Past rainfall and trace element variations in a tropical speleothem from India

An actively growing stalagmite (cave deposit) was collected in 1996 from the Dandak cave in Madhya Pradesh. Trace elements Mg, Sr and Ba were measured in order to asses their palaeoclimatic significance. More than 100% variations in the concentrations of trace elements have been observed during the growth period. The chemical and physical properties of the trace elements along with the data of stable isotope ratios of exygen and carbon from our earlier work has been discussed in this paper. Ratio of Ba to Sr concentrations has remained constant suggesting that the soil layers and bedrock dissolution have contributed the same proporation of trace elements to the cave seepage water. Slowly varying components in the Mg, Sr and Ba concentrations and profiles show high degrees of correlations. It is found that changes in the trace elements are mainly driven by the varying intensity of past rainfall. Trace element variations of speleothems in tropical regions can be used as indicators of the past rainfall intensities. Different climatic intervals are characterised based on trace elements and stable isotoes. Period 3700 to 3350 yr BP was found to be arid. High rainfall was observed between 3350 to 3200 yr BP. After a hiatus period of 2000 yr due to non-climate dependent proceses, again a high rainfall phase between 1200 to 400 yr BP was observed with a peak level at ~200 yr BP and a short arid phase at ~90 yr BP was also observed.

First substantial evidence for Old World vultures (Aegypiinae, Accipitridae) from the early Palaeolithic and Iberomaurusian of Morocco

Remains of at least three species of large aegypiine vultures from early Palaeolithic and Iberomaurusian of Ifri n’Ammar, Morocco are the first substantial fossil record of these taxa in the Maghreb. They can be tentatively referred to the two extant species Aegypius monachus (Cinereous Vulture) and Gyps fulvus (Griffon Vulture), and to the extinct Gyps melitensis. Few fragments of remarkably large bones may belong to especially large specimens of A. monachus, but it cannot be ruled out that they are indeed remains of the so far only insufficiently known palaeospecies A. prepyrenaicus Hérnandez, 2001, originally described from the Upper Pleistocene of Spain. Two vulture species definitely occurred contemporarily; Gyps fulvus was found in the entire sequence, while A. monachus occurred only between 13,800 and 17,000 calBP. G. melitensis was found only once in an unknown stratigraphic context. All remains were found along with human artefacts in a cave deposit. Few bones show longitudinal scratches, which probably are cut marks, indicating that humans made use of the flesh, feathers and/or bones of these vultures. None of these species were previously recorded for the Upper Pleistocene of the Maghreb, and the fossil specimens provide important evidence for the former distribution of Old-World vultures in this area, which is insufficiently known and which changed dramatically during the twentieth century.

Sheath-tailed bats (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae) from the early Pleistocene Rackham’s Roost Site, Riversleigh World Heritage Area, and the distribution of northern Australian emballonurid species

Sheath-tailed bats (Family Emballonuridae) from the early Pleistocene Rackham’s Roost Site cave deposit in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-western Queensland are the oldest recorded occurrence for the family in Australia. The fossil remains consist of maxillary and dentary fragments, as well as isolated teeth, but until now their precise identity has not been assessed. Our study indicates that at least three taxa are represented, and these are distinguished from other Australian emballonurids based on morphometric analysis of craniodental features. Most of the Rackham’s Roost Site emballonurid remains are referrable to the modern species Taphozous georgianus Thomas, 1915, but the extant species T. troughtoni Tate, 1952 also appears to be present, as well as a very large, as-yet undetermined species of Saccolaimus Temminck, 1838. We identify craniodental features that clearly distinguish T. georgianus from the externally very similar T. troughtoni. Results suggest that the distributions of T. georgianus and T. troughtoni may have overlapped in north-western Queensland since at least the early Pleistocene.

Draft Genome Sequence of Arthrobacter globiformis mrc11, an Antimicrobial Agent Isolated from a Khangkhui Cave Deposit

Arthrobacter globiformis mrc11 was isolated from a Khangkhui cave deposit. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of this phylogenetically novel organism, which has a genome size of 4.89 Mb, a 65.9% GC content, and 4,657 predicted open reading frames that can be translated.

The chronology and environmental context of a cave deposit and associated faunal assemblage including megafauna teeth near Wee Jasper, southeastern Australia

A limestone cave on the lower slopes of the southeastern Australian high country reveals a deep, stratified deposit dated from ca. 14,000 to 2000 cal. BP and rich in predominantly non-cultural faunal remains. Located in a sensitive ecological area between the Australian Alps and the Southern Tablelands, the site provides a valuable chronological archive for the interpretation of local environmental change using the faunal record as a proxy, in particular native rodents and other small mammals. Inferred palaeoenvironmental trends include the cessation of periglacial conditions in the surrounding ranges during the Terminal Pleistocene; a shift to warmer conditions and the establishment of forest and wetland habitats from around 13,500 to 10,000 cal. BP, with a significant decline in cold-adapted species at ca. 11,500 cal. BP and a period of significant taxon fluctuation and extinctions corresponding to a possible peak in warm and moist conditions (a ‘Holocene Optimum’), beginning around 8000 cal. BP and lasting perhaps 1500 to 2000 years. Complications to the relatively steady and continuous chronostratigraphy, formed from an AMS radiocarbon sequence from sedimentary charcoal, arose from the presence of several teeth of extinct sthenurine megafauna. These were resolved with direct U-series analysis to establish their much greater antiquity and comparison of the sthenurine teeth with teeth of extant macropodids from the same deposit through fluoride absorption analysis, which also identified the megafauna teeth as anomalous to the sequence. The site provides an important case study for the interpretation of megafauna remains in stratified sedimentary deposits, especially for sites that appear to contain evidence for the co-occurrence of megafauna and humans in primary contexts.