Pomerape

Pomerape is a stratovolcano lying on the border of northern Chile and Bolivia (Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality). It is part of the Payachata complex of volcanoes, together with Parinacota Volcano to the south. The name "Payachata" means "twins" and refers to their appearance. It hosts glaciers down to elevations of , lower on the northern slope.
Pomerape is a complex of lava domes, accompanied by lava flows which were emplaced atop of the domes. It was active about 200,000 years ago. The lava domes formed first and were later buried by the actual volcanic cone, which unlike the rhyolitic-dacitic domes is formed by hornblende andesite. The "Chungará Andesites" and lava dome complex of Parinacota were laid down at this time. Pomerape is associated with an adventive vent that has erupted mafic magmas. The main cone was last active 106,000 +- 7,000 years ago, the adventive vent is dated to 205,000 ± 24,000 years ago.
Climbing the volcano is alpine grade PD by the east ridge. Harder routes exist on the south face, sometimes on 50+ degree snow/rubble slope. For these routes a camp can be established at at the saddle between Parinacota and Pomerape. Depending on the season, the main difficulty can be penitentes (tall ice-blade needles), which make the ascent physically difficult or impossible.


Whitemud Formation

The Whitemud Formation is a geologic formation of Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. it is present through the plains of southern Saskatchewan, southeastern Alberta and south-central Alberta. Named by N.B. Davis in 1918, the formation is characterized by white kaolinitic clay and is a source of high-quality refractory clay. The type locality has been designated as Dempster's clay pit northwest of Eastend, Saskatchewan.
Although fossils are generally lacking in the Whitemud Formation, in southern Saskatchewan the Whitemud contains coprolites (fossilized feces) and fossilized intestines of fish.
Lithology.
In most areas the formation can be subdivided into three units:
In southwestern Alberta around the Red Deer and Oldman Rivers, the middle carbonaceous shale unit is absent and the formation consists of white-weathering, cross-bedded kaolinitic sandstones interbedded with white- to cream-weathering silty and sandy clay.
Environment of Deposition.
Sedimentology and fossils indicate that the Whitemud sediments accumulated in river channels, low-gradient streams, and shallow lakes and ponds on a low-lying coastal plain. Its kaolinite was produced by intense chemical weathering that altered the original feldspar content to kaolinite during and after deposition.
Economic resources.
Kaolinite-rich clays have been quarried from the Whitemud Formation since before 1920 and are used in the manufacture of stoneware products ranging from pottery to sewer pipes.
Paleontology.
Plant fossils and palynomorphs found in the carbonaceous shales indicate the presence of aquatic plants such as water lilies, as well as trees and shrubs related to figs, hickories and redwoods.
Coprolites provide the only evidence of vertebrates. In southern Saskatchewan the formation contains scattered coprolites that represent feces of fish, most probably sturgeons. The feces have been preserved due to the replacement of the original fecal material by goethite, siderite and other iron minerals. They typically range in length from about 2 to 10 cm (1 to 4 in), although specimens as long as 23 cm (9 in) have been reported. A variety of coiled and uncoiled morphologies have been described, and some spiral forms with intricate systems of internal folds are thought to represent fossilized intestines containing feces that were unexpelled when the fishes died.
Relationship to Other Units.
The Whitemud Formation is part of the Edmonton Group. It rests conformably on the Eastend Formation in Saskatchewan and in the Cypress Hills area; on the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in the Drumheller area; and on the St. Mary River Formation in the Oldman River area. In southeastern Saskatchewan it is unconformably overlain by the Frenchman Formation; and in all other areas it is conformably overlain by the Battle Formation.


Trachelosaurus

Trachelosaurus is an extinct genus of lizard-like early archosauromorph reptiles from the Protorosauria within the monotypic family Trachelosauridae that was originally described as a dinosaur until it was redescribed in 1988 by Robert L. Carroll. The type species, T. fischeri, was described by F. Broili & E. Fischer in 1917 based on remains found in the Solling Formation (Buntsandstein), Bernburg, Germany.


Palaeocarpilius

Palaeocarpilius is an extinct genus of crabs belonging to the family Carpiliidae. The type species of this genus is "Palaeocarpilius macrocheilus".
These epifaunal carnivores lived in the Eocene and the Oligocene, from 48.6 to 28.4 Ma.
Distribution.
Fossils of this genus have been found in the Eocene of Italy and in the Oligocene of India, Libya and United States.


Azilal Formation

The Azilal Formation, also known as Toundute Continental Series and Wazzant Formation, is a geological unit in the Azilal & Ouarzazate provinces of the High Atlas of Morocco, that cover the early Toarcian to early Aalenian stages of the Jurassic Period. It is a terrestrial deposit which overlies marine dolomites of equivalent age to the Budoš Limestone of Montenegro or the Marne di Monte Serrone of Italy. Dinosaur remains, such the sauropod "Tazoudasaurus" and the basal ceratosaur "Berberosaurus" are known from the unit, along with several undescribed genera. The Units inside the group have been considered individual on the past, being a division of the so-called "Couches rouges", and subdivided by a supposed geological scale. The strata of the group extends towards the Central High Atlas, covering different anticlines, and topographic accidents along the range of the Mountains. Although new studies have suggested that the strata is coeval in age, and should be referred to as a unique unit. The Group is believed to have been a mostly deltaic, and river channels filled a succession of seashore and inland environments, covering the late Liassic coast of modern northern Africa. Based on observed halokinetic strata, the Tazoult Ridge (that recovers part of the Tafraout Formation) evolved as a Salt Wall forming a 20 km long NE-SW trending structural and sedimentary high for at least 20 million years, between Pliensbachian-Bajocian periods. This emerged small landmass generated a great local diapir, with continuous Diapirism until the end of the Aalenian.
Main Azilal Strata.
The Azilal Formation is the main sedimentary unit inside the Group. It was the first named unit, and one of the most studied since the 1980s. It consists mostly on a succession of detritic rocks with Red Marls, deposited on an alluvial environment occasionally interrupted by shallow marine incursions, a Mudflat setting. The lithology of the unit recovers also a Claystone-dominated interval, incised by metric dolomitized beds of Mudstones, Peloid-rich Packstones, Ooid-rich Grainstones, and Polymictic Conglomerates, all rich in Terrestrial plant debris (Mostly Ferns debris), with faunal content very poor and mostly dominated by microbial facies. The Jbel El Abbadine zone provides the biggest afloration of the parts of a Calcareous massif, with strata of the Late Lias. Mostly of this strata is recovered inside the Azilal Formation, with a succession of seashore and inland deposits. Several seismic events located on the Tethian realm where the main genesis of the Tectonic activity locally, with emerged strata from the Paleozoic, that was eroded due to the local conditions. Along with the Wazzant Formation, the two units and Azilal characterize the outer borders of the Atlas Gulf during the Toarcian-Aalenian. The Formations are a connected continuation, with the presence of abundant marine and Brackish common material, along with the fluvial facies of the Wazzant formation. On the disposition of the facies from north to south and from west to east, a lateral passage shows from coastal to fluvial sedimentary deposition, with foreshore facies and beach facies. The Azilal Formation was deposited on an environment more influenced by marine sedimentation than the Wazzant Formation. Along the main Toarcian strata, there is a predominantly presence of basinal facies, dominant and quite uniform, leading to know a possible deposition controlled by thermal subsidence, generating a deposit of more than 5000 m of marls and calci-Turbidites accumulated until the end of Bajocian. Part of the marine deposits of the Azilal Formation are a continuation of the common Lithiotid-Coral reef deposits from the Toarcian Central High Atlas. Those reef-related facies start mostly on upper Pliensbachian-lower Toarcian boundary, and are commonly filled with Lithioperna, Cochlearites, and specially Phaceloidea corals that built reefal Framestones extended on lateral Biostromes. The Azilal Formation coralline strata is nearly unexistent, compared with other formations of the High Atlas, showing a decreasing on these kinds of habitats as the Aalenian period started. The aftermath of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event is also highly present on the marine strata of the formation, with the so-called Toksine Section, a succession of near shore marine strata disposed along the Toarcian boundary, where its last 40 m belong to the lower part of the Azilal Formation and are composed of dolomitized Mudstones and ooidal Grainstones, that show a slowly recovering a low-depth nearshore marine environment after in the Pliensbachian-Toarcian boundary a dramatic Tethys-wide collapse of the Neritic Carbonate System happened. There is also a local record of a Cold Snap, where the Akenzoud section, that has 182 section meters on the Azilal Formation, and shows that after cold event that affect the local waters, related to the Karoo & the Atlantic Rift volcanism the present Brachiopods, based on their preserved oxygen isotope data show that warm seawater temperatures re-established during the early Late Toarcian. The study of this section also revealed that the beach to nearshore deposits of the formation were part of a storm-dominated platform. On the related strata there is a wide presence of storm events, as after the Toarcian AE and the rising of the temperatures on the late Toarcian the presence of ubiquitous storm deposits appear correlated to the warming of sea-surface temperatures, pointing to an intensification of tropical cyclones during the T-OAE and other warmer periods on the Toarcian.
Geology.
The Central High Atlas of Morocco is part of a double‐vergent mountain belt that originated due to Cenozoic shortening and inversion of a rift that developed between the Triassic‐Jurassic periods. The structure of the High Atlas can be defined by two main groups of faults, thrust and oblique‐slip faults, that occur from W‐E to NE‐SW. The presence of different fault systems also suggests partitioning of deformation under a transpressive regime. The presence of tectonic inversion in the Atlas Mountains has shown that are a intracontinental mountain belts that appeared from the uplift of pre-existing rift systems, where here is represented by a major rift system (~2000 km) originated on the Mesozoic, that was later uplifted and inverted in the Cenozoic. The impact and convergence movements of the African-Iberian plates after the Mesozoic end with an inversion of the previous deposited strata, transporting the sediments of that and forming new low angle thrusts. The High Atlas develops in a parallel way to the Paleozoic Anti‐Atlas belt, disposed across the south and rises up to 2.5 km. The High Atlas and the Anti-Atlas are linked at the same time with the latter Miocene‐Pliocene Siroua Volcanic Field and the Saghro Massif volcanic field. Related with the Cenozoic Volcanic fields, the Souss Basin appears at the west, oriented towards the Atlantic Ocean, and the Ouarzazate Basin. While across the southern basins the Precambrian and Paleozoic are directly overlain by Cretaceous strata, here Triassic sandstone and evaporite extends being covered by Lower to Middle Jurassic strata composed mostly by claystone. Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous strata are confined within basins controlled by the extensional structures of the Mesozoic rift. The Jurassic basins can be grouped into two main provinces located on either side of an emerged Massif Ancien: west, where the basin was open to the Early Atlantic, being related to its passive margin, and east with several epicontinental troughs connected to the Tethys Ocean. Across the Toarcian-Bajocian strata, there was a great deposition of marine shales as marls, calciturbidites and reefal limestones, that where accumulated in the Central High Atlas, while on the west margin around the Massif Ancien terrestrial, specially fluvial sedimentation dominated. The present Red Beds of Azilal indicate various marine transgressions across the Toarcian-Aalenian boundary, after ending its sedimentation on the Bathonian. As that, Jurassic sediments are present of the central-southern basins, where they are up to 10 km thick carbonates, overlaid with minor Cretaceous and Paleogene deposits. Jurassic strata is usually absent beyond the southern and northern parts of the Atlas ranges. Along the Cretaceous strata this sediments had been exposed as part of an expansive body that we probably covered the entire Atlas domain, overlapping its margins, such as the Saharan Platform, the Anti‐Atlas and the Atlas Meseta, being part of a post-rift setting. That would implicate a similar succession of the Jurassic basins in the American Atlantic margin, with a marked postrift unconformity close to the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. Triassic and Jurassic synrift-related deposits are present especially on the external region of the Orogenic belt of the High Altas and nearly absent in the axial region, appearing in minor amounts within confined grabens. A initial tectonic event on the Triassic-Jurassic boundary led to the formation of the Tigrinine-Taabast pull-apart basin. Following this event a major extensional tectonic activity (derived from the second Pangea rifting) occurred towards the end of the Pliensbachian and beginning of the Toarcian. This second major tectonic event developed towards the E-W- to NE-SW, reactivating trending normal faults, what led to the drowning of the Lower Liassic carbonate platform and the predominance of marls during the Middle Liassic to Toarcian.
Rift Vulcanism.
Along the High Atlas Triassic-Jurassic boundary, and until the Bathonian stage of the Middle jurassis, there is a record on vulcanism locally on the succession of different local formations, such as the own Azilal Formation and other, as the underlying Argane Formation. Mostly of the north-african Rhaetian-Bathonian volcanic events are related to the open of the Atlantic Ocean, with parallel records found on the North American coast and other zones such as Mexico. On some locations, such as Haute Moulouya, it is even possible to delimitate the transitions between the several Volcanic events that happened locally along the post Triassic-Jurassic boundary (Belonging to the Tizi-n-Ghachou Formation). Mostly of the effects of the volcanism occur on the main emerged terrestrial deposits, where some of the nearshore strata was turned down du to tectonics, and hit after by volcanic eruptions of different grades, leading different kinds of volcanic strata.
The origin of the Volcanism is related with the Geography of the zone. On the Hettangian-Sinemurian there was a post-rift carbonate platform developed in the Atlas area that emerged older marine strata. On the Middle Toarcian, subsiding basins appeared which isolated the Mesetas and Precambrian and Paleozoic massifs. Alkaline magmas overflowed the created Central High Atlas basin. This basins were fault-bounded basins, with variations of the sedimentary thicknesses and intra-formational breccias related to major blocks. The Magmatic Province of the Atlas influenced the deposition of the main strata, where the Terrestrial settings of some Formations (Including Azilal) was disposed over a series of cut extensional faults depicting a mosaic of horsts and grabens oriented to the East, North-East and East-West, with the Middle Atlas among the main areas of subsidence. The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province continue to erupt around the Pliensbachian–Toarcian event ∼183 Ma ago, overlapping the eruption of the Karoo–Ferrar igneous province. Middle-Late Toarcian Vulcanism was present but on smaller extension, as prove the Toundoute Continental Series Member.
Tafraout Formation.
The Tafraout Formation recovers a marginal marine to deltaic setting, with the presence of calcareous nodules, alternated along Marnes with bioclasts, and abundant ferruguinaceous material. The formation shows tides to the early Mesozoic Central Atlas rift, composed of Paleozoic rocks which provided the majority of the clasts present on the layers. A mostly marine margin recovers transgressions present on the Middle Toarcian on the basin, with accumulation of limestone with Lamellibranchians, that extends to the limit with the lowersmost Aalenian, along diverse sectors inside the Atlas Domain. The formation has an upper part with Lithiotid-dominated limestones, filled with the presence of corals, brachiopods and ooids. Tafraout Formation sleeps over mostly Paleozoic strata, with granite and granodiorites, as well tectonic traces of Devonian volcanic activity. In the Late Early Jurassic, the zone was part of a coastal Setting, with influence of fluvial facies at the north. Sinemurian deposition from older units was tectonically affected due to seismic activity on the Middle Toarcian, leading to a vertical stratification on some locations. The so-called Aït Bou Guemmez Platform emerged on the Atlas Gulf around the Lower Toarcian, creating a small island ecosystem, that begin to deposit marine facies on the lower part of the formation, being one of the major tectonic accidents locally. A series of sea transgressions recorded from the older Sinemurian to Aalenian strata show that various Island ecosystems appeared along the coast of the Goluf, implying changes on the sedimentation. The warm climate of the Toarcian led to atmospheric changes, manifested on the Formation with depositions caused by tropical cyclone action, that decreased towards the late Toarcian Deposits. The Trafraout Formation also recovers data from the post Toarcian Anoxic events on the Morocco Basin, with changes on the carbonate reserves on the lower layers, where hemipelagic marls suggest deposition after a change of the carbon cycle.
Toundoute Continental Series.
The Toundoute Continental Series lithology is divided into 5 units from D to H, (A-C represent the units of the underlying marine dolomite, with C representing a transition to terrestrial environment). The Toundoute sector recovers only the Middle to Late Toarcian, with an atypical paleogeographic element, located on the route of the South Atlas Accident, with several changes on the structure leading to show the instability of the deposit area. The formation shows the transition from carbonates to a series of continental detrital sediments, with palynomorphs and fossils. Aalenian deposits recover the uppermost part near the Dadès valley, without any upper sediment present on the Main Toundoute Strata. The presence of volcanic sedimentation is one of the most important aspects on the Toundoute strata. The fragments can come from a reworking of Triassic basalt flows, with most of the products homogeneous, probably of trachyandesitic nature. The deposits are young, probably related to the magmatism of the Middle Jurassic, with inflows probably contemporary with and related to eruptions, as in the case of many current volcanoes, in the form of dense flows. The tectonic processes on the high Atlas probably lead to most of the volcanic manifestations locally.
Stratigraphy.
The formation is subdivided on several stratigraphic levels, starting with the so-called facies of term A, composed by Gypsum and Salt, from Triassic age, supported by the presence of Volcanic Intercalations of basalt. Above that, there are carbonates of term B alternated at the first with Dolomites, Pelites and Limestones along with Marly-Silt crimes with plant debris, which had regular influence of a marine environment. That is proved by the presence of ooids, oncoliths, debris of molluscs and benthic foraminifers, being dissolved and recrystallized as sparite. The third level shows a transition between marine and continental deposits, through carbonate palustrine levels and Caliche horizons, being continental layers superimposed in stratigraphic continuity over the marine carbonates of the lower Lias (Sinemurian-Hettangian). Those continental layers are rich in Coarse Volcano-detrital episodes as result of a sedimentary process of high sedimentation rates, where the strata, including the deposit with Dinosaur fossils, where deposited on a short time interval, where Middle Jurassic Bajocian-Bathonian carbonate levels, frequent within the Atlas domain, do not exist not in Toundoute. The sedimentation on the Toundoute member have some characteristics, such as lenticular channels with Sieve-Conglomerate of ~5 m thick (≤ 5m) for visible decametric, composed of several materials, like Volcanic products, as blocks of volcanic rocks such as sands made of Feldspars, black ferruginous grains from the surface of volcanic rocks on dry periods, siliceous green fragments from post-eruption processes (veins, microgeodes, nippled concretions), Limestone debris with traces of roots and cracks, where in some parts traces dark fine bushy algae filaments are still visible, similar to the genus Girvanella blue-green algae. Other materials include schist and Vein Quartz, without bone and wood debris with a good cellular structure. The Floodplain-like deposits are divided in two parts, with hard Limestone nodules, pink or brick and very irregular, typical of profiles of Calcimorph Soils formed on climates with pronounced dry phases. Those nodules had a visible reorganization in the channels, as a result of erosion of the alluvial plain by the fluvial network. Finally there are present interlays of fine sandstone often laminated that mark the Flood facies from channels in period of flood, being composed only by plagioclase Feldspars and in a lesser proportion of orthoclases, along with small ferruginous grains or fine silts of quartz.
There is documentation of warm climatic conditions locally, that alternating wet and dry periods, as is seen on the other formations gave rise to soils with differentiated limestone profiles, such as Pedogenetic Nodules or Caliche. The accumulation in the channels from calcimorphic soil profiles shows the presence of an active erosion on soils with probably sparse vegetation.
Wazzant Formation.
The Wazzant Formation recovers a variation on the sedimentary process observed on the older Azmerai Formation. It is characterized by the presence of abundant Quartz sediments, along with the presence of red clay. Along the meridional border of the Guettioua Formation, on the same stratigraphic tendence is developed a red Sandstone-Pelitic deposition, that changes from Quartzo-Conglomerates to grains and fragments of Quartz, disposed with liassic calcareous strata. is equivalent to the main Azilal "Marnes Chocolat". The main sector occurs near Acfarcid, with an exposure of ~800 m, recovering the most detritic sector. Along this expossure, the Wazzant member appears at the right lateral, along massive calcareous dolomites, over the latest Pliensbachian strata, where the lower Toarcian strata is missing. The Wazzant facies never exceed 50 m, getting its maximum exposure at the north of the Guettioua Formation. The facies of the formation follow a deposition typical of Alluvial Plains. It also recovers a succession of reddish brown tones predominantly terrigenous: Conglomerates, sandstone, clays related to paleosoils, along with dolomitized limestone. The Wazzant formation has a notorious proximal character compared to the Azilal formation. These deposits fill in many small tear pools in the Atlas Central. Only its the stratigraphic framing allows to locate the formation in the Toarcian interval. The predominantly terrigenous deposits of this formation suggest they were deposited in continental setting, influenced by at least 6 different river channels, that trace its path to the Atlas Gulf. On the Toarcian-Aalenian transgression, the High Atlas domain experienced a long process of extension and rifting, recorded by the presence of marine carbonates and shales, found on the Wazzant Formation Beds. It is related to the formation of the Atlantic Rifting to the west and of the formation of the Tethys Ocean to the north. The fluvial system of the Wazzant formation was led by a bigger river, and several minor freshwater currents, that where probably temporal and linked to rain seasons. The presence of many dwarf lamellibranchs in the south of Azilal, the fine oblique stratifications, the floating plants and imprints of raindrops demonstrate that these two formations are of Aquatic origin, may be lagoonal, with temporary emersions. Several fish fossils have also been found.
Environment.
The Azilal Formation represented diverse settings on the coast of the Toarcian Atlas basins, including continental river-dominated settings, parallic tide-dominated deposits and tidal mudflat shores. The Tafraout Formation on the other hand represented a marginal marine environment, with wave ripples, cross-bedding, the Amphipoda ichnofossil "Arenicolites" isp. and the calcareous algae "Cayeuxia" sp., all deposited on diagenetic mudstone. On Taguendouft the Azilal represent the uppermost formation where desiccation cracks are present, overlying marine deposits, indicating a local sea regression. The Parallic depostis host claystone intervals rich in continental organic matter such as wood debris, but scarce fossil fauna, composed by abundant algae, benthic foraminifera, common oncoids, gasteropods and bivalve bioclasts. At the Lowermost Toarcian on the region the carbonate platform was abruptly replaced by siliciclastic deposits and a rise on the ubiquitous occurrence of plant debris, with alternated nearshore-foreshore deposition settings. Is the overlied by storm-dominated deposits,with depauperate fauna and very common occurrence of plant debris, which along the increase of ooid-rich facies suggest the deposition on a warm humid climatic belt. Towards the Middle Toarcian the carbonate producers recovered locally, with the ooid grainstone replaced by wackestone to packstone beds, where heterotrophic faunal bioclasts increase, such as cephalopods, brachiopods, echinoderms, and gastropods, with occasional coral patch reefs. Parallel to this coastal development, increased continental weathering was measured on the layers, as proven by the increase of the coarse-siliciclastic input into the basin, the increased plat debris and the absence of evaporite-rich interval and semi-arid paleosoils. This intervals increased the nutrient levels locally, as proven by the high amount of Phosphorus along all the Atlas Basin. This siliciclastic beds have abundant metamorphic and igneous rock pebbles, implying that the material must be derived from Paleozoic or Proterozoic, the only ones of that nature on Morocco, that on the Atlas are located at the south in the Anti-Atlas, to the west in the Massif Ancien and Jebilet, and to the north in the Meseta Centrale, all locations that where subaerially exposed during the Jurassic. Concretely, the Anti-Atlas shows tectonic uplift, erosion of the overburden processes, that combined with the concentration of the coarse-siliciclastic material in the western part of the central High Atlas (absent in the eastern), suggests that this zone was the source for the Lower Toarcian weathered sediments, allowing to trace the fluvial channels that developed towards the Azilal Formation. The Azilal formation recovers, as seen on worldwide units an increase of weathering due to the Pl/To and T-OAE events, with increase of the siliciclastic sediment supply and increased dissolved material to the oceans. This occurred along an intensification of tropical storm events on the T-OAE, destroying the older carbonate platform organisms locally. This allowed to set the Azilal Formation environments, that range from a series of continental settings with river influence, increased during the T-AOE with more amounts of flora being washed, to nearshore deposits, parallic an subtidal, subject of storm and tropical storm events, all set on a warm humid climate.
Coeval to this units, the western coast Amsittène Formation shows strong continental weathering, as cuts over the CAMP basalts and the triassic continental Red Beds. It recovers subaerial unconformity, with evidence for fluvial erosion, pedogenesis or karstification, with a transition from flood plain to coastal plain deposits. Is interpreted as alluvial fan to flood plain deposits, being on the Agadir sub-basin, more proximal, composed of braided river, flood plain and alluvial fan deposits, while in Tikki evolves vertically from a flood plain to alluvial fan deposits. The local alluvial system was probably related with activity along an ENE-WSW trending fault, parallel to the major Tizi N'Test fault which can be traced from the Argana Valley to the Northeast of the Imouzzer Anticline (Tikki section displays paleocurrents towards the W-SW), and in the case of the Agadir deposits, from older highs, such as the Western Meseta and the Rehamna. The overliying also coeval Ameskhoud Formation records an strong regression on the south of the Essaouira Basin, turning out to be dominated by fluvial deposits, with a few supratidal on the north. The large Variscan belt remains a potential source of sediments for the Toarcian braided river system in the Essaouira Basin.
Plantae.
Paleobotany of the zone has shown that the layers at the Toundoute Continental Series there is not any major wood or plant macrofossil, although there is abundant infra-centimeter plant debris dispersed in the sediments. This debris is composed mostly probably Leaflets of
Ferns, and also on lesser quantities, Cycadophytas, most of them with preserved epidermis. Palynological analysis did not deliver any palynomorph, but the Plant debris left some Tracheids. On the debris, however, it was possible to isolate many wood debris, that was revealed to had characters such as Homoxylated structure apparently devoid of Parenchymas, with uniform rays, tracheids with uniseriate punctuation of the genus Abies (Abietoideae, on some aspects very similar to the species "Abies koreana") and finally apex spiked type Oculipores vertically oriented, aspects typical from Coniferales, like Abietoideae, Pinaceae or Taxaceae.
Invertebrates.
Ammonoidea.
Nearly identical to the ammonites present on the North-East Morocco, Italy, North-west Europe, the Betic Cordillera of Southern Spain, and Portugal.
Vertebrates.
Fish.
Several scales & teeth of unidentified fish are known from Mizaguène Hill and Acforcid quarry.
Theropoda.
Fooprints attributed to the ichnogenus "Eubrontes" have been found. They're suspected to be left between the Toarcian-Aalenian Boundary.


Hermite Islands

The Hermite Islands () are the islands "Hermite", "Herschel", "Deceit" and "Hornos" as well as the islets "Maxwell", "Jerdán", "Arrecife", "Chanticleer", "Hall", "Deceit (islet)", and "Hasse" at almost the southernmost end of South America. The smallest and southernmost of the major islands is Hornos Island, the location of Cape Horn. The islands are located south of the Wollaston Islands and separated from them by the "Franklin Channel". The islets "Terhalten", "Sesambre", "Evout" and "Barnevelt" are located easterly and are not considered part of the Hermite islands.
The southernmost islands of the American continent are the Diego Ramírez Islands, southwest of Cape Horn. South of all these islands is the Drake Passage.
The southern tip of Deceit island extends southeastwards through a line of sharp-edged rocks known as "Los dientes o garras de Deceit (Deceit teeth or claws)" that end in a rough islet, Islote Deceit. The islands form part of the Cabo de Hornos National Park.
History.
They are named after the Dutch admiral Jacques l'Hermite (1582-1624). Hermite Islands were visited by Charles Darwin at the turn of 1832/1833. Argentina started 1978 the Operation Soberania to seize the islands.


Kandreho Formation

The Kandreho Formation is an Early Jurassic (middle or late Toarcian) geological formation of the Mahajanga Basin of Madagascar. The marly limestones of the formation were deposited in a subtidal lagoonal environment. The formation overlies the "Bouleiceras" and "Spiriferina" beds of the early Toarcian and has been correlated to the Marrat Formation of Saudi Arabia. Fossils of the marine crocodylian "Andrianavoay" (originally classed as a species of "Steneosaurus") as well as bivalves and the ammonite "Nejdia" have been found in the formation. The name Kandreho Formation was proposed by Geiger in 2004.


Rambutyo Island

Rambutyo Island (or Rambutso Island) is one of the Admiralty Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, located at . Politically, Rambutyo Island is part of Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. The population (unknown) is concentrated on the west coast. Villages include Mouklen (pop.500+, close to a defunct plantation) and Lengkau.
Geography.
Rambutyo Island is 88 km2 and is located 50 km SE of Manus Island, part of the Hornos Island Group. It is roughly triangular in shape with a base 16 km in diameter East-West. The centre of the island has a volcanic peak about 230 m high. Offshore lie important reef complexes.
The island was surveyed in 1958 by the Royal Australian Survey Corps.
The vegetation is moist tropical and subtropical forest, with around 3,000mm of rainfall per year. Logging and coconut groves displaced forest at different times. There are endemic species of rats, bats, birds and a cuscus (Spilocuscus kraemeri, Admiralty Island cuscus) across the Admiralty Islands
History.
The island has been populated for thousands of years by farmers and fisherfolk, with strong interchange with and movement between other islands in the Admiralty chain. The population has Melanesian and Micronesian ancestry and patrilineal descent rules operate. Shell money, sourced on islands to the north, was used as a means of exchange.
Sago is the most important local food along with fishing, but rice was traded from the period of colonial rule. Free diving for "beche-de-mer" or sea cucumber generates income.
European discovery of the island took place as part of the 1616 expedition by the Dutch navigators Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, who "traversed Manus, Los Negros,Los Reyes, Pak, Naura, Rambutvo, Baluan, Sauwai, Lou, Tong other small islands".
In 1885 the Admiralty Islands were declared a German Protectorate, administered by the New Guinea Company. German presence ended in 1914. They were governed by Australia until independence in 1975. The Australian presence was small, but introduced health programs, censuses and patrols, dispute adjudication and schooling, leading to greater use of Pidgin and English.
During World War II, the island was occupied by a small contingent of Japanese soldiers. On 3 April 1944, Allied forces led by the U.S. 12th Cavalry Regiment landed on Rambutyo. By 23 April, the forces were withdrawn for mop-up by the native police force.
The anthropologist Margaret Mead, who lived on Manus Island in 1928-29 and 1953, reported a "cargo-cult" movement began on Rambutyo just after WWII, in which people destroyed all their possessions in expectation of a millennial coming. The movement spread to other islands but the "prophet" Wapi was killed when the spirits of the dead never materialized with the "white man's cargo".
The island had copra plantations under private European and Japanese ownership during the period of German and Australian rule. The Japanese trader and entrepreneur Isokichi Komine owned a plantation under German rule, assisted Australian conquest of the islands, but was eventually disenfranchised by Australian anti-Japanese sentiment. Lengendrowa plantation was bought in 1964 to form a cooperative, with 269 people moving from Mouk Island off Baluan. Initial cooperative success was followed by financial collapse, and the plantation was later divided into blocks.


Banksiops

Banksiops is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian in the family Brachyopidae, recovered from Tasmania.
The type species, Blinasaurus townrowi, Cosgriff, 1974, was published as "Banksia townrowi" Warren & Marsicano, 1998 in a revision that erected this genus, a name emended to Banksiops townrowi Warren & Marsicano, 2000 in a subsequent note. The authors Anne Warren and Claudia Marscicano were alerted to another animal, a species of mite, that had used the name to commemorate the acarologist Nathan Banks. The genus name "Banksia", still current for the flowering plants "Banksia" (named for Joseph Banks), was proposed by the palaeontologists Warren and Marsicano for the geologist Max Banks.


Matheronodon

Matheronodon (meaning "Matheron tooth") is a genus of rhabdodontid ornithopod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Grès à Reptiles Formation in France. The genus contains a single species, M. provincialis, which is known from a single maxilla and associated teeth. It was named by Pascal Godefroit and colleagues in 2017. The teeth of "Matheronodon" are large but few in number. The teeth are also in an unusual arrangement, emerging alternatingly from one of a pair of fused tooth sockets in its mouth. In life, the teeth would have functioned like a pair of scissors, allowing "Matheronodon" to feed on the tough leaves of monocot plants.
Description.
Like other rhabodontids, "Matheronodon" would have been a bipedal herbivore. The length of the genus has been estimated at by its lead describer Pascal Godefroit.
The maxilla of "Matheronodon" is a short, robust bone. The front portion is particularly shortened and also angled upwards, differentiating "Matheronodon" from other rhabdodontids. It measures long, and high. When viewed from the top, the front portion is triangular, and forms a broad rostrodorsal shelf. Both "Rhabdodon" and "Zalmoxes" lack the shelf. There is a bar-like structure on the interior surface, the dorsal bar, which is also present in "Rhabdodon". Immediately below this bar, there is a horizontal groove, or transverse sulcus. Further behind, the upward-projecting dorsal process is wider and angled further backwards than "Rhabdodon", and larger than "Zalmoxes". From the base of this process, a "wing" extends backwards to articulate with the jugal bone. Also at the base of the dorsal process is a small triangular projection delimiting the back of the antorbital fenestra, which is shorter than "Rhabdodon".
Teeth.
Like "Rhabdodon", "Zalmoxes", and "Mochlodon", the maxillary tooth crowns of "Matheronodon" are shaped like cleavers. They are unusually large, being up to long. More than these other rhabdodontids, there are at least 25 ridges on the inner surface of each tooth. The ridges are all roughly the same size, and there is no "primary" ridge, identifying "Matheronodon" as a rhabdodontid. A single wear facet is oriented 60° below the horizontal, like "Zalmoxes" and "Mochlodon". Enamel covers all sides of the teeth, unlike hadrosaurids, being thicker on the inner surface (particularly on the ridges, compared to "Edmontosaurus"). Also unlike hadrosaurids, the tubular structure of the dentine below the enamel does not appear to vary in orientation. The scratches on the dentine's surface are vertical like "Zalmoxes" and "Mochlodon".
Even though the maxilla is large, it bears only eight tooth sockets. "Zalmoxes" has up to 10, and "Rhabdodon" has 11. The walls separating adjacent sockets appear to have been resorbed such that the sockets have fused into four pairs, which is not known in either "Rhabdodon" or "Zalmoxes". Only one functional tooth would have been present in each pair at any time. From the preserved replacement teeth, it appears that tooth replacement progressed from the back to the front of the jaw, with teeth alternatingly emerging from the front and rear sockets in each pair. The tooth of each front socket would have overlapped those from the rear socket, due to the size of the crowns.
Unlike the teeth of the maxilla, the teeth of the lower jaw are leaf-shaped, and bear a primary ridge displaced backwards from the center of the crown. However, they are also large. The subsidiary ridges flanking the primary ridge are also more numerous than "Rhabdodon" or "Mochlodon", with there being at least 12 on each side. These ridges stretch to the bottom edge of the crown, instead of stopping short as in "Mochlodon".
Discovery and naming.
All specimens of "Matheronodon" have been found at the locality of Velaux-La Bastide Neuve, in the Aix-en-Provence basin, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. The sandstones at this locality, which was discovered by Xavier Valentin in 1992, are part of the Begudian regional stage (which correlates to the late Campanian epoch, about 74 to 72 million years ago). After their discovery, the fossils were stored in the paleontology and archaeology collections of the municipality of Velaux, and labelled as belonging to the Musée du Moulin Seigneurial/Velaux-La Bastide Neuve (MMS/VBN). The type specimen is MMS/VBN-02-102, a right maxilla; associated with it are maxillary teeth (-93-34, -09-149a, -09-150, and -12-22) and dentary teeth: (-02-11, -09-43c, and -12-A002).
In 2017, the fossil material was described by Godefroit along with Géraldine Garcia, Bernard Gomez, Koen Stein, Aude Cincotta, Ulysse Lefèvre, and Valentin in a research paper published by the journal "Nature Communications". They assigned this material to the genus "Matheronodon", with the name being formed from Philippe Matheron (who described the first dinosaur fossils found in Provence, or the southeastern region of France) and the suffix "-odon", a derivative of "" (Greek for "tooth"). They also named the type and only species "M. provincialis", with "provincialis" being Latin for Provence. For the study, a CT scan of the type maxilla was conducted at the University of Liège, and a thin section of an isolated maxillary tooth was examined under a microscope.
Palaeobiology.
Inferences regarding the method of feeding in "Matheronodon" can be made from the unique morphology of its teeth. The hadrosaurs, a contemporary successful group of ornithopods, had a large number of wide, high crowned teeth in tightly-packed rows. These were used in a complex method of chewing, a culmination of continued specialization throughout the evolution of iguanodonts. Rhabdodontids, which were more basal, had a far simpler arrangement, with teeth more similar to those of less specialized ornithopods. Fewer teeth were present in the jaw, but they were taller, thinner, and individually larger. In life, they would have functioned like a pair of scissors in powerful but simple slicing bites. The microstructure of the teeth in "Mantheronodon" was also adapted for this action.
These differences would have led to different diets in the two groups of ornithopods. Where they co-occurred, they were likely ecologically partitioned. Rhabdodontids would have had more limited diets, compared to the diverse and likely cellulose-rich and perhaps conifer-based diets of hadrosaurs. "Mantheronodon" and its relatives may have fed on monocot plants, such as the palms "Sabalites" and "Pandanites", common in Europe at the time. Sclerenchyma fibres, abundant in monocot leaves but largely absent in eudicots and conifers, result in tougher plant tissue, and would have necessitated the more powerful bites of rhabdodontids to be consumed.
Palaeoecology.
Velaux-La Bastide Neuve represents a continental deposit. However, it was probably close to the shoreline, judging by the presence of claws from decapods, gastropods, and unionid mussels at the site. Fossils from the locality are well-preserved and were likely slowly transported. Other dinosaurs discovered at the site include the titanosaur "Atsinganosaurus", in addition to teeth from nodosaurid ankylosaurs as well as neoceratosaurian and dromaeosaurid theropods. Additional faunal elements include the eusuchian "Allodaposuchus", pterosaurs, the turtles "Solemys" and "Polysternon",
the hybodont elasmobranch "Meristonoides", and a gar.


Heptasteornis

Heptasteornis is the name given to a dubious genus of small alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. The type (and only known) species is Heptasteornis andrewsi, described as a presumed gigantic prehistoric owl in 1975. It was previously included in "Elopteryx nopcsai" and indeed the holotypes of both were believed to be from the same individual as they were discovered, and initially were assigned the same specimen number. This appears to be in error however (see below).
The material was discovered in Romania by Franz Nopcsa, in the late Maastrichtian Sânpetru Formation (Rognacian faunal stage, deposited c. 68 - 66 million years ago) of the Haţeg Basin in Transylvania. The scientific name means "C.W. Andrews' Transylvanian bird", after the namer of "Elopteryx", and Ancient Greek "hepta" (ἑπτά) "seven" + "asty" (άστυ) "city" + "ornis" (όρνις) "bird"; the Latin "septum urbium" or the German "Siebenbürgen" - meaning "seven cities" or "seven castles" - were common names for the Transylvanian region throughout the centuries.
The material was originally limited to a mere two broken distal tibiotarsi, BMNH A4359 and A1528. The taxonomic status and systematic placement of these bones was much disputed and they were often considered junior synonyms of "Bradycneme" or "Elopteryx". Given the fragmentary nature of the fossils, little could be resolved and "Heptasteornis" was (and still is) considered a "nomen dubium" by many.
However, more recently the bones were reassessed as an alvarezsaurid, the first to be known from Europe, and this theory, originally proposed in 1988, has since withstood further scrutiny. "Bradycneme" and "Elopteryx" on the other hand seem to be more advanced maniraptoran theropods.
Thus, of those three enigmatic Romanian theropods the one most explicitly named a "bird" in its scientific name is almost certainly the one most distantly related to birds.


Kraussodontus

Kraussodontus is an extinct genus of gondolellid ozarkodinid conodonts of the Late Triassic (late Carnian) in the Pardonet Formation of Canada.


Pass Island Granite

The Pass Island Granite is a formation cropping out in Newfoundland.


Brachyprosopus

Brachyprosopus is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the middle Permian Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone in the Abrahamskraal Formation belonging to the Beaufort Group of the Karoo Basin, South Africa.
"Chelydontops" Cluver, 1975, based on a skull from the Karoo Basin of South Africa, is a junior synonym.
Description.
"Brachyprosopus" is similar to "Endothiodon", "Niassodon", and "Pristerodon" in having absence of anterior median palatal ridges; maxillary tooth rows bounded laterally by a shelf; unfused vomers; raised margins of the interpterygoid vacuity; broad intertemporal region; pineal boss; dentary tables; and a long, wide posterior dentary sulcus that extends posterior to the dentary teeth. However, it can be distinguished by the autapomorphy of a curled lateral edge of the squamosal that forms a lateral wall of the external adductor fossa.


Condorodon

Condorodon is a genus of extinct mammals from the Middle Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation of the Cañadón Asfalto Basin in Patagonia, Argentina, South America. The type species is "C. spanios", described by Gaetano and Rougier in 2012.
Classification.
One of the only two known South American eutriconodonts, "Condorodon" differs from the somewhat older "Argentoconodon", a relative of "Volaticotherium", in the morphology of the molariform teeth. It is closely related to the Late Jurassic amphilesthere "Tendagurodon" from the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, Africa.


Cordillera de Claudio Gay


Cordillera Pelada

Cordillera Pelada (Spanish for Bald Range or Barren Range) is a mountain range in southern Los Ríos Region, southern Chile. It is located along the Pacific coast and forms part of the larger Chilean Coast Range. It got its name "pelada" from the Spanish word for bare or bald in reference to large fires that once burned the forests on the cordillera.
From about 1750 to 1943, when the land between Maullín River and Valdivia was colonized by Spain and Chile, numerous fires of "Fitzroya" woods occurred in Cordillera Pelada. These fires were initiated by Spaniards, Chileans and Europeans. Earlier, from 1397 to 1750 the "Fitzroya" woods of Cordillera Pelada also suffered from fires that originated from lightning strikes and indigenous inhabitants.


Roquefort-sur-Soulzon

Roquefort-sur-Soulzon () is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France.
Roquefort is located on the Causse du Larzac and is famous for its ewe derived products including milk, wool and meat. Much of the activity in the commune centres on the production and distribution of Roquefort cheese. To be legally termed Roquefort cheese, it must follow the rules laid down by the federal standards of the "Appelation d’Origine". According to archaeologists, the cheese making process in the specific caves dates back to 900 C.E.
A visitor centre illustrates the process of making Roquefort cheese and offers guests a chance to sample and purchase the product. Visitors can also visit the Cambalou caves which are long and wide in which the cheeses are aged before they are ready to be sold.


Romundina

Romundina is a small, heavily armored extinct genus of acanthothoracid placoderms which lived in shallow marine environments in the early Devonian (Lochkovian). The name "Romundina" honors Canadian geologist and paleontologist Dr. Rómundur (Raymond) Thorsteinsson of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. "Romundina" are believed to have lived on Earth between 400 and 419 million years ago. The closest known relative to "Romundina" is the acanthothoracid "Radotina". The type and only described species is R. stellina.
The first specimen of "Romundina" was originally discovered by Swedish paleontologist Tor Ørvig in 1975 on Prince of Wales Island (Nunavut) in a formation that geologically dates back to the Gedinnian. Only one known species of "Romundina" has been discovered which was named "Romundina stellina" by Ørvig. The species name "stellina" refers to stellate (derived from Latin word stella meaning star) tubercles that the Placoderm has ornamenting its dermal skeleton. "Romundina stellina" is one of the earliest known acanthothoraciforms discovered to date.
Recently, "Romundina stellina" has been heavily researched as it shows signs of having extremely primitive teeth, which structurally share characteristics of both dermal tubercles and the teeth of modern and fossil gnathostomes. Although "Romundina" are known to be relatively small especially when compared to some large predatory placoderms of the time, it is still thought to be carnivorous due to the tooth-like structures on its gnathal and supragnathal plates.
"Romundina" shares many characteristics of both cyclostomes and Gnathostomes to varying degrees. This reinforces the hypothesis that placoderms are a grade as they have some features more closely related to cyclostomes then other placoderms while other features are much more closely related to crown group Gnathostomes.
Description and paleobiology.
Dentition and the evolution of teeth.
"Romundina" is currently understood to be the first placoderm to develop primitive tooth-like structures. Originally, teeth were thought to arise following Placodermi but prior to crown Gnathostomata, however recent research suggests that teeth may have arose in derived placoderms such as "Romundina." There is currently much debate surrounding whether these tooth-like structures as well as the gnathal plates they sit on can be seen as the true primitive condition of Gnathostome dentition. Some researchers see the tooth-like structures of extensions of a primitive crushing plate, which is common in Placoderms
These primitive tooth-like structures lie on supragnathal plates and have a multi-cuspid appearance suggesting some degree of tooth-to-tooth occlusion occurred. Additionally, synchrotron radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy reveals that these tooth-like tubercle structures likely consist of a dentine based core and an enameloid cap common to many extant fish groups, however, they lack internal vascularization. The presence of enameloid cap suggests that "Romundina" is either closely related to crown Gnathostomata or that this feature arose through convergent evolution and was later lost. "Romundina's" dental tubercles lack any apparent organization which is a more primitive feature found in Cyclostomes suggesting that organized tooth rows evolved just prior to the evolution of the first Gnathostomes.
The supragnathal plates, which these tooth-like tubercles sit on are oval-shaped, flat, and relatively symmetrical. This suggests that tubercles were added radially and episodically to the margins of these gnathal plates around a central large pioneer tooth. As tubercles were added the gnathal plates were thickened leading to the presence of growth rest lines. The gnathal plates consist of three layers; the most superficial containing the marginal tooth-like tubercles, the medial layer containing structures containing vascularization, and the basal lamellar layer. Furthermore, "Romundina's" tubercle structures on the gnathal plates suggest that teeth evolved from an external epithelial structure that moved internal rather than from a non-skeletal antecedent organ system; most likely coming from the stellate tubercles on the dermal skeleton.
Skull.
The skull of "Romundina" consists of thin proportional dermal bones, which are heavily ornamented by mesodentine rich stellate (star shaped) tubercles. These stellate tubercles likely grew on top of each other with between two and three generations. Furthermore, these tubercles exhibit rough ridges radiation from an apex, which is in contrast to other species, which had smooth ridged stellate tubercles such as "Radotina". These stellate tubercles were likely used as a form of protection from predators Additionally, "Romundina stellina" only has one dermal cheek element (suborbital plate) while most other species of Placoderms such as "Radotina" have multiple dermal cheek elements. This suggests that Romundina lost the submarginal plates and postsuborbital seen in earlier vertebrates. An additional feature that distinguishes "Romundina" from previous Placoderms is the absence of tesserae (a type of mineralized tile) between the dermal bones on the roof of the skull as the dermal bones in the roof of Romundina's skull are fused together.
The anatomy of the "Romundina" nasal capsule combines characteristics of both jawless Cyclostomata and jawed Gnathostomes. Previous to the discovery of "Romundina" there appeared to be a large jump in the cranial features between the two extant taxa with no apparent bridge. The most prominent of these "bridge" features is the positioning of the nasal capsule dorsally between the eyes, a feature only present in early to mid Placoderms. Cyclostomes lack a nasal capsule instead having a nasohypophysial opening while Gnathostomes have an anterior nasal capsule. "Romundina" has been shown to unambiguously have a jaw, however the cranial anatomy and proportions of the brain are more closely aligned with those of jawless vertebrates. Analysis of the cranial structure reveals that "Romundina" had a large precerebral region, broad suborbital shelves, and a small (or potentially non existent) telencephalon. Furthermore, Romundina have a large protruding bony upper "lip", which begins anteriorly to the nasal capsule.
Body structure.
"Romundina" "stellina" are relatively small with a body length of about 20 cm (8 in). The cranial portion of "Romundina's" body was likely heavily armored with the stellate tubercles similarly to what lies on the dermal plates of the skull while the more caudal sections of "Romundina's" body were likely more flexible allowing for movement. The entirety of "Romundina" was likely covered in irregularly shaped dermal scales, which is a characteristic unlike the more symmetrical scales that appear on Gnathostomes. Additionally, "Romundina" likely had a vascular spine which grew posteriorly and proximally from the cranial side of the spine just posterior of the head.This spine likely played a heavily defensive role and grew similarly to how scales grow in Gnathostomes. Furthermore, this defensive spine is made up of semidentine odontodes, dermal bone, and perichondral bone suggesting that it is derived from dermal plates.
Diet and behavioral characteristics.
"Romundina" were small Placoderms and therefore had to rely on heavily armored skull and anterior sections of their body to fend off larger fish present at the same time. Corals and other shallow water organisms were also found alongside "Romundina" in the same formation on Prince of Wales Island suggesting that they too lived in relatively shallow water. Their small size is also consistent with a shallow water habitat. Research suggests that "Romundina" also ate mostly invertebrates such as crustaceans and worms. "Romundina's" large crushing tooth-like structures as well as the large gnathal plates would appear to be useful in eating organisms with hard shells such as crustaceans. "Romundina" likely did not migrate or swim long distances as all known specimens have been found in a relatively small range of area in Prince of Wales Island. This lack of geographical range also suggests that "Romundina" only lived in a highly specialized ecosystem. Overall, relatively little research has been done on the Paleobiology.
Discovery and classification.
Discovery.
"Romundina" was discovered by a Norwegian paleontologist named Tor Ørvig in 1975. The fossil was discovered in rocks collected by geologist Dr. Rómundur Thorsteinsson that were later given to Ørvig to search for fossils. Dr. Thorsteinsson was a pioneer of geology in the Canadian arctic. While working for the Institute of Sedimentary and Petroleum Geology Dr. Thorsteinsson came across a formation which dated back to the Gedinnian age and had significant amounts of vertebrate and invertebrate fossils located on the Western part Prince of Wales Island in the Canadian Arctic. The rock sample, which was given to Tor Ørvig to study (and that "Romundina" was discovered in), was a 0.5 m thick layer which taken from the middle of a 12 m long section of unnamed carbonate rocks from the locality C-8234. Ørvig prepared the specimen by using a combination of formic and acetic acid to eat away the rocks leaving a fully preserved three-dimensional "Romundina" specimen. The specimen initially discovered consisted of a head with mostly complete dermal skull-roof and associated endocranial elements, which lacked most of the body segments. Additional bony plates were discovered in the same rock however it was impossible to confirm if they came from the same individual.
Currently, the most commonly cited "Romundina" specimen is specimen MNHN.F.CPW1, which was originally discovered by Ørvig in 1975 and is preserved three-dimensionally. The specimen was encased in limestone, which was eaten away using a formic acid solution allowing three-dimensional analysis of the specimen. MNHN.F.CPW1, as well as the other known specimens, are kept at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France. Other commonly referred to and researched specimens include MNHN.F.CPW6 and MNHN.F.CPW2a-b both of which were found in the same formation on Prince of Wales Island as MNHN.F.CPW1.
Depositional environment.
The "Romundina" specimens were found near a stream in an unnamed formation of carbonate rocks on the western side Prince of Wales Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Other species found in this formation include additional Arthrodiraes, "Althaspis", "Dinaspidella", "Pinnaspis", "Traquairaspis", Gastropods, Cephalopods, as well as fossil evidence of both colonial and solitary Corals. This suggests that the geological environment was most likely a shallow water or tidal reef. Throughout the island the fossils recovered range in period from late Silurian to late Silurian. The land that makes up Prince of Wales Island would have been located close to the equator during the Silurian period. Additionally, the average water temperature would have been around 30 °C (86 °F) suggesting that Romundina tended to live in relatively warm waters when compared with the average water temperature today.
Major geological formations namely the Reed Bay and Peel Sound Formations lie on the eastern side of the island and have similar fossilized organisms as the unnamed formations on the island's West side. The region where the first "Romundina" specimen was found lying beside the westernmost stretches of the Peel Sound Formation in rock, which dates to the Lochkovian age of the Silurian period. The majority of the island including the location where the fossils were discovered consists mainly of limestone and/or dolomite (such as the rocky material where the first "Romundina" specimen was found in). The western stretches of the Peel Sound Formation are highest in carbon-rich dolomite as the formation is composed of north-trending strata which are graded in the west. This grade is likely due to an uplifting of rocks from lower Paleozoic and pre-Cambrian eras that exists off the eastern side of the island. As the rocks move westward across the island the sedimentary rock is eroded away revealing fossils from the Silurian and Silurian on the eastern side. Additionally, erosion of more sedimentary rock as it moves towards the west leading to a higher percentage of rock being dolomite then when compared to the eastern side of the formation, which explains the discrepancy in the rock composition across the formation.
Classification.
"Romundina" is commonly characterized as being in the middle of the Placoderm grade. Much of the structural analysis of "Romundina" reinforces the hypothesis that Placoderms are a grade rather than a clade as they share characteristics of both crown Cyclostomes and crown Gnathostomes. Structural analysis of the possible tooth like structures tends to place "Romundina" close to crown Gnathostomes while looking at most of the skull and body structures place "Romundina" centrally among the Placoderm grade. The location of the nasal capsule on the skull is the most widely agreed upon and definitive feature that is shared among all "Romundina" stellina specimens yet has variations among the Placoderm grade as a whole and hence is used most often to place "Romundina" among other Placoderms. The following phylogenetic tree classifies "Romundina" similar to how they were classified in Dupret et. Al (2014) published in Nature.


Camille Arambourg

Camille Arambourg ( February 3, 1885– November 19, 1969) was a French vertebrate paleontologist. He conducted extensive field work in North Africa. In the 1950s he argued against the prevailing model of Neanderthals as brutish and simian.
During World War I he was in Military service. After that he was a professor of Geology at the Institut Agricole d'Alger, and after that a professor of Paleontology at Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, where he succeeded his teacher Marcellin Boule. The pterosaur "Arambourgiania" is named after him.


Mascota volcanic field

Mascota volcanic field is a volcanic field in Mexico. It is formed by cinder cones and lava domes that lie east of Puerto Vallarta. Several other volcanic fields lie in the neighbourhood.
Volcanism in the Mascota volcanic field occurs within a complicated tectonic context. The Jalisco block is bordered by two rift zones and one subduction zone.
The Mascota volcanic field is the youngest occurrence of minettes identified on Earth, with the most recent dates being about 70,000 ± 80,000 years ago. The youngest eruption of the field may have occurred less than 5,600 years ago.
Geography and geomorphology.
The Mascota volcanic field lies close to the town of Mascota, east of Puerto Vallarta. The landscape is dominated by mountains and by flat valleys that support agriculture. Dirt roads from Puerto Vallarta and a highway constructed in 1993 from Guadalajara lead into the area.
The Mascota volcanic field is formed by a number of cinder cones and lava domes. The cones are vegetated, which contrast with the relatively scarce vegetation of the Cretaceous surrounding terrain. The total surface covered by lavas is about .
The Rio Mascota and Rio Talpa cross the field. Aside from the town of Mascota, Talpa de Allende is another settlement in the southwestern part of the field. The field covers a total area of about . East of the Mascota volcanic field lies the wider Atenguillo graben, which has a number of volcanic fields associated with. North of Mascota the San Sebastian volcanic field is older than Mascota and may be associated with the Tepic rift.
Geology.
The field lies within the Jalisco tectonic block. Two grabens cut tuffs of Cretaceous age in the area and the Mascota field has developed in these grabens, with the exception of a group of cones farther north which probably formed on a fault.
This part of Mexico is in a complex tectonic regimen. Starting 14 million years ago, extension across the present-day Gulf of California commenced. Extension further occurred during the Pleistocene in the adjacent Mexican mainland in the Tepic-Zacoalco rift, which separates the Jalisco block from the Sierra Madre Occidental, and the Colima rift zone with its probable submarine extension, the Manzanillo canyon. Volcanism and earthquake activity is still ongoing in these rift zones today, forming for example Ceboruco and Volcan Colima which is Mexico's most active volcano. These two rift zones together with the Middle America Trench delimit the Jalisco block.
At the same time, the Rivera Plate subducts beneath the Jalisco block, causing earthquakes such as the 1932 Mexico earthquake. Farther south, the Rivera Plate is bordered by the Cocos Plate which is also subducting beneath Mexico. The relatively oblique subduction of the Cocos Plate may be responsible for the Colima graben, while another theory postulates that the Colima graben is an extension of the East Pacific Rise. The Riviera Plate is a remnant of the Farallon Plate.
Composition.
The field is known for having erupted many disparate types of rocks. Volcanic rocks which have been observed include absarokite, andesite, basaltic andesite, hornblende-lamprophyre, minette and spessartite. Basaltic andesite and minette form about 50% of all exposed rocks. Part of this diversity may reflect different classifications of the rocks rather than actual chemical differences, however. Such a variety of volcanic rocks has been found at the adjacent volcanic fields of Ayutla, Los Volcanes and Tapalpa.
As a plate subducts and sinks into the mantle, it loses water to the abovelying mantle wedge. This water also transports material from the subducting slab into the mantle wedge, modifying its chemistry. The melting of this modified mantle wedge appears to be the source of Mascota magmas, albeit with some magmas being modified by interactions with the crust.
Minettes of the Mascota volcanic field are the world's youngest. Potassium-argon dating has yielded ages of 70,000 ± 80,000 years ago for these.
Eruptive history.
Little is known about the eruption ages of the Mascota field. The minettes have been dated by potassium-argon dating, with ages obtained between 1,93 million years ago and 68,000 years ago. A very low magma output of has been determined.
The youngest eruption occurred at Malpais volcano. A basaltic andesite lava flow with little plant and no soil cover was formed there. The eruption may have occurred only a few thousand years ago, less than 5,600 years ago of scoria in neighbouring lakes comes from this eruption.


Taubacrex

Taubacrex is an extinct genus of birds of the family Quercymegapodiidae from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene (Deseadan) Tremembé Formation of the Taubaté Basin in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The type species is "Taubacrex granivora". In the original description, Herculano Alvarenga classified it as a member of family Rallidae. It provides the earliest fossil record of gastroliths in birds of the order Galliformes.


Agua Negra Pass

The Agua Negra Pass (Spanish: Paso de Agua Negra) is a pass over the Andes mountains which connects Argentina and Chile. The highest point of this pass is at AMSL.
Agua Negra Tunnel.
To improve trade between Chile and Argentina, a 14 km, three-bore vehicular tunnel (two for traffic and one for ventilation) below the pass is planned, which will allow year-round traffic. (The pass is closed for much of the winter.)
In March 2015, Argentina officially approved the project. It is awaiting ratification from Chile.
In 2018, the bidding contest for the tunnel project between construction companies took place. The whole project was budgeted at 1.5 billion dollars.
Also planned for the deepest part of the tunnel is the Agua Negra Deep Experiment Site (ANDES): an underground laboratory. Because all currently operating deep underground laboratories are located in the Northern Hemisphere, a Southern Hemisphere site would have some unique benefits:
ANDES is not expected to be ready before 2027.


Brodtberg

The Brodtberg, at , is the highest hill in Remscheid and the region of Düsseldorf in Germany. Despite that, it is not particularly prominent; for example the nearby quarter of Lennep lies at elevations of up to 370 metres.
Geography.
The hill is located in the quarter of Hohenhagen and belongs to the borough of Remscheid-Süd. The Brodtberg lies west of the hill of Westerholt, the second highest point in Remscheid.


Ajomojo

Ajomojo (possibly from Quechua "aqu" sand, "muqu", hill, "sand hill") is a mountain in the Andes of Peru, about high. It is located in the Cuzco Department, Canchis Province, Pitumarca District. Ajomojo lies northwest of Intijahuana and east of Huampuni. It is situated at the bank of the Yanamayu, a left tributary of the Chillcamayu whose waters flow to the Vilcanota River.


Uberabasuchus

Uberabasuchus ("Uberaba crocodile") is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph from the Late Cretaceous Marília Formation of Brazil. It was about long and appears to have a high skull like that of the sebecosuchians, but differs from them in having teeth with circular cross-section. Thus, rather than slicing flesh and blood vessels, it is likely to have inflicted powerful crushing bites (same is likely for "Lomasuchus" and "Peirosaurus"). The post-crania and the geology suggesting an arid climate indicate that "Uberabasuchus" was likely a terrestrial predator.


Tupandactylus

Tupandactylus (meaning "Tupan finger", in reference to the Tupi thunder god) is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. It is notable for its large cranial crest, composed partly of bone and partly of soft tissue. The genus "Tupandactylus" possibly contains two species, both bearing differently sized/shaped crests that may have been used to signal and display for other "Tupandactylus", much as toucans use their bright bills to signal to one another. "Tupandactylus" crests consisted of a semicircular crest over the snout, and in the case of the type species "T. imperator", a bony prong which extended back behind the head. A second species, "T. navigans", lacked this prong, and had a much more vertical crest. Soft tissue impressions also show that the small bony crests were extended by a much larger structure made of a keratinous material. The complete crest of "T. navigans" rose in a sharp, sail-like "dome" high above the rest of the skull.
Description.
"Tupandactylus imperator" is known from four nearly complete skulls. The holotype specimen is MCT 1622-R, a skull and partial lower jaw, found in the Crato Formation, dating to the boundary of the Aptian-Albian stages of the early Cretaceous period, about 112 Ma ago. It was initially described as a species of "Tapejara", but later research has indicated it warrants its own genus. The skull was toothless and had a prominent sagittal crest, only the base of which was bony: the front of the crest featured a tall bony rod extending up and back, and the rear of the crest had a long prong of bone projecting behind it. The bulk of the crest was made up of soft tissue similar to keratin, supported by the two bony struts. An additional skull described in 2011, specimen CPCA 3590, preserved more of the lower jaw, showing that like "Tapejara", "T. imperator" had a large, asymmetrical "keel"-like crest on the underside of the lower jaw tip.
Some "Tupandactylus" specimens preserve evidence of a keratinous beak at the jaw tips. However, this was restricted to the crested portion of the lower jaw, as one specimen also preserves pycnofibres (simple feather-like filaments) covering the jaws further back.
Classification.
Beginning in 2006, several researchers, including Kellner and Campos (who named "Tupandactylus"), had found that the three species traditionally assigned to the genus "Tapejara" ("T. wellnhofferi", "T. imperator", and "T. navigans") are in fact distinct both in anatomy and in their relationships to other tapejarid pterosaurs, and thus needed to be given new generic names. However, just how the species should be split proved controversial. Kellner and Campos considered only "T. imperator" to warrant a new name, creating "Tupandactylus". However, another study published in 2007 by Unwin and Martill found that "T. navigans", previously assigned to "Tapejara", was actually most closely related to "T. imperator" and belonged with it in a new genus separate from "Tapejara". In 2007, at a symposium held in honor of renowned pterosaur researcher Peter Wellnhofer, Unwin and Martill announced the new genus name Ingridia, in honor of Wellnhofer's late wife Ingrid. However, when they published this name in a 2007 volume, they assigned "imperator" as the type species of their new genus, rather than "navigans", which they also included as a species of "Ingridia". Furthermore, Unwin and Martill's paper was not published until several months after the similar paper by Kellner and Campos. Therefore, because both sets of authors used "imperator" as the type, "Ingridia" is considered a junior objective synonym of "Tupandactylus". It was not until 2011 that "T. navigans" was formally reclassified in the genus "Tupandactylus", in a subsequent study supporting the conclusions of Unwin and Martill in 2007.
The cladogram below follows the 2014 phylogenetic analysis by Brian Andres and colleagues. They found both "T. navigans" and "T. imperator" within the tribe Tapejarini, which in turn was within the larger group Tapejaridae.
Flight mimicry.

Pterodrone unmanned aerial vehicle.
A research team consisting of paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee of Texas Tech University, aeronautical engineer Rick Lind of the University of Florida, and their students Andy Gedeon and Brian Roberts sought to mimic the physical and biological characteristics of this pterosaur—skin, blood vessels, muscles, tendons, nerves, cranial plate, skeletal structure, and more – to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle that not only flies but also walks and sails just like the original, to be called a Pterodrone.
The large, thin rudder-like sail on its head functioned as a sensory organ that acted similarly to a flight computer in a modern-day aircraft and also helped with the animal's turning agility. “These animals take the best parts of bats and birds,” Chatterjee said. “They had the maneuverability of a bat, but could glide like an albatross. Nothing alive today compares to the performance and agility of these animals. They lived for 160 million years, so they were not stupid animals. The skies were darkened by flocks of them. They were the dominant flying animals of their time.” “[W]e’ve found they could actually sail on the wind for very long periods as they flew over the oceans... By raising their wings like sails on a boat, they could use the slightest breeze in the same way a catamaran moves across water. They could take off quickly and fly long distances with little effort.”
The accuracy of these studies has been at times contested, however. It has been noted that tapejarids had short wings, about as suited for soaring as those of Galliformes, which are indeed consistent with adaptations for terrestriality and climbing. Likewise, no evidence for an aerodynamic function of the crest has been perceived, and Sankar Chatterjee seemingly ignored more recent aerodynamic studies in pterosaurs for these conclusions.


Friedrich von Huene

Friedrich von Huene, full name Friedrich Richard von Hoinigen (March 22, 1875 – April 4, 1969) was a German paleontologist who renamed more dinosaurs in the early 20th century than anyone else in Europe. He also made key contributions about various Permo-Carboniferous limbed vertebrates.
Biography.
Huene was born in Tübingen, Kingdom of Württemberg. His discoveries include the skeletons of more than 35 individuals of "Plateosaurus" in the famous Trossingen quarry, the early proto-dinosaur "Saltopus" in 1910, "Proceratosaurus" in 1926, the giant "Antarctosaurus" in 1929, and numerous other dinosaurs and fossilized animals like pterosaurs. He also was the first to naming several higher taxa, including Prosauropoda and Sauropodomorpha.
He visited the Geopark of Paleorrota in 1928, and there collected the "Prestosuchus chiniquensis" in 1938.
He also studied several Permo-Carboniferous and Triassic limbed vertebrates, including members of several large clades, such as Temnospondyli, Synapsida, and Sauropsida. In his work on mesosaurs, Huene indicated that a lower temporal fenestra was present (as in synapsids), an interpretation later rejected by many subsequent workers, but more recently upheld.
A new species of basal sauropodomorph, "Lufengosaurus huenei", was named after von Huene in 1941. "Liassaurus huenei", an early carnivorous theropod, was named for him in 1995, though this name is invalid.


Eysyslopterus

Eysyslopterus is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. "Eysyslopterus" is classified as part of the family Adelophthalmidae, the only clade within the derived ("advanced") Adelophthalmoidea superfamily of eurypterids. One fossil of the single and type species, "E. patteni", has been discovered in deposits of the Late Silurian period (Ludlow epoch) in Saaremaa, Estonia. The genus is named after "Eysysla", the Viking name for Saaremaa, and "opterus", a traditional suffix for the eurypterid genera, meaning "wing". The species name honors William Patten, an American biologist and zoologist who discovered the only known fossil of "Eysyslopterus".
"Eysyslopterus" is a little-known basal genus that was distinguished from the rest of adelophthalmids by the position near the head margin of the eyes, different from the rest of its relatives. Its carapace was parabolic (approximately U-shaped) and with transverse deep furrows forming the ornamentation. With an estimated length of 8 cm (3.1 in), "Eysyslopterus" was a small eurypterid. It lived in a nearshore lagoonal quiet community along other eurypterid species.
Description.
Like the other adelophthalmid eurypterids, "Eysyslopterus" was a small eurypterid. The total size of the only known specimen is estimated at only 8 centimetres (3.1 inches), far from the largest adelophthalmids like "Adelophthalmus khakassicus" of 32 cm (12.6 in) in length.
"Eysyslopterus" is a little known eurypterid, with only one specimen collected that only preserves the prosoma ("head") with no appendages (limbs). The prosoma was rather broad, with a parabolic (approximately U-shaped) outline. It was 19.5 millimetres (0.77 in) long and 22 mm (0.87 in) wide. Although the anterior part of the prosoma is not preserved, the fossil mold indicates a pointed portion. The posterior border was slightly convex. A narrow rim surrounded the lateral margins of the carapace (dorsal shield of the prosoma). The prosoma surface was gently arched, with the central portion rather level. The eyes were reniform (bean-shaped) and with a thin and light-colored test (external "shield") on its surface. They measured 4.5 mm (0.18 in) in length. The ocelli (simple eyes) were located in the posterior half of the prosoma and consisted of two circular spots. The posterior part was smooth, but the previous part had a distinctive ornamentation. This ornamentation extended until the end of the eyes and was composed of transverse lines developed as deep furrows.
"Eysyslopterus" was a basal ("primitive") genus with respect to the rest of adelophthalmids, with the eyes closer to the margin than to the ocelli, suggesting that the eyes migrated towards a central position from the basal genera to "Adelophthalmus".
History of research.
"Eysyslopterus" is only known from one single specimen (and is therefore the holotype, AMNH 32720, housed at the American Museum of Natural History) which preserves the carapace. This fossil was collected by the American biologist and zoologist William Patten during his extensive explorations at the Rootsikula Formation in Saaremaa, Estonia (then part of the Soviet Union). During a meeting between Patten and the Norwegian paleontologist and geologist Leif Størmer in 1932, Størmer observed Patten's private collection of eurypterids, among which he recognized a carapace of a new unknown species. He described it in 1934 as belonging to the genus "Hughmilleria patteni", named after Patten, who died months after the meeting. Størmer noticed several differences between his new species and other "Hughmilleria" species, essentially the shape of the prosoma and the form or position of the eyes. He also suggested a close relationship between "H. patteni" and other species, especially the Scottish species "H. lanceolata".
However, in 1961, the American paleontologist Erik Norman Kjellesvig-Waering split "Hughmilleria" in two subgenera, "H." ("Hughmilleria") for species with large ovoid marginal eyes and "H." ("Nanahughmilleria") for small reniform intramarginal (within the margin) eyes. Since "H. patteni" fulfilled this condition, it was referred to "H." ("Nanahughmilleria"). It was not until 2008 when during a phylogenetic review of the entire Adelophthalmidae family by the Norwegian Odd Erik Tetlie and German Markus Poschmann paleontologists, "N. patteni" was recognized as sufficiently different to represent its own genus due to the anterior position of its eyes, much more exaggerated than in the other adelophthalmid genera. The first part of the generic name is composed of the word "Eysysla", the Viking name for Saaremaa, and the second part by "opterus", a suffix commonly used in eurypterids which means "wing" (and therefore, translated as "wing of "Eysysla"").
Classification.
"Eysyslopterus" is classified as part of the family Adelophthalmidae, the only clade ("group") within the superfamily Adelophthalmoidea. "E. patteni" was originally described as a species of the genus "Hughmilleria", but it was considered different enough to represent a new separate genus in 2008.
"Eysyslopterus" is considered to be the most basal adelophthalmid genus due to the position of its eyes. These are placed closer to the margin than to the ocelli, in contrast to any other adelopthalmid. In fact, the carapace of "Eysyslopterus" and other basal genera belonging to superfamilies, "Orcanopterus" and "Herefordopterus", were almost identical. In the waeringopteroid "Orcanopterus", the eyes were separated from the margin by the marginal rim, whereas in "Herefordopterus" they were completely marginal, a feature present in all pterygotioid genera. In addition, the triangular anterior carapace margin present in "Eysyslopterus" was shared with "Hughmilleria", indicating that it might be a plesiomorphic trait (a trait present in a common ancestor). These characteristics have led some authors to question whether "Eysyslopterus" really represents an adelophthalmid or the sister taxon of a group formed by Pterygotioidea and Adelophthalmoidea, but until more fossil material is found this can not be proven.
The cladogram below presents the inferred phylogenetic positions of most of the genera included in the three most derived superfamilies of the Diploperculata infraorder of eurypterids (Adelophthalmoidea, Pterygotioidea and the waeringopteroids), as inferred by Tetlie and Poschmann in 2008, based on the results of a 2008 analysis specifically pertaining to the Adelophthalmoidea and a preceding 2004 analysis.
Paleoecology.
The single known specimen of "Eysyslopterus" has been recovered from Silurian deposits of the Ludlow epoch of the Rootsikula Formation of Saaremaa, Estonia. This formation was the habitat of a fauna of eurypterids, among them "Erettopterus laticauda", "E. osiliensis", "Eurypterus tetragonophthalmus", "Mixopterus simonsi" and "Strobilopterus laticeps". Fossil remains of indeterminate osteostracid and thelodontid fishes have also been found. The habitat in which "Eysyslopterus" lived is considered to be a nearshore lagoonal quiet community. The lithology (the physical characteristics of the rocks) of the zone was composed of mudcrack and burrows of dolomite and limestone.


Ernst Friedrich, Baron von Schlotheim

Ernst Friedrich, Freiherr von Schlotheim (April 2, 1764March 28, 1832), German palaeontologist and politician, was born in Allmenshausen, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.
He was Privy Councillor and President of the Chamber at the court of Gotha. Becoming interested in geology he gathered a very extensive collection of fossils. In 1804 he published descriptions and illustrations of remarkable remains of (Carboniferous) plants, "Ein Beitrag zur Flora der Vorwelt".
His more important work was entitled "Die Petrefactenkunde" (1820). In this he incorporated the plates used in his previous memoir and supplemented it by a folio atlas (1822), in which he illustrated his collection of petrified and fossil remains of the animal and vegetable kingdom of a former world. For the first time in Germany the fossils were named according to the binomial system of Linnaeus. His specimens are preserved in the Berlin Museum. He died at Gotha.


St. Andrew Strait

St. Andrew Strait is a volcano in Papua New Guinea that has had eruptions in historical times. The volcano is not linked to any tectonic plates, the volcano is also in an area of very few earthquakes, suggesting that St. Andrew Strait is an Intraplate volcano. It consists of a group of Quaternary volcanic cones that are mainly rhyolitic in composition. The volcanism is curved, suggesting that the volcano has an ancient caldera. The centre of the volcano is Lou Island. Lou island last erupted in 240 BC (give or take 100 years) and 340 AD, both eruptions came from the Bendal volcano. Lou island is the largest eruptive centre of the volcano, with 6 volcanic vents. Also the Pam islands (Pam Lin and Pam Mandian) also contain fresh deposits. Historic eruptions have come from the Tuluman Islands.
Eruptions.
1880 eruption.
A small submarine eruption came from the Tulaman islands on March 28, 1880. The vent that the eruption came from was probably one of the vents that formed Tuluman island in its 1953-1957 eruption. This was a small VEI 2 explosive eruption.
1953-1957 eruption.
An eruption began June 27, 1953. The eruption began with submarine eruptions that formed a new island. The eruption came from 6 vents:
The eruptions were most intense in 1955 (and also near the end of the eruption) when lava effusion was dominant. The island was built 29 m above sea level. The eruption also produced tsunamis. The eruption was one of only 3 major rhyolitic eruptions of the 20th Century.


Anticostiodus

Anticostiodus is an extinct genus of multielement conodonts. Specimens have been described from the Lower Silurian (early Aeronian) of Gun River Formation of Anticosti Island, Quebec. Two species are included under the genus, "Anticostiodus fahraeusi" and "Anticostiodus boltoni". Both species occur near the base of the "Distomodus staurognathoides" zone and in an open subtidal environment.


Eocaudina

Eocaudina is an extinct genus of sea cucumbers which existed in Poland during the Triassic period. It contains the species "Eocaudina septaforaminalis" and "Eocaudina subhexagona".


Belle Bay Formation

The Belle Bay Formation is a metamorphosed formation cropping out in Newfoundland.


Asthenoceras

Asthenoceras is a genus of ammonoid from the Middle Jurassic (Lower Bajocian) with dwarfish, evolute, smooth, compressed, discoidal, strongly keeled shell. "Asthenoceras" belongs to the Sonniniidae and may be a subgenus of the Lower Jurassic (Upper Toarcian) "Grammoceras".


Dynamopterus

Dynamopterus velox is a prehistoric bird, known from a single large right humerus recovered in France. The humerus shares anatomical features with living cuckoos (though it is much larger). It has also been classified in the suborder Cariamae in the Gruiformes.


List of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha flags

This is a list of flags used by and in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.


Lake Louise (Alberta)

Lake Louise (named Ho-run-num-nay (Lake of the Little Fishes) by the Stoney Nakota First Nations people) is a glacial lake within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located west of the Hamlet of Lake Louise and the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1).
Lake Louise is named after the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and the wife of the Marquess of Lorne, who was the Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883.
The turquoise colour of the water comes from rock flour carried into the lake by melt-water from the glaciers that overlook the lake. The lake has a surface of and is drained through the 3 km long "Louise Creek" into the Bow River.
Fairmont's Chateau Lake Louise, one of Canada's grand railway hotels, is located on Lake Louise's eastern shore. It is a luxury resort hotel built in the early decades of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Moraine Lake and Lake Agnes are also accessible from Lake Louise.
Activities.
A variety of hiking trails exist around the lake. Hiking trails include trips to Saddleback Pass, Fairview Mountain (), Mirror Lake, Lake Agnes, Big Beehive, Little Beehive, Devils Thumb, Mount Whyte, and Mount Niblock. Some of these trails are open to mountain biking and horseback riding, and the surrounding mountain faces offer opportunities for rock climbing. Kayaking and canoeing are popular activities during summer, and a boat launch and rental facility are maintained on the north-eastern shore. The area is plagued by traffic jams and parking shortages due to out-of-control tourism.
The nearby Lake Louise Ski Area, formerly known as Lake Louise Mountain Resort, offers amenities for alpine and Cross-country skiing, as well as heli-skiing and snowboarding. The lake can be used for ice fishing and ice skating in winter, while the surrounding area offers settings for snowmobiling, dog sledding, snowshoeing and ice climbing.


Namarunu

Namarunu is a shield volcano located in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya.
Location.
Namarunu is located in the Suguta Valley, a section of the Kenyan Rift Valley just south of Lake Turkana. It extends from the western side of the rift past the center.
The mountain forms a broad shield. The large basal part is about deep, made up of outward-dipping trachytic lavas, breccias and tuffs.
A few thousand years ago the Suguta was filled by a major lake, but now it is extremely dry and hot, with only the small Lake Logipi at the northern end.
Some of the recent cones on the floor of the rift valley and on the eastern side of the rift below the Tirr Tirr Plateau contain hot springs.
Evolution.
Namarunu was mainly formed during the upper Pliocene, but has some material from the Holocene.
It is a trachytic shield volcano topped by more recent parasitic cones and lava flows.
The basal trachyte dates to roughly 6.8 million years ago, while the uppermost basalts date to around 500,000 years ago.
Large amounts of basalt were deposited in the Rift valley on the north, east and south of the volcano through effusion and explosions during the early Holocene. A breached scoria cone that forms the summit of the mountain also erupted fluid olivine basalts, with some eruptions later than the period around 3,000 years ago when Lake Suguta dried out. Eruptions may have occurred around the same time as historical eruptions of the Barrier Volcano to the north.


Geology of Gotland

Gotland is made up of a sequence of sedimentary rocks of a Silurian age, dipping to the south-east.
The main Silurian succession of limestones and shales comprises thirteen units spanning of stratigraphic thickness, being thickest in the south, and overlies a thick Ordovician sequence. Precambrian shield rocks that underlie these sediments are found 400 to 500 meters sea level. Sedimentary rocks cropping out in Gotland were deposited in a shallow, hot and salty sea, on the edge of an equatorial continent. The water depth never exceeded , and shallowed over time as bioherm detritus, and terrestrial sediments, filled the basin. Reef growth started in the Llandovery, when the sea was deep, and reefs continued to dominate the sedimentary record. Some sandstones are present in the youngest rocks towards the south of the island, which represent sand bars deposited very close to the shore line.
The lime rocks have been weathered into characteristic karstic rock formations known as rauks. Fossils, mainly of rugose corals and brachiopods, are abundant throughout the island; palæo-sea-stacks are preserved in places.
The rocks of Gotland display signals of global extinction events, which take their name from parishes on the island: the Ireviken, Mulde and Lau events.
Stratigraphy.
The earlier Paleozoic of the island comprises the following formations, listed from youngest to oldest (i.e. from south to north).
Quaternary geology.
Gotland has mostly a subdued relief composed of flat erosion surfaces. Higher areas usually correspond to those of more-less pure limestone while lower areas have commonly a geology of marl. The reason for this is that limestone is more resistant to erosion than marl. Another general relief feature is that northwestern margin of the island is higher than the southeastern parts. This higher northwestern coast is in part result of the southeast tilt of the sedimentary strata. The northwest coast is straight and contain active cliffs. On the other side the eastern coastline is irregular and sinuous.
During large Quaternary glaciations Gotland was covered by an ice sheet. The effects of Quaternary glacial erosion are not as visible in Gotland as they are in mainland Sweden because of its sedimentary basement. Glaciation did however left thin blankets of fine-grained boulder-clay till. The boulder include rocks of Archean age transported from far-away regions of Fennoscandia. Where the till blanket is absent the bare rock surfaces are exposed.
At the end of the last glaciation Gotland was fully summerged in the waters of the proto-Baltic Sea. The Ancylus and Litorina transgressions left marks in form of beaches. These beaches are now located above current sea level due to post-glacial rebound and changes in sea level. Compared to the rest of Sweden Gotland host good examples of active coastal processes.
There are few traces of river and stream erosion in Gotland. Some drainage in the island occurs through karstic systems, including caves. The soils of Gotland are thin with calcareous till clay being the main parent material.
Economic geology.
The particular geology of Gotland has conditioned many aspects of human life and economic activity. The economic activities influenced by geology include forestry, farming, cement production and quarrying building stones.
During the industrial age demand for Gotland limestone came from pulp mills, sugar refineries and iron works. People working in the quarries of Gotland have diminished from about 600 in the mid-1930s to 350 by 2010. The intended opening of a new limestone quarry in the 2010s in northern Gotland has led to a substantial conflict between environmentalists and those who support the project. In April 2015, the legal process regarding the allowance of the project was put on hold by Swedish courts until the Swedish government takes a decision or, if not, until August 31 of 2015.
Exploratory wells have revealed the existence of petroleum oil of Lower Paleozoic age beneath Gotland.
Further reading.
For a reconstruction of the facies of Gotland, presented as an east-west section, see page 25 of:


Zorzinichthys

Zorzinichthys annae is an extinct species of fish from the Ypresian age of Monte Bolca.


Cerro de La Isla

Cerro de La Isla is a mountain in the Andes of Chile. It has a height of .


Chomatobatrachus

Chomatobatrachus is a genus of prehistoric temnospondyl from the Triassic.
Taxonomy.
A temnospondyl species placed in a monotypic genus Chomatobatrachus and allied to the Lydekkerinidae family.
The description was published in 1974 by the palaeontologist John W. Cosgriff.
The type locality is Meadowbank, a site associated with the Knocklofty Formation, where a skull was discovered in Induan terrestrial mudstone.