scholarly journals Changes in stratigraphic charts of neogene and quaternary deposits of Belarus due to the revision of the boundary between systems

Author(s):  
A. V. Маtveyev ◽  
Т. B. Rylova ◽  
S. V. Demidova ◽  
Т. V. Yakubovskaya

Following the decision of the International Union of Geological Sciences on the transfer of the lower boundary of the Quaternary System/Period and the Pleistocene Series/Epoch from 1.8 Ma to 2.58 Ma (to the base of the Gelazian Stage/ Age of the Pliocene), the changes have been made in Stratigraphic charts of Neogene and Quaternary Deposits of Belarus (2010). The Neogene – Quaternary boundary in the territory of Belarus is aligned with the International Chronostratigraphic Chart and is made between the Kholmech horizon (analogue of Zanclean and Piacenzian, Pliocene) and the Dvorets horizon (analogue of Gelasian) displaced from the Pliocene to the lower base of the lowermost Pleistocene. Its new position in the sections is substantiated by paleobotanical data. New geological units were introduced into regional and local stratigraphic charts of the Neogene and Quaternary.

Quaternary ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentí Rull

In the coming years, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) will submit its proposal on the ‘Anthropocene’ to the Subcommission of Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) and the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) for approval. If approved, the proposal will be sent to the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) for ratification. If the proposal is approved and ratified, then the ‘Anthropocene’ will be formalized. Currently, the ‘Anthropocene’ is a broadly used term and concept in a wide range of scientific and non-scientific situations, and, for many, the official acceptance of this term is only a matter of time. However, the AWG proposal, in its present state, seems to not fully meet the requirements for a new chronostratigraphic unit. This essay asks what could happen if the current ‘Anthropocene’ proposal is not formalized by the ICS/IUGS. The possible stratigraphic alternatives are evaluated on the basis of the more recent literature and the personal opinions of distinguished AWG, SQS, and ICS members. The eventual impact on environmental sciences and on non-scientific sectors, where the ‘Anthropocene’ seems already firmly rooted and de facto accepted as a new geological epoch, are also discussed. This essay is intended as the editorial introduction to a Quaternary special issue on the topic.


2020 ◽  
pp. SP506-2019-225
Author(s):  
Susan Turner

AbstractGeologists roam worldwide; no less for women who took up fellowship of the ‘Geol. Soc.’. Since 1919, women Fellows of the Geological Society have lived and worked across the globe conducting fieldwork and research. Based on the author's interests and in part considering her 50 years an FGS, a selection of women Fellows is considered, many of whom affected her geological life, such as Phoebe Walder and Peigi Wallace. This autoethnographical approach encompasses women from the colonies who joined as soon as they were able; the legendary Dorothy Hill of Queensland was one of the first, with other notable Australians being Nell Ludbrook and June Phillips Ross. Others worked across the former Gondwana, such as Pamela Robinson, who pioneered much research in vertebrate palaeontology on the Indian subcontinent. Important British geologists and vertebrate palaeontologists include Dorothea Bate, Sonia Cole, Elinor Gardner and Eileen Hendriks, who wrote key geological texts in the earlier twentieth century. More contemporary women did work for UNESCO, the International Union of Geological Sciences and in the oil industry. During the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, female Fellows have worked across the world in greater numbers in all aspects of geoscience, from the Arctic to the Antarctic.


Geosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 1008-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian A. Pearce ◽  
Mark K. Reagan

Abstract Boninites are rare, high-Si, high-Mg, low-Ti lavas that have considerable tectonic significance, especially for recognizing and interpreting episodes of subduction initiation in the geologic record. Formal identification and classification of boninites may be carried out using MgO-SiO2 and MgO-TiO2 diagrams to find compositions that satisfy modified International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) criteria of Si8 > 52 and Ti8 < 0.5, where Si8 and Ti8 refer to concentrations of the oxides at 8 wt% MgO. However, screening of highly metasomatized rocks and accurate classification require precautions, including normalization to a 100% volatile-free basis. The MgO-SiO2 diagram can also be used for subdivision into low-Si boninites (Si8 < 57) and high-Si boninites (Si8 > 57). Satisfying one but not both of the boninite criteria are rocks with Si8 > 52 but Ti8 ≥ 0.5 (siliceous high-magnesium basalts) and rocks with Si8 ≤ 52 but Ti8 < 0.5 (low-Ti basalts). We tested the classification methodologies using ∼100 low-Ti lava suites dating from the present-day back to the Eoarchean. We conclude that, of those classifying as “boninite series,” Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc–type subduction initiation terranes provide the dominant setting only back as far as ca. 2 Ga, which marks the maximum age of extensive clinopyroxene-undersaturated melting and eruption of high-Si boninites. From 2 to 3 Ga, most boninites formed in intraplate settings by melting of refertilized, depleted cratonic roots. Prior to 3 Ga, hot, depleted mantle plumes provided the main boninite sources. Nonetheless, arc-basin boninites, though rare, do extend back to 3.8 Ga, and, together with the inherited subduction component in intracratonic boninites, they provide evidence for some form of subduction during the Archean.


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