scholarly journals Dating of the Lower Pleistocene Vertebrate Site of Tsiotra Vryssi (Mygdonia Basin, Greece): Biochronology, Magnetostratigraphy, and Cosmogenic Radionuclides

Quaternary ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
George E. Konidaris ◽  
Dimitris S. Kostopoulos ◽  
Matteo Maron ◽  
Mirjam Schaller ◽  
Todd A. Ehlers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Basin ◽  
Magnetic Polarity ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Cosmogenic Radionuclides ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Lower Pleistocene ◽  
Faunal Succession ◽  
Western Eurasia ◽  
Age Constraints

Background and scope: The late Villafranchian large mammal age (~2.0–1.2 Ma) of the Early Pleistocene is a crucial interval of time for mammal/hominin migrations and faunal turnovers in western Eurasia. However, an accurate chronological framework for the Balkans and adjacent territories is still missing, preventing pan-European biogeographic correlations and schemes. In this article, we report the first detailed chronological scheme for the late Villafranchian of southeastern Europe through a comprehensive and multidisciplinary dating approach (biochronology, magnetostratigraphy, and cosmogenic radionuclides) of the recently discovered Lower Pleistocene vertebrate site Tsiotra Vryssi (TSR) in the Mygdonia Basin, Greece. Results: The minimum burial ages (1.88 ± 0.16 Ma, 2.10 ± 0.18 Ma, and 1.98 ± 0.18 Ma) provided by the method of cosmogenic radionuclides indicate that the normal magnetic polarity identified below the fossiliferous layer correlates to the Olduvai subchron (1.95–1.78 Ma; C2n). Therefore, an age younger than 1.78 Ma is indicated for the fossiliferous layer, which was deposited during reverse polarity chron C1r. These results are in agreement with the biochronological data, which further point to an upper age limit at ~1.5 Ma. Overall, an age between 1.78 and ~1.5 Ma (i.e., within the first part of the late Villafranchian) is proposed for the TSR fauna. Conclusions: Our results not only provide age constraints for the local mammal faunal succession, thus allowing for a better understanding of faunal changes within the same sedimentary basin, but also contribute to improving correlations on a broader scale, leading to more accurate biogeographic, palaeoecological, and taphonomic interpretations.

scholarly journals A Giant Ostrich from the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Formation of North China, with a Review of the Fossil Ostriches of China

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Eric Buffetaut ◽  
Delphine Angst
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
North China ◽  
Hebei Province ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Wide Geographical Distribution ◽  
Lower Pleistocene ◽  
The Crimea

A large incomplete ostrich femur from the Lower Pleistocene of North China, kept at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), is described. It was found by Father Emile Licent in 1925 in the Nihewan Formation (dated at about 1.8 Ma) of Hebei Province. On the basis of the minimum circumference of the shaft, a mass of 300 kg, twice that of a modern ostrich, was obtained. The bone is remarkably robust, more so than the femur of the more recent, Late Pleistocene, Struthio anderssoni from China, and resembles in that regard Pachystruthio Kretzoi, 1954, a genus known from the Lower Pleistocene of Hungary, Georgia and the Crimea, to which the Nihewan specimen is referred, as Pachystruthio indet. This find testifies to the wide geographical distribution of very massive ostriches in the Early Pleistocene of Eurasia. The giant ostrich from Nihewan was contemporaneous with the early hominins who inhabited that region in the Early Pleistocene.

Geometric morphometric analysis of different species of Cyprideis deriving from the Early Pleistocene record of Greece.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ypermachia Dimitriou ◽  
Penelope Papadopoulou ◽  
Maria Kolendrianou ◽  
Maria Tsoni ◽  
George Iliopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Endemic Species ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Representative Species ◽  
Lower Pleistocene ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Outline Analysis ◽  
Geometric Morphometric Analysis ◽  
The Right ◽  
Of Greece

<p>The genus Cyprideis is one of the most widespread ostracod representative of the Pleistocene brackish palaeoenvironments. Especially <em>Cyprideis torosa </em>is often found in great numbers and even in monospecific taphocoenoses and for this reason its study is very useful for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.  The identification of different species of Cyprideis is often complicated and needs careful morphology inspection. This becomes even more difficult in the case of endemic species which present significant similarities with each other.  In this work, we have studied and analyzed several  Cyprideis species (<em>C.torosa, C. frydaci, C.dictyoti, C. pannonica, C. elisabeta, C. seminulum, C. heterostigma</em>) deriving from brackish palaeoenvironments of a Lower Pleistocene marl sequence in Sousaki Basin (Northeastern Corinth Graben, Greece). More specifically size measurements and geometric morphometrics (lateral valve outline of both right and left valves as well as females and males) were used in order to attest the similarities and dissimilarities between the different species and draw conclusions about their origin.  According to the valve outline and the multivariate analysis a close relationship between the valve shape of all Cyprideis species can be noticed. <em>C. torosa</em> is commonly grouped with <em>C. pannonica</em> except in the male right valve where the two species show some differences.  The endemic species <em>C. frydaci</em> and <em>C. dictyoti</em> can be identified by the differences in the right valve of the male and female respectively.  The other species could not be substantially differentiated using just the outline analysis which possibly denotes their common genetic origin.  The valve outline has proved to be a very useful character for recognizing the different species especially when the two valves of both females and males are considered. More analyses of representative species of Miocene and Pliocene Cyprideis are needed in order to establish their phylogenetic relationships and draw conclusions about their common ancestor.</p>

scholarly journals Quaternary stratigraphy: Recent changes

2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Tivadar Gaudenji ◽  
Mladjen Jovanovic
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Stratigraphic Correlation ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Quaternary Stratigraphy ◽  
Stratigraphic Model ◽  
Stratigraphic Division ◽  
Lower Pleistocene

Corrections to the Quaternary stratigraphic division of Serbia was updated/renewed by lowering limit of the Pleistocene / Quaternary to the beginning of the Gelasian that is at approximately 2.588 million years. Rather than the officially rejected Penck & Br?ckner Alpine stratigraphic model, the use of oxygen isotope stages (OIS / MIS) is recommended. Climatostratigraphic terms glacial and interglacial have a regional applicability and their use is recommended only in areas where there are traces of glaciation, while the terms cold and warm stage (or moderate) stages should be used within the global context. Eopleistocene is a regional term for the former Soviet Union and due to its uniqueness it can hardly be applied in the stratigraphical scheme of the Quaternary depostis in Serbia. With the latest extension of the Lower Pleistocene, further use of Eopleistocene would lead to further confusion in stratigraphic correlation as such the use of the Lower / Early Pleistocene or other appropriate stratigraphic units is recommended.

scholarly journals New records of the fur seal Callorhinus (Carnivora: Otariidae) from the Plio-Pleistocene Rio Dell Formation of Northern California and comments on otariid dental evolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Boessenecker
Keyword(s):  
New Record ◽  
New Records ◽  
Size Range ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Callorhinus Ursinus ◽  
Northern California ◽  
Northeast Pacific ◽  
Fur Seal ◽  
Dental Evolution ◽  
Lower Pleistocene

New fossils representing two species of the fur seal Callorhinus are reported from the uppermost Pliocene to lower Pleistocene Rio Dell Formation of northern California. The finds include latest Pliocene–earliest Pleistocene dentaries and postcrania of Callorhinus gilmorei, and a partial dentary of early Pleistocene age identified as Callorhinus sp. The aforementioned material is ascribed to C. gilmorei due to the incipient single-rooted condition of the p1–2, retention of double-rooted p3–m1, and overall small size. The dentary identified as Callorhinus sp. exhibits a more derived pattern of tooth morphology, including single-rooted p1–p4 (and double-rooted m1), larger size than C. gilmorei, and in the size range of extant Callorhinus ursinus (which typically exhibit fused roots on all postcanine teeth). Fusion of postcanine roots began with the p2 and continued posteriorly, and is likely an adaptation to accommodate crowded teeth anteriorly in the jaws. Callorhinus gilmorei has previously been reported from the upper Pliocene of southern California and Japan, and this new record extends the range of this taxon further north in the Northeast Pacific. Callorhinus sp. is the most complete pinniped fossil to be described from the early Pleistocene of the Northeast Pacific. The wide biogeographic range of Callorhinus during the Pliocene and Pleistocene documents the persistence of this taxon, potentially as a Pliocene-Holocene anagenetic lineage. This highlights the antiquity of the Callorhinus lineage, which has persisted in the Northeast Pacific since the Pliocene, establishing it as the oldest and earliest diverging crown otariid.

Davis Creek silt, an Early Pleistocene or Late Pliocene deposit in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 192-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Vreeken ◽  
R. W. Klassen ◽  
R. W. Barendregt
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Magnetic Polarity ◽  
Polarity Reversal ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
The South ◽  
Glacial Deposits ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Weathering Zone ◽  
Magnetic Polarity Reversal

Davis Creek silt is the informal name for a previously unreported loess and its reworked detritus encountered at several locations to the south of the east and centre blocks of the Cypress Hills. This unit intervenes between a pediment with an estimated age of 10 Ma and Late Wisconsinan glacial deposits. Because the unit has reversed magnetization, it is older than 788 ka, the astronomical age of the Matuyama–Brunhes magnetic polarity reversal. The unit also contains an undated volcanic ash from the Pearlette ash family that could represent the Mesa Falls (1.27 Ma) or the Huckleberry Ridge (2.02 Ma) ash bed. Davis Creek silt overlies an oxidized weathering zone and contains large secondary carbonate nodules near its truncated top that were, in places, reworked into a lag deposit or stone line before accumulation of the glacial overburden. At one location Davis Creek silt is separated from this overburden by a unit of cryoturbated gravelly loam with remnants of a reddish-yellow paleosolic B horizon.

Unravelling basin shoulder dynamics through detrital apatite fission-track signature: the case of the Quaternary Mugello Basin, Italy

2017 ◽  
Vol 155 (7) ◽  
pp. 1413-1426
Author(s):  
MARIA LAURA BALESTRIERI ◽  
MARCO BENVENUTI ◽  
RITA CATANZARITI
Keyword(s):  
Fission Track ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Northern Apennines ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Apatite Fission Track ◽  
Fan Delta ◽  
Lower Pleistocene ◽  
Intermontane Basins ◽  
Delta Sediments

AbstractDetrital apatite fission-track (AFT) thermochronology has been applied to lower Pleistocene lacustrine fan-delta sediments of the NE shoulder of the Mugello Basin, the youngest and closest to the main watershed among the Northern Apennines intermontane basins. The aim was to decode the shoulder uplift dynamics during the development of the basin through the analysis of the Quaternary fluvio-lacustrine deposits. Bedrock shoulder analysis, performed to match the detrital AFT data with their source, revealed the presence of a unexpected only partially annealed portion of a turbidite foredeep unit (AFT ages >7–5 Ma) belonging to the structural complex that constitutes the shoulder bedrock. These data disagree with the AFT age distribution pattern of the well-studied Northern Apennines chain, suggesting a segmentation of the foredeep basin. The latter may have been related to the presence of a tectonically induced topographic high (pre-late Langhian) in the area limiting the thickness of the overriding Ligurian lid. On the other hand, detrital AFT data provided arguments for understanding the dynamics of Mugello Basin shoulder uplift and rotation. The proportion in the different stratigraphic units of the fan-delta sediments of single grains showing young (reset) and old (non-reset) ages points to late Early Pleistocene timing of the development of the SW-verging backthrust that characterizes the study area. These data confirm and detail the picture of an early Quaternary development of the Mugello Basin under a compressional setting, only later (middle Pleistocene to present) superimposed by normal faultings.

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