Upper plate deformation during blueschist exhumation, ancestral western California forearc basin, from stratigraphic and structural relationships at Mount Diablo and in the Rio Vista Basin

ABSTRACT Late Cenozoic growth of the Mount Diablo anticline in the eastern San Francisco Bay area, California, USA, has produced unique 3D exposures of stratigraphic relationships and normal faults that record Late Cretaceous uplift and early Tertiary extension in the ancestral California forearc basin. Several early Tertiary normal faults on the northeast flank of Mount Diablo have been correlated with structures that accommodated Paleogene subsidence of the now-buried Rio Vista basin north of Mount Diablo. Stepwise restoration of deformation at Mount Diablo reveals that the normal faults probably root into the “Mount Diablo fault,” a structure that juxtaposes blueschist-facies rocks of the Franciscan accretionary complex with attenuated remnants of the ophiolitic forearc basement and relatively unmetamorphosed marine forearc sediments. This structure is the local equivalent of the Coast Range fault, which is the regional contact between high-pressure Franciscan rocks and structurally overlying forearc basement in the northern Coast Ranges and Diablo Range, and it is folded about the axis of the Mount Diablo anticline. Apatite fission-track analyses indicate that the Franciscan rocks at Mount Diablo were exhumed and cooled from depths of 20+ km in the subduction zone between ca. 70−50 Ma. Angular unconformities and growth relations in the Cretaceous and Paleogene stratigraphic sections on the northeast side of Mount Diablo, and in the Rio Vista basin to the north, indicate that wholesale uplift, eastward tilting, and extension of the western forearc basin were coeval with blueschist exhumation. Previous workers have interpreted the structural relief associated with this uplift and tilting, as well as the appearance of Franciscan blueschist detritus in Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary forearc strata, as evidence for an “ancestral Mount Diablo high,” an emergent Franciscan highland bordering the forearc basin to the west. This outer-arc high is here interpreted to be the uplifted footwall of Coast Range fault. The stratigraphic and structural relations exposed at Mount Diablo support models for exposure of Franciscan blueschists primarily through syn-subduction extension and attenuation of the overlying forearc crust in the hanging wall of the Coast Range fault, accompanied by (local?) uplift and erosion of the exhumed accretionary prism in the footwall.

THE ARAVELIANS: THE ALANIAN COMPONENT IN GENEALOGY OF THE ARMENIAN NOBILITY

В истории Армении раннесредневекового периода исключительно важную роль играли аристократические династии, составляющие сословие нахараров. Фактически вплоть до эпохи арабских нашествий в руках нахарарских кланов были сосредоточены основные земельные, военные и экономические ресурсы страны. В этой связи различные аспекты истории, включая вопросы генеалогии и просопографии соответствующих родов, давно находятся в поле зрения арменоведов. Одной из давно разрабатываемых в науке проблем является анализ достоверности сообщений средневековых авторов об иноэтническом (персидском (парфянском), иудейском, ченском (?китайском), римском) происхождении ряда нахарарств. Для истории Алании и армяно-аланских связей значительный интерес представляет нахарарство Аравелеанов, связанное, согласно Мовсесу Хоренаци, с родом царевны Сатиник. В статье обобщены высказывавшиеся в науке мнения о достоверности сообщений о выезде предков Аравелеанов из Алании, этимологии фамильного имени, локализации родовых владений, а также места, занимаемого кланом в рамках нахарарского сословия. Впервые на основе всего корпуса нарративных и эпиграфических источников собраны сведения об известных на сегодняшний день представителях рода. Выявлена информация о семи носителях фамилии V – VII вв. На основе имеющихся данных можно заключить, что Аравелеаны сыграли заметную роль в ключевых событиях армянской истории рассматриваемого периода – войнах Варданидов и борьбе с арабскими завоевателями. Отдельный интерес представляет получение представителями рода высоких византийских титулов. Составлена просопографическая анкета Аравелеанов. Noble dynasties, which formed a stratum of nakharars, have played exceptionally significant role in the history of the Early Tertiary period of Armenia. Actually, until the epoch of the Arab conquests, the majority of land, military and economic resources of the country was concentrated in nakharars’ hands. In this connection, different historical aspects, including questions of genealogy and prosopography of respected dynasties are now in the sight of Armenologists. One of the scientific problems which has been studied in depth for a long time is the analysis of source credibility of medieval authors’ statements about nonethnic origin of range of nakharars – Persian (Parthian), Hebrew, Chen (?Chinese), Roman. For the history of Alania and Armenian-Alanian relations, the Aravelian nakharar, which according to Movses Horenazi is connected to the dynasty of Queen Satinik, is of substantial interest. The article summarizes expressed scientific opinions on credibility of statements about departure of Aravelians’ predecessors from the territory of Alania, etymology of the family name, localisation of ancestral lands as well as position of the clan in frames of nakharar stratum. For the first time, on the basis of the whole corpus of narrative and epigraphic sources, the data on currently known members of Aravelians is collected. Information about seven family name bearers of V – VII centuries is being brought into light. On the basis of the available data, it can be concluded that Aravelians have played a significant role in the key milestones of the Armenian history during the period under review – Vardanid wars and fight against Arab invaders. Acquisition of high Byzantine titles by the members of the family is of specific interest. Phosopographical form of the Aravelians was made by the author.

The South Chukchi-Hope Tectono-Sedimentary Element

The South Chukchi-Hope Tectono-Sedimentary Element rests on the Neocomian folded basement formed as a result of the South Anyui palaeo-ocean closure. The interpretation of 2D seismic data as well as results of onshore structural field studies and dating of post-kinematic granite plutons suggest post-collisional extensional/transtensional regimes, potentially driving development of the South Chukchi-Hope Basin. The orogenic collapse occurred during the Aptian-Albian and followed by continued poly-phase extensional/transtensional regime during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Depositional environments in the basin were most likely non-marine in the Cretaceous and Early Tertiary and marine from the Late Oligocene (?) - Miocene onwards. Three onshore wells in the adjacent depocentres penetrated Tertiary sediments and have had gas shows from two sites. Geochemical surveys registered anomalies of thermogenic and biogenic methane and in some instances higher molecular ethane to penthane gases in sea-bottom sediments above gas chimneys observed on seismic lines. The tectono-sedimentary element is characterized by a very high present-day thermal gradient of up to 48 deg. C/km recorded in the Alaskan wells and was previously considered to be gas-prone.

The Gryphon, Maclure, Tullich and Ballindalloch fields, Blocks 9/18b, 9/18c, 9/19a, 9/23d and 9/24e, UK North Sea

The Gryphon Field was discovered in 1987 in Quadrant 9 in the Beryl Embayment. Oil was encountered in a thick Balder Formation sandstone, and the reservoir was interpreted as lobes of a submarine fan system, such as many of the prolific early Tertiary fields in the North Sea. After an extensive appraisal phase, oil production started in 1993 through the Gryphon floating production, storage and offloading vessel.After a successful initial development phase, the integration of production data, improved and regularly acquired seismic data, and a better geological understanding resulted in the identification of sandstone intrusions. These have since been interpreted to form a volumetrically significant part of the Gryphon reservoir. The drilling of further infill wells, and the development of satellite fields Maclure, Tullich and the future Ballindalloch, ensued from this change to the geological model. To date, the Gryphon, Maclure and Tullich fields have produced more than 200 MMbbl of oil compared to an initial reserve estimate of 151 MMbbl.Although the current and mid-term focus remains on maximizing oil production, the final phase of the wider Gryphon area fields’ development should see the production of the regional gas cap.

First inclusion of a trichiine beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from Baltic amber

Baltic amber forms the largest known Konservat-Lagerstätte of fossil plant resin and the richest repository of fossil insects of any age on Earth. Despite a long history of palaeobiological research of Baltic amber (over 200 years) and really intensive taxonomic study in the last decade, many interesting and new bioinclusions await scientific attention. In the current paper, the brief report of an unique large flower chafer inclusion from the Early Tertiary Baltic amber is provided. The author decided not to formally create a new genus and not to subjectively assign the Eocene beetle to an extant genus. However, the specimen seems to be remarkable and surprising in different aspects. The reported Eocene beetle is: 1) one of the oldest members of the subfamily Cetoniinae and also the earliest fossil record of the tribe Trichiini; 2) the first known representative of the subfamily in Baltic amber; 3) the largest known beetle fossilized in amber; and 4) an unique example of mineralized fossil included in amber.

LATE CRETACEOFS SEDIMENTARY ROCK IN BARITO BASIN, INDONESIA: LITHOLOGY, PALEONTOLOGY, AND PALEOENVIRONMENT

The Barito Basin so far known as back-arc basin that formed by the rifting in Early Tertiary, which the oldest sedimentary rock in this basin is believed has a Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene age. However, this research will present new evidence regarding the existence of sedimentary rocks that are older than Cenozoic age in the Barito Basin. This research was carried out on Bongkang-2 well, as the main data, and other five wells which have an indication of the discovery of Pre-Tertiary sedimentary rocks, which are generally located in the northern part of the Barito Basin. Integration of mud log data, petrography, paleontology, and dip-meter data, resulting the identification of lithology, age and depositional environment, and then interpretation of the paleoenvironment of the Barito Basin in the Late Cretaceous is carried out. Based on the analysis of data, it is show that Pre-Tertiary sedimentary rocks found in the six wells analyzed has Cenomanian age, which is indicated by the presence of large foraminifera fossils in the form of Sulcoperculina sp. and Orbitolina sp. in Bongkang-2, Hayup-1 and Hayup-3 wells, as well as palynomorph fossils in the form of Cicatrico- sisporites dorogensis, A. tricornitatus, Aquilapollenites sp., Distaverrusporites margaritus and Classopolis cf. classoidesin Bagok-1 and Bagok-2 wells. In addition, based on lithological analysis, in the Bongkang-2, Hayup-1 and Hayup-2 wells lithology develops in the form of limestone, shale and sandstone, while in the Didi-1, Bagok-1 and Bagok-2 wells lithology develops in the form of shale with sandstone and pyroclastic volcaniclastics rock intercalation. Then, based on the integration of lithology and paleontology analysis, it is known that in the Cenomanian age, terrestrial environments developed in the western part of the Barito Basin, while in the eastern part the shallow marine environment developed.

Phylogenomic analysis and revised classification of atypoid mygalomorph spiders (Araneae, Mygalomorphae), with notes on arachnid ultraconserved element loci

The atypoid mygalomorphs include spiders from three described families that build a diverse array of entrance web constructs, including funnel-and-sheet webs, purse webs, trapdoors, turrets and silken collars. Molecular phylogenetic analyses have generally supported the monophyly of Atypoidea, but prior studies have not sampled all relevant taxa. Here we generated a dataset of ultraconserved element loci for all described atypoid genera, including taxa (MecicobothriumandHexurella)key to understanding familial monophyly, divergence times, and patterns of entrance web evolution. We show that the conserved regions of the arachnid UCE probe set target exons, such that it should be possible to combine UCE and transcriptome datasets in arachnids. We also show that different UCE probes sometimes target the same protein, and under the matching parameters used here show that UCE alignments sometimes include non-orthologs. Using multiple curated phylogenomic matrices we recover a monophyletic Atypoidea, and reveal that the family Mecicobothriidae comprises four separate and divergent lineages. Fossil-calibrated divergence time analyses suggest ancient Triassic (or older) origins for several relictual atypoid lineages, with late Cretaceous/early Tertiary divergences within some genera indicating a high potential for cryptic species diversity. The ancestral entrance web construct for atypoids, and all mygalomorphs, is reconstructed as a funnel-and-sheet web.

Dialectical Relationship Between 4Hs (Study-Ask-Understand-Act) and 4Ts (Resonsibility for Oneself, Responsibility for Family, Responsibility for Society, Responsibility for Nature) in Setting an Open Education

Philosophy of education sets out a guideline to an educational system and/or institution. By the philosophy of education, a direction of the educational system and institution is identified. And the philosophy of education itself brings in a basis to define principles of realization as well as to keep all institutional activities in alignment with the philosophy of education. Thus, the philosphy of education is so important and indispensable to an educational system and institution. Moreover, it is the reciprocal relationship between the educational philosphy and its principles which forms up institutional activities in line with the direction set by the educational philosophy. As one of the early tertiary institutions of Binh Duong Province, Binh Duong University provided the province in particular and the country in genral with around 40,000 bachelors, engineers and masters during its 20-year function. One of the factors to account for the school’s success lies in its educational philosphy and follow-up principles upon the basis of 4Hs (study-ask-understand-act) in the process to create responsible citizens of 4Ts (resonsibility for oneself, responsibility for family, responsibility for society, responsibility for nature) towards the open world. As one of the early tertiary institutions of Binh Duong Province, Binh Duong University provided the province in particular and the country in genral with around 40,000 bachelors, engineers and masters during its 20-year function.