Deep-marine muds were collected from two boreholes (Crati II and Neto VI) along the Ionian Calabrian Basin. The samples from the Crati II and the Neto VI boreholes show a similar mineralogical distribution; the marine muds contain mostly phyllosilicates, quartz, calcite, feldspars and dolomite. Traces of gypsum are present in a few samples. The Neto muds show higher concentrations of carbonates than the Crati muds; these contents are mainly related to recycling of the Neogene–Quaternary carbonate-rich marine deposits of the Crotone Basin, which mostly influences the composition of the Neto muds. The geochemical signatures of the muds mainly reflect a provenance characterized by felsic rocks with a minor, but not negligible, mafic supply. In particular, the hinterland composition of the Crati drainage area is on average more mafic in composition than the Neto drainage area. The higher mafic concentration of the Crati sample muds is probably related to the ophiolitiferous units that are exposed in the Crati drainage basin. The degree of source area weathering was most probably of low–moderate intensity because the Chemical Index of Alteration values for the studied muds range from 67 to 69. Furthermore, the low and constant Al/K and Rb/K ratios suggest low–moderate weathering without important fluctuations in weathering intensity. The Al2O3–TiO2–Zr ternary diagram and the values of the Index of Compositional Variability indicate that both the Neto and Crati muds are first-cycle, compositionally immature sediments, related to a tectonically active (collision) setting such as the Calabria–Peloritani Arc, where chemical weathering plays a minor role.

The common belief that organic-rich mudstones formed in quiescent, distal settings is further weakened by study of an upper Cambrian (Leptoplastus – lower Peltura superzones) succession in the Chesley Drive Group in Avalonian Cape Breton Island that is comparable to Alum Shale successions in Baltica. Dramatic sea-level (likely eustatic) changes are now recognized by punctuation of deposition of shallow, wave-influenced black mudstone with brachiopod (Orusia lenticularis) and olenid trilobite-bearing limestones by offlap and formation of a subaerially cemented calcrete-clast conglomerate. Subaerial exposure was followed by transgression and accumulation of clastic pyrite sand and phosphatic granules with Leptoplastus Superzone (L. ovatus Zone) trilobite sclerites. Dynamic processes are shown by wave ripples in the mudstone and limestone, sorting and winnowing of fossil rudstones, and pre-compactional fracture of the conglomerate and rudstones. Orusia rudstones in the succession below the conglomerate are regarded as analogues of Eoorthis and Billingsella rudstones in the ‘biomere’ extinction intervals of the Laurentian basal Sunwaptan. The lowest Orusia-rich beds are no older than the P. spinulosa Zone but, as elsewhere in Avalonia, they range into the higher Leptoplastus (Cape Breton) and even the Peltura (Britain, New Brunswick) superzones. Rare agnostoid sclerites in lower Peltura Superzone (Ctenopyge tumida Zone) olenid rudstone resemble those traditionally assigned to Lotagnostus trisectus in Avalonian Britain and Sweden, and are distinct from Laurentian L. americanus. An L. americanus Zone cannot be identified in Avalonia or Baltica, and the first appearance datum (FAD) of purported ‘L. americanus’ is not suitable as a standard for the base of the highest Cambrian stage.

Nearly 50 new Nd isotope analyses are presented for the Shawanaga region of Georgian Bay, Ontario, to study crustal evolution in the Grenvillian Central Gneiss Belt. Depleted mantle (TDM) Nd model ages are used to map a major Grenvillian tectonic boundary, the Allochthon Boundary Thrust (ABT), which in the Shawanaga area separates gneisses with TDM ages above and below 1.65 Ga. This is lower than the 1.8 Ga age cut-off observed further north, and is attributed to a southward increase in Mesoproterozoic magmatic reworking of an original Palaeoproterozoic continental margin, causing a progressive southward decrease in Nd model ages. Between Shawanaga Island and Franklin Island, Nd isotope mapping yields an ABT trajectory that closely matches published geological mapping, and passes within 100 m of four retrogressed eclogite bodies typically associated with the thrust boundary. This validation of the method gives confidence in the mapped trajectory south of Snake Island, where sparse outcrop inhibits lithological mapping. The new results suggest that published 1.7–1.9 Ga TDM ages in the Lower Go Home domain of the Central Gneiss Belt further south are also indicative of parautochthonous crust. Hence, we propose that the main ramp of the ABT is located in the immediate hangingwall of the Go Home domain, much further south than generally recognized. This has important implications for the large-scale crustal structure of the SW Grenville Province, suggesting that the ABT ramp has a similar curved trajectory to the Grenville Front and the Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary thrust.

In the Saoura Valley (Ougarta Basin, Saharan Algeria), the lower–upper Famennian part of the essentially shally Marhouma Formation is characterized by deep-water facies and includes horizons rich in ammonoids (goniatites and clymeniids) and blind to eye-reduced phacopide trilobites. They are also rich in small-sized and smooth rhynchonellide brachiopods, investigated here for the first time in order to detail their post-Kellwasser recovery. Rhynchonellides clearly predominate in the brachiopod assemblages (representing 90% of the whole assemblage, with 10 species) composed otherwise of athyridides, orthides and spiriferides. Rhynchonellides are mostly represented by relatively flat leiorhynchids and rozmanariids consistent with poor oxygenation on the sea floor. One new species is described (Evanidisinurostrum saouraense sp. nov.); four genera, previously known only from the south-eastern margin of Laurussia, are reported for the first time from the northern margin of Gondwana: the leiorhynchid Sphaeridiorhynchus and the rozmanariids Leptoterorhynchus, Pugnaria and Novaplatirostrum.

Two stratigraphic sections spanning the mid-Carboniferous boundary were examined in the Clare Shale Formation of the Shannon Basin in Western Ireland. Calcareous nodules intermittently occur within these generally non-calcareous organic-rich shales, and these have yielded Serpukhovian and Bashkirian conodont elements. The biostratigraphic range of the Irish material is illustrated here for the first time. Results show that the mid-Carboniferous and Arnsbergian–Chokierian boundaries are coincident at Ballybunion. Gnathodus girtyi is restricted to the lower part of the Serpukhovian Stage (Late Mississippian), while G. bilineatus bollandensis persists into much younger strata, close to the first occurrence of Declinognathodus noduliferus s.l. One element belonging to G. postbilineatus is also present. These findings support the argument that D. noduliferus s.l. developed from G. b. bollandensis, rather than from G. girtyi. The biostratigraphical tool for the identification of the mid-Carboniferous boundary globally, and the suitability of the section at Arrow Canyon, USA as a GSSP, may therefore need to be reassessed.

The Antillean Cenozoic fossil record of asteroids comprises mainly dissociated ossicles. Most common among isolates from upper Oligocene deposits of Jamaica and Antigua are marginal ossicles of an extinct, indeterminate species of Pycinaster. This is the youngest known occurrence of the genus and the first from beyond Europe. A number of relatively complete fossils have been assigned to Pycinaster and (sub)familial status proposed for it together with Phocidaster. The latter proposition is based solely on a few marginals, but available diagnoses are judged insufficient to justify such recognition. The taxon Pycinasteridae is here synonymized with the Goniasteridae, although future study of added features (such as the ventral surface) might justify recognition at a higher taxonomic level. In addition to ossicles assigned to Pycinaster, many marginals are tentatively assigned to the surviving goniasterid Nymphaster. Numerous generic and many species names have been based on asteroid isolates, but the practice demands assumptions that are not readily justified. Linkage of discrete isolates under a single taxon name assumes derivation from a single source, an inference that can be verified only rarely (if ever), therefore reducing names to the single holotype ossicle. Availability of only isolates encourages comparison with extant taxa and biogeography, biasing interpretations with a Holocene overlay. Because of these constraints, a new nominal species of Pycinaster is not justified and assignment of ossicles to Nymphaster is tentative. However, given the importance of asteroids in marine communities, we emphasize the significance, largely ignored, of their presence in Cenozoic deposits of the wider Caribbean.

The mafic and felsic Haertaolegai intrusions crop out in Urad Zhongqi, western Inner Mongolia and are dominated by monzogranite, porphyritic granite, and gabbroic diorite intrusions. We investigate the tectonic setting, geochronology, and anorogenic characteristics of the western Inner Mongolia through field investigation, microscopic and geochemical analyses of samples from the Haertaolegai bimodal intrusions and laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS) zircon U–Pb dating of gabbroic diorite and adakitic granites. Petrographic and geochemical studies of the bimodal intrusions indicate that the gabbroic diorites formed from a primary magma generated by the partial melting of lithospheric mantle material that had previously been modified by subduction-related fluids. The felsic rocks are high-K calc-alkaline and metaluminous, have characteristics of adakitic rocks and were generated during the partial melting of juvenile crustal material. Zircon U–Pb dating indicates that the felsic portion of this pluton was emplaced during late Carboniferous – early Permian time, with the mafic portion of the pluton emplaced during early Permian time. The zircons of adamellites have ɛHf(t) values and TDM2 ages of +1.0 to +2.7 and 1032–1128 Ma, respectively, suggesting that they formed from magmas generated by partial melting of juvenile Mesoproterozoic lower crust. These data, combined with the geology of the region, indicate that the late Carboniferous – early Permian bimodal intrusive rocks in western Inner Mongolia record a transitional period from collisional compression to post-collisional extension. These results indicate that the Paleo-Asian Ocean in western Inner Mongolia closed before 300 Ma.

The Doba gabbro was collected from an exploration well through the Cretaceous Doba basin of southern Chad. The gabbro is composed mostly of plagioclase, clinopyroxene and Fe–Ti oxide minerals and displays cumulus mineral textures. Whole-rock 40Ar–39Ar step-heating geochronology yielded a Late Permian plateau age of 257 ± 1 Ma. The major and trace elemental geochemistry shows that the gabbro is tholeiitic in composition and has trace element ratios (i.e. La/YbN > 7; Sm/YbPM > 3.4; Nb/Y > 1; Zr/Y > 5) indicative of a basaltic melt derived from a garnet-bearing mantle source. The moderately enriched Sr–Nd isotopes (i.e. ISr = 0.70495 to 0.70839; ɛNd(T) = −1.0 to −1.3) fall within the mantle array (i.e. OIB-like) and are similar to other Late Permian plutonic rocks of North-Central Africa (i.e. ISr = 0.7040 to 0.7070). The enriched isotopic composition of the Doba gabbro contrasts with the more depleted compositions of the spatially associated Neoproterozoic post-Pan-African within-plate granites. The contrasting Nd isotope composition between the older within-plate granites and the younger Doba gabbro indicates that different mantle sources produced the rocks and thus may mark the southern boundary of the Saharan Metacraton.

Results from a high-resolution study of δ13Ccarb, δ18Ocarb, δ34SCAS, δ34SCRS and elemental concentrations (Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn and Sr) in the Furongian Kyrshabakty section, southern Kazakhstan, are reported here. The investigated interval covers the Drumian to Jiangshanian stages of the Cambrian Period, respectively the regional Ptychagnostus atavus to Ivshinagnostus ivshini-Irvingella major trilobite zones. δ13Ccarb data include the Steptoean positive carbon isotope excursion (SPICE) with a local peak value of +5‰. The onset of SPICE corresponds to the Kormagnostus simplex – Glyptagnostus stolidotus zones and pre-dates the base of the Paibian Stage/Furongian Series. δ34SCAS data already increase during the Lejopyge armata biozone culminating in three positive excursions prior and after the SPICE maximum. Differences in onset, peak values and shape of the δ13Ccarb and/or δ34SCAS excursions at Kyrshabakty, but also in almost all sections characterized by the SPICE, are pointing towards Furongian seawater that was low in sulphate concentration and heterogeneous in its carbonate carbon and sulphate sulphur isotopic composition. The occurrence of benthic faunal elements in almost all SPICE-related sections strongly supports oxygenated conditions at the seafloor, therefore excluding widespread anoxia or euxinia. Regional anoxic conditions are most probable. A positive δ18Ocarb excursion parallel to the SPICE could probably be explained by a decline in seawater pH associated with a sea-level rise. Again, no euxinic conditions would be mandatory for explaining the SPICE event.

The stratigraphic succession exposed in the Karaburun area (southern Black Sea coast, NW Turkey) records multiple changes in depositional and tectonic settings during Cenozoic times. It starts with the Middle–Upper Eocene Soğucak Formation of reef limestone that across a normal fault, omitting the lower part of the Lower Oligocene Ceylan Formation (deep-marine shale unit), abuts the upper part of the Ceylan Formation that is made up of two facies: (1) shallow-marine sandstone and (2) shallow-marine limestone units containing horizons of submarine slumps. Both facies are unconformably overlain by the fluvial Upper Miocene Çukurçeşme Formation. The tectonic record includes: (1) latest Eocene – Early Oligocene NE–SW extension, (2) Early Oligocene NE–SW shortening and (3) Late Miocene NW–NE extension. The earliest normal faults cutting the Soğucak and the lower part of the Ceylan formations are associated with clastic dykes injected into the deep-marine shale. These structures suggest a disruption of the Eocene carbonate platform and are also known in the neighbouring Thrace Basin. The following NE–SW shortening created the NE-vergent Karaburun Thrust that is synchronous with the shallowing and inversion of the Ceylan Basin. Rotation of the stress field is recorded by changes in clastic dyke orientation and their deformation. Compression caused multiple westerly directed submarines slides from uplifts in easterly located regions. This event is not recorded in the Thrace Basin. Finally, the Miocene tectonic activity formed NW- and NE-striking normal faults. The outlined tectonic history includes Early Oligocene extensional and compressional episodes recorded in the southern margin of the Black Sea that had hitherto not been known.

The type material of Agraulos antiquus Sdzuy, 1961 from the La Herrería Formation, northern Spain, is revised together with additional material and included in the new genus Lunagraulos. The stratigraphical range of Lunagraulos antiquus (Sdzuy, 1961) – occurring below that of the trilobite species of the genera Lunolenus, Metadoxides and Dolerolenus in the type locality of Los Barrios de Luna in the province of León, northern Spain – and the accompanying ichnofossil assemblage demonstrate an Ovetian age (lower part of Cambrian Stage 3, currently being discussed by the International Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy) for this species. Moreover, the trilobite Lunagraulos tamamensis n. gen. n. sp. is found in the Tamames Sandstone near the village of La Rinconada in the province of Salamanca, central Spain. The biostratigraphical position of this new taxon and its accompanying ichnoassemblage is also analysed and assigned to the lowermost Ovetian Stage. The genus Lunagraulos is therefore the oldest agraulid found in the fossil record. The exceptional presence of Lunagraulos in a marine coarse siliciclastic succession – a facies rather typical for the ichnofossils Cruziana and Rusophycus, some of the oldest signs of trilobite activity – suggests that first trilobite representatives may have inhabited high- to middle-energy, marine environments. This hypothesis may also explain both the taxonomic and biostratigraphic heterogeneity of the first trilobite genera appearing across the world, due to preservation problems in this type of facies. Comparison of the Lunagraulos biostratigraphy with other coeval Spanish fossil assemblages allows us to propose its intercontinental correlation with the oldest records of currently known trilobites.

Various uplift markers suggest asymmetrical uplift of Tenerife Island, with stable conditions in the north but significant uplift of up to 45 m in the south over the past ~42 ka. Fossil shells in beach deposits uplifted by 7.5–9 m were 14C-dated at a Holocene age of 2460±35 bp (1σ). This confirms earlier results and documents very young, and probably still ongoing, uplift of southern Tenerife potentially caused by ascending magma. This underlines that southern Tenerife is probably undergoing a further cycle of volcanic activity that started ~95 ka ago.

We report the occurrence of organically preserved microfossils from the subsurface Ediacaran strata overlying the East European Platform in Poland, in the form of sclerites and cuticle fragments of larger organisms. They are morphologically similar to those known from Cambrian strata and associated with various metazoan fossils of recognized phyla. The Ediacaran age of the microfossils is evident from the stratigraphic position below the base of the Cambrian System and above the isotopically dated tuff layers at c. 551±4Ma. Within this strata interval, other characteristic Ediacaran microorganisms co-occur such as cyanobacteria, vendotaenids, microalgae, Ceratophyton, Valkyria and macroscopic annelidan Sabellidites. The recent contributions of organic sclerites in revealing the scope of the Cambrian explosion are therefore also potentially extendable back to the Ediacaran Period when animals first appear in the fossil record.