesensis".
Paleobiology.
Feeding.
The teeth of "Coelophysis" were typical of predatory dinosaurs, blade-like, recurved, sharp and jagged with fine serrations on both the anterior and posterior edges. Its dentition shows that it was carnivorous, probably preying on the small, lizard-like animals that were discovered with it. It may also have hunted in packs to tackle larger prey."Coelophysis bauri" has approximately 26 teeth on the maxillary bone of the upper jaw and 27 teeth on the dentary bone of the lower jaw. Carpenter (2002) examined the bio-mechanics of theropods forelimbs and attempted to evaluate their usefulness in predation. He concluded that the forelimb of "Coelophysis" was flexible and had a good range of motion, but its bone structure suggested that it was comparatively weak. The "weak" forelimbs and small teeth in this genus, suggested that "Coelophysis" preyed upon animals that were substantially smaller than itself. Rinehart "et al." agreed that "Coelophysis" was a "hunter of small, fast-moving prey". Carpenter also identified three distinct models of theropod forelimb use and noted that "Coelophysis" was a "combination grasper-clutcher" as compared to other dinosaurs that were "clutchers" or "long armed graspers".
It has been suggested that "C. bauri" was a cannibal, based on supposed juvenile specimens found "within" the abdominal cavities of some Ghost Ranch specimens. However, Robert J. Gay showed in 2002 that these specimens were misinterpreted. Several specimens of "juvenile coelophysids" were actually small crurotarsan reptiles such as "Hesperosuchus". Gay's position was lent support in a 2006 study by Nesbitt "et al." In 2009, new evidence of cannibalism came to light when additional preparation of previously excavated matrix revealed regurgitate material in and around the mouth of "Coelophysis" specimen NMMNH P-44551. This material included tooth and jaw bone fragments that Rinehart "et al." considered "morphologically identical" to a juvenile "Coelophysis."
In 2010, Gay examined the bones of juveniles found within the thoracic cavity of AMNH 7224, and calculated that the total volume of these bones was 17 times greater than the maximum estimated stomach volume of the "Coelophysis" specimen. Gay observed that the total volume would be even greater when considering that there would have been flesh on these bones. This analysis also noted the absence of tooth marks on the bones as would be expected in defleshing, and the absence of expected pitting by stomach acids. Finally, Gay demonstrated that the alleged cannibalized juvenile bones were deposited stratigraphically below the larger animal that had supposedly cannibalized them. Taken together these data suggested that the "Coelophysis" specimen AMNH 7224 was not a cannibal and that the bones of the juvenile and adult specimens were found in their final position as a result of "coincidental superposition of different sized individuals.
Pack behavior.
The discovery of over 1000 specimens of "Coelophysis" at the Whitaker quarry at Ghost Ranch, has suggested gregarious behavior to researchers like Schwartz and Gillette. There is a tendency to see this massive congregation of animals as evidence for huge packs of "Coelophysis" roaming the land. No direct evidence for flocking exists; the deposits only indicate that large numbers of "Coelophysis", along with other Triassic animals, were buried together. Some of the evidence from the taphonomy of the site indicates that these animals may have been gathered together to feed or drink from a depleted water hole or to feed on a spawning run of fish, and then became buried in a catastrophic flash flood or a drought.
With 30 specimens of "C. rhodesiensis" found together in Zimbabwe some palaeontologists have suggested that "Coelophysis" was indeed gregarious. Again there is no direct evidence of flocking in this case and it has also been suggested that these individuals were also victims of flash flooding as it appears to have been commonplace during this period.
Growth and sexual dimorphism.
Rinehart (2009) assessed the ontogenic growth of this genus using data gathered from the length of its upper leg bone (femur) and concluded that "Coelophysis" juveniles grew rapidly, especially during the first year of life. "Coelophysis" likely reached sexual maturity between the second and third year of life and reached its full size, just above 10 feet in length, by its eighth year. This study identified four distinct growth stages: 1-year, 2-year, 4-year, and 7+ year. It was also thought, that as soon as they were hatched, they would have to fend for themselves.
Two "morphs" of "Coelophysis" have been identified: a more gracile form, as in specimen AMNH 7223, and a slightly more robust form, as in specimens AMNH 7224 and NMMNH P-42200. Skeletal proportions were different between these two forms; the gracile form has a longer skull, a longer neck, shorter forelimbs, and has sacral neural spines that are fused; and the robust form has a shorter skull, a shorter neck, longer forelimbs, and unfused sacral neural spines. Historically, many arguments have been made that this represents some sort of dimorphism in the population of "Coelophysis", probably sexual dimorphism. Raath agreed that dimorphism in "Coelophysis" is evidenced by the size and structure of the forelimb. Rinehart "et al." studied 15 individuals, and agreed that two morphs were present, even in juvenile specimens, and suggested that sexual dimorphism was present early in life, prior to sexual maturity. Rinehart concluded that the gracile form was female and the robust form was male based on differences in the sacral vertebrae of the gracile form, which allowed for greater flexibility for egg laying. Further support for this position was provided by an analysis showing that each morph comprised 50% of the population, as would be expected in a 50/50 sex ratio.
However, more recent research has found that "C. bauri" and "C. rhodesiensis" had highly variable growth between individuals, with some specimens being larger in their immature phase than smaller adults were when completely mature; this indicates that the supposed presence of distinct morphs is simply the result of individual variation. This highly variable growth was likely ancestral to dinosaurs but later lost, and may have given such early dinosaurs an evolutionary advantage in surviving harsh environmental challenges.
Reproduction.
Through the compilation and analysis of a database of nearly three dozen birds and reptiles, and comparison with existing data about the anatomy of "Coelophysis" Rinehart "et al." (2009) drew the following conclusions. It was estimated that average egg of "Coelophysis" was 31–33.5 millimeters across its minor diameter, and that each female would lay between 24 and 26 eggs in each clutch. The evidence suggested that some parental care was necessary to nurture the relatively small hatchlings during the first year of life, where they would reach 1.5 meters in length by the end of their first growth stage. "Coelophysis bauri" invested as much energy in reproduction as other extinct reptiles of its approximate size.
Paleopathology.
In a 2001 study conducted by Bruce Rothschild and other paleontologists, 14-foot bones referred to "Coelophysis" were examined for signs of stress fracture, but none were found.
In "C. rhodesiensis", healed fractures of the tibia and metatarsus have been observed, but are very rare. "[T]he supporting butresses of the second sacral rib" in one specimen of "Syntarsus rhodesiensis" showed signs of fluctuating asymmetry. Fluctuating asymmetry results from developmental disturbances and is more common in populations under stress and can therefore be informative about the quality of conditions a dinosaur lived under.
Ichnology.
Edwin H. Colbert has suggested that the theropod footprints referred to the ichnogenus "Grallator", located in the Connecticut River Valley across Connecticut and Massachusetts, may have been made by "Coelophysis". The footprints are from the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic aged Newark Supergroup. They clearly show digits II III and IV but not I or V. That condition is strange for footprints of their age. The digits were presumed to be stubby and ineffective, not touching the ground when the dinosaur was walking or running. They have been thought to be from an unidentified, primitive saurischian similar to "Coelophysis" by David B. Weishampel and L. Young more recently. Skeletal remains resembling "Coelophysis" have also been found in the valley, supporting the idea that a species similar to "Coelophysis" is responsible for the footprints.
Paleoenvironment.
Specimens of "Coelophysis" have been recovered from the Chinle Formation of New Mexico and Arizona, more famously at the Ghost Ranch (Whitaker) quarry in the Rock Point member among other quarries in the underlying Petrified Forest member, the sediments of which have been dated to approximately 212 million years ago, making them part of the middle Norian stage of the Late Triassic.
"C. rhodesiensis" has been recovered in the Upper Elliott Formation in the Cape and Free State provinces of South Africa as well as the Chitake River bonebed quarry at the Forest Sandstone Formation in Zimbabwe.
Ghost Ranch was located close to the equator over 200 million years ago, and had a warm, monsoon-like climate with heavy seasonal precipitation. Hayden Quarry, a new excavation site at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, has yielded a diverse collection of fossil material that included the first evidence of dinosaurs and less-advanced dinosauromorphs from the same time period. The discovery indicates that the two groups lived together during the early Triassic period 235 million years ago.
Therrien and Fastovsky (2001) examined the paleoenvironment of "Coelophysis" and other early theropods from Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, and determined that this genus lived in an environment that consisted of floodplains marked by distinct dry and wet seasons. There was a great deal of competition during drier times when animals struggled for water in riverbeds that were drying up.
In the upper sections of the Chinle Formation where "Coelophysis" is found, dinosaurs were rare, so far only "Chindesaurus" and
"Daemonosaurus" are known, the terrestrial fauna being dominated instead by other reptiles like the rhynchocephalian "Whitakersaurus"; the pseudosuchian "Revueltosaurus"; the aetosaurs "Desmatosuchus", "Typothorax" and "Heliocanthus"; the crocodilomorph "Hesperosuchus"; the "rauisuchians" "Shuvosaurus", "Effigia" and "Vivaron"; along other rare components like the dinosauriform "Eucoelophysis", and the amniote "Kraterokheirodon". In the waterways we find the phytosaur "Machaeroprosopus"; the archosauromorph "Vancleavea;" the amphibians "Apachesaurus" and "Koskinonodon"; and the fishes "Reticulodus", "Arganodus" and "Lasalichthyes".
The Upper Elliot Formation is thought to have been an ancient floodplain. Fossils of the prosauropod dinosaur "Massospondylus" and "Ignavusaurus" have been recovered from the Upper Elliot Formation, which boasts the world's most diverse fauna of early Jurassic ornithischian dinosaurs, including "Abrictosaurus", "Fabrosaurus", "Heterodontosaurus", and "Lesothosaurus", among others. The Forest Sandstone Formation was the paleoenvironment of protosuchid crocodiles, sphenodonts, the dinosaur "Massospondylus" and indeterminate remains of a prosauropod. Paul (1988) noted that "Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis" lived among desert dunes and oases and hunted juvenile and adult prosauropods.
Taphonomy.
The multitude of specimens deposited so closely together at Ghost Ranch was probably the result of a flash flood, which swept away a large number of "Coelophysis" and buried them quickly and simultaneously. In fact, it seems that such flooding was commonplace during this period of the Earth's history and, indeed, the Petrified Forest of nearby Arizona is the result of a preserved log jam of tree trunks that were caught in one such flood. Whitaker quarry at Ghost Ranch is considered a monotaxic site because it features multiple individuals of a single taxon. The quality of preservation and the ontogenic (age) range of the specimens helped make "Coelophysis" one of the best known of all genera. In 2009, Rinehart "et al." noted that in one case the "Coelophysis" specimens were "washed into a topographic low containing a small pond, where they probably drowned and were buried by a sheet flood event from a nearby river."
The 30 specimens of "C. rhodesiensis" found together in Zimbabwe was also probably the result of a flash flood, which swept away a large number of "Coelophysis" and buried them quickly and simultaneously as well.
Cultural significance.
"Coelophysis" was the second dinosaur in space, following "Maiasaura" (STS-51-F). A "Coelophysis" skull from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History was aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-89 when it left the atmosphere on 22 January 1998. It was also taken onto the space station Mir before being returned to Earth.
As being over 100 years old, "Coelophysis" is one of the best-known dinosaurs in literature. It was designated as the official state fossil of New Mexico in 1981, and is now the logo of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.


Thiviers-Payzac Unit

The Thiviers-Payzac Unit is a metasedimentary succession of late Neoproterozoic and Cambrian age outcropping in the southern Limousin in France. The unit geologically forms part of the Variscan basement of the northwestern Massif Central.
Terminology.
The Thiviers-Payzac Unit, sometimes still called "Thiviers-Payzac Nappe" or "Bas-Limousin Group", was named after Thiviers and Payzac, two small towns in the northeastern Dordogne situated within the unit's outcrop area. The term nappe is somewhat misleading.
Geography.
Geographically the Thiviers-Payzac Unit belongs to the Bas-Limousin (southern Limousin), a plateau peneplained during the Eocene and whose elevation barely reaches above 400 metres. The unit starts just west of Thiviers in the northern Dordogne and then follows for 70 kilometres a semicircular arc segment, passing through Lanouaille, Payzac, Orgnac, Donzenac and finishing just east of Brive in the Corrèze. In the beginning the unit follows a WNW-ESE strike (N110), but then just north of Orgnac swings into a NW-SE course (N 135). On its north side the unit is separated by the Estivaux Fault, a left-lateral, ductile strike-slip fault, from rocks of the Upper Gneiss Unit. On its western end appear rocks of the Lower Gneiss Unit. In the southwest the unit is overlain by liassic sediments of the Aquitaine Basin. The South Limousin Fault, also a ductile strike-slip fault but with a right-lateral shear, separates the unit from the Génis Unit in the south. The unit finally disappears in the southeast below some small occurrences of Pennsylvanian sediments, yet the bulk of the unit is covered mainly by Permotriassic red beds of the Brive Basin. Following the Auvézère the maximum width of the unit across strike is only 9 kilometers.
Just northwest of Terrasson in the eastern Dordogne there is an upfaulted basement high, that is also included within the main unit. This outlier is about 10 kilometers long and also follows the ESE-direction; its width across strike is only 5 kilometers.
Stratigraphy.
The stratigraphy of the Thiviers-Payzac Unit shows the following succession (from top to bottom):
The unit hosts the Mississippian Estivaux granite and two Ordovician granitoids, the Saut-du-Saumon orthogneiss and the Corgnac granite.
Puy-des-Âges quartzite.
The Puy-des-Âges quartzite on top is a very resistant, white, sericite-bearing quartzite and consequently forms erosion-resistant reliefs within the plateau of the Bas-Limousin. The formation crops out in a merely 200 meter wide band in the western and central part of the Thiviers-Payzac Unit. The quartzite shows similarities to the Puy-de-Cornut-Arkose of the Génis Unit. Even a relationship with the grès armoricain in Brittany is taken into consideration. Its age is therefore most likely Ordovician (Tremadocian).
Engastine mafics.
The underlying Engastine Mafics are a complex of mafic, magmatic rocks. They likewise appear only in the western and central Thiviers-Payzac Unit. In a 500 Meter wide strip they follow immediately to the south of the Puy-des-Âges quartzite. Near Juillac this strip widens to about 2 kilometers. The age of the maximally 500 meter thick mafic rocks is taken to be Cambrian. They consist of alternating greenschists and amphibolites in which are intercalated several layers of metadolerites and metagabbros. The very fine grained greenschist of light green to dark green colour contains as major constituents the minerals plagioclase (oligoclase or andesine), amphibole (hornblende) and epidote (clinozoisite). Biotite is a minor constituent and quartz, calcite and opaques are accessories. The greenschist represents ancient subalkaline basalts. The metadolerites and the metagabbros are much more coarse-grained and consist mainly of hornblende and basic plagioclase that has undergone saussuritisation.
Donzenac Schist.
Below the Engastine mafic complex follows the epizonal (low-grade) Donzenac Schist. The schist crops out in a 3 kilometer wide, slightly curved band that starts at the type locality Donzenac and extends to Lanouaille. Here the band is cut off by the left-lateral Dussac Fault, a major strike-slip fault, and offset by several kilometers to the southwest. The band then follows through to just northeast of Thiviers, where it ends. The Donzenac schist is also included in the Cambrian. The schist has silky hues of grey and is mostly made up of phyllosilicates like muscovite and biotite or muscovite and chlorite. The phyllosilicates are accompanied by quartz, acid plagioclase and garnet of the almandine zone. The schist sometimes reveals relatively fine-grained, decimeter-sized, dark interlayers of arenitic composition, most likely ancient greywackes. The arenitic interlayers show clasts of quartz, plagioclase and epidote surrounded by newly formed minerals like phyllosilicates, quartz and very fine-grained albite.
Thiviers sandstone.
The Thiviers sandstone is the lowermost formation in the Thiviers-Payzac Unit appearing at the surface, taking up about two thirds of its total surface area. The formation is a detrital, volcanic succession of late Neoproterozoic and Cambrian age. It can be subdivided into four different facies:
Innumerable, meter-sized doleritic dikes cut through the formation inducing local contact metamorphism.
The term “sandstone” is somewhat misleading, because the formation is clearly dominated by the rhyodacitic tuffs of volcanic origin, all the other facies merely being alteration products. The once sodium-rich rhyodacitic tuffs have now become dark, massive and thickly bedded rocks. Lodged within a fine-grained matrix of chlorite, white mica, quartz and albite are millimeter-sized clasts of quartz, plagioclase (albite or oligoclase) and epidote. The following observations underline the explosive character of the volcanic rocks:
The greywackes are mineralogically very similar, but richer in quartz phenocrysts and their matrix is enriched in phyllosilicates. They are probably derived from the rhyodacites. Likewise the chemical composition of the quartzites, which is almost identical to the ryhodacites!
The underlying formations of the Thiviers sandstone – plagioclase-rich paragneisses and micaschists – are nowhere exposed.
Intrusive rocks.
As already mentioned before the Thiviers-Payzac Unit houses three different magmatic bodies:
Saut-du-Saumon orthogneiss.
The "prekinematic" Saut-du-Saumon orthogneiss is a 15 kilometer long, very drawn out, squid-like, NW-SE-striking granitic body, whose tail starts at Donzenac in the south and whose tentacles end in the Orgnac region near the river Loyre.
The orthogneiss is made up of eye-shaped, subcentimeter-sized alkali feldspar porphyroclasts and is therefore an augengneiss. Its matrix consists of quartz and feldspars. The biotite has aligned itself parallel to sigmoidal shear bands. The porphyroclasts have been broken and sheared left-laterally along parallel fractures.
The entire body of the orthogneiss is intensively foliated in a NW-SE fashion. The foliation planes are close to vertical and contain horizontal lineations also striking NW-SE. The rock is therefore a "S-L tectonite". Along its borders with the enclosing formations (Thiviers sandstone and Donzenac schist) mylonites and ultramylonites with sinistral shear sense have formed. In its interior dextral and sinistral shearing interfere in a non-coaxial fashion.
The protolith of the orthogneiss was once a porphyritic granitoid which was later on (during the Variscan orogeny) deformed plastically. Its original cooling age has been determined as middle Ordovician (Acadian phase). According to Bernard-Griffiths (1977) the mylonitic deformations took place close to the Devonian/Carboniferous boundary about 361 million years ago.
Corgnac granite.
The Corgnac granite is a 6.5 kilometer long massif within the Thiviers sandstone. It is aligned more or less parallel with the regional foliation. Across strike it is only 2.5 kilometers wide. Its intrusive granitic nature is demonstrated by occasional hornfelses along its edges. Like the very similar Saut-du-Saumon orthogneiss the Corgnac granite also intruded during the middle Ordovician about 470 million years ago. The granite was overprinted at about 350 million years ago during the regional metamorphism under retrograde conditions. Its chemical composition defines it as a subalkaline monzogranite.
Two very different facies can be distinguished in the Corgnac granite:
The equigranular, sometimes porphyric, grey to rose-coloured granitic facies contains the following minerals:
Accessory minerals are muscovite, zircon, apatite and opaques.
All these minerals were altered during the greenschist facies retromorphism. Biotite and quartz for instance were broken cataclastically, plagioclase was invaded by muscovite and clinozoisite and rutile needles exsolved from biotite. The granitic facies has produced several smaller, porphyric, microgranitic apophyses.
The orthogneissic facies is derived from the granitic facies, it only underwent a stronger ductile deformation. The facies presents itself now as a banded augengneiss with amygdular eyes of microcline and plagioclase surrounded by foliation minerals like very fine quartz, albite, granular clinozoisite and mica lamellae. The biotite is often chloritized. The shear sense has not been determined, but most likely is right-lateral judging by the Corgnac granite being part of the southern section of the Thiviers-Payzac Unit.
Estivaux Granite.
The "synkinematic" Estivaux granite is a calc-alkaline massif of magmatic origin that was deformed heterogeneously about 346 million years ago during the Tournaisian. Like the Saut-du-Saumon orthogneiss its shape is also squid-like developing tentacular arms at its northern gneissic and also mylonitic end. The granite is about 8 kilometers long in the NW-SE direction and 3 kilometers wide across strike. In the northeast the left-lateral Estivaux strike-slip fault separates the massif from rocks of the Upper Gneiss Unit. In the southwest it is surrounded by the Thiviers sandstone. Its southeastern limited is outlined by the Clan river.
The granite develops four different facies:
Its mineralogy (in the melanocratic facies) shows the following composition:
The melanocratic facies contains many mafic enclaves and schlieren. The white and the pink facies are a more fine-grained variation of the melanocratic facies, they also lack hornblende and sphene. Their mutual colour difference is due to the coloration of the feldspars, the pink facies most likely being richer in hematite. The leucocratic facies
can be regarded as a strongly sheared leucogranite that is very rich in muscovite.
The granite therefore possesses a pronounced gradient in deformation and in mineral alignment as one progresses from west to east. Approaching the S-C mylonitic, sinistral Estivaux Fault the little deformed melanocratic facies yields to the strongly deformed leucocratic facies, at the same time the contents in microaplite (representing a residual melt) descend from 20% to merely 5%.
The shear sense in the Estivaux granite is uniformly sinistral.
Structural organisation.
The entire Thiviers-Payzac Unit is intensively folded. Similar as in the Génis Unit the folding is tight and upright and the wavelength even somewhat shorter (100 to 125 metres, but can increase in the south to about 200 metres). The more or less horizontal fold axes strike WNW-ESE (N 110, west of the Loyre river). The stratification (S0) is steeply inclined (around 80 °) and north or south dipping. Parallel to the folds axial plane a recognisable schistosity (S1) has developed underlined by newly formed minerals. The tight folding is overprinted by a second fold generation of open folds that have generated a very long wavelength (about 2 kilometers) series of synclines and anticlines. The axis of the first syncline is situated right next to the South Limousin Fault, followed by the first anticline underneath Saint-Mesmin. The second, central syncline is outlined by the trace of the Puy-des-Âges quartzite and the second anticline runs through Saint-Cyr-les-Champagnes.
A crenulation lineation has also formed which trends more or less parallel to the folds. Newly formed metamorphic minerals also align themselves preferably in this direction.
After reaching the Loyre river the Thiviers-Payzac unit makes a definitive right-hand turn and all the structural elements swing into the NW-SE direction (N 135). This new trend is followed till the unit finally disappears just east of Brive.
Metamorphism.
The Thiviers-Payzac Unit experienced regional metamorphism under low to medium grade. Its upper reaches show upper greenschist facies conditions, the lower sections reached already lower amphibolite facies conditions. The presence of chlorite and chloritized biotite in shear bands and in pressure shadows indicates retrograde metamorphism, which has been known in the southern Limousin for quite a while.
Structural evolution.
Like the Génis Unit the Thivier-Payzac Unit was also affected by upright ductile shearing. But unlike the Génis Unit it does not possess a uniform shear sense. In the south the unit shows the same dextral shear sense as the Génis Unit right to the anticline at Saint-Mesmin. Farther to the northeast this is superseded by a mixed zone where both shear senses are present. When finally the northern outcrop band of the Thiviers sandstone is reached only sinistral shearing is preserved in the rocks. This sinistral shear sense becomes clearly evident close to the Estivaux Fault. Here the "shear coefficient γ" takes on the value of 5.4 which represents an accumulated left-lateral displacement of about 30 kilometers. As regards the granitoids the Saut-du-Saumon orthogneiss is affected by two shear senses whereas the Estivaux granite has been deformed solely left-laterally.
The following microtectonic methods underline the sinistral shear sense in the northern outcrop area of the Thiviers sandstone:
North of Saint-Cyr-les-Champagnes the neighbouring Upper Gneiss Unit also shows a left-lateral shear sense (sinistrally sheared quartz lenses).
In the Donzenac Schist, where both shear senses are present, one can observe how the dextral shearing is overprinting the sinistral shearing. The sinistral movements happened therefore later. On left-laterally sheared, sigmoidal porphyroblasts of biotite dextral shear bands are superimposed on; additionally retrograde chlorite formed in these late shear bands.
The pervasive shearing is responsible for the folding in the Thiviers-Payzac Unit; the folds can be interpreted as "tear folds" that were rotated into the maximum stretching direction in a transpressive, ductile shear zone.
The tectonic movements didn't stop at the close of the ductile deformations. For instance in the brittle realm many small, mainly NE-SW-striking strike-slip faults were initiated with left-lateral displacements in the order of about 500 meters – an exception being the Dussac Fault north of Lanouaille which has a left-lateral displacement of nearly 6 kilometers!
Timing of the deformations.
The timing of the tectonic movements is based mainly on comparisons with lithologically and structurally similar terranes in the Armorican Massif (Chantonnay Syncline in the Vendée) and in the Rouergue. In the southern Armorican Massif the dextral shearing motions are timed as Namurian and Westphalian (Serpukhovian till Moscovian), i.e. 325 till 305 million years ago. One can therefore propose for the deformations in the Thiviers-Payzac Unit of the Bas-Limousin, which is regarded as the southeastern prolongation of the Vendée, a middle to late Carboniferous age. Similar ages for the leucogranites in the northern and central Limousin seem to support this assumption.
Yet some radiometric datings using the argon-method find much earlier Tournaisian ages for the intrusion of the Estivaux granite and for the motions along mylonite zones within the Saut-du-Saumon orthogneiss. These findings imply a tectonic phase in the southern Limousin already during Mississippian times (Bretonic Phase).


Guettioua Formation

The Guettioua Formation is a geological formation in Morocco. It dates back to the Middle Jurassic. It largely consists of sandstone, and is of continental origin. It is the lateral equivalent of the marine El Mers Formation.


Salar del Huasco

Salar del Huasco is a salt flat dotted with ponds and salt marshes, and seasonally partially covered with water, in northern Chile. It is the centerpiece of the recently created Salar del Huasco National Park and was designated Ramsar Site 874 on 2 December 1996. The area has a significant population of flamingos.
The salt flat is probably bordered by a fault on its western side, and a river delta forms much of its northern edge; it is now crisscrossed by stream channels. In the Pleistocene the salt flat was covered by a lake that was identified through its clay and diatomite sediments and which has left well preserved shorelines and terraces.


Chancayoc

Chancayoc or Chhankayuq (Quechua "chhanka" cliff, Ancash Quechua "-yuq" a suffix, "the one with a cliff", also spelled "Chancayoc") is a mountain in the Andes of Peru which reaches an altitude of approximately . It is located in the Ancash Region, Bolognesi Province, Huasta District. Chancayoc lies near Pisqan Punta, southwest of the Huallanca mountain range.


Gog catillus


Kahani Chandrakanta Ki

Kahani Chandrakanta Ki is an Indian fantasy television series based on Devaki Nandan Khatri's second novel "Chandrakanta Santati". The series premiered on Sahara One on June 6, 2011, and is produced by known television producer Sunil Agnihotri.
Plot.
The story focused on the twists and turns of Princess Chandrakanta's life, as well as on the love life of her eldest son, Yuvraj Inderjeet Singh with their enemy Maharaj Shiv Dutt's daughter Rajkumari Kishori.


Will to Love

"Will to Love" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1977 album "American Stars 'N Bars". A promotional single of "Will to Love" was released, backed with a live performance of "Cortez the Killer."
Background.
"Will to Love" had been intended for Young's unreleased "Chrome Dreams" album. He recorded the song alone in a single take on a two-track cassette tape, sitting in front of a fireplace playing acoustic guitar. He used a fader and applied stereo vibrato to achieve a fish sound. He also overdubbed percussion, bass and vibraphone himself. He claims to have mixed the song the same night he recorded it and it was completed in about 8 hours.
Young claims to have never sung the song again after the initial recording. He has stated that he is unable to sing it again since he can't remember the melody, since all the verses came out differently. But according to music journalist Nigel Williamson, Young did rehearse the song for "Long May You Run", his 1976 collaboration with Stephen Stills, but gave up on re-recording it because he felt it wasn't coming out right. According to Theodore Gracyk, "Will to Love" would have been included on a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album had the quartet been able to match the power of Young's solo recording.
Lyrics and music.
The singer of "Will to Love" imagines himself to be a salmon swimming upstream to mate and struggling to survive. He sings that "I'm a harpoon dodger/I can't, won't be tamed." "Village Voice" critic Robert Christgau says that Young "turns into a salmon while masturbating in front of the fireplace." Author Ken Bielen describes the theme of "Will to Love" as being the instinct to love and reproduce. Author David Downing describes the theme as being the hopelessness but necessity of the search for God and love.
Neil Young biographer Jimmy McDonough says that the "preposterous persona" of the salmon allows Young to "expound on the complex yearnings of love" and reveal "some naked truths about his cold wanderlust self." The salmon in the song determined to reach the spawning place has been interpreted as a metaphor for the desire and loneliness associated with the "will to love," or for Young's own desires and dreams. The fish with its will to love suggests that love is mysterious and spiritual with lines such as "It's like something from up above."
"Neil Young FAQ" author Glen Boyd describes "Will to Love" as having a "dreamy, atmospheric quality" which enhances the lyrics. He compares the "haunting" and "detached" sound of the song to such new-age music as that of Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream. McDonough points out that Young's vocal performance manages to encompass several contradictions simultaneously, such as being both worldly and "completely, terrifyingly alone," both reluctant and willing, and both empty but fulfilled.
At times the crackling from the fireplace can be heard in the song's background.
Reception.
"Will to Love" has drawn sharp disagreement among critics. For example, even among critics of one publication, "Rolling Stone", critic Dave Marsh called "Will to Love" one "of the worst songs of Young's career." But later Rob Sheffield called it merely a "home-recording oddity." And in 2014, the editors of "Rolling Stone" ranked "Will to Love" #68 among all Neil Young's songs.
Young himself said of "Will to Love" that it "might be one of the best records I ever made." Young biographer Jimmy McDonough called it "one of Young's most otherworldly performances" and a "highlight" of "American Stars 'N Bars". Author Ken Bielen calls it "a long, wordy track with an ethereal feel." "Neil Young FAQ" author Glen Boyd calls it one "of Young's all-time greatest songs," and one of his most beautiful and unique. Boyd also calls it "an absolutely masterful piece of songwriting" and states that Young only matches the "vivid lyrical imagery" of "Will to Love" in some of his American Indian songs such as "Pocahontas." Neil Young biographers Daniel Durchholz and Gary Graff call "Will to Love" "one of Young's most extraordinary works, if only for the way it was recorded."
Others who take a negative view of the song include music journalist Nigel Williamson, who disputed Young's assessment, calling the song "deeply unconvincing" and having a "laborious lyric." Author Sam Inglis calls it "a bizarrely awful seven-minute epic" developing "the whimsical image of [Young] as a leaping salmon." Music critic Johnny Rogan takes a somewhat more balanced view, calling the salmon metaphor "painfully extended" and concluding that "the convoluted imagery is both frustrating and fascinating as [Young] seriously overreaches himself."


Bookmice

Bookmice is a children's television series about a public library secretly inhabited by three fun-loving mice. It is a spinoff of "The Magic Library". It would often also showcase Eastern European cartoons such as and others. The series originally aired on TVOntario in Canada.
Description.
Norbert, Zazi and Leon, three fun-loving mice, live secretly behind the walls of the neighborhood library. Only Lee, a lonely boy who has just moved into the area, and an interloping, decrepit cat know of the existence of the Bookmice. Later in the series, the mice are discovered by three new children, Alysha, Jason, and Luke, who become their secret friends. Humor, wonder, stories, music, and delightful animation are present in the everyday adventures of the mice, as they explore the wondrous world of books – and the library's many friends and activities. Along with encouraging a love of reading, programs promote social values, as children learn about helping others, the importance of honesty, and overcoming fears.


The Trapeze Artist

The Trapeze Artist is a 1934 short animated film by Columbia Pictures, starring Krazy Kat. In some reissue prints, the film goes by the alternate title Stabbed in the Circus.
Plot.
Krazy comes to watch the circus with a female mink. The act being performed is the flying trapeze. Because their seats are on a balcony, the trapeze can get close to them. And because of this, the acrobat flirts and momentarily takes the mink. While the mink and the acrobat are swinging together, Krazy, who is quite annoyed, conjures a huge needle. Krazy pricks the acrobat in the rear which cause that performer to fall off the bar. Krazy, however, gets arrested by two cops who witness his deed.
Krazy is taken to a courthouse. When the judge asks him regarding the incident at the circus, Krazy explains in song how he tries hard to be a proper date with the mink as well as the struggles her family have in making her his bride. Everybody in the courthouse feels sorry for Krazy, and they even shed tears.
Back in the circus, the acrobat and the mink are still swinging together. The acrobat kisses the mink twice. The mink, for some reason, loses affection with him, and therefore pushes him off the trapeze. Upon dropping on the safety net, the acrobat gets catapulted for a few miles.
In the courthouse, Krazy is still standing around, attending the session. In no time the acrobat, after a long airborne trip, falls through the roof and into the room. Upon getting back up, the acrobat takes a large piece of lumber, and aims to assault Krazy. After some chase and trading some hits, the acrobat crashes and gets stuck in the judge's desk. Krazy, using a shovel from the room, scoops some burning coals from a stove and pours them into the acrobat's trousers. The acrobat runs hysterically, and even carries away the judge. Momentarily the mink comes to the scene and hugs Krazy. Krazy and the mink sit and swing on the court's chandelier like a trapeze.


Castle Storm

Castle Storm is the second novel in the Welkin Weasels series by Garry Kilworth. Picking up shortly after the end of "Thunder Oak", the novel centres on the anthropomorphised weasels searching for the humans that mysteriously vanished from their homeland many years before. Following a clue found in the first book, the weasels, led by the outlaw Sylver and pursued by the stoat Sheriff Falshed, journey to a far-away city where they find themselves entangled in a battle between rivalling clans of squirrels. Published in Germany under the title "Belagert die Sturmburg."
Synopsis.
After discovering the second clue to the whereabouts of the humans lies at the famed Castle Storm, the outlaw weasels journey to the south of Welkin, where the castle lies, to discover more about the mysterious human evacuation. However, a cascade of rats is swarming down from the marshes in the north of the island to seize power from Prince Poynt.
Plot.
In the unnamed marshes in the north of Welkin, the evil stoat lord Flaggatis plots to eradicate Prince Poynt's grip on power. He sends his evil rats to commence a massive war against the stoats. His main attack source is Castle Rayn, home of the stoats, but he also has other targets, too: County Elleswhere, home of Sylver's band, and County Fearsomeshire, home of Lord Ragnar. Prince Poynt and his stoats are overwhelmed, 'in their beds', as Flaggatis hopes, but not before a ferret messenger is sent to Lord Haukin, ruler of Halfmoon Wood.
In the wood, Sylver's band corner the ferret and eventually, when Sylver arrives, they listen to his story. Lord Flaggatis has built a massive wooden god-effigy, more like a monstrous white rat than anything else. After hearing the ferret's alarming tale, the weasels consider what to do and decide to support the stoats in their battle against the rats, as the rats are the enemies of all of Welkin and the weasels start to travel to Castle Rayn. They eventually reach it, although they have to contend with several cowardly stoat mercenaries upon the way, who have deserted the war out of fear of the rats, but eventually the cowardly stoat soldiers join the weasels to attack the rats. The weasels send Scirf and Mawk in to infiltrate the castle, and they eventually enter, but the weasels are captured by Prince Poynt in the process, who throws them in his dungeons. Mawk the doubter convinces their guard to play a game of hollyhockers with him, and appears to lose, but later he reveals that he held the guard's key to the weasels' cell in his mouth all along.
After slipping through a grating cover, the weasels worm their way down through the underground rivers and enter an otter colony, where they meet Sleek, an otter obsessed with fashion. Back at Castle Rayn, Prince Poynt appears cleverer than he looks, and tells Sheriff Falshed to follow the weasels and obstruct them in their quest. After allowing him to free them, the weasels then enter an open lake where they meet their old friend Sheriff Falshed, who has been knocked unconscious by the fall from the cliff. After contending with some rats and a giant dragonfly nymph, carnivorous in nature (carnivorous meaning "mammal"-eating, rather than insect eating) Sheriff Falshed fakes amnesia, and thus the weasels "finally" make their way to the castle, leaving Sleek the otter to go his own way (to find a fashion industry). Sheriff Falshed fakes amnesia throughout the entire voyage to Castle Storm, where the weasels meet a massive rivalry between the grey squirrels and the highly arrogant red squirrels. The red squirrels are led by Clive of Coldkettle, who sports an extra-large tail, and the grey squirrels are led by Pommf de Fritte. The weasels are accepted by the reds, and are shown around town by Clive, where Sylver encounters a coven of moles, who, much to Sylver's alarm, proclaim him to be Lord of Elleswhere.
The weasels are invited to a tournament, where, to their horror, their friend Icham is killed by Torca Marda. Icham dies despite an attempt to revive him by a good stoat doctor. After a feast that night, where the weasels meet two evil ferrets called Rosencrass and Guildenswine, who plot to kill Prince Poynt, and an extremely evil stoat called Torca Marda, who killed Sylver's father. The weasels then journey down beneath the castle to search for the clue, and narrowly avoid death when Torca Marda attempts to kill the weasels by resurrecting a badger, although they kill the fiend by stabbing it with a raptor's claw. Then the dragonfly from the lake breaks out of its aquatic nature and attacks the castle, devouring any creature in its path. The coven of moles, still intent on Sylver being a lord, suggest that they should feed the old and weak animals to the ravenous beast, and Torca Marda agrees on this mad plan.
Wodehed the magician comes up with a solution to the problem of the dragonfly: they must journey to the Forest of Lost Birds and retrieve a secret herb, known as "Shatter" from the goddess Sessile's garden. Sessile is a sentient tree, and in her roots another dimension resides. On their way to the forest, they run into, and escape, a group of birds who are obsessed with the idea of returning home to their island via a ship of Braeburns, and then are attacked by Rosencrass and Guildenswine, who, upon revealing that they have murdered one of the birds, are imprisoned in the trees of the Forest of Lost Birds. The weasels retrieve the herb, return to Castle Storm, and destroy the dragonfly, whereupon it shatters into small, harmless dragonflies. Torca Marda, furious at this loss of chaos, attempts to kill Sylver, but is scared off by Scirf, pretending to be an animal dying from the mange, and falls over a cliff to his death. His priests, attempting to shatter the squirrels into pieces with the herb, are themselves turned into minuscule stoats by the same herb and Welkin is free of the evil of Torca Marda. The next day Lord Ragnar is killed in battle with the rats, and Prince Poynt promises to elect Sylver to a lord if he defeats the rats, thus fulfilling the mole coven's prophecy. Lord Haukin tells Sylver and the weasels to partially knock down the sea walls, allowing a bore to flood to Castle Rayn and destroy the rat hordes, along with the effigy, although Lord Flaggatis escapes, along with most of the rats.
The otter Sleek comes to Castle Rayn to make a fashion industry with the stoat princess, Prince Poynt's sister, (who secretly fancies Falshed) and the prince is left to his misery, thinking gloomily about his murdered brother, King Redfur (Poynt refuses to be king as all the previous stoat kings were murdered) who often enters his mind when he is feeling depressed. The novel ends with Poynt overlooking a massive inland saltlake which now spreads around his castle, whereas in the rest of Welkin the sea begins to cascade down into the land.


The Bat People

The Bat People is a 1974 American horror film directed by Jerry Jameson and distributed by American International Pictures. Starring Stewart Moss and Marianne McAndrew, the film tells the story of a doctor, who after being bitten by a bat in a cave, undergoes an accelerating transformation into a man-bat creature.
"The Bat People" is also known by two alternative titles: It Lives By Night and It's Alive. The film was lampooned in a 1999 episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000".
Plot.
Dr. John Beck, recently married, decides to take his wife, Cathy, spelunking in Carlsbad Caverns for their honeymoon. While there on a tour, the couple gets lost in the bat cave. Dr. Beck, who specializes in bats, is bitten by a fruit bat. He then, inexplicably, begins to transform into a vampire bat. He visits a doctor who attempts to help his condition. Unfortunately the doctor's treatment does not seem to be working. In fact, it is aggravating his condition. As he begins to transform, Dr. Beck unwittingly goes on a killing spree, catching the attention of the cruel Sergeant Ward. The doctor begins to wonder if Dr. Beck is just imagining everything, and suggests that he seek a psychiatrist. Beck returns to the original cave to seek solace. In the end, Cathy becomes a vampire (after having sex with Beck) and rejoins her husband in the bat cave.
Release.
Theatrical release.
The film performed poorly at the box office.
Home media.
The film was released on DVD by MGM as a double feature with "The Beast Within" on September 11, 2007. It was later released by Shout! Factory as a 4-film horror set on April 15, 2014. Shout! Factory released the film for the first time on Blu-ray on July 18, 2017.
Reception.
"The Bat People" has received mostly negative reviews from critics.
Dave Sindelar, on his website "Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings" gave the film a negative review, calling it "forgettable". In his review of the film, Sindelar criticized the film's "leisurely pace", overuse of close-ups, and conclusion.
"VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever" awarded the film one out of four bones, calling it "[a] Less-than-gripping horror flick".
TV Guide awarded the film two out of five stars, commending the films special effects but criticizing the film's script and "mediocre" acting.
"The Terror Trap" gave the film 2/4 stars, writing, "this 1974 drive-in horror boasts some beautiful snowy vistas and picturesque desert landscapes. But that's not enough to save it from being overly sleepy, and poorly paced."


B. J. and the Bear

B.J. and the Bear is an American comedy television series which aired on NBC from February 10, 1979, to May 9, 1981. Created by Glen A. Larson and Christopher Crowe, the series stars Greg Evigan. The series was produced when the CB radio and trucking craze had peaked in the United States, following the 1974–1976 television series "Movin' On," the number one song "Convoy" (1975) by C. W. McCall, as well as the films "White Line Fever" (1975), "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977), "Convoy" (1978), and "Every Which Way but Loose" (1978).
The theme song, also titled "B.J. and the Bear", was written by Glen Larson and performed by Greg Evigan.
Premise and storylines.
Greg Evigan stars as Billie Joe "B.J." McKay, a professional freelance itinerant trucker who travels the country's highways in a red and white Kenworth K-100 Aerodyne (a COE semi truck) with his pet chimpanzee Bear (named after Bear Bryant, the famed football coach for the University of Alabama). In the pilot movie, it is stated that he had spent two years in Vietnam as a medical helicopter pilot, had been a captain and earned the Distinguished Service Cross. He was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam at the Hanoi Hilton for four months in 1973 after his helicopter went down over the DMZ. Episodes typically deal with B.J. uncovering or getting mixed up with crime in the area he's traveling through, and a local resident — usually, a young, beautiful woman — appealing to him for help.
A frequent guest star in the first season is Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo (Claude Akins, who previously starred in the trucking series "Movin' On"), whose character eventually spun off onto his own show "The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo" along with guest character "Waverly" Ben Cooper.
Two episodes in season two, "Eyes Of Texas" (1979) and "The Girls On The Hollywood High" (1980), were designed as prospective pilots for a series about a pair of private detectives called Heather Fern (Rebecca Reynolds) and Caroline Capoty (Lorrie McCaffrey in the first one, Heather Thomas in the second). The latter episode has cameo appearances from John S. Ragin and Robert Ito as their characters from "Quincy, M.E." (also a Glen A. Larson series).
In 1981, when the show returned for its third season with the two-part episode "B.J. and the Seven Lady Truckers" (not to be confused with the season two opener "Snow White and the Seven Lady Truckers," also a two-parter), B.J. has settled down to run Bear Enterprises, a trucking company based in Los Angeles. His nemesis is Rutherford T. Grant (Murray Hamilton), the corrupt head of the state's Special Crimes Action Team, who is a secret partner in a competing trucking company. Because of Grant's harassment, B.J. is unable to hire experienced truckers, and is forced to hire seven beautiful young female truckers, consisting of Grant's daughter Cindy (Sherilyn Wolter), twins Teri and Geri (Candi and Randi Brough), no-nonsense Angie (Sheila Wills), Samantha (Amanda Horan Kennedy), Callie (Linda McCullough), and a busty blonde nicknamed "Stacks" (Judy Landers), along with a female dispatcher, Stacy (Susan Woolen).


Unstable Fables

Unstable Fables is a trilogy of computer-animated films produced by The Jim Henson Company in association with Flame Ventures, Prana Studios, and The Weinstein Company. The direct-to-DVD feature-length films are distributed by Genius Products.
The films' casts include Brad Garrett, Jay Leno and Jamie Lynn Spears. The films irreverently and unfaithfully retell classic fairy tales, folktales, and fables with a modern twist. The first film, "3 Pigs and a Baby" (based on "Three Little Pigs"), was released on DVD on March 4, 2008. The second title, "Tortoise vs. Hare" (based on "The Tortoise and the Hare"), was released on September 9, 2008. The third and final release, "The Goldilocks and the 3 Bears Show" (based on "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"), was released on December 16, 2008.
"3 Pigs and a Baby".
3 Pigs and a Baby is the first animated film in the series based on "Three Little Pigs". The direct-to-DVD film was released on March 4, 2008 and stars Jon Cryer, Brad Garrett, Steve Zahn and Jesse McCartney.
Plot.
The Three Little Pigs become the target of a special-ops team of wolves. The wolves' plan to finally infiltrate the impenetrable house of bricks by leaving a tiny wolf cub on the unassuming pigs' doorstep. The pigs take the baby in and raise him as their own. The newest addition to their family, Lucky, grows up into his teens not knowing his history, his role in the wolves' plan or the difficult choice he will have to make about the family that raised him.
"Tortoise vs. Hare".
Tortoise vs. Hare is the second animated film in the "Unstable Fables" series. The direct-to-DVD film, based on Aesop's fable "The Tortoise and the Hare," was released on DVD on September 9, 2008
The film features the voices of Danny Glover, Jay Leno, Vivica A. Fox, Keke Palmer, and Drake Bell.
The film won a Film Advisory Board award.
Plot.
After losing, the hare challenges his rival the tortoise to a hike.
"The Goldilocks and the 3 Bears Show".
The Goldilocks and the 3 Bears Show (promotionally titled as simply Goldilocks and the 3 Bears) is the third and final animated film in the series. The film is a twisted retelling of the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". The direct-to-DVD film was released on December 16, 2008. The film features the voices of Tom Arnold, Brooke Shields, and Jamie Lynn Spears.
Plot.
Goldilocks, a spoiled television star, moves in with a family of three bears to be filmed in a "Big Brother"-style reality TV show.


The Land Before Time (film)

The Land Before Time is a 1988 animated adventure drama film directed and produced by Don Bluth and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall. The film stars the voices of Gabriel Damon, Candace Hutson, Judith Barsi (posthumously) and Will Ryan with narration provided by Pat Hingle. It is the inaugural film in "The Land Before Time" franchise.
Produced by the American companies Amblin Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and the American-Irish Sullivan Bluth Studios Ireland Ltd., it features dinosaurs living in the prehistoric times. The plot concerns a young "Longneck" ("Apatosaurus") named Littlefoot, who is orphaned when his mother is killed by a vicious carnivore. Littlefoot flees famine and upheaval to search for the Great Valley, an area spared from devastation. On his journey, he meets four young companions: Cera the "Threehorn" ("Triceratops"), Ducky the "Bigmouth" ("Saurolophus"), Petrie the "Flyer" ("Pteranodon"), and Spike the "Spiketail" ("Stegosaurus").
The film explores issues of prejudice between the different species and the hardships they endure in their journey as they are guided by the spirit of Littlefoot's mother and forced to deal with a "Sharptooth" ("Tyrannosaurus"). This is the only Don Bluth film of the 1980s in which Dom DeLuise did not participate (instead, he starred in Disney's "Oliver & Company" that same year), and the only film in "The Land Before Time" series that is not a musical, as well as the only one to be released theatrically worldwide.
The film was released by Universal Pictures on November 18, 1988, to generally positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $84.4 million. Its success, along with "An American Tail" and the 1988 live-action/animated film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" led Spielberg to found his animation studio, Amblimation. The first film spawned a franchise with thirteen direct-to-video sequels, a television series, video games and merchandise, none of which had Bluth, Spielberg nor Lucas' involvement (though Amblin Entertainment had involved in the television series like "").
Plot.
During the age of the dinosaurs, a massive famine forces several herds of dinosaurs to seek an oasis known as the Great Valley. Among these, a mother in a diminished "longneck" herd gives birth to a single baby, named Littlefoot. Years later, Littlefoot encounters Cera, a "three-horn", until her father intervenes and tells her that three-horns don't play with longnecks, whereupon Littlefoot's mother describes other kinds of dinosaurs, who only associate with their own species. That night, as Littlefoot follows a "hopper", he encounters Cera again, and they play together briefly until a large "Sharptooth" attacks them. Littlefoot's mother comes to their rescue, but receives fatal injuries in the process. An earthquake swallows up the Sharptooth and divides Littlefoot, Cera, and other dinosaurs from their herds; several die in the process, including Littlefoot's mother, who first gives her son some words of advice about finding the Great Valley,"Littlefoot, let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen closely." And with those words, she dies. Confused and in grief, Littlefoot meets an old "clubtail" named Rooter, who consoles him. He is then guided by his mother's voice telling him to follow the sun to the Great Valley and pass several landmarks, such as a rock formation that resembles a Longneck and the "Mountains that Burn".
Later, Littlefoot meets a "bigmouth" named Ducky and a "flyer" named Petrie, who accompany him on his journey. Cera, who is attempting to find her own kind, finds the unconscious Sharptooth inside a ravine and inadvertently wakes him up. She escapes and bumps into Littlefoot, Ducky, and Petrie; she tells them that the Sharptooth is alive and pursuing them, but Littlefoot does not believe her. As Cera describes her encounter, she accidentally flings Ducky to the direction of a lone hatching "spiketail", whom Ducky names "Spike" and inducts into the group. Seeking the Great Valley, they discover a cluster of trees, which is abruptly depleted by a herd of Longnecks. Searching for remaining growth, they discover a single leaf-bearing tree, and obtain food by stacking up atop each other and pulling it down. Cera remains aloof, but at nightfall, she and everyone else gravitate to Littlefoot's side for warmth and companionship.
The next morning, they are attacked by the Sharptooth, but they manage to escape through a tunnel that is too small for him to follow. Beyond this, they discover the landmarks mentioned by Littlefoot's mother. Cera stubbornly decides to go another way and insults Littlefoot's mother, causing him to attack her in anger. The ensuing fight leads to the others following Cera, and Littlefoot is forced to continue alone. However, when Ducky and Spike become endangered by lava and Petrie gets stuck in a tar pit, Littlefoot returns to rescue them. Cera gets ambushed by a pack of "domeheads" who are also living in the Mountains that Burn; the rest of the group pose as a tar monster, scaring away the domeheads and frightening Cera. When she realizes who it really is, Cera angrily leaves the group. It is not long, however, until she gives in to her guilt, recognizing that her stubbornness and selfishness put others in danger. Later, while crossing a pond, Petrie overhears the Sharptooth nearby. The group devises a scheme to lure him to the pond and drown him in the deep side using a nearby boulder. During the ensuing struggle, a draft from the Sharptooth's nostrils enables Petrie to fly for the first time.
The plan nearly fails when the Sharptooth begins attacking the boulder while the group attempts to push it onto him. However, Cera, finally having a big change of heart, reunites with the group and headbutts the boulder, causing the Sharptooth to fall into the water below, the boulder crashing into him in the process. The Sharptooth momentarily takes Petrie down with him, seemingly to his death, but Petrie later emerges unharmed. Littlefoot, alone, follows a cloud resembling his mother, which guides him to the Great Valley. He is then joined by the others. Upon arrival, the five are reunited with their families: Petrie impresses his family with his newfound flight; Ducky introduces Spike to her family, who adopt him; Cera reunites with her father; and Littlefoot finds his grandparents. The group then rejoins at the top of a hill and embrace each other in a hug.
Production.
During production of "An American Tail", talk began of the next feature with Bluth and executive producer Steven Spielberg. Bluth and Spielberg wanted to do a film similar to "Bambi", but with only dinosaurs. George Lucas was also brought in on the project. The three persuaded "An American Tail" writers Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss to write the screenplay for the film. Their initial draft was based on their early ideas, but when it was felt the story was too juvenile, Stu Krieger was brought on to revise their draft. Early into story development, the film was about a group of young dinosaurs looking for a wise, older dinosaur. Later on, Bluth explained, "...we came up with another idea that none of these dinosaurs get along with each other, they all hate each other. They're taught from the time they were born not to associate with each other, that's racism." An early working title for the film was "The Land Before Time Began". Bluth, Spielberg and Lucas originally wanted the film to have no dialogue, like "The Rite of Spring" sequence in "Fantasia", but the idea was abandoned in favor of using voice actors in order to make it appealing to children.
Animation.
As work on the script continued, Bluth delegated some of the animation staff to begin creating concept art. As with his previous films, Bluth handled the storyboarding but with final revisions by Larry Leker. Production was initially delayed by several months as the studio moved to Ireland. Production would eventually begin in spring 1987, a few months after the release of "An American Tail".
Editing.
Throughout production, "The Land Before Time" underwent a severe cutting and editing of footage. Spielberg and Lucas thought that some scenes in the movie would appear too dark and intense for young children. Spielberg told Bluth while looking at the scenes from the film, "It's too scary. We'll have kids crying in the lobby, and a lot of angry parents. You don't want that." About 10 minutes of footage, comprising a total of 19 fully animated scenes, were cut from the final film, to attain a G rating instead of a PG rating. Much of the cut footage consisted of the "Tyrannosaurus" attack sequence and sequences of the five young dinosaurs in grave danger and distress. Examples can be seen in the storyboards of the chase sequence in the briar patch. POV shots of Sharptooth's snapping jaws were deleted, and shots were rearranged to shorten the sequence. This results in continuity errors, depicting the Tyrannosaur with his right eye still open after it had been blinded. Some screams were re-voiced using milder exclamations.
Music and soundtrack.
The music for "The Land Before Time" was composed by James Horner, who had previously provided the soundtrack for "An American Tail", and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of King's College. An official soundtrack was released on audio cassette and vinyl record on November 21, 1988, and later on CD by MCA Records, and features seven tracks from the movie. The film's theme song "If We Hold on Together" was sung by Diana Ross and was released as the soundtrack's lead and only single on November 5, 1988, peaking at number 23 on the US adult contemporary charts, and was later included on her 1991 album "The Force Behind the Power". A digital version of the soundtrack was released on a number of services on January 22, 2013 by Geffen Records.
Personnel.
An expanded version of the soundtrack album was released by the Intrada label on October 27, 2020. This release featured newly remastered versions of the music on the original album, as well as 15 minutes of previously unreleased material.
Release.
"The Land Before Time" opened on November 18, 1988, the same day as the Disney film, "Oliver & Company". Attached to the film, Universal and Amblin issued Brad Bird's "Family Dog" short from their television anthology "Amazing Stories".
Critical response.
"The Land Before Time" holds a 70% "fresh" approval rating from review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes from 33 critics, with the consensus: "Beautifully animated and genuinely endearing, "The Land Before Time" is sure to please dino-obsessed tykes, even if it's a little too cutesy for older viewers." Metacritic assigned a score of 66, based on reviews by 15 critics, signifying "Generally favorable reviews".
Critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film "two thumbs up" on a November 19, 1988 episode of their television program "At the Movies". Siskel found it to be "sweet more than it was scary" and "quite beautiful", also praising its straightforward story and remarked that he would recommend it to children over Disney's "Oliver and Company", released the same day. In his own review for the "Chicago Sun-Times", Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, writing "I guess I sort of liked the film, although I wonder why it couldn't have spent more time on natural history and the sense of discovery, and less time on tragedy." Peter Travers of "People" magazine felt the movie had an unclear audience, stating "The animation is fine. But the Stu Krieger screenplay contains violence that might be hard on the younger ones, [...] and a never-let-up cuteness that can turn minds of all ages to mush." "Los Angeles Times" writer Sheila Benson also stated that the movie's enjoyment was limited to younger viewers, remarking "do dinosaurs really lend themselves to ootsie-cutesiness?" Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" wrote that "Still, though it's not a great film, it is an entertaining and, at times, emotionally rich one."
Many reviewers compared "The Land Before Time" to films from Disney's Golden Age. Steven Rea of the "Philadelphia Inquirer" said that the movie "looks and sounds as if it came out of the Disney Studios of the '40s or '50s. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing," calling it "meticulously crafted" but was also "mildly disappoint[ed]" that the dialog wasn't as sophisticated. In her review for the "Sun-Sentinel", Candice Russel similarly remarked, ""The Land Before Time" works by evoking the simple virtues of this art aimed at children, as it was in the beginning when Disney animated Mickey Mouse." A review from the "Motion Picture Guide 1989 Annual" notes that the film "has been called a sort of prehistoric "Bambi"". David Kehr from the "Chicago Tribune" similarly felt that the film's title "also refers to the Disney past, but it goes for all the marbles. Its model is nothing less than the life-cycle saga of "Bambi", and that Bluth gets even half the way there is proof of a major talent." Kehr gave the movie three-and-a-half out of four stars, calling it "as handsome and honest an animated feature as any produced since Walt Disney's death; it may even be the best."
Box office.
During its opening weekend, the film opened at number one in the United States and Canada, grossing $7.5 million. By the end of its theatrical run, it had grossed $48.1 million at the US box office, slightly more than Don Bluth's previous film, "An American Tail", but $5 million less than "Oliver & Company" which was released at the same time. Overall, "The Land Before Time" grossed $84.5 million worldwide.
Accolades.
"The Land Before Time" was nominated for "Best Family Animation or Fantasy Motion Picture" at the 10th annual Youth in Film Awards, losing out to Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice". It also received a nomination for "Best Fantasy Film" at the 16th Saturn Awards ceremony in 1990, beaten by "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".
Home media.
"The Land Before Time" was released on VHS on September 14, 1989, November 22, 1991 as well as LaserDisc in regular pan and scan and "Special Collector's Edition" CAV-play editions by Universal Pictures in North America and internationally, and CIC Video in the UK. According to the book "The Animated Films of Don Bluth", the original release did "very successful business" on the home video market, and included a promotional tie-in with Pizza Hut in North America, which was offering rubber hand puppets based on the film at the time. Pizza Hut also ran its partnership with the film's VHS release in Australia. The VHS version was made available once more on February 20, 1996, under the Universal Family Features label, and was later packaged with following three films in the series as part of the "Land Before Time Collection" on December 4, 2001.
The film was released on DVD for the first time on April 30, 1997, and re-released on December 2, 2003, as the "Anniversary Edition" for the movie's 15th anniversary, which included games and sing-along songs. The Anniversary Edition was later included with "An American Tail" and "Balto" as a three-movie pack in November 2007. A widescreen Blu-ray version was available for the first time on October 13, 2015, which included digital HD and UltraViolet copies, which was accompanied by a new widescreen DVD release on the same day. The Blu-ray re-released on January 15, 2019.
Legacy.
The film generated 13 direct-to-video sequels, which differ from the original by adding "sing-along" musical numbers. Bluth, Spielberg, and Lucas have no affiliation with any of the film's sequels. The sequels have generally been met with mixed reception with several fans of the original disregarding the sequels, while others have embraced the sequels into the canon of the story.
In 2007, a television series was released in North America. It follows the style of the sequels in terms of the morality and the musical numbers (with some of the songs being shortened, and reworked).