Geology of Saskatchewan

The geology of Saskatchewan can be divided into two main geological regions, the Precambrian Canadian Shield and the Phanerozoic Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Within the Precambrian shield exists the Athabasca sedimentary basin. Meteorite impacts have altered the natural geological formation processes. The prairies were most recently affected by glacial events in the Quaternary period.
Canadian Shield.
The Canadian shield, Precambrian shield, makes up the bedrock geology highlighted by rocks and lakes and a boreal forest area. There are transitional areas between boreal and tundra flora. The lower boundary of the Canadian Shield cuts across the province diagonally from the latitude 57 degrees in the north west to 54 degrees in the south east. Three orogenies formed the Precambrian shield, the Kenoran (Laurentian-Algoman), Hudsonian (Penokean) and Grenville Orogeny. Between 2.2 and 2.5 billion years ago was the Kenoran Orogeny, which was overlain by the Hudsonian Orogeny 1700 to 1900 million years ago. The earth was experiencing hotter and more volatile Archean tectonics, evidencing island arc volcanic activity and mountain building. The Trans-Hudson Orogen occurred when a number of Archean continental blocks came together, including the Superior Craton from the southeast and Hearne-Rae craton from the northwest. A microcontinent named the Sask Craton was underlain in this collision zone. The Canadian Grenville province occurred between 1080 and 980 Ma and did not affect the geology of the Canadian Shield in Saskatchewan. The Grenvillian Orogeny deformed much of eastern Canada, and includes the Grenville Front Tectonic Zone in Quebec and Labrador, the Appalachian structural front to the south between what we now name the Great Lakes and Newfoundland.
The Flin Flon greenstone belt, also referred to as the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt, is a Precambrian greenstone belt located in the central area of Manitoba and east-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It lies in the central portion of the Trans-Hudson Orogeny and was formed by arc volcanism during the Paleoproterozoic Era.
Athabasca basin.
The Athabasca basin, a historical fluvial siliciclastic basin with sediments from the Hudsonian mountains with the occasional rare marine sequence. The Athabasca basin was formed during the Statherian or Paleohelikian 1.7 to 1.6 billion years ago when coarse fluvial and marine clastic sediments were laid down containing gold, copper, lead, zinc, and uranium oxides. The highest grade uranium deposits in the world are found at the unconformity between these clastic layers and the Precambrian bedrock. The Athabasca Sand Hills protected by "The Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park" are unique feature of the Canadian Shield. The hills are located in northern Saskatchewan and border Lake Athabasca, which straddles the Alberta and Saskatchewan border.
Phanerozoic Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
There were three depositional stages for the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin which were dependent on plate tectonics of the era. Present-day North America was identified to lay upon the Proterozoic super-continent, Rodinia. This continent broke apart about 700 million years ago and formed other continents, one of which was Laurentia or the North American Craton. Laurentia drifted south of the equatorial zone. As this new smaller continent was smaller than Rodinia, it had some surface area under water level, including area designated as the Phanerozoic basin. Cambrian 544-505 Ma to Mississippian 362-320 Ma period laid down base clastics, then platform carbonates and evaporites. These deposits form the origins of potash evaporites for the potash industry. Laurentia began to rise at the close of the Cambrian Period. Huge flooding occurred during the Middle Ordovician period 505-441 Ma. Laurentia had shifted again, and the region of Saskatchewan was now north of the equator and some raising exposing the land again. Re-flooding in the Late Ordovician age with warm water increased calcium carbonate sedimentation, and marine life. The Williston basin was formed creating a lowered land area during this period filling with the Winnipeg Sea. The Williston basin was mainly south of Saskatchewan but extended north into the Saskatchewan plains area.
Laurasia was created near the end of the Silurian Period. Laurasia was formed from the joining of Laurentia with Gondwana and two smaller continents which had broken off Rodinia. The orogeny between Laurasia and Gondwana created the Appalachian Mountains, and an exodus of water from the Laurasian land surface. In the early Devonian Period 418-361 Ma, Laurasia separated from Gondwana, creating a depressions or land separations through the continent. One low-lying area occurred along the edge between the Cambrian shield and the Phanerozoic basin, the other trough lay along southwestern Saskatchewan extending east and west along the plains areas we know today. The Saskatchewan region was again south of the equator and under water, with reefs forming. A major barrier reef formed in the area now known as British Columbia, creating higher salinity levels east of the reef. Calcium carbonate, halite, gypsum, and potash were evaporite deposits. The Antler orogeny on the southwest coast of Laurasia caused upheavals.
Following this orogeny, during the Carboniferous Period in the Mississippian epoch 362-320 Ma the Williston Basin again subsided and the area of the Phanerozoic basin was again mainly under tropical marine water. Oil production of southeastern Saskatchewan emerges mainly from Mississippian rocks. During the Pennsylvanian epoch 320-286 Ma of the Carboniferous period, Laurasia joined with Gondwana to become Pangea. This supercontinent rose above sea level, in an equatorial zone producing desert-like conditions. The late Triassic 245-208 Ma or early Jurassic 208-144 Ma to Jura-Cretaceous 208-66 Ma where red clay beds and marine clastics were deposited. Pangea began to separate during the Jurassic period.
The Kimberlite Volcanoes of this period produce the Kimberlite diamonds which are mined today. Near Fort à La Corne (FALC) were Kimberlite volcanoes in Archean cratons.
The Cretaceous 144-66 Ma to Miocene periods deposited clastic sediments from the Cordilleran orogeny. This period saw 40% of the region now called North America below sea level under the Rocky Mountain Seaway which comprised the Western Interior Seaway and the Hudson Seaway, and Labrador Seaway. The Cretaceous period rocks produce medium and heavy gravity oil in the Lloydminster region, and of the western province. The Laramide orogeny episode near the end of the Cretaceous and early Tertiary period caused larger gravels to be deposited from the newly formed Rocky Mountains when the Kula and Farallon Plates subducted below the North American plate. In the Cypress Hills area and southern Saskatchewan, lignite deposits developed from the marshes of these Tertiary rivers. The sea waters have retreated from the areas known as Saskatchewan. The Ravenscrag formation, Cypress Hills, and Wood Mountain Formations were notable gravel deposits from the Tertiary period. The Williston Basin affects this region at the southern edge. Tectonic movements and global changes in the sea level have given rise to a source of oil, natural gas, and coal.
Quaternary period.
During the Quaternary period, between 2 and 3 million years ago, the prairies were covered by a glacier, the Laurentide Ice Sheet. It was thick, which advanced and receded several times across the prairies. There were multiple glaciations affecting the Saskatchewan area during the Pre-Illinoian, Illinoian, and Wisconsin stages of the last Ice Age. These glaciations occurred during the Quaternary period, which comprises the last two million years. Northern Saskatchewan and the shield area shows the effects of glacial erosion and scour; the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin is a location of glacial deposition and collection. In southern Saskatchewan there are late Pliocene, pre-Illinoian continental glaciation sand and gravel deposits left behind from water deposition (alluvial) and glacial edge deposits (colluvial). By the study of till, terrain, the limits of the Illinoian glaciation are evidenced around Willow Bunch Lake, Wood Mountain, Cypress Hills area. The melting glaciers left behind sand and, silt outwash plains. The Great Sand Hills of Saskatchewan are evidence of winds and sand storms which have accumulated the sands left behind. Retreating glaciers left meltwater, which pooled in lakes. Glacial Lake Regina covered south-central area, and Glacial Lake Agassiz covered much of Saskatchewan and neighbouring regions of the US and Manitoba. The ice and water retreated, and the lake beds formed flat plains. The land exposed from under the ice sheets was rubble, and ridges of gravel.
Glaciotectonic hills.
The Dirt Hills and Cactus Hills represent the most defined and biggest Møns Klint glaciotectonic hills of the world. There are other similar hills created by ice action in southern Saskatchewan as well. Glaciotectonic hills or ice-shoved hills show thrusting, folds, ridges and push moraines. These hills consist of upper Cretaceous bedrock which rises to an elevation of in the Dirt Hills. To the north is the Regina Lake Plain, which is lower in elevation. The Missouri Coteau from whence the hills arise, is lower than these hills. Between the Alberta and Saskatchewan Plains is the Missouri Coteau, "dead ice moraine", a major escarpment, a long meandering ridge of hill country. The area is probably underlain with marine shale of the Bearpaw Formation. This area remained above the ice sheets, being pushed and folded by the glacier movement.
Astroblemes.
There are six notable meteorite or comet impact craters in Saskatchewan. Carswell, Deep Bay, and Gow Lake have affected the Canadian Shield area of the north. In the southern Phanerozoic crater are the Viewfield, Elbow, and Maple Creek structures. The Carswell structure is the largest astrobleme at in diameter. It is estimated that the impact to the Athabasca basin occurred about 478 million years ago during the Ordovician period. The thrust of the impact affected the Athabasca Rock groups. The William River Subgroup and the Douglas and Carswell formations show inversions, thrusting and disruptions. The impact that occurred about 210 million years ago has created the Gow Lake Structure. This lake is in diameter with Calder island centrally located. La Ronge is south-southwest of the crater location. The other impact crater of the Cambrian shield is the Deep Bay Structure, which created a bay in the southerly part of Reindeer Lake. The crater is about in diameter and about at the deepest point. The circular impact ridge above water level partially encompasses the crater area. There is some central uplift. The crater was formed about 50 to 150 million years ago. Weyburn is west and Stoughton is north of the Viewfield Impact Structure, a small impact crater in diameter. The impact occurred in the early Jurassic period about 190 million years ago. Oil and gas reserves have been found in the area of the rim breccia Another impact crater in the Phanerezoic crater is the Maple Creek Structure. This impact affected Upper Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation sediments on the north edge of the Cypress Hills, and roughly occurred 75 million years ago. Maple Creek is located north northwest of this diameter crater. The Elbow Impact Structure is in diameter and the impact occurred between 370 and 415 million years ago during the Devonian Period. The crater is located in Maple Bush rural municipality north of Aitkow (Riverhurst) and west of Grainfield (Grainland). The Elbow crater is located south of the elbow of the South Saskatchewan, and south of Diefenbaker lake across the waters from the town of Elbow which is north of the South Saskatchewan River.


Martin Pickford

Martin Pickford holds a Chair in Paleoanthropology and Prehistory at the Collège de France and researcher at the Département Histoire de la Terre in the [[Muséum national d'histoire naturelle|Muséum national d'Histoire]]. In 2001 Martin Pickford together with Brigitte Senut and their team discovered "[[Orrorin tugenensis]]", a hominid primate species dated between 5.8 and 6.2 million years ago and a potential ancestor of the genus "[[Australopithecus]]".
Biographical details.
Pickford was born in 1943 in Wiltshire, England. He is the 4th child of Austin Joseph Pickford and Eleanor Margery Pickford née Holman. The family moved to Kenya in 1946. He read for his first degree between 1967 and 1971 in [[Dalhousie University]] and took a PhD at the University of London in 1975. Between 1978 and 2003 he worked at Kenya National Museums at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris and as a Fellow at the University of Mainz, Germany and has since held various visiting professorships.
Research in Africa.
At the time of Orrorin's discovery, researchers wishing to carry out palaeontological research in Kenya were required to be affiliated with an officially sanctioned Kenyan research organisation. Prior to 1993 the only institution with this privilege was the [[National Museums of Kenya|Kenya National Museums]], in which Pickford was Head of the Department of Sites and Monuments from 1978 to 1984. As such the museum and its director used to enjoy a monopoly on palaeontological research in Kenya. However, 7 years before the discovery of Orrorin in 2000, following intense pressure from the international community, the Kenyan Government liberalised many facets of the political, economic and bureaucratic life of the country, and this included the monopoly on the country's palaeontological and archaeological resources that the National Museums of Kenya and its director [[Richard Leakey]] had previously enjoyed, both prior to, and following, the country's independence in 1963.
In 1984, Pickford was congratulated in writing by the then director of the National Museums of Kenya Richard Leakey, with whom Pickford had attended high school in Nairobi, for completing three two-year contracts at the museum. Leakey informed Pickford that it was not possible to renew the contract a fourth time, as at that time there was a government-set limit placed on the quantity of such renewals. Pickford then settled in France, and in 1985, after contacting the [[Uganda]] Government, he launched the Uganda Paleontology Expedition.
From 1971 to 1978 Pickford had carried out extensive research in the [[Tugen Hills]] under a permit issued by the Kenyan Office of the President. During the surveys Pickford and his team found many important fossils ranging in age from 15 million to 2 million years old. In 1974 he found the first hominid fossil from the 6-million-year-old Lukeino Formation (published in Nature in 1975), a lower molar, which is today included in the [[hypodigm]] of Orrorin tugenensis.
Selected publications.
Senut, B., Pickford, M., Gommery, D., Mein, P., Cheboi, K., & Coppens, Y. (20 January 2001). First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya). Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences Paris, Série IIA Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes, 332, 137–144.
Pickford, M. (30 January 2001). The geological and faunal context of Late Miocene hominid remains from Lukeino, KenyaContexte géologique et faunique des restes d'hominidés du Miocène supérieur de Lukeino, Kenya. Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences Paris, Série IIA Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes, 332, 2, 145–152.
Pickford, M. (1997). Louis B. Leakey: Beyond the evidence. London: Janus Pub. Co.
References.
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London]]
[[Category:Kenyan paleontologists]]
[[Category:British paleoanthropologists]]


Northwest Cove granite

The Northwest Cove granite is a formation cropping out in Newfoundland.


Crassodontidanus

Crassodontidanus is an extinct genus of sharks and the sole member of the family Crassonotidae, in the order Hexanchiformes. It contains two extinct species.


Cistecephaloides

Cistecephaloides is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsids of the "Cistecephalus" Assemblage Zone, Beaufort Group of South Africa.


Prosqualodon

Prosqualodon is an extinct genus of Early to Middle Miocene cetacean from Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and Venezuela.
Description.
"Prosqualodon" was related to and looked like modern toothed whales. It was about long and resembled a dolphin. It had long jaws with interlocking teeth that jutted to the outside, remaining visible when the jaws were closed, like those of a gharial.
In the back of the mouth it had triangular teeth similar to those of earlier cetaceans, but in most other respects, it was relatively advanced. It had developed the body form of modern whales, with a short neck and simple jaw structure, and like modern cetaceans, it also had a blowhole. The olfactory apparatus was reduced compared with earlier forms, suggesting that it had already lost much of its sense of smell, presumably relying on sound to catch its prey.
Species.
Fossils not assigned to a specific species have also been found in the Calder River Limestone and Jan Juc Formation of Australia.
The nominal species "Prosqualodon" "marplesi" Dickson, 1964, later treated as a species of the squalodelphinid "Notocetus", has been reclassified as a relative of "Waipatia" and given the new generic name "Otekaikea".


Itardiornis

Itardiornis is an extinct genus of the family Messelornithidae from late Eocene and early Oligocene. Only one species is described, Itardiornis hessae, from Quercy fissure fillings.


Chaupimaquito

Chaupimaquito (possibly from Quechua "chawpi" central, middle, "makitu" an additional sleeve which Andean women and men put on in some cold regions, "central "makitu"") is a mountain in the Vilcanota mountain range in the Andes of Peru, about high. It is located in the Cusco Region, Canchis Province, Pitumarca District, east of Sibinacocha. It lies southeast of Condoriquiña and west of Pucasalla.


Ichthyosaurus posthumus

"Ichthyosaurus" "posthumus" is a species of ichthyosaurs known from the Late Jurassic (early Tithonian age) Solnhofen Formation of Bavaria, Germany. Though several specimens have been referred to this species in the past, its type specimen consists only of isolated teeth that were destroyed during World War II, and it is today considered a "nomen dubium". The teeth almost certainly do not belong to "Ichthyosaurus" itself, which was a wastebin taxon at the time this species was named.


Barberenasuchus

Barberenasuchus is an extinct genus of an archosauriform. Fossils (poorly preserved skull and axis vertebra) have been found from the Santa Maria Formation of southern Brazil of Late Triassic age. Its phylogenetic position within Archosauriformes is uncertain; the author of its description classified it as a sphenosuchid crocodylomorph, while Kischlat (2000) considered it to be a rauisuchian. Irmis, Nesbitt and Sues (2013) stated that they "could not find any crocodylomorph character states preserved in the holotype specimen". Based on the presence of an antorbital fenestra the authors assigned "Barberenasuchus" to Archosauriformes, but stated that without further preparation and study it is not possible to assign it to any specific archosauriform group. It is named in honor of Mário Costa Barberena.


Kohlenberg (Hesse)

The Kohlenberg is a hill in the county of Landkreis Waldeck-Frankenberg, Hesse, Germany.


Capacsaya

Capacsaya, Ccapacsaya (possibly from Quechua "qhapaq" mighty, "saya" slope, "mighty slope"), Media Luna or Huayurioc is a mountain in the Urubamba mountain range in the Andes of Peru, about high. It is located in the Cusco Region, Calca Province, Lares District, and in the Urubamba Province, Urubamba District. Capacsaya lies northwest of Chicón and east of Pumahuanca, near Pumahuancajasa pass.


Antuco (volcano)

Antuco Volcano is a stratovolcano located in the Bío Bío Region of Chile, near Sierra Velluda and on the shore of Laguna del Laja.
Eruptions.
The first registered eruption occurred in 1624 but its is known that the volcano experienced some activity in the 16th century. The 1624 eruption was strombolian forming a lava flow and resulting the ejection of pyroclasts. Beginning with this eruption many more were recorded as the volcano lied near an Andean mountain pass transited by the Spanish.
24–30 April 2013.
In April 2013, there were reported signs of activity sighted by nearby inhabitants - a pilot even reported ash spewing from the volcano. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, investigated and determined that only trace gases and steam had emerged from Antuco.


Patasola (mammal)

Patasola is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 Ma). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is Patasola magdalenae.
Etymology.
"Patasola magdalenae" is named after the mythological Patasola ("one foot"), a forest spirit of the Gran Tolima region of Colombia. The species epithet refers to the Magdalena River in which valley the fossils were found.
Description.
Fossils of "Patasola", a small insectivorous/frugivorous primate, were discovered in both the La Victoria and Villavieja Formations above and below the "Monkey Beds" of the Honda Group, that has been dated to the Laventan, about 13.4 to 11.8 Ma.
The type mandible of "Patasola magdalenae" is a juvenile specimen. The estimated weight of "Patasola" was , similar in size to the extant genus "Leontopithecus".
The genus is included in the Callitrichidae, after an initial description as an intermediate between the Callitrichidae and "Saimiri".
Habitat.
The Honda Group, and more precisely the "Monkey Beds", are the richest site for fossil primates in South America. It has been argued that the monkeys of the Honda Group were living in habitat that was in contact with the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, and that La Venta itself was probably seasonally dry forest. The authors of the publication about "Patasola" however suggests the presence of rain forest.


Nardoichthys

Nardoichthys francisci is an extinct species of perciform fish from the Campanian / Maastrichtian epoch of Nardò, Italy.


Sautso

Sautso (), also referred as Alta Canyon, is a canyon (valley) along the river Altaelva in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The valley is located in Alta Municipality, just north of the border with Kautokeino Municipality. The canyon is about long and about deep, making it the largest canyon of Northern Europe. The canyon begins just downstream (north) from the Alta Power Station. The river flows down from the Finnmarksvidda plateau (elevation: ) into the canyon (elevation: ), so the walls of the canyon clearly show many sedimentary layers.


Proaigialosaurus

Proaigialosaurus is an extinct genus of semi-aquatic diapsid reptile. The genus was erected by Kuhn (1958), based upon skull fragments, which have since been lost.
Generally considered the oldest specimen of the lizard family Aigialosauridae, others have considered it to be a pleurosaurid, a marine sphenodontian (the order to which the extant Tuatara belongs).
"Proaigialosaurus" was discovered in the Solnhofen limestone formation of Bavaria, Germany. It was small (less than a metre long).


Acastopyge

Acastopyge is a genus of trilobite in the order Phacopida, which existed in what is now Poland. It was named by E. Tomczykowa in 1974, and the type species is "Acastopyge shergoldi".


Angolabatis

Angolabatis is an extinct genus of skate from the Late Cretaceous of the Cretaceous. It is represented by a single described species, A. benguelaensis. It was described from isolated teeth found in the late Campanian to early Maastrichtian rocks of Quimbala, a site in the Benguela Basin of Angola. These teeth were originally placed under the genus "Angolaia"; however, this name was preoccupied by a living genus of leafhopper. Teeth attributed to this genus have been described from the contemporary Allen Formation of the Cerro Tortuga locality in the Santa Rosa Basin of the Río Negro province, Argentina. The Argentinian specimens likely represent a new species, but the fragmentary nature of the finds precludes a formal description of a new taxon. While "A. benguelaensis" was found in marine deposits, the Argentinian species was found among freshwater fish.


Islands of Chile

The islands of Chile encompass the various islands that the government of Chile has sovereignty over. By far the majority of these are the islands in the south of the country. Chile has one of the world's longest coastlines, and one of the most dangerous for boats; it is more than long and has at least 5,000 rocky islands.
Classifications vary for "isla" ("island"), "islote" ("islet"), "roquerío" ("rocks"), "farallón" ("cliff") and "archipiélago" or "grupo" ("archipelago"). The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy has begun to consider "island" a surface greater than .
Island territory.
The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy has counted 5,919 "units" of land between the 18° 15'S and 56° 32'S latitudes, with a total area of , that is, 14% of Chile's territory (not including its Antarctica claims). The biggest eight islands and archipelagos (Tierra del Fuego, Chiloé, Wellington, Riesco, Hoste, Santa Inés, Navarino and Magdalena), each measuring over in area, represent 56% of the island territory of Chile. The 381 biggest islands – all those over in area – represent 97% of the island territory of Chile.
Geographic classification.
The Chilean "Instituto Geográfico Militar de Chile" classifies the Chilean Islands according to their coordinate position on the coast of Chile:
Phantom islands.
Elizabeth Island, Bodesta, Pactolus Bank and some reefs have been mentioned in the past as lying near Chilean territories but they are phantom islands. Gable Island is listed by National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Country Files (GNS) as a Chilean Island, but it is actually part of Argentina.
Literature islands.
Several reports, novels and tales have the islands of Chile as geographic background:


Cerro Armazones

Cerro Armazones is a mountain located in the Sierra Vicuña Mackenna of the Chilean Coast Range, approximately south-east of Antofagasta in the Antofagasta Region, Chile. Before construction started on the European Extremely Large Telescope, the summit was a horizontal control point with an elevation of . The new elevation is .
It is located in a privileged zone for optical astronomy because it has 89% cloudless nights a year. It currently hosts the Hexapod-Telescope and other telescopes at the Cerro Armazones Observatory.
On 26 April 2010, the European Southern Observatory Council selected Cerro Armazones as the site for the planned Extremely Large Telescope, and construction began in June 2014.


Blikanasaurus

Blikanasaurus is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the late Triassic of South Africa. The generic name "Blikanasaurus" is derived from Greek, meaning "lizard from Blikana". The species name "cromptoni" is taken from the surname of A.W. “Fuzz” Crompton, an American paleontologist who led numerous field expeditions in Elliot Formation outcrop localities in South Africa. "Blikanasaurus" is only known from partial hindlimb bones that were recovered from the lower Elliot Formation (LEF) in the Eastern Cape.
History of discovery.
"Blikanasaurus" was first discovered by a partial hindlimb (epipodium and pes) found in the lower Elliot Formation (LEF) at the foot of Blikana mountain in Herschel, Eastern Cape of South Africa around 1965. In the early 2000s, a second specimen - consisting of only a right metatarsal - was recovered from lower Elliot Formation deposits on the farm, Damplaats, in Ladybrand of the eastern Free State. A possible ilium that has been attributed to "Blikanasaurus" was found recently, although this remains to be confirmed.
Description.
As the two known "Blikanasaurus" specimens are extremely incomplete, very little is understood of this sauropodomorph taxon. The only information that has been deduced is from the bones of its hindlimb anatomy, which are heavily built. This suggests that "Blikanasaurus" was thickly set and robust.
Classification.
Due to its robust build, "Blikanasaurus" is hypothesized to have been an obligate quadruped, unlike what is characteristic of more derived sauropodomorphs. Due to this feature, "Blikanasaurus" was thought initially to be a basal sauropod. "Blikanasaurus" is now considered to be a basal sauropodomorph; however, due to the lack of complete specimens, little remains known about this enigmatic taxon. Some paleontologists claimed a case to group "Blikanasaurus" within the family Blikanasauridae, a family named by Galton and van Heerden in 1985, however, this family has not been formally accepted due to it lacking definitive taxa. The cladogram below displays the currently accepted systematics between "Blikanasaurus" and other sauropodomorphs.


Carinocranium

Carinocranium cariniferum is a species of asaphid trilobites of the family Raphiophoridae that lived during the Early Tremadocian of Alberta, Canada. It is known only from a cranidium with a large, keel-shaped glabellum.
Etymology.
The generic and specific epithets both refer to the massive, keel-shaped glabellum, thus the use of the Latin prefix "", so that the generic epithet translates as "keel-cranium," and the specific epithet translating as "keel bearing."
Occurrence.
The only known specimen, specimen GSC 62139, is found in the Early Tremadocian-aged GSC Locality 92293, 168.5 meters above the Outram Formation, Alberta, Canada.


Cayucupil

Cayucupil is a valley, a hamlet and a "riachuelo" or small river in the vicinity of Cañete, Chile of the Arauco Province of the Bío Bío Region that has its origin in the western foothills of the Nahuelbuta Mountains, to the east of that city. It runs to the southwest from among broken and mountainous land, and then to the west through more level ground to join with the Tucapel River about five kilometers to southwest of the site that the original city of Cañete occupied. In its upper part is a passage that traverses the mountain range.
Its name derives from the Mapudungun "cayu" six and "quypil", frame of a house. It was a Moluche rehue of the Tucapel aillarehue.


Pancake Rocks


Bluff Downs fossil site

The Bluff Downs fossil site is a paleontological site of Pliocene age in northern Queensland, Australia, and is the most significant fossil site of the Pliocene age in Australia. The fossil site lies on the banks of Allingham Creek on the pastoral property of Bluff Downs Station.
Geology.
Volcanic Activity and Nulla Basalt Province.
Bluff Downs Fossil Site is located within the Nulla Basalt Province, one of four late Cenozoic basalt provinces identified in 1956. The Nulla Basalt Province is dated to the late Pliocene (3.6 to 2.58 million years ago) or early Pleistocene (2.58 – 0.8 million years ago). and consists of multiple olivine basalt flows from lava flows associated with four periods of volcanic activity which occurred 4.5-4.0, 2.3, 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago (according to radiogenic argon determination methods of dating). The dating of the flows matches the ordering suggested by analysis of aerial photographs. These flows of olivine basalt lavas are located on the eastern flank of the Great Diving Range, and overlie Palaeozoic rock formations as well as sediments from the early Cenozoic, all of which have been partially weathered due to a humid and tropical palaeoenvironment. The most recent volcanic activity in the region occurred 13, 000 years ago, according to sediments underlying the youngest of flow, the Toomba Flow. These flows are relatively thin and were similar to flows which can be observed in present-day Hawai’i. The Bluff Downs Flow directly overlies the fossiliferous sediment (known as the Allingham Formation) in which the Bluff Downs Local Fauna are found, and helped to protect the fossils from erosion
The Allingham Formation.
The Allingham Formation, named by Archer and Wade in 1976, is the section of the Nulla Basalt Province which contains the fossils which the Bluff Downs Local Fauna are attributed to. It consists of a mixture of sediment that originated on land and was washed away after eroding into nearby waterbodies (terrigenous sediment), clays, silts, sands (including calcareous sands), and Chara limestones (calcareous nodules that were deposited directly over the fossiliferous sediment and consequently overlain by basalt). These sediments were formed in lakes and rivers (i.e. are lacustrine and fluviatile), indicating the presence of various water bodies such as lakes, rivers and streams in the palaeoenvironment at the time of deposition. There were several different depositional events and analysis of the sediments suggests that during the early Pliocene, a stream widened to form a shallow lake.
Fossils.
Many vertebrate fossils have been found in the terrigenous sediments of Bluff Downs Fossil Site, including both broken and complete bones and skulls, though articulated skeletons (that is, with the bones in the same position as upon the organism’s death) are rare. The Bluff Downs Local Fauna is derived from the vertebrate species found in these fossils.
Dating.
Precise dating of vertebrate fossil sites in Australia is rare, and many cenozoic-age sediments remain undated. Unusually, the Bluff Downs Local Fauna have been specifically dated. This is because a basalt layer (the Bluff Downs Flow) directly overlies the fossiliferous deposit, allowing a minimum age to be calculated. This basalt flow has been dated to 3.62 ±0.5 million years old; the fossils having been deposited between 5.2 and 2.6 million years ago, during the late Pliocene period. The Allingham Formation has been radiometrically dated to no less than 4 ±0.12 million years old, placing it in the early Pliocene.
Bluff Downs Local Fauna.
The Bluff Downs Local Fauna, named and described by Archer in 1976, includes numerous vertebrate species found at the Bluff Downs Fossil Site, many of which are similar to but slightly older than the Chinchilla fauna (associated with Chinchilla Fossil Site, also in Queensland), according to more ancestral physical features. This collection of vertebrate species was noted to be considerably biodiverse by Archer, and features many ancestors of the species we now recognise as uniquely Australian, as well as unusual extinct species of megafauna, such as Diprotodonts and Thylacoleonids.
The Bluff Downs Local Fauna includes several large reptilian predators, such as crocodiles and a giant varanid (monitor lizard), which has long puzzled palaeontologists as no large predatory terrestrial mammals have been found at the site.
The fauna include species such as the:
Palaeoenvironment.
The palaeoenvironment of Bluff Downs during the Pliocene featured large bodies of water. This is inferred from the presence of fluviatile and lacustrine sedimentary deposits, as well as the presence of certain species from the site including pygmy geese and darters, short-necked turtles and long-necked tortoises, which suggest shallow, turbid lagoons were a feature of the prehistoric landscape. The presence of crocodiles and tortoises indicates that these water bodies were at the very least seasonal, as these animals migrate for water. The current understanding is that many of these water bodies were permanent features.
There may have also been a river-based, or riparian, rainforest as species including a land snail and ringtail possum suggest that there were at least patches of closed forests present.
The palaeoenvironment as a whole has been compared to present-day Kakadu, with permanent water bodies, patches of forest and an overall high level of precipitation and humidity, features central to Kakadu’s geography, and the species found at the site mirror this.


Vallecillosaurus

Vallecillosaurus is an extinct genus of mosasauroid from the Late Cretaceous period, that lived in Mexico, in the state of Nuevo León.


Spinarerpeton

Spinarerpeton is an extinct genus of discosauriscid seymouriamorph known from the early Permian of Boskovice Furrow, in the Czech Republic. It was first named by Jozef Klembara in 2009 and the type species is "Spinarerpeton brevicephalum". A phylogenetic analysis places "Spinarerpeton" as the sister taxon to "Makowskia".


Ukrainian Shield

In geology the Ukrainian Shield (or Ukrainian Crystalline Massif) is the southwest shield of the East European craton. The Ukrainian Shield and the Voronezh Massif consist of 3.2-3.8 Ga Archaean crust in the southwest and east, and 2.3-2.1 Ga Early Proterozoic orogenic belts. The Ukrainian shield is approx. 1000 km long and up to 250 km wide.


Proplatyarthrus

Proplatyarthrus is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae, endemic to Chubut Province, Argentina in South America.
Taxonomy.
"Proplatyarthrus" was named and a talus bone described by Florentino Ameghino in 1905. It was assigned to Megalonychidae by Carroll in 1988.
Sister genera.
"Acratocnus", "Ahytherium" (syn. "Iporangabradyx, Iporangabradyx collecti"), "Analcimorphus, Choloepus, Diheterocnus, Hyperleptus, Megalocnus, Megalonychops, Megalonychotherium, Megalonyx" (syn. "Morotherium"), "Meizonyx, Mesocnus, Microcnus, Miocnus, Pliometanastes".


Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve

Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia located in the locality of Ghan.
Henbury craters are a result of one of the few impact events that have occurred in a populated area (few other examples are Kaali crater in Estonia and 2007 Carancas impact event in Peru).
Description.
The reserve is located south west of Alice Springs and contains over a dozen craters, which were formed when a fragmented meteorite hit the Earth’s surface.
Henbury is one of five meteorite impact sites in Australia with remaining meteorite fragments and one of the world's best preserved examples of a small crater field.
Henbury was the earliest documented example of impact cratering in Australia.
Meteorite impact craters.
At Henbury there are 13 to 14 craters ranging from in diameter and up to in depth that were formed when the meteor broke up before impact. Several tonnes of iron-nickel fragments have been recovered from the site. The site has been dated to ≤4.7 thousand years ago based on the cosmogenic 14C terrestrial age of the meteorite and 4.2±1.9 thousand years ago using fission track dating.
The craters are named for Henbury Station, a nearby cattle station named in 1875 for the family home of its founders at Henbury in Dorset, England. The craters were discovered in 1899 by the manager of the station, then went uninvestigated until interest was stirred when the Karoonda meteorite fell on South Australia in 1930. The first scientific investigations of the site were conducted by A.R. Alderman of the University of Adelaide who published the results in a 1932 paper entitled "The Meteorite Craters at Henbury Central Australia". Numerous studies have been undertaken since.
Cultural significance.
The Henbury crater field lies at the crossroads of several Aboriginal language groups, including Arrernte, Luritja, Pitjantjatjarra, and Yankunytjatjara. It is considered a sacred site to the Arrernte people and would have formed during human habitation of the area. J.M. Mitchell said that older Aboriginal people would not camp within a couple of miles of the Henbury craters. An elder Aboriginal man that accompanied Mitchell to the site explained that Aboriginal people would not drink rainwater that collected in the craters, fearing the "fire-devil" would fill them with a piece of iron. The man claimed his paternal grandfather had seen the fire-devil and that he came from the Sun. An Aboriginal contact said of the crater field: "tjintu waru tjinka yapu tjinka kurdaitcha kuka", which roughly translates in the Luritja language as "A fiery devil ran down from the Sun and made his home in the Earth. He will burn and eat any bad blackfellows." This indicates a living memory of the event.
A different story was recorded by Charles Mountford that attributed the largest crater's formation to an anthropomorphic lizard woman (called Mulumura) tossing soil out of the crater, forming its bowl-shape. The soil discarded by Mulumura explained the piles of meteoritic iron around the craters and the presence of ejecta rays (which are unique to terrestrial impacts but are now gone due to prospecting at the site). This probably relates to Dreaming stories about ancestral lizard beings from the area of Henbury station near the Finke River, just north of the crater field. The Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory give the Arrernte name for the crater field as "Tatyeye Kepmwere" (or "Tatjakapara").
In 1980, the conservation reserve was listed on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate. The craters were listed as one item on the Northern Territory Heritage Register on 13 August 2003.


San Pedro (Chile volcano)

San Pedro is a Holocene composite volcano in northern Chile and one of the tallest active volcanoes in the world. Part of the Chilean Andes' volcanic segment, it is part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, one of the four tracts of the Andean Volcanic Belt. This region of volcanism includes the world's two highest volcanoes Ojos del Salado and Llullaillaco. San Pedro, like other Andean volcanoes, was formed by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South America Plate. It has a neighbouring volcano, San Pablo, and is itself formed by two separate edifices usually known as the Old Cone and the Young Cone. These edifices are formed by rocks ranging from basaltic andesite over andesite to dacite and are emplaced on a basement formed by Miocene volcanic rocks.
The Old Cone was active over one hundred thousand years ago and was eventually truncated by a giant landslide that removed its northwestern side. Within the landslide scar lava flows and pyroclastic flows constructed the Young Cone as well as the lateral centre La Poruña. This volcano was glaciated during the Pleistocene and a large Plinian eruption occurred at the beginning of the Holocene. Some eruptions reportedly occurred during historical time; presently the volcano is fumarolically active.
Geography and geomorphology.
San Pedro is located in northern Chile, in the Ollagüe commune, El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region; the border to Bolivia is away. The whole region is remote and thinly populated; towns in the area include Ascotán, Cupo, Inacaliri and Paniri; and the San Pedro railway station lies southwest of the volcano. Tracks left by sulfur miners lead up to San Pedro's summit, and roads run around the volcano; passes around the northern, northwestern and western flanks of the volcano.
San Pedro is part of the long Central Volcanic Zone, one of the two belts of volcanoes in Chile, which contains a total of about 44 active volcanoes plus silicic caldera and ignimbrite systems and monogenetic volcanoes. Many of these volcanoes are of Pliocene-Pleistocene age and approach heights of about above sea level at Llullaillaco and Ojos del Salado; such sizes of the volcanoes occur because the edifices rise from a relatively high basement. Volcanism in this region is relatively poorly studied and there is not much present-day activity; with the exception of Láscar, most present-day manifestations are limited to fumarolic activity.
San Pedro is one of the highest volcanoes in the world and is visible as far as away in Calama. Its height has been variously given as , or . It is a composite volcano, which forms a twin volcano with San Pablo farther east. Between the two lies the so-called "Central Crater" at an elevation of . San Pedro itself is formed from the easterly "Old Cone" whose most prominent expression is the eastern summit, and the westerly "Young Cone" which is only about lower. The "Young Cone" has two craters, the eastern of which is the younger one. Lava flows emerge from a breach in this crater and have filled an older wide older crater. Hydrothermally altered rocks and sulfur deposits are found on San Pedro's summit and were mined into the 1930s.
A number of lava flows of volumes between make up part of the edifice. The upper part of the Younger Cone is covered with such lava flows, which have steep fronts and are up to thick. Downslope the lava flows are found mainly over the northwestern flank where they radiate away from San Pedro's crater.
Scars at elevations of on the edifice have been the origin of mudflows; the largest is known as Estación flow and covers much of the southern and western foot of San Pedro to distances of ; the debris apron reaches the Loa River and San Pedro River. These mudflows occurred between 110,000 – 36,000 years ago and they filled the river bed of the Loa, while the impact on the San Pedro River was much more minor. Hot avalanche deposits or pyroclastic flows are also found on the volcano; the largest of which covers large parts of the edifice and has a total volume of approximately . These deposits contain prismatic jointed blocks and poorly sorted pumice, with their thickness ranging from a thick layer to scattered rocks. Their formation was probably due to the steep incline of San Pedro's slopes which tended to destabilize lava bodies high on the edifice, similar to regular landslides. At least one Plinian fall deposit is known from San Pedro; the size of the deposit indicates that it was as large as the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius in Italy. This Plinian eruption was accompanied by the formation of an ignimbrite that covers much of the southern, southwestern and western slopes of San Pedro and reaches thicknesses of . It has a volume of and is called the El Encanto ignimbrite.
There is evidence of a large sector collapse on San Pedro, which removed the northwestern flank of the volcano and formed a large debris avalanche deposit. This avalanche deposit covers a surface area of and its front is high in the Pampa de la Avestruz. The debris flow formed by the sector collapse does not have many of the typical hummock-like hills of volcanic sector collapse deposits and instead features grooves and radial ridges. Such flank collapse occurred notably on Mount St. Helens during its eruption in 1980. A high scarp west of the eastern summit was left by the collapse of San Pedro; otherwise much of the evidence was buried by later volcanic activity. As with the mudflows, the steep slopes of San Pedro probably facilitated the onset of the sector collapse, which descended over an elevation difference of about .
A parasitic vent named La Poruña lies on the western foot of San Pedro, its formation was probably influenced by a normal fault that runs in that area. It is a wide and high scoria cone on top of a field of lava flows which extend as far as west of San Pedro and from the cone. The cone's western side slumped and lava flows issued from the breach. In addition, a lava dome at an elevation of lies on the southwestern flank of San Pedro and also seems to be a parasitic vent. Andesite lava flows emanate from this area as well. They are the largest found on San Pedro, with volumes of and a surface area of ; they reach a distance of from the vent.
San Pedro has been glaciated in the past. Evidence of such glaciation is found especially on the southern side of the Old Cone and it includes moraines at elevations of over as well as other glacially modified surfaces such as rock pavements and striated boulders. The chronology of glaciations in the Central Andes is poorly known but stratigraphic relations indicate that San Pedro was glaciated during the late Pleistocene. Some cirques on the southern flank contain evidence of past rock glaciers, but there are no glaciers presently on the mountain.
The San Pedro River flows at the foot of San Pedro volcano, and joins the Loa River southwest of the volcano; Pleistocene lava flows from San Pedro created a lava dam on the San Pedro River, forming a lake which no longer exists. As reported in 1926, the slopes of San Pedro were used to cultivate llareta, a plant that was grown as a fuel source.
Geology.
Beneath northern Chile, the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South America Plate. This subduction process is responsible for volcanic activity in the Western Cordillera, as well as elsewhere in the Andes.
The volcanoes of Chile are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which in Chile contains about 2000 volcanoes over a length of . In Chile, it is subdivided into two volcanic zones, the Central Volcanic Zone which also spans Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, and the Southern Volcanic Zone which spans Chile and Argentina. In addition, Colombia and Ecuador feature the Northern Volcanic Zone, while the subduction of the Antarctic Plate beneath the South America Plate at the southernmost tip of South America forms the Austral Volcanic Zone south of the Southern Volcanic Zone.
There were two cycles of volcanic activity in Chile, the first during the Permian-Triassic and a second starting from the Tertiary. In the San Pedro region, this volcanic activity migrated east from its point of inception but recently has moved back westward. West of San Pedro lies the Pampa del Tamarugal and the Coastal Cordillera, neither of which show evidence of recent volcanic activity.
Regional.
Volcanoes in this region of Chile often form lineaments perpendicular to the volcanic arc, with northwest-southeast and north-south lineaments commons. Other volcanoes with such trends are Carasilla-Polapi-Cerro Cebollar-Cerro Ascotan-Palpana and the Aucanquilcha complex; the youngest edifice is the westernmost one.
The basement of the region is formed by various metamorphic and sedimentary rocks intruded by plutons ranging in their age from the Paleozoic to the Tertiary; one of these is the 65 million years old Cerro Colorado pluton. However, in the area of San Pedro this basement is entirely buried beneath volcanites of Miocene age, including ignimbrites, remnants of composite volcanoes and volcanic debris. At least three individual ignimbrites have been found; one of the ignimbrites, the San Pedro Ignimbrite, may have originated from a vent now covered by San Pedro volcano although the neighbouring Caracanal volcano is also a candidate source. The older composite volcano centres include Cerro Carcanal and Cerro Huiche south-southeast of San Pedro and Cerro del Diablo due north. This surface slopes down to the Loa River in the west.
Composition.
Old Cone lavas range from andesite to olivine-containing basaltic andesite. Young Cone lavas include both andesite and hornblende-containing dacite. Volcanic rocks erupted during both stages of San Pedro belong to the potassium-rich calc-alkaline suite.
San Pedro volcanic rocks are usually glassy with only tiny phenocrysts. Plagioclase and pyroxene are the dominant minerals, with amphibole and olivine being secondary components. The magma feeding the volcano probably formed from the mixing of magmas of distinct temperatures, as indicated by various clues indicating significant thermal disequilibrium between various components. The eruption of La Poruña appears to have been accompanied by a change in the magma system of the general volcano.
Climate.
The region has an arid climate with infrequent precipitation. Moisture ultimately originates on the tropical Atlantic Ocean and much of it rains out as it crosses the Eastern Cordillera and the Altiplano, so that little reaches the western Cordillera, with precipitation in the San Pedro area less than . This dryness was interrupted during the late ice age between 17,000 and 11,000 years before present by a wetter period during which glaciers expanded.
Eruptive history.
San Pedro formed in two stages, which are known as the Old Cone and the Young Cone. The Old Cone was formed by lava and scoria and later largely buried by glacial, mudflows and volcanic deposits of the Young Cone; it forms about 80% of the volume of the present-day San Pedro edifice. One date has been obtained on Old Cone lavas by argon-argon dating: 160,000 years ago. After activity of the Old Cone ceased, glacial and fluvial erosion dissected San Pedro until the large sector collapse occurred. The so-called "white airfall" with a volume of as well as pyroclastic flows on the western summit may have been erupted during the collapse but this is uncertain.
Activity of the Young Cone began after the collapse within the scar left by the failure of the edifice. This activity involved the extrusion of four groups of lavas of both andesitic and dacitic composition as well as lava domes and one pumice flow. Apparently, the emission of each lava unit was preceded by explosive eruptions which formed pyroclastic flows. Argon-argon dating on one of these units has yielded an age of 100,000 ± 35,000 years ago. Surface exposure dating of the La Poruña parasitic vent has yielded an age of 103,000 ± 1,200 years before present; it was previously proposed that La Poruña formed in the late 19th century. The southwest dome is of comparable age to La Poruña, 107,000 ± 12 years ago. In general, dates obtained by argon-argon dating range from 168,000 to 68,000 years ago.
A large eruption covered parts of the upper edifice with scoria about 15,000 years before present. The Plinian eruption was even more recent, occurring about 10,000 years ago (10,085 ± 45 radiocarbon years ago). After this event four small lava domes formed in the summit region, and partly underwent collapse forming hot avalanche deposits; it is possible that the 1901 eruption was one of these lava dome forming events.
Historical activity.
Eruptions at San Pedro are reported from possibly 1885, when a newspaper from Valparaiso reported "strong shaking of the earth", the emission of large quantities of white steam, and damage to the railway, houses and water pipes. Other eruptions reported from San Pedro were in 1901 when an eruption caused damage, May–August 1910, 1911, February 1938 and a minor event in December 1960. Additional eruptions are mentioned in records and dated to 1870, 1916, 1917, 1923. All these eruptions are uncertain and apparently of phreatic nature, and no geological evidence of them has been found. The timing of eruptions at San Pedro sometimes is unclear; one eruption reported from 1877 may instead have occurred in 1891 as there are two reports of an eruption before 1910 and they may either refer to one eruption with two candidate dates or two eruptions. This volcanic activity makes San Pedro one of the highest active volcanoes.
Presently, fumaroles in the eastern summit crater are the only ongoing activity at San Pedro; a steam plume is barely visible. The fumarole has formed sulfur deposits. Based on measurements made in December 2013, the output of San Pedro is about . Fumaroles were also reported from the Ojos de San Pedro area south of San Pedro volcano, and a report published in 1894 mentions a smell of sulfur at La Poruña. In addition, seismic activity has been observed at the volcano.
The history of volcanic activity at San Pedro indicates two principal hazards from future eruptions. The first is the formation of long debris avalanches or pyroclastic flows that could reach the which is just away from the volcano. The second hazard is formed by a large explosive eruption resulting in ash fall and the emplacement of ignimbrites; the whole region could be affected if the eruption column is over high. A few seismic stations monitor earthquake activity at San Pedro. The Chilean SERNAGEOMIN publishes a volcano hazard level for the volcano.
Climbing.
San Pedro is climbed relatively frequently due to its proximity to the tourist town of San Pedro de Atacama. The easiest route is by the north slopes to the col then by the east slope to the summit.


Tarija Concha Formation

The Tarija Concha Formation is a Tremadocian geologic formation of southern Bolivia. The shales and siltstones were deposited in a shallow marine environment.
Fossil content.
The formation has provided the following fossils:


Amphicynodon

Amphicynodon is an extinct genus of early bear, endemic to Europe and Asia during the Oligocene. It lived from ~33.9—28.4 Mya, existing for approximately . It was a small basal member of the bear family, similar in size to early mustelids.
Fossil distribution.
Some sites:


Strenuaeva

Strenuaeva is a genus of Cambrian trilobite thought to show sexual dimorphism.


Paranthodon

Paranthodon ( ) is a genus of stegosaurian dinosaur that lived in what is now South Africa during the Early Cretaceous, between 139 and 131 million years ago. Discovered in 1845, it was one of the first stegosaurians found. Its only remains, a partial skull, isolated teeth, and fragments of vertebrae, were found in the Kirkwood Formation. British paleontologist Richard Owen initially identified the fragments as those of the pareiasaur "Anthodon". After remaining untouched for years in the British Museum of Natural History, the partial skull was identified by South African paleontologist Robert Broom as belonging to a different genus; he named the specimen "Palaeoscincus africanus". Several years later, Hungarian paleontologist Franz Nopcsa, unaware of Broom's new name, similarly concluded that it represented a new taxon, and named it "Paranthodon owenii". Since Nopcsa's species name was assigned after Broom's, and Broom did not assign a new genus, both names are now synonyms of the current binomial, "Paranthodon africanus". The genus name combines the Ancient Greek "para" (near) with the genus name "Anthodon", to represent the initial referral of the remains.
In identifying the remains as those of "Palaeoscincus", Broom initially classified "Paranthodon" as an ankylosaurian, a statement backed by the research of Coombs in the 1970s. In 1929, Nopcsa identified the taxon as a stegosaurid, with which most modern studies agree. In 1981, the genus was reviewed with modern taxonomic techniques, and found to be a valid genus of stegosaurid. A 2018 review of "Paranthodon" could only identify one distinguishing feature, and while that study still referred it to Stegosauria based on similarity and multiple phylogenetic analyses, no diagnostic features of the group could be identified in "Paranthodon".
History of discovery.
In 1845, amateur geologists William Guybon Atherstone and Andrew Geddes Bain discovered several fossils near Dassieklip, Cape Province, in the Bushman's River Valley. This was the first dinosaur find in Africa and in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1849 and 1853, Bain sent some of the fossils to palaeontologist Richard Owen for identification. Among them was an upper jaw Bain referred to as the "Cape "Iguanodon"", so the site was named "Iguanodonhoek". Atherstone published a short paper about the discovery in 1857, but lamented in 1871 that it had thus far received no attention in London. In 1876 Owen named a series of specimens from the collection "Anthodon serrarius", basing the generic name on the resemblance of the teeth to a flower. The partial holotype skull BMNH 47337, the left jaw BMNH 47338, the matrix BMNH 47338 including bone fragments and impressions of the anterior skull, and the vertebrae BMNH 47337a were all assigned to "Anthodon." In 1882, Othniel Charles Marsh assigned "Anthodon" to Stegosauridae based on BMNH 47338, and in 1890, Richard Lydekker found that although "Anthodon" was a pareiasaur, its teeth were similar to those of the Stegosauridae. Lydekker in 1890 also corrected a mistake of Owen, who had incorrectly summarised all the material as coming from a single locality, whereas there was separate material from two clearly distinct localities.
In 1909, Robert Broom visited the collection of the British Museum of Natural History. He concluded that Owen had mixed the partial distorted skull, teeth, and a mandible of a pareiasaur and a partial upper jaw of a dinosaur, BMNH 47338, which were from two different species. Broom kept the name "Anthodon" for the pareiasaur, but identified the other fossil as a member of the genus "Palaeoscincus", naming the new species "Paleoscincus africanus" in 1912. He found that the anatomy of the teeth were quite different, even though they resembled each other, as well as those of "Stegosaurus". In 1929, Franz Nopcsa, unaware of Broom's previous publication, provided a second novel name as D. M. S. Watson believed that the jaw should be differentiated from "Anthodon". Nopcsa named the species "Paranthodon Owenii", with the generic name derived from the Latin "para", meaning "similar", "near", or "beside", and "Anthodon", and specific name honouring Owen. Following modern conventions, the specific name was later emended to "owenii". Both names were brought into the current nomenclature by Walter P. Coombs in his 1971 dissertation as the new combination "Paranthodon africanus", as the name "Paranthodon" was the first new generic name for the fossils and "africanus" was the first new specific name. This makes "Paranthodon africanus" the proper name for the taxon previously known as "Palaeoscincus africanus" and "Paranthodon owenii".
Material.
The holotype of "Paranthodon", BMNH 47338, was found in a layer of the Kirkwood Formation that has been dated between the Berriasian and early Valanginian ages. It consists of the back of the snout, containing the maxilla with teeth, the posterior caudodorsal ramus of the premaxilla, part of the nasals, and some isolated teeth probably from the lower jaw. One additional specimen was assigned to it based on the dentition, BMNH (now NHMUK) R4992, including only isolated teeth sharing the same morphology as those from the holotype. Some bones that were unidentified by Galton & Coombs (1981) were described as a fragment of a vertebra in 2018 by Raven & Maidment. The teeth do not bear any autapomorphies of "Paranthodon", and were referred to an indeterminate stegosaurid in 2008. The teeth were identified in 2018 as also lacking any distinct stegosaurian features, and were thus designated as Thyreophora indeterminate.
The Mugher Mudstone of Ethiopia was screened in the 1990s by the University of California Museum of Paleontology, and in it were discovered multiple dinosaur teeth, pertaining to many groups of taxa. The locality has been described as "the largest and most complete record of dinosaur fossils from a Late Jurassic African locality outside of Tendaguru". Two of the partial teeth discovered were referred to "Paranthodon" by Lee Hall and Mark Goodwin in 2011. The reasons for the referral to "Paranthodon" were not discussed.
Description.
"Paranthodon" was a small relative of larger stegosaurids such as "Stegosaurus". Thomas R. Holtz Jr. estimated that the animal was long and weighed between . The snout is elongated, though not extremely so, and convex on top. The back of the premaxilla is long and broad, and the external nares are large. The teeth have a prominent primary ridge. The fossilised nasal and maxillary bones are relatively complete, and an incomplete premaxilla is also preserved. The partial snout resembles "Stegosaurus" in its large posterior premaxillary process and the extension of the palate. "Stegosaurus" was the only stegosaurid known from adequate cranial material to compare with "Paranthodon" during the 1981 review of the taxon, and even though their resemblance is great, tooth morphology is very distinguishing among the stegosaurians. For example, cranial material is known from "Stegosaurus", "Paranthodon", "Kentrosaurus", and "Tuojiangosaurus", and the tooth morphology differs in all of them.
The premaxilla of "Paranthodon" is incomplete, but the anterior process is sinuous and curves ventrally. This is similar to in "Miragaia", "Huayangosaurus", the ankylosaur "Silvisaurus", and "Heterodontosaurus", but unlike in "Chungkingosaurus", "Stegosaurus", "Edmontonia" and "Lesothosaurus". The premaxilla also lacks any teeth, like in every stegosaur except "Huayangosaurus" where the premaxilla is preserved. Like in "Huayangosaurus" but not "Stegosaurus" or "Hesperosaurus", the nasal fenestra faces anterolaterally, being visible from the front and sides. The naris is longer than wide like in other stegosaurs, and also has a smooth internal surface, so it was most likely a simple passage. The maxilla is roughly triangular, as in most other thyreophorans. The tooth row is horizontal in lateral view, and in ventral view it is sinuous. "Stegosaurus" and "Huayangosaurus" possess a straight tooth row in ventral view, although "Scelidosaurus" and "Jiangjunosaurus" do not. The maxilla of "Paranthodon" preserves the tooth row, and shows that there is little to no overhang. This differs from ankylosaurians, where there is a large overhang of the maxilla. As with "Stegosaurus" and "Silvisaurus", there is a diastema (gap in the tooth row) on the maxilla in front of the tooth row. The posterior maxilla is incomplete so no information is known about the jugal or lacrimal contact. "Paranthodon" has an elongate, dorsally convex nasal, like in most other stegosaurs. There are thickened ridges along the sides of the nasals. The preserved portion of the nasal does not contact the premaxilla or maxilla.
Thirteen teeth are preserved in "Paranthodon", but as they extend to the back of the maxilla there were possibly more in life. The teeth are symmetrical as in stegosaurs except "Chungkingosaurus". Along the base of the tooth crown there is a swelling (cingulum), which is seen in all other known stegosaurid teeth except "Huayangosaurus". The teeth have a middle ridge, with five fewer prominent ridges on either side. This is similar to the size ridges seen on "Kentrosaurus". Like all stegosaurians, the denticles on the teeth are rounded at the tips, in contrast to ankylosaurians. Also, like "Huayangosaurus", but unlike "Kentrosaurus" and "Stegosaurus", "Paranthodon" possesses a prominent buccal margination (a ridge beside the tooth row). "Paranthodon" teeth preserve wear, but wear is absent on most teeth, similar to "Huayangosaurus", meaning it is likely that "Paranthodon" lacked occlusion between teeth.
As only two fragments of a vertebra are known, few anatomical details can be observed. The right transverse process and prezygapophysis are preserved. The vertebra is possibly a middle dorsal, based on the angle of the transverse process and the orientation of the prezygapophysis. Similar to "Stegosaurus" and "Chungkingosaurus" mid-dorsals, the transverse process is angled about 60º dorsally. Unlike in all other stegosaurs except "Stegosaurus", the prezygapophysis faces dorsally.
Classification.
Currently, "Paranthodon" is classified as a stegosaur related to "Stegosaurus", "Tuojiangosaurus", and "Loricatosaurus". Initially, when Broom assigned the name "Palaeoscincus africanus" to the "Paranthodon" fossils, he classified them as an ankylosaurian. This classification was later changed by Nopcsa, who found that "Paranthodon" best resembled a stegosaurid (before the group was truly defined). Coombs (1978) did not follow Nopcsa's classification, keeping "Paranthodon" as an ankylosaurian, like Broom, although he only classified it as Ankylosauria "incertae sedis". A subsequent review by Galton and Coombs in 1981 instead confirmed Nopcsa's interpretation, redescribing "Paranthodon" as a stegosaurid from the Late Cretaceous. "Paranthodon" was distinguished from other stegosaurs by a long, wide, posterior process of the premaxilla, teeth in the maxilla with a very large cingulum, and large ridges on the tooth crowns. Not all of these features were considered valid in a 2008 review of Stegosauria, with the only autapomorphy found being the possession of a partial second bony palate on the maxilla.
Multiple phylogenetic analyses have placed "Paranthodon" in Stegosauria, and often in Stegosauridae. A 2010 analysis including nearly all species of stegosaurians found that "Paranthodon" was outside Stegosauridae, and in a polytomy with "Tuojiangosaurus", "Huayangosaurus", "Chungkingosaurus", "Jiangjunosaurus", and "Gigantspinosaurus". When the latter two genera were removed, "Paranthodon" grouped with "Tuojiangosaurus" just outside Stegosauridae, and "Huayangosaurus" grouped with "Chungkingosaurus" in Huayangosauridae. An elaboration upon this analysis was published in 2017 by Susannah Maidment and Thomas Raven, and it resolved relationships within Stegosauria much more. All taxa were remained included, and "Paranthodon" grouped with "Tuojiangosaurus", "Huayangosaurus" and "Chunkingosaurus" as the most basal true stegosaurians. The position of "Alcovasaurus" was uncertain, and further work could change the result. Below is the analysis.
Other analyses have found "Paranthodon" closely related to "Tuojiangosaurus", "Loricatosaurus", and "Kentrosaurus" within Stegosaurinae. Even though phylogenetic analyses recognise "Paranthodon" as a stegosaurid, the type material bears no synapomorphies of Stegosauria. The material is likely of stegosaurian nature, and phylogenies by many authors have found it to be within the group.
Paleoecology.
The Kirkwood Formation is in South Africa, and many fossils of different species and genera have been discovered in it, with "Paranthodon" being the first uncovered. The formation is of a Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age, with the oldest deposits from the Tithonian, about 145.5 million years ago, and the youngest rocks being from the Valanginian, about 130 million years ago. The specific vertebrate-bearing portion of the formation is approximately level with the upper region of the Sundays River Formation, which has been dated to 139 to 131 mya based on microfossils. A large variety of different animal groups have been found in the formation, including dinosaurs, at least two different sphenodontian lizards, multiple teleost fishes, a few crocodylians, some frog specimens, and also turtles. A large amount of the material of the Kirkwood formation only includes isolated teeth or partial and fragmentary pieces of bone. Dinosaurs of the formation include a basal tetanuran, the primitive ornithomimosaurian "Nqwebasaurus", the sauropod "Algoasaurus", a potential titanosaurian, many ornithischians including "Paranthodon", a genus of iguanodontian, and a "hypsilophodontid" (the family Hypsilophodontidae is no longer considered to be a natural grouping). Multiple additional sauropod taxa have been discovered, including a basal eusauropod, a brachiosaurid, a dicraeosaurid and a derived diplodocid.
If the referral of teeth from Ethiopia to "Paranthodon" is correct, then the taxon's geographic range is extended significantly. The Mugher locality is approximately 151 million years old, about 14 million older than has previously been suggested for "Paranthodon", as well as across both southern and eastern Africa. The fauna in the Mugher locality differ from elsewhere of the same time and place in Africa. While the Tendaguru has abundant stegosaurs, sauropods, ornithopods and theropods, the Mugher Mudstone preserves the stegosaur "Paranthodon", a hypsilophodontid ornithopod, a probable sauropod, and theropods related to Allosauridae and Dromaeosauridae.


Megalotriton

Megalotriton is an extinct genus of prehistoric salamanders which lived in Europe during the Late Eocene.


Puntukas

Puntukas is the second-largest boulder in Lithuania. It is situated some south of Anykščiai on the left bank of the Šventoji River. It was believed to be the largest stone in Lithuania until the discovery of Barstyčiai stone in the Skuodas district in 1957.
Puntukas is a glacial erratic—it was brought by glaciers during the last glacial period (18th–12th millennium BC) probably from Finland. It measures in length, in width, and in depth (including underground). It weighs about 265 tons. It is made of Rapakivi granite. Its reddish mass includes large crystals of potassium feldspar surrounded by green rings of oligoclase.
In 1943, sculptor Bronius Pundzius engraved portraits and quotes from last wills of Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas for the 10th anniversary of their deaths during the transatlantic flight with "Lituanica". A local legend has it that velnias (a devil in the Lithuanian mythology) carried the stone to destroy the Anykščiai Church, however a rooster crowed. The devil disappeared back into the underworld, leaving only Puntukas behind. The legend was featured in the famous poem "Anykščių šilelis" by Antanas Baranauskas. According to another story, a brave Lithuanian warrior Puntukas was killed and was burned (a usual pagan custom) on the stone; since then it is known as Puntukas stone. Other legends claim that the stone was a pagan shrine and that oaks growing around are relics of the sacred groves.


Staurikosaurus

Staurikosaurus (Pronounced "STORE-ee-koh-SAWR-us", "Southern Cross lizard") is a genus of herrerasaurid dinosaur from the Late Triassic of Brazil, found in the Santa Maria Formation.
Description.
Colbert (1970) described "Staurikosaurus" as a small and agile, bipedal predator. "Staurikosaurus" lived during the late-Carnian and early-Norian stage, of the Late Triassic, approximately 225 million years ago—which makes it one of the earliest dinosaurs known. At long, tall, and weighing , "Staurikosaurus" was small in comparison to later theropods like "Megalosaurus". The type specimen has long but relatively slender limb bones.
There exists a very incomplete fossil record of "Staurikosaurus", consisting of most of the spine, the legs and the large lower jaw. However, dating from such an early period in the dinosaurs' history and being otherwise so primitive, most of "Staurikosaurus"' other features as being primitive also can be reconstructed. For example, "Staurikosaurus" is usually depicted with five toes and five fingers—very simple features of an unspecialized dinosaur. However, since the skeletal structure of the legs is known, it can be seen that "Staurikosaurus" was a quick runner for its size. It also had just two vertebrae joining the pelvis to the spine, a distinctly primitive condition.
The available teeth for "Staurikosaurus" bear a morphology that strongly suggests a carnivorous diet. The teeth are all serrated, laterally compressed, and caudally curved (i.e. the top of each tooth is curved back toward the throat). This dentition suggests that "Staurikosaurus" could catch and hold prey, as well as slice and tear flesh to aid in mechanical digestion.
The tail of "Staurikosaurus" was relatively long (with more than 40 vertebrae) compared to the rest of its body and was held straight and off the ground as it ran. The rear part of "Staurikosaurus"s tail is stiffened by features of the tail vertebrae. Ostrom (1969a) considered this adaptation to serve as a dynamic stabilizer facilitating the animal's leaping and running.
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 Sues (1990), "Staurikosaurus" can be distinguished based on the following 14 features: (i) a mandible almost as long as the femur, suggesting a proportionately large head; (ii) a fairly deep but thin dentary with 13 to 14 teeth and with a well-developed retroarticular process; (iii) a vertebral column with 9 to 10 cervical, 15 dorsal, 2 sacral, and more than 40 caudal vertebrae. "Staurikosaurus" is considered to be more primitive than any other dinosaur because only two sacral vertebrae are present; (iv) an elongated 3rd, 4th, and 5th cervical vertebrae, which represents a primitive condition; (v) cranial cervical vertebrae that lack epipophyses; (vi) the absence of accessory intervertebral articulations; (vii) a slender scapular blade that is not expanded proximally; (viii) a large and plate-like coracoid; (ix) a humerus featuring a prominent deltopectoral crest (represents a primitive condition)as well having distinctly expanded articular ends; (x) an ilium with an extensively developed medial wall of a semiperforate acetabulum (like "Herrerasaurus", but unlike any other dinosaur); (xi) a long pubis, two-thirds the length of the femur; (xii) hollow limb bones that feature fairly thick walls; (xiii) a robust femur with an S-shaped shaft: and (xiv) a tibia and fibula slightly longer than the femur. Novas (1993) added that "Staurikosaurus" is distinguished from other dinosaurs based on the presence of a distal bevel on anterior margin of its pubis. Langer and Benton (2006) noted that "Staurikosaurus" can be distinguished based on the anterior trochanter being reduced to a scar. Bittencourt and Kellner (2009) also noted that the proximal fibula has a medial sulcus, which is unique to "Staurikosaurus pricei."
Discovery and occurrence.
"Staurikosaurus" means "Southern Cross" (after the star constellation visible from the Southern Hemisphere) and "Lizard" (from the Greek work "saurus" meaning lizard), thus "Southern Cross Lizard." The species name "pricei" is in the honor of Colbert's fellow paleontologist Llewellyn Ivor Price.
The first known specimen of "Staurikosaurus" was recovered from the Paleontological Site Jazigo Cinco of the Santa Maria Formation, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. "Staurikosaurus" was found in mid-Carnian sediments. The genus name refers to the star constellation "The Southern Cross", pictured in the coat of arms of Brazil and only visible in the Southern Hemisphere—when "Staurikosaurus" was described in 1970, it was unusual to find dinosaurs in the Southern Hemisphere. The specific name honors the Brazilian paleontologist Llewellyn Ivor Price, who discovered it in 1936. It was described by Edwin Harris Colbert, working at the American Museum of Natural History. The rarity of "Staurikosaurus" remains may be a result of it being uncommon while alive, or because it lived in an environment like a forest, where fossils rarely form. Nonetheless, Garcia et al. (2019) referred the holotype of "Teyuwasu barberenai" as a second specimen of "Staurikosaurus pricei" (see Classification).
Classification.
Later research by Sues et al. (2011) supports that "Staurikosaurus" and the related genus "Herrerasaurus" are theropods and evolved after the sauropod line had split from the Theropoda. Mortimer points out that Benedetto (1973) and Galton (1985) were the first to recognize that "Staurikosaurus" and "Herrerasaurus "were more closely related to each other than to sauropodomorphs or avepods, placing them both in the Herrerasauridae and Herrerasauria. "Staurikosaurus" differs from "Herrerasaurus" because of its considerably smaller size (femur length of vs. ). Sereno et al. (1993) concluded that "Staurikosaurus" was not a theropod and considered it a basal saurischian outside Theropoda and Sauropodomorpha."Staurikosaurus" was originally incorrectly assigned by Colbert to Palaeosauriscidae, a defunct family based largely on "Efraasia", a prosauropod dinosaur. All major phylogenetic analyses since 1994 have assigned "Staurikosaurus" to the clade Herrerasauridae, which is the current scientific consensus on classification of this genus. Bittencourt and Kellner (2009) stated that the phylogenetic position of "Staurikosaurus" is constrained by its close relationship with "Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis", which is more complete and well known. Below is a cladogram based on the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Sues et al. in 2011, showing the relationships of "Staurikosaurus":
Related genera.
"Staurikosaurus" was placed in the clade Herrerasauridae by Benedetto in 1973. Herrerasauridae also includes "Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis" and "Eoraptor lunensis", both small predatory animals that were either dinosaurs or precursors to dinosaurs. These three dinosaurs lived during the Carnian stage of the Triassic period. Some phylogenetic analyses excluded "Eoraptor" from the Herrerasauridae. Phylogenetic analysis by Sues, Nesbitt, Berman and Henrici, in 2011, exclude "Eoraptor", and include "Chindesaurus" along with "Herrerasaurus" as more derived than "Staurikosaurus". "Sanjuansaurus" was assigned to Herrerasauridae by Alcober and Martínez (2010). Sues (1990) assigned Ischisaurus to Herrerasauridae. Other proposed members of the clade have included "Sanjuansaurus" from the same Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina as "Herrerasaurus", and possibly "Caseosaurus" from the Dockum Formation of Texas, although the relationships of these animals are not fully understood, and not all paleontologists agree. Alcober and Martinez (2010) concluded that "Staurikosaurus" and "Sanjuansaurus" are closely related based on similarities in their pubis and tibia.
Synonyms.
The controversial dinosauriform "Teyuwasu barberenai" was recently considered a synonym of "Staurikosaurus pricei". Both taxa are known from single incomplete and somewhat poorly preserved specimens, therefore the former holotype specimen of "Teyuwasu" would be the second specimen ascribed to "Staurikosaurus" within almost 50 years of its naming. The synonymy was based on a combination of five osteological features that are only present in both specimens among Triassic early dinosauriforms: (i) femur without a trochanteric shelf; (ii) symmetric fourth trochanter of the femur; (iii) crista tibiofibularis poorly separated from the lateral condyle at the distal end of the femur; (iv) posterolateral flange of the distal end of the tibia does not exceeds the lateral margin of the bone; (v) and rounded distal end of the tibia.
The synonymy is commented in two subsequent papers, which cast doubt in the association of "Teyuwasu" with "Staurikosaurus". In the first paper, the authors only mention that the holotype of "Teyuwasu" is not well preserved, and thus cannot be attributed to "Staurikosaurus". In the second, the authors argue that several of the five character states cited to unite the taxa are present in immature specimens of other dinosauriforms. However, the combination (that is, the simultaneous presence) of the five characters listed by Garcia et al. is not present in any of the aforementioned dinosauriforms, and therefore remains unique between ""Teyuwasu" and "Staurikosaurus".
Therefore, further investigations are needed in order to wheter confirm or not the synonymy between "Teyuwasu barberenai"" and "Staurikosaurus pricei".
Paleobiology.
Feeding.
"Staurikosaurus" was a small but active bipedal predator, that preyed on small and medium-sized terrestrial vertebrates such as cynodonts, rhynchosaurs, and herbivorous synapsids. The mandible of "Staurikosaurus" suggests that a sliding joint in the jaw allowed it to move backwards and forwards, as well as up and down. However, some authors questioned the presence of an intramandibular joint in "Staurikosaurus", due to the poor preservation of the holotype. Smaller prey could be worked backwards towards "Staurikosaurus"s throat, aided along by its small, backwards-curving teeth. This feature was common in theropods of its time, but would disappear in later theropods.
Paleoecology.
During the Late Triassic dinosaurs played only a minor role in terrestrial life; a fact that would change by the Early Jurassic. "Staurikosaurus" coexisted with large rauisuchian archosaurs like "Saurosuchus", which were the top carnivores in their ecosystem "Staurikosaurus"s paleocommunity included medium- to large-sized herbivorous rhynchosaurs and dicynodonts. Medium-sized omnivorous aetosaurs and cynodonts were also present. Dinosaurs were represented by the Herrerasaurids, which include "Staurikosaurus", and the basal sauropodomorph "Saturnalia". The contemporaneous occurrence of basal theropods "Staurikosaurus", "Herrerasaurus", and "Eoraptor" with the ornithischian "Pisanosaurus" suggests that the main carnivorous and herbivorous lineages were established during the middle part of the Carnian stage. A U-Pb (uranium decay) dating found that the Santa Maria Formation dated around 233.23 million years ago, putting it 1.5 million years older than the Ischigualasto Formation, and making the two formations approximately equal as the earliest dinosaur localities.


Saturnalia tupiniquim

Saturnalia is an extinct genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur known from the Late Triassic Santa Maria Formation of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil and possibly the Pebbly Arkose Formation, Zimbabwe.
Discovery and naming.
"Saturnalia" was originally named on the basis of three partial skeletons. The holotype, MCP 3844-PV, a well-preserved semi-articulated postcranial skeleton, was discovered in mid-summer at Sanga da Alemoa, Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, in the geopark of Paleorrota. The two paratypes are MCP 3845-PV, partial skeleton including natural cast of partial mandible with teeth and some postcranial remains, and MCP 3846-PV, partial skeleton including postcranial remains. All specimen were collected in the "Wald-Sanga" (also known as "Sanga do Mato") locality from the Alemoa Member of the Santa Maria Formation (Rosário do Sul Group), dating to the Carnian faunal stage of the early Late Triassic, about 228 million years ago. A partial femur from the Carnian Pebbly Arkose Formation of Zimbabwe has been speculated to belong to the genus. It is one of the oldest true dinosaurs yet found. It probably grew to about 1.5 meters (5 ft) long. A U-Pb (Uranium decay) dating found that the Santa Maria Formation dated around 233.23 million years ago, putting it 1.5 million years older than the Ischigualasto Formation, and making the two formations approximately equal as the earliest dinosaur localities.
"Saturnalia" was first named by Max C. Langer, Fernando Abdala, Martha Richter, Michael J. Benton in 1999 and the type species is "Saturnalia tupiniquim". The generic name is derived from "Saturnalia", Latin for "Carnival", in reference to the discovery of the paratypes during the feasting period. The specific name is derived from Portuguese and Guarani word meaning "native".
Phylogeny.
The primitive nature of "Saturnalia", combined with its mixture of sauropodomorph and theropod characteristics, has made it difficult to classify. Paleontologist Max Cardoso Langer and colleagues, in their 1999 description of the genus, assigned it to the Sauropodomorpha. However, in a 2003 paper, Langer noted that features of its skull and hand were more similar to the theropods, and that "Saturnalia" could at best be considered a member of the sauropodomorph "stem-lineage", rather than a true member of that group.
José Bonaparte and colleagues, in a 2007 study, found "Saturnalia" to be very similar to the primitive saurischian "Guaibasaurus". Bonaparte placed the two in the same family, Guaibasauridae. Like Langer, Bonaparte found that these forms may have been primitive sauropodomorphs, or an assemblage of forms close to the common ancestor of the sauropodomorphs and theropods. Overall, Bonaparte found that both "Saturnalia" and "Guaibasaurus" were more theropod-like than prosauropod-like. However, all more recent cladistic analyses found it to be a very basal sauropodomorph, possibly guaibasaurid, as the family was found to nest in a basal position within Sauropodomorpha.


Cebupithecia

Cebupithecia is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 Ma). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is "C. sarmientoi".
Description.
Fossils of "Cebupithecia" were discovered in the "Monkey Beds" of the Honda Group, that has been dated to the Laventan, about 13.5 Ma. "Cebupithecia" had a dental formula of 2:1:3:3 on the lower jaw. The incisors of this species were procumbant, suggesting a close relation to "Pithecia". and the canines had a stout appearance. The molars were flat with cusps having little contours. "Cebupithecia" had an estimated average body mass of around . "Cebupithecia" had a relatively longer talar neck and a higher, more squared-shaped talar body. In these features, "Cebupithecia" is more like cebines or aotins than pitheciines, but its overall pattern is unlike any living platyrrhine group or any of the known fossils.
Movement.
"Cebupithecia" also exhibits a relatively large medial protuberance which is smoothed, another resemblance to aotins. The significance of these characters is difficult to interpret. "Cebupithecia" may be the most primitive known pitheciine, retaining shared primitive resemblances with aotins and cebines. Alternatively, its unusual morphology could reflect a unique, derived (for pitheciines) locomotor pattern. The talar features which distinguish "Cebupithecia" from other pitheciines indicate that leaping was relatively more frequent, as is also indicated by other postcranial features. The locomotor behavior of "Cebupithecia" has been reconstructed as frequent quadrupedalism and leaping, or more relying on vertical clinging and leaping rather than quadrupedal locomotion, much like members of the extant genus "Pithecia", to which the genus is related.
Later research suggests that "Cebupithecia" may have employed its tail differently than most nonprehensile-tailed platyrrhines living today, behaviors that
possibly involved tail-bracing or twisting during hindlimb (pedal grasping) suspensory behaviors. Such behaviors may serve as a preadaptive model for the full-fledged evolution of below-branch tail suspension and prehensility seen in other New World primates.
Evolution.
The evolutionary split between Pitheciidae, of which "Cebupithecia", and "Callicebus", including "Miocallicebus", also found in the Honda Group, has been placed at 15.2 million years ago.
Habitat.
The Honda Group, and more precisely the "Monkey Beds", are the richest site for fossil primates in South America. It has been argued that the monkeys of the Honda Group were living in habitat that was in contact with the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, and that La Venta itself was probably seasonally dry forest. From the same level as where "Cebupithecia" has been found, also fossils of "Aotus dindensis", "Micodon", "Mohanamico", "Saimiri annectens", "Saimiri fieldsi" and "Stirtonia tatacoensis" have been uncovered.


Loncosaurus

Loncosaurus (meaning uncertain; either Araucanian "chief" or Greek "lance" "lizard") was a highly dubious genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina. The type (and only known) species is "Loncosaurus argentinus", described by the famous Argentinian paleontologist Florentino Ameghino, but is considered a dubious name. Details on this animal are often contradictory, befitting a genus that was long confused for a theropod.
Teeth attributed to "cf." "Carnosaurus" may have actually belonged to "Loncosaurus".
History.
The holotype femur and tooth were discovered by Carlos Ameghino, Florentino's brother, between 1887 and 1898.
Ameghino named this dinosaur in 1899 from a proximal femur (MACN-1629) and tooth found near Rio Sehuen, Santa Cruz, in the Cardiel Formation (Upper Cretaceous).
Either way, he thought the remains belonged to a "megalosaurid" dinosaur, a carnivore, which Friedrich von Huene agreed with. Upon further review, von Zittel assigned it to the Coeluridae, recognized today as a "wastebasket taxon" for small carnivorous dinosaurs. The carnivore tooth helped this misidentification take hold.
It was ignored for decades until Ralph Molnar reassessed it. He found that the tooth did not belong to the same animal as the femur and removed it from the type, and suggested that the femur belonged to a hypsilophodont or turtle. Professional opinion has not changed much since then, although based on size, it appears more likely to be an iguanodont than a hypsilophodont. Reviews either put it at Ornithopoda "incertae sedis" or Iguanodontia. Oddly, a semipopular reference reassigned it to "Genyodectes" without comment, a view which has not been followed since.
Paleobiology.
Coria estimates the size of the "Loncosaurus" type individual at about 5 m (16.4 feet) long. As a small to medium-sized ornithopod, it would have been an agile bipedal herbivore.


Wilhelm Kattwinkel

William Kattwinkel (27 March 1866, Kierspe – 21 January 1935, Partenkirchen) was a German neurologist and paleontologist. He was particularly known for the discovery of the fossil deposit in the Olduvai Gorge, which in the following years delivered many findings of hominins.
Life.
The son of the merchant William Kattwinkel (died 1877) and Henriette Kattwinkel, born Bancklotz (1833–1898) studied science in Bonn and Strasbourg, from 1894, medicine in Bonn, Königsberg and Erlangen. He received his Ph.D. in 1892 and obtained an MD in 1894 in Munich. In 1895 he married in Schwelm Martha (born 1872), daughter of the factory owner Julius Schmidt.
After his military service Kattwinkel was a volunteer assistant to Hugo von Ziemssen and a guest student from 1900 to 1905 at Hôpital Salpêtrière and the Bicêtre in Paris. In 1902 he qualified as a professor in Munich, and in 1909 was appointed Associate Professor of Neurology and gained a passing knowledge of paleontology, especially in the German Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory from Karl Alfred von Zittel and Johannes Ranke.
From 1910-1911 Kattwinkel, with his wife, undertook a privately funded research trip to German East Africa to investigate sleeping sickness In 1911 he discovered on the southeastern edge of today's Serengeti National Park a rich fossil-finding site that he named Olduvai Gorge after the Maasai word Oldupai for the sisal "Sansevieria ehrenbergii" and "Sansevieria suffruticosa" of the area. His research was subsequently supported by a further expedition of the Geological Institute of Munich and Berlin led by Ernst Freiherr Stromer von Reichenbach (Munich), August Rothpletz (1853-1918, Munich) and Wilhelm von Branca (Berlin). In 1913, under the direction of geologist Hans Reck, the expedition found the first fossils of hominins. This was followed by a further expedition in 1914 funded by Kattwinkel himself. By the outbreak of World War I, the previously described expedition of WB Sattler and G. Schulze were interned. Kattwinkel withdrew his funding and never visited the Olduvai Gorge again.
Kattwinkel launched and ran a military hospital until 1918. In the 1920s, he took up work as a doctor at "Wiggers Sanatorium" in Partenkirchen. He then resumed teaching in Munich at Ludwig Maximilian University, until the winter semester of 1934/35, as associate professor of internal medicine and neurology.
Trivia.
Louis Leakey, who was especially known for his discoveries in the Olduvai Gorge, falsely labeled William Kattwinkel as a "butterfly collector" who accidentally unearthed the fossils deposit. His misrepresentation was taken up in subsequent literature.


Miadanasuchus

Miadanasuchus is an extinct genus of trematochampsid which existed in the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar during the late Cretaceous period (Campanian age). It was first named by Erin L. Rasmusson Simons and Gregory A. Buckley in 2009 and the type species is "Miadanasuchus oblita".


Mocho-Choshuenco

Mocho-Choshuenco ( ) is a glacier covered compound stratovolcano in the Andes of Los Ríos Region, Chile. It is made of the twin volcanoes Choshuenco in the northwest and the Mocho in the southeast. The highest parts of the volcano are part of the Mocho-Choshuenco National Reserve while the eastern slopes are partly inside the Huilo-Huilo Natural Reserve.
Choshuenco, located on the northwest rim of the 4 km wide caldera, is of late glacial age. It has a heavily eroded crater and is currently dormant. Mocho is an andesitic-dacitic volcano placed above the caldera. Some parasitic craters and cinder cones are located on the southwest and northeast flanks of the stratovolcano. Mocho has its earliest certainly recorded eruption in 1759, older eruptions reported are uncertain due to the usage of different names and inexact maps.
The northern foothills of Mocho-Choshuenco are surrounded by an arc of rivers and lakes formed by Fui, Enco and Llanquihue River, and Pirihueico, Panguipulli and Riñihue Lakes. The Fui River has high degree of underground infiltration, such that in some years the Huilo-Huilo Falls may dry out completely. As consequence of this infiltration a large aquifer is situated beneath Mocho-Choshuenco. The southern and eastern slopes drain to Pillanleufú River which flows south along the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault to Maihue Lake.
Name.
The two volcanoes have had several historical names such as Valdivia, used by Juan Ignacio Molina in 1795, and Panguipulli and Lajara, which Pedro Amadeo Pissis identified in 1875 as Choshuenco and Mocho respectively because only Choshuenco is visible from Panguipulli Lake. Other historical spellings and names for the volcanoes include Choshuenco-Pillán, Rauco, Penguipulli, Reñihue and Riñihue.
The current name for the volcano is composed of the Spanish word "mocho" and the native Mapudungun word "choshuenco" (pronounced "choswenko"). "Mocho" means short cut and refers to the headless or edgeless shape of Mocho's volcanic cone. The word "choshuenco" may be a corruption of the "chodhuen" and "co" which means yellow earth and water respectively. Another possible etymology is "chod-hue" and "co" which would mean place where there is water to dye yellow.
Eruptions.
Very little is known about eruptions before the Holocene epoch. This is explained by the great extent of the Patagonian Ice Sheet that covered most of the southern Andes and caught volcanic material such as ash and pyroclast. Glaciers of the ice sheet also reworked previously deposited layers.
Some 10,300 years ago Choshuenco produced the Neltume Pumice during a plinian eruption.
The earliest historical accounts of eruptions from the Mocho-Choshuenco complex may be those in Alonso de Ovalle's map "Tabula Geographica Regni Chile" from 1646. Here Mocho-Choshuenco may be one of the mountains drawn as erupting volcanoes east of Valdivia. In Juan Ignacio Molina's map from 1795 Mocho-choshuenco appears erupting under the name of Volcán de Valdivia, but eruption shown in this map is probably that of 1759.
On November 1, of 1864 the Chaiquemahuida cinder cone erupted, the eruption eventually ended 1–3 days later. This explosive eruption originated from a vent on the southwestern flank of Mocho's edifice and produced pyroclastic flows. According to a missionary from Quinchilca, who was interviewed by Vidal Gormaz in 1869, a strong noise followed by an earthquake was felt during one of the first days of November 1864.
The last reported eruption, is supposed to have occurred on June 16, 1936. Little is known about this event apart from the occurrence of mudflows and lahars, this have led volcanologists to consider this eruption report as a false report just like in the case of the supposed 1906 Lanín eruption.
Glaciers.
The uppermost part of Mocho-Choshuenco is covered by an ice cap that surrounds the volcanic cone of Mocho and some flanks of Choshuenco. By 2003 the ice cap had shrunk in area by a total of 40% of its area of 1976. The largest retreat by area occurred on Choshuenco Glacier in the northwest. Mocho Glacier runs from Mocho's cone to the southeast and is the largest glacier of the volcano with its 5.1 km2 followed by Choshuenco Glacier (2 km2).