Late Ediacaran occurrences of the organic-walled microfossils Granomarginata and flask-shaped Lagoenaforma collaris gen. et sp. nov.

New occurrences of flask-shaped and envelope-bearing microfossils, including the predominantly Cambrian taxon Granomarginata, are reported from new localities, as well as from earlier in time (Ediacaran) than previously known. The stratigraphic range of Granomarginata extends into the Cambrian System, where it had a cosmopolitan distribution. This newly reported Ediacaran record includes areas from Norway (Baltica), Newfoundland (Avalonia) and Namibia (adjacent to the Kalahari Craton), and puts the oldest global occurrence of Granomarginata in the Indreelva Member (< 563 Ma) of the Stáhpogieddi Formation on the Digermulen Peninsula, Arctic Norway. Although Granomarginata is rare within the assemblage, these new occurrences together with previously reported occurrences from India and Poland, suggest a potentially widespread palaeogeographic distribution of Granomarginata through the middle–late Ediacaran interval. A new flask-shaped microfossil Lagoenaforma collaris gen. et sp. nov. is also reported in horizons containing Granomarginata from the Stáhpogieddi Formation in Norway and the Dabis Formation in Namibia, and flask-shaped fossils are also found in the Gibbett Hill Formation in Newfoundland. The Granomarginata–Lagoenaforma association, in addition to a low-diversity organic-walled microfossil assemblage, occurs in the strata postdating the Shuram carbon isotope excursion, and may eventually be of use in terminal Ediacaran biostratigraphy. These older occurrences of Granomarginata add to a growing record of body fossil taxa spanning the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary.

The Upper Cretaceous foraminiferal record of IODP Site U1512 (Great Australian Bight, Indian Ocean)

&lt;p&gt;Site U1512 was drilled during Expedition 369 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), which is located in the Great Australian Bight, southern Indian Ocean. It provides exceptional insights into the benthic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and paleoecology of a high southern latitude restricted marginal marine basin during the Late Cretaceous hot greenhouse climate and the rifting between Australia and Antarctica. The sedimentary sequence recovered at Site U1512 presents a rare record of a deep water agglutinated foraminifera (DWAF) community from the Southern High Latitudes. The Cretaceous record at Site U1512 covers the lower Turonian through Santonian (nannofossil zones UC8b to UC12/CC10b to CC16, &lt;em&gt;H. helvetica&lt;/em&gt; to &lt;em&gt;Marginotruncana&lt;/em&gt; spp. - &lt;em&gt;Planoheterohelix papula&lt;/em&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Globotruncana linneana&lt;/em&gt; planktonic foraminifera zones). Diverse benthic foraminiferal assemblages yield many new taxa that are yet to be described.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Agglutinated forms dominate the assemblage in most intervals. In lower to mid Turonian and Santonian strata, calcareous benthic as well as planktonic foraminifera are frequent. Abundant radiolaria are recovered from the mid Turonian, and they increase up-section and exceed 50% of the microfossil assemblage. We documented a diverse benthic foraminiferal assemblage consisting of 162 taxa (110 agglutinated and 52 calcareous). The most common taxa of the DWAF assemblage are tubular (i.e., &lt;em&gt;Kalamopsis grzybowskii,&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;Bathysiphon&lt;/em&gt; spp.) and planispiral forms (i.e., &lt;em&gt;Ammodiscus&lt;/em&gt; spp., &lt;em&gt;Haplophragmoides&lt;/em&gt; spp., &lt;em&gt;Buzasina&lt;/em&gt; sp., &lt;em&gt;Labrospira&lt;/em&gt; spp.).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Turonian strata yield highly abundant &lt;em&gt;Bulbobaculites problematicus&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Spiroplectammina navarroana&lt;/em&gt;. The presence of the agglutinated foraminiferal marker taxa &lt;em&gt;Uvigerinammina jankoi&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Bulbobaculites problematicus&lt;/em&gt; provides a tie-point to the Tethyan DWAF biozonation of Geroch and Nowak (1984). The composition of foraminiferal assemblages and the increase in radiolaria abundance suggest unstable environmental conditions at Site U1512 during the early Turonian through Santonian. These characteristics refer to changes in bathymetry associated with changing ocean chemistry. Results of quantitative analyses of the benthic foraminiferal assemblages indicate a restricted paleoenvironmental regime, dictated by changes in paleobathymetry, unstable patterns in ocean circulation, and the discharge of a nearby river delta system.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;References: Geroch, S., Nowak, K., 1984. Proposal of zonation for the Late Tithonian &amp;#8211; late Eocene. based upon arenaceous Foraminifera from the Outer Carpathians, Poland, 225-239, In: Oertli, H.J. (Ed.), Benthos &amp;#180;83; 2nd international 915 Symposium on Benthic Foraminifera, Pau (France) April 11-15, 1983, Elf Aquitaine, ESO REP and TOTAL CFP, Pau and Bordeaux.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;

New Late Cretaceous (Coniacian) sauropod tracks from Hvar Island, Croatia

In June 2017 a new sauropod trackway locality was discovered in the central part of the Adriatic–Dinaric Carbonate Platform (ADCP), on the island of Hvar (Croatia). The track site is situated on the northern shore of the western edge (Pelegrin) of the island in the upper Turonian – lower Coniacian limestone series. The track site contains altogether 13 footprints arranged in four possible trackways. The largest footprints have a diameter up to 80 cm. In some places the limestone surface is strongly karstified and the tracks are partly eroded, which has certainly modified the original shape and size of the footprints. Microfossil assemblage from the track-bearing beds suggest an early Coniacian age for the tracks. The new trackways on Hvar Island further strengthen the earlier hypothesis that sauropods were present in the western Tethyan archipelago during the late Cenomanian–late Campanian period. In addition, the new tracks, together with those from the Žukova Cove of Hvar, represent two, possibly slightly different stratigraphic horizons close to the Turonian–Coniacian boundary, and suggest that the occurrence of sauropods on the ADCP and possibly also on other parts of the Apulian microplate was not accidental, but rather periodical and more frequent than previously thought.

A New Preparation Method of Microfauna from Gypsum: Micropaleontological Association from the Middle Miocene Badenian Gypsum Deposits of Paratethys

Evaporitic gypsum deposits represent an important paleoenvironmental record of the Miocene Badenian of the Carpathian Mountains belt. In this study, we developed a nontoxic method to concentrate calcareous microfossils from gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O), by treating the sulfate with ammonium acetate. We applied the newly developed method to gypsum collected from the Evaporitic Formation outcropping northward of Slănic-Prahova in the Eastern Carpathians. For the first time for this formation, we describe a calcareous microfossil assemblage characterized by the presence of planktonic foraminifera as well as cysts and fragments of calcareous algae.

Palaeobiodiversity of crocodylomorphs from the Lourinhã Formation based on the tooth record: insights into the palaeoecology of the Late Jurassic of Portugal

Crocodylomorphs were a diverse clade in the Late Jurassic of Portugal, with six taxa reported to date. Here we describe 126 isolated teeth recovered by screen-washing of sediments from Valmitão (Lourinhã, Portugal, late Kimmeridgian–Tithonian), a vertebrate microfossil assemblage in which at least five distinct crocodylomorph taxa are represented. Ten morphotypes are described and attributed to five clades (Lusitanisuchus, Atoposauridae, Goniopholididae, Bernissartiidae and an undetermined mesoeucrocodylian). Four different ecomorphotypes are here proposed according to ecological niches and feeding behaviours: these correspond to a diet based on arthropods and small vertebrates (Lusitanisuchus and Atoposauridae), a generalist diet (Goniopholididae), a durophagous diet (Bernissartiidae) and a carnivorous diet. Lusitanisuchus mitracostatus material from Guimarota is here redescribed to achieve a better illustration and comparison with the new material. This assemblage shares similar ecomorphotypes with other Mesozoic west-central European localities, where a diversity of crocodylomorphs lived together, avoiding direct ecological competition through niche partitioning. The absence of large marine crocodylomorphs, present in other contemporaneous assemblages, is here interpreted as evidence that the Valmitão assemblage was deposited in a freshwater environment, although sample bias cannot be completely ruled out. These affinities are further supported by the presence of lanceolate and leaf-shaped teeth associated with continental clades.

Review and test of reproducibility of subdecadal resolution palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from microfossil assemblages

Very high, even annual, resolution quantitative palaeoenvironmental reconstructions have been generated from microfossil assemblage data using transferfunctions. Evidence of the utility of some of these reconstructions is given by thehigh correlations between the reconstructions and instrumental records. Suchperformance is despite several ecological and taphonomic issues that can becomemore problematic at sub-decadal resolution than at multidecadal resolution. Thispaper explores these timescale dependent issues and tests the reproducibility ofthe reconstructions. It demonstrates that the exceptionally good performance ofseveral published reconstructions is not reproducible.

A Tournaisian (earliest Carboniferous) conglomerate-preserved non-marine faunal assemblage and its environmental and sedimentological context

A conglomerate bed from the Tournaisian Ballagan Formation of Scotland preserves a rich array of vertebrate and other nonmarine fossils providing an insight into the wider ecosystem and paleoenvironment that existed during this pivotal stage of Earth history. It challenges hypotheses of a long-lasting post-extinction trough following the end-Devonian extinction event. The fauna recovered includes a wide size range of tetrapods, rhizodonts, and dipnoans, from tiny juveniles or small-bodied taxa up to large adults, and more than one taxon of each group is likely. Some fauna, such as actinopterygians and chondrichthyans, are rare as macrofauna but are better represented in the microfossil assemblage. The fauna provides evidence of the largest Carboniferous lungfish ever found. The specimens are preserved in a localized, poorly-sorted conglomerate which was deposited in the deepest part of a river channel, the youngest of a group of channels. In addition to the fossils (micro- and macro-), the conglomerate includes locally-derived clasts of paleosols and other distinctive elements of the surrounding floodplains. Charcoal fragments represent small woody axes and possible larger trunk tissue from arborescent pteridosperms. Preservation of the fossils indicates some aerial exposure prior to transport, with abrasion from rolling. The findings presented here contrast with other published trends in vertebrate size that are used to interpret a reduction in maximum sizes during the Tournaisian. The richness of the fauna runs counter to the assumption of a depauperate nonmarine fauna following the end-Devonian Hangenberg event, and charcoal content highlights the occurrence of fire, with the requisite levels of atmospheric oxygen during that stage.

A Tournaisian (earliest Carboniferous) conglomerate-preserved non-marine faunal assemblage and its environmental and sedimentological context

A conglomerate bed from the Tournaisian Ballagan Formation of Scotland preserves a rich array of vertebrate and other non-marine fossils providing an insight into the wider ecosystem and palaeoenvironment that existed during this pivotal stage of Earth history. It challenges hypotheses of a long-lasting post-extinction trough following the end-Devonian extinction event. The fauna recovered includes a wide size range of tetrapods, rhizodonts and dipnoans, from tiny juveniles or small-bodied taxa up to large adults, and more than one taxon of each group is likely. Some fauna, such as actinopterygians and chondrichthyans, are rare as macrofauna but are better represented in the microfossil assemblage. The fauna provides evidence of the largest Carboniferous lungfish ever found. The specimens are preserved in a localised, poorly-sorted conglomerate which was deposited in the deepest part of a river channel, the youngest of a group of channels. In addition to the fossils (micro- and macro-), the conglomerate includes locally-derived clasts of palaeosols and other distinctive elements of the surrounding floodplains. Charcoal fragments represent stem and possible trunk tissue from arborescent pteridosperms. Preservation of the fossils indicates some aerial exposure prior to transport, with abrasion from rolling. The findings presented here contrast with other published trends in vertebrate size that are used to interpret a reduction in maximum sizes during the Tournaisian. The richness of the fauna runs counter to the assumption of a depauperate non-marine fauna following the end-Devonian Hangenberg event, and charcoal content highlights the occurrence of fire, with the requisite levels of atmospheric oxygen during that stage.