The Miocene igneous rocks in the Basal Unit of the Lavrion area form part of the granitoid province of the central Aegean. Undeformed, subvertical dykes of quartz-syenite to granodiorite and granite porphyries, and a little deformed but variably altered granodiorite stock intrude metamorphic rocks of the Basal Unit. A 9.4 ± 0.3 Ma K–Ar age on feldspar for a dyke rock provides a minimum age for the igneous activity in the Basal Unit. East–west orientation of porphyry dykes is indicative of a regional extensional stress field with roughly north–south direction. Substantial extension in the Basal Unit after granodiorite emplacement is evident from widespread quartz veining associated with hydrothermal alteration of the granodiorite and the occurrence of mineralized tension gashes cutting the hydrothermally altered hornfelses. Final emplacement of the Blueschist Unit over the Basal Unit by extensional detachment post-dates contact metamorphism of the rocks surrounding the granodiorite. Geochemical diagrams show a continuous range of compositions from the dykes to the granodiorite. Radiogenic isotope compositions are compatible with a common magmatic source for the two lithologies. Elemental variations, as well as the considerable geochemical similarity of the dyke rocks to the Hercynian paragneiss of the central Cyclades, indicate that crustal melts were significant components during the evolution of the igneous rocks with fractional crystallization as an important process during later stages of evolution. The granodiorite displays geochemical signatures indicative of a significant mafic mantle-derived magma component.

Based on rich material (381 specimens examined) from two Cambrian echinoderm faunas, the early Cambrian Balang fauna and middle Cambrian Kaili fauna in Guizhou Province, South China, the taphonomy of gogiid echinoderms is described in detail, and the preservation of stereomic microstructure and organic remains of Cambrian gogiid echinoderms is reported here for the first time. Taphonomic considerations include entombment patterns, decay sequences, individual-specific diagenetic histories, unusual burial postures, selective disarticulation patterns, and post-mortem elongation. In particular, five categories of gogiid entombment patterns are proposed to describe the multi-directional orientations recorded at the burial time of articulated gogiids. Gogiid-bearing slabs of Guizhou material primarily (70%) display the type 2 entombment pattern (articulated gogiids preserved with fan-shaped brachioles); thus, most Guizhou gogiids were buried with brachioles preserved in feeding posture during obrution events. Balang gogiid faunas contain the oldest evidence of palaeoecological interactions among echinoderms and other indigenous taxa. In addition to pre-burial and post-burial decay, other potential causes for unusual disarticulation patterns exhibited by the gogiids from the lower Cambrian Balang Formation include pre-burial bio-disturbance and post-burial bioturbation based on ichnogenera, including Rusophycus and Planolites. Chemical analyses reveal that carbon, calcium, manganese and iron are the major elements responsible for the variety of colours exhibited by Guizhou gogiids. Three-dimensional stereomic microstructure (mean stereom pore size = 8.4–8.7 μm; average trabecular thickness = 4.5–4.6μm) occurs on the external surfaces of thecal plates in two gogiid species. Stereom preservation in calcite suggests that the dissolution of calcareous echinoderm plates, yielding characteristic mouldic preservation, is sub-Recent (after lithificaiton and exposure of gogiid-bearing, marine sedimentary successions on or near the land surface).

The Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous age mafic lavas from the Neotethyan suture zone ophiolites in western Turkey exhibit a wide diversity of geochemical signatures, indicating derivation from extremely heterogeneous mantle sources. The rocks as a whole can be divided into three broad subdivisions based on their bulk-rock geochemical characteristics: (1) mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) that range in composition from light rare earth element (LREE)-depleted varieties (N-MORB; (La/Sm)N<1) through transitional MORB to LREE enriched types (E-MORB; (La/Sm)N>1); (2) the ocean island basalt (OIB)-type alkaline volcanic rocks with significant enrichment in LILE, HFSE and L-MREE, and a slight depletion in HREE, relative to normal mid-ocean ridge basalts (N-MORB); and (3) the supra-subduction zone (SSZ)-type tholeiites originated from arc mantle sources that are characterized by selective enrichments in fluid-soluble large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and LREE relative to the high field strength elements (HFSE). The formation of MORB tholeiites with variable enrichments and depletions in incompatible trace elements is probably related to the processes of crust generation along an oceanic spreading system, and the observed MORB–OIB associations can be modelled by heterogeneous source contribution and mixing of melts from chemically discrete sources from sub-lithospheric reservoirs. Evaluation of trace element systematics shows that the inferred heterogeneities within the mantle source regions are likely to have originated from continuous processes of formation and destruction of enriched mantle domains by long-term plate recycling, convective mixing and melt extraction. The origin of SSZ-type tholeiites with back-arc basin affinities, on the other hand, can be attributed to the later intra-oceanic subduction and plate convergence which led to the generation of supra-subduction-type oceanic crust as a consequence of imparting a certain extent of subduction component into the mantle melting region. Mixing of melts from a multiply depleted mantle source, which subsequently received variable re-enrichment with a subduction component, is suggested to explain the generation of supra-subduction-type oceanic crust. The geodynamic setting in which much of the SSZ-type ophiolitic extrusive rocks from western Turkey were generated can be described as an arc-basin system that is characterized by an oceanic lithosphere generation most probably associated with melting of mantle material along a supra-subduction-type spreading centre.

A new otarionine trilobite Otarionella rastrum sp. nov., from the late Emsian Mont Peyroux Formation (Montagne Noire, France), is described. Silicified remains, recovered from the underlying Bissounel Formation (early to late Emsian), are also attributed to this new species. These isolated silicified sclerites represent metaprotaspid to young holaspid growth stages, which enables the almost complete ontogeny of an otarionine trilobite with a spinose adult morphology to be described for the first time. Comparison with associated larval and juvenile growth stages of Cyphaspis reveal that the pattern of juvenile cranidial spine distribution in Otarionella rastrum sp. nov. differs from all patterns described so far in the Otarioninae, in particular that characterizing the tribe Otarionini. A second species, Otarionella lkomalii sp. nov., known only from a complete articulated specimen discovered in the early Eifelian of southern Morocco, is also described. Like the middle Eifelian Otarionella chamaeleo (Basse, 1997), this new species has only ten thoracic segments, with the fourth and the sixth segments each bearing a long axial spine. In the light of the new elements provided by the ontogenetic sequence of O. rastrum sp. nov. and the adult specimens of this species and O. lkomalii sp. nov., the putative synonymy of Otarionella and Otarion is rejected and a restricted concept of the genus Otarionella is defined.

A new genus and species of deep-sea hatchetfish, Discosternon federicae gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Middle Miocene (Serravallian) calciturbititic deposits of the Tufillo Unit exposed near the town of Gessopalena, central Italy. It is based on a single, very small, well-preserved and nearly complete specimen that exhibits a discoid physiognomy and a unique combination of features, many of which are reductive (loss of dorsal blade, loss of anal-fin hiatus, loss of abdominal keel-like structure, reduction of number of supraneurals, reduction of number of caudal vertebrae, presence of slender neural and haemal spines, external surface of cleithrum smooth). The comparative morphological analysis indicates that Discosternon is probably related to the derived genera Horbatshia and Sternoptyx. The highly reduced body size and the possession of many reductive characters indicate that Discosternon can be presumed to be a miniature fish. Anatomical and morphofunctional considerations suggest that Discosternon possibly was a midwater plankton feeder characterized by a reduced locomotory ability.

SIMS dating of detrital zircons from the stratigraphically enigmatic Radzimowice Slates of the Kaczawa Mountains (Sudetes, SW Poland), near the eastern termination of the European Variscides, has yielded age populations of: (1) 493–512 Ma, corresponding to late Cambrian to early Ordovician magmatism and constraining a maximum depositional age; (2) between 550 and 650 Ma, reflecting input from diverse Cadomian sources; and (3) older inherited components ranging to c. 3.3 Ga, with age spectra similar to those from Gondwanan North Africa. The new data show that the Radzimowice Slates cannot form a Proterozoic base to the Kaczawa Mountains succession, as suggested by earlier models, but was deposited, at the earliest, as an extensional basin-fill, during a relatively late stage of the break-up of this part of northern Gondwana.

Two types of pyrite framboids (PF, probably sulphate-reducing bacteria) have been found within the Zoophycos spreiten, hosted in the Guadalupian (Middle Permian) glaciomarine greywacke of the Westley Park Sandstone Member within the Broughton Formation from the southern Sydney Basin of southeastern Australia. They are composed of non-sheathed (PF1) and sheathed (PF2) sub-micron balls, respectively. Chemically, the sub-micron balls consist of iron, sulphur, carbon and oxygen. Both PF1 and PF2 occur in rhythmic alternation within the thick, light-grey and thin, dark-grey minor lamellae of Zoophycos spreiten. The framboids from the minor lamellae are highly abundant and occur in an orderly arrangement of equal density and in a good state of preservation. Within Zoophycos spreiten no homogeneous filling, fecal pellets, or any sign of re-exploitation of the minor lamellae have been recognized. No similar framboids have been observed outside Zoophycos spreiten. Therefore, the framboids are interpreted as the pyritized remains of microbial colonies within Zoophycos spreiten. The trace Zoophycos would be a multifunctional garden that may have been carefully constructed by the Zoophycos maker, where different microbial colonies were orderly and carefully planted and cultured within different minor lamellae. Further, it is proposed that the Zoophycos maker had a symbiotic relationship with microbial colonies on the mutual basis of food supply and redox conditions. The fact that the overlying spreiten cut the underlying ones indicates that the Zoophycos from the study area is of an upward construction. The rhythmic alternation of both the thick, light-grey and thin, dark-grey minor lamellae within Zoophycos spreiten may be suggestive of a gardening manner of the Zoophycos maker responding to the warm and cold changes, food supply in pulses and variations of sedimentation rate for planting and culturing microbial colonies under the conditions of a glaciomarine environment at the high latitudes.

Important vertebrate faunas occur in fissure deposits of Late Triassic–Jurassic age in SW Britain. Although the faunas are well described, their age and palaeoenvironment remain poorly understood. One such fissure system was documented in detail during quarrying operations at Tytherington and has yielded in situ palynomorphs that add much information concerning its age and palaeoenvironment. Significantly, the Tytherington fauna is of the sauropsid type that has generally been dated as Norian or pre-Penarth Group transgression and was also regarded as representing a distinct upland fauna. The palynomorphs, which include a significant marine component, demonstrate that the Tytherington Triassic fissures are infilled with Late Triassic (Rhaetian) sediments that match specific levels in the Westbury Formation. In addition, many of the Tytherington solutional fissures probably formed during the Rhaetian and are consistent with a fluctuating saline to freshwater environment. There is no prima facie evidence of solutional formation and infilling of the reptile-bearing deposits before the Rhaetian trangression. The fissure reptile fauna, which includes the early dinosaur Thecodontosaurus, inhabited a small fire-swept limestone island in the Rhaetian sea. The features of the herpetofauna are entirely consistent with this island model which has Quaternary analogues.