In the spring of 1930 the International Expedition to the Bahamas made several traverses over the shoals west of Andros Island in order to study the sedimentation of calcium carbonate in this region, and along three of these lines water samples were collected at regular intervals. The chlorine content of each of these samples was determined by the author in the Chemical Laboratory at the University of Princeton, New Jersey, and the total salinity was obtained by calculation.

During 2006–2007, the KwaZulu-Natal coast of South Africa was exposed to several large swell events (Ho > 3 m), near the peak of the lunar nodal cycle, causing shoreline recession. The largest swell (Hs = 8.5 m) struck the coast on the March equinox (18th–20th) and generated a strong storm-return flow. Observations made before, during and after record dramatic coastal erosion (shoreline recession of up to 40 m and substantial property damage). This swell event removed the semi-continuous nearshore bar system and ‘conditioned’ the coast such that lesser subsequent swell events accomplished much greater amounts of coastal erosion than expected (up to 100 m at certain erosion hotspots) because waves reached the coast without significant energy dissipation. Subsequent bar generation rebuilt the inshore bars within six months. The styles of erosion during the March ’07 event and other 2007 swells were markedly different. Lesser swells are focused by headlands and result in megarip development and activation of erosion hotspots. The March ’07 event still-water level was raised (equinoctial spring high tide and a storm surge of 0.33–0.45 m) to a level that rendered most headlands (and erosion hotspots) ineffective and resulted in laterally extensive erosion of soft shorelines. Results record cumulative effects of successive swell events on coastal behaviour that proved to be critical in enabling erosion to proceed at rapid rates after the coast had been initially destabilized. Unlike hurricanes and tsunamis, surges associated with swell events are relatively minor and therefore extensive erosion is linked with high lunar tides. There is circumstantial evidence that swell-induced erosion follows the broad 18.6 yr lunar nodal tidal cycle when the chances of large swells coinciding with high water levels are increased.

In the course of recent investigations in the littoral Lias of South Wales and parts of Somerset the writer has frequently found that almost the only fossils in some of these deposits are species of Ostræa and Gryphæa, which occur in regular sequence and are of considerable value in correlation. On consulting the literature describing these genera it became apparent that the specific names have been frequently misapplied. From correspondence with other students of Liassic rocks it also appeared that there is some difference of opinion concerning the precise horizons at which such species are to be found.

Misunderstanding exists about the origin of the Himalaya, Indo-Tibetan relationships and the extent and history of Gondwanaland. The Indus Suture Line is a relic of fracture to the mantle but for a period only represented by the faunas of the ‘exotic blocks’ of the Tibetan Himalaya, i.e. Permian—Late Jurassic. Tibet appears originally to have been part of a plate including India, but submerged while India remained continental. Associated with the fracture extending to the mantle represented now by the Indus Suture Line, shallower subparallel fractures developed within which the Gondwana sediments of the Himalaya were preserved. These, together with the salt at the base of the Tethyan marine sequence, facilitated intra-continental orogeny when, much later, India was affected by vigorous sea-floor spreading and plate movement in the NW Indian ocean after it had become attached to Asia.

The northern plate boundary was beyond Tibet, on the N side of the Tarim Basin Block, and along the Tien Shan. The Tien Shan present peculiar features, particularly very deep long intramontane depressions such as Issyk Kul in USSR and Turfan-Hami in China, and their stratigraphy shows persistent mobility. The Tarim Basin Block has moved sinistrally relative to Tibet and in Gondwanaland lay near northern Western Australia. The suggested extent of Gondwanaland explains the present lack of continental crust W of Western Australia, now in Tibet, and the intracontinental origin of the Himalaya is consistent with the absence of recent volcanism in an area of considerable seismicity. The association of Tibet with India in Gondwanaland destroys the effectiveness of arguments against continental drift based upon the extension of Indian stratigraphic sequences across the Himalaya. The hypothesis of an enlarged Gondwanaland is given support by recent Chinese discoveries of terrestrial vertebrate fossils of Gondwanic type near the Tien Shan.

Thirty-nine K–Ar and one Ar–Ar radiometric dates from the eastern central Meso-Cenozoic Patagonian Batholith and eastern satellite plutons of the Aysén Region, of southern Chile between latitudes 45° and 48° S, combined with previous dating of seven plutons, have yielded six age groups: (1) Middle to Late Jurassic, (2) Early Cretaceous, (3) mid-Cretaceous, (4) Late Cretaceous, (5) Oligocene and (6) Miocene. In general, the Cretaceous and younger ages correspond to previous reported ages for other parts of the main batholith, but for the satellite plutons to the east show a wider age spectrum than the previously accepted Late Miocene dates. These results indicate a relatively continuous Late Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous plutonism, known to have been coeval with volcanic activity, followed by intermittent magmatism. Biotite K–Ar dates of c. 143–151 and 106–109 Ma, from cataclastic granitoids, may be marking the time of deformation. A review of all radiometric data on magmatic rocks from the region between 45° and 48° S in Chile shows a gap in Palaeocene ages that may correlate with a period of low-angle (flat slab) subduction between 65–50 Ma.

A small suite of trace fossils from the Zavkhan Basin (Govi-Altay) includes many of the ichnotaxa typical of the Nemakit-Daldynian, Tommotian and younger Cambrian stages, and other indeterminate forms. The traces are almost entirely from the sandstone intervals of the large-scale alternations of carbonate and siliciclastic sediments, thus emphasizing the facies and taphonomic controls on trace fossil distribution, and hence the inherent difficulties in using trace fossils in detailed global correlation, especially in using first appearances. The assemblage of traces and biofabrics is seen as resulting from the partly non-uniformitarian (non-actualistic) sedimentary environments that pertained over the boundary interval, rather than as evolutionary failures and subsequently vacated environments.

For more than a quarter of a century the Tertiary geology of Burma has been the subject of investigation from the point of view of the petroleum resources of the country. A vast amount of detailed information must be stored up in the private files of the various oil companies operating in Burma, and it is a source of continual regret to the geologist that at least some of this information—much of which has great scientific but little commercial value—cannot be made public. Although there exists Dr. Noetling's important but misleading monograph on the supposed “Miocene Fauna of Burma”, published in the Palæontographia Indica, 1901, it is only within the last decade that the Tertiary stratigraphy has been seriously considered from a palæontological standpoint, and for this progress the officers of the Geological Survey of India are almost entirely responsible. In this direction immensely valuable results have already been obtained, though the study is scarcely more than in its infancy.

K2O, TiO2, P205, Zr, Y, Sr and Nb data from the Panjal Traps of Kashmir indicate that the lava erupted in a rift tectonic setting. This is also suggested by the other features of these rocks and volcanic history of the area. The time of eruption represents the initial phase of break-up of the Indian plate from the Siberian plate. This conclusion is in good agreement with the current views on the tectonic evolution of the area.

Body and trace fossils of Ediacaran affinity are described from strata of the late Neoproterozoic Longmyndian Supergroup exposed near Church Stretton, Shropshire, UK. The almost spherical soft-bodied Ediacaran fossil Beltanelliformis brunsae Menner occurs rarely in the Burway Formation, but much smaller, simpler, discoidal structures are common in both the Burway and Synalds formations and are referred to Beltanelliformis minutae sp. nov. Similar discoidal structures, but with a distinct central depression, are included in Intrites punctatus Fedonkin and are common at several horizons. Two blocks with numerous examples of Medusinites aff. asteroides (Sprigg) Glaessner & Wade were recovered from the Burway Formation. The purported Ediacaran body fossil ‘Arumberia’ Glaessner & Walter is common at several horizons but its biogenicity is not accepted herein. ‘Arumberia’ is thus treated along with evidence for microbially bound sediment surfaces or matgrounds that have been suggested by several authors to be necessary for some types of Ediacaran preservation. The assemblage of simple trace and body fossils along with matgrounds is typical of latest Neoproterozoic time, though some elements range into the Phanerozoic.

Combined petrographic and geochemical methods are utilized to investigate the provenance, tectonic setting, palaeo-weathering and climatic conditions of the Cambrian Araba clastic sediments of NE Egypt. The ~ 60 m thick Araba Formation consists predominantly of sandstone and mudstone interbedded with conglomerate. Petrographically the Araba sandstones are mostly sub-mature and classified as subarkoses with an average framework composition of Q80F14L6. The framework components are dominated by monocrystalline quartz with subordinate K-feldspar, together with volcanic and granitic rock fragments. XRD analysis demonstrated that clay minerals comprise mixed-layer illite/smectite (I/S), illite and smectite, with minor kaolinite. Diagenetic features of the sandstone include mechanical infiltration of clay, mechanical and chemical compaction, cementation, dissolution and replacement of feldspars by carbonate cements and clays. The modal composition and geochemical parameters (e.g. Cr/V, Y/Ni, Th/Co and Cr/Th ratios) of the sandstones and mudstones indicate that they were derived from felsic source rocks, probably from the crystalline basement of the northern fringe of the Arabian–Nubian Shield. The study reveals a collisional tectonic setting for the sediments of the Araba Formation. Palaeo-weathering indices such as the chemical index of alteration (CIA), chemical index of weathering (CIW) and plagioclase index of alteration (PIA) of the clastic sediments suggest that the source area was moderately chemically weathered. On the northern margin of Gondwana, early Palaeozoic weathering occurred under fluctuating climatic conditions.

Turbidites and tempestites exhibit characteristic distributions of trace fossils. To gain maximum advantage of the sedimentological and palaeoecological significance of these traces, an attempt should be made to relate each trace to the associated colonization surface. This approach allows traces initiated at the normal top of an event bed to be distinguished from traces that subsequently passed into the bed from a higher colonization level or were initiated on the eroded surface of the bed.

An early study of part of the Zagros mountains of south-western Iran put forward evidence for extensive overthrusting and nappe formation. A simplified interpretation of the stratigraphy now obviates the necessity for such tectonic complications.

The north-eastern limit of Zagros folding is marked by a long narrow belt of structural deformity and stratigraphic discontinuity known as the Crush Zone, which includes basic intrusive rocks contemporaneous with the late Tertiary foldings.

It is suggested that the Crush Zone is closely related to the Zagros orogeny, and geophysical evidence is used to speculate on a possible explanation. The general concept of the Crush Zone could prove to be of more widespread application.

Carbonate rocks have been sampled through predominantly siliciclastic sediments above the Precambrian-Cambrian global stratotype level in southeastern Newfoundland to assess their potential for oxygen and carbon isotope stratigraphy. Comparable successions were sampled at Nuneaton and Comley in England. Greatly depleted δ18O signals are attributed to widespread thermal alteration during deep burial and granitic intrusion, including within the stratotype region. Carbon isotope ratios appear to have been less affected and these are described from nine sections. A provisional, composite δ13C curve is based on non-ferroan, pink nodular and bedded micrites. Several δ13C excursions occur in the fossiliferous Bonavista Group and allow the position of the Tommotian-Atdabanian boundary to be identified. Chemostratigraphic correlation of the new Precambrian-Cambrian boundary stratotype may, however, prove difficult because of the lack of suitable, well-preserved carbonates. The search must begin for a comparable reference section allowing global correlation of the boundary level using chemostratigraphy as well as biostratigraphy.

The Lower Cambrian (Tommotian) Gögebakan Formation in western Central Anatolia is made up of slightly metamorphosed continental to shallow marine clastic rocks with pillowed and massive spilitic lavas and dolerite dykes. Spilitic lavas, commonly amygdaloidal, are albite- and pyroxene-phyric with the metamorphic mineral paragenesis albite+calcite+sericite±epidote±tremolite±chlorite. Dolerite dykes mainly include plagioclase and pyroxene as primary minerals and tremolite±epidote±chlorite as low-grade secondary minerals. Geochemical data show that the spilitic lavas and dolerite dykes are sub-alkaline, of oceanic tholeiitic basalt character and display a tholeiitic fractional trend, characterized by an increase in FeO/MgO and Zr and TiO2 in variation diagrams. They are characterized by relatively high Zr/Y (2–4.5), relatively high Th/Yb (0.15–1.0) and La/Nb (0.5–2.5). Both show marked negative Nb and Ti anomalies relative to Th and La (Ce), implying a subduction-related chemistry. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns display slight enrichment of light REE (spilitic lavas (La/Yb)N = 0.79–1.56; dolerite dykes (La/Yb)N = 0.89–3.50) fairly comparable with MORB. The geochemical similarity of the spilitic lavas and dolerite dykes suggests a co-genetic origin. La/Nb ratios of both types are slightly higher than average MORB values and were possibly formed in the early stages of back-arc basin development. Petrogenetic modelling suggests the mafic rocks of the formation were formed by 9% batch melting of spinel lherzolite in shallower depths (c. 60 km). Taken together the data suggest that the Early Cambrian mafic rocks of the Taurus units were developed in a back-arc basin along the northern edge of Gondwana above the southward-subducting oceanic lithosphere and may represent initial rifting that resulted in separation of the peri-Gondwanan terranes.

The Lower Cambrian sequence at Nuneaton is outlined, paying particular attention to the 2 m thick Home Farm Member (including the Hyolithes Limestone) and its faunal succession at the type locality, Woodlands Quarry, Hartshill. There follows the first modern description and illustration of microfossils and small shelly fossils from this member. Of thirty-two species covered here, twenty are described and illustrated from Nuneaton for the first time and eight of these are new records. The varied fauna includes phosphatic and calcareous microproblematica (especially Coleoloides typicalis), protoconodonts, agglutinated foraminifera, cap-shaped molluscs, primitive bivalves, hyoliths, inarticulate brachiopods and sponges. The fauna has affinity with fossils in the top Tommotian to lower Atdabanian rocks from Siberia and China, from the Baltic area and the belt from southeast Newfoundland to Massachusetts.

This paper provides a framework for the stratigraphy and correlation of key sections through the Neoproterozoic–lower Cambrian of the Govi-Altay area, western Mongolia, studied by members of IGCP Project 303. Dzabkhan Formation volcanic rocks at the base of the succession are suggested to have formed during rifting of the Baydrik–Tarbagatay microcontinent in the Baykalian interval (c. 850–650 Ma). Pre-Vendian accretion transformed this rift and adjacent microcontinental fragments into a marginal marine back-arc basin, in which accumulated relatively uninterrupted Neoproterozoic and earliest Palaeozoic sediments. Lithostratigraphy for the latter is defined, with detailed maps, at five sections (Bayan Gol northern and southern blocks, Tsagaan Gol, Salaany Gol and Tayshir). The Tsagaan Oloom Formation lower member contains two diamictites of possible Sturtian age. Middle and upper carbonates are compared with the Yudomian (Vendian) of Siberia, the former ending with a unit of Boxonia grumulosa stromatolites. In the upper member, phosphorite-shale is followed mainly by limestones, with the earliest skeletal fauna. The Bayan Gol Formation comprises siliciclastic–limestone intercalations with increasingly diverse invertebrate biota. Correlation of lithological marker beds across the study area produces a composite stratigraphic section to which the earliest skeletal fossil occurrences are tied. The Anabarites trisulcatus Zone of the Nemakit-Daldynian Stage begins near the base of the Tsagaan Oloom Formation upper member (unit 11). The Purella antiqua Zone begins near the base of the Bayan Gol Formation (unit 18). Assemblages typical of the Nochoroicyathus sunnaginicus Zone (base of the Tommotian Stage) range through units 19 to 23. Elements typical of the Dokidocyathus regularis Zone (middle Tommotian) appear in unit 24 near the top of the Bayan Gol Formation.

Fourteen early Ordovician (Tremadoc-Llandeilo) graptolite sequences from around the world are precisely (infrazonally) correlated, based on the stratigraphic ranges of 130 species and species groups. The composite standard sequence (CSS) of graptolites has been determined from the six best regional sequences by a nonparametric graphic correlation. Two data sets were selected: one comprised first appearance events of 103 taxa, the other, first and last appearance events of 45 taxa. The results of the two runs accord well and reveal respectively 66 and 73 successive bioevents in early Ordovician time. Event spacing averages 0.7–0.8 Ma and enables fine subdivision, correlation and homotaxial testing for diachroneity. The strong correlation between each of the six regional sequences and the CSS indicates the high level of accordance among graptolite successions around the world.

The Pan-African Ambalavayal granite intrudes the high-grade metamorphic terrain of northern Kerala, South India and is spatially associated with the Moyar and Calicut lineaments. The pluton was aligned nearly parallel to the northeast–southwest and east–west faults in the basement, consistent with magma ascent along pre-existing deep-crustal lineaments in an extensional tectonic regime. The pluton is characterized by the presence of iron-rich hydrous mafic minerals, primary magnetite, fO2 above the Ni–NiO buffer and high initial emplacement temperatures near 1000 °C. Modal and textural analyses reveal two probable compositional zones within the pluton: outer and inner. Major element variations support this zoning and point to a peralkaline to metaluminous outer zone and a metaluminous to slightly peraluminous inner zone. Both zones exhibit major and trace element characteristics of the A-type granites with the outer zone belonging to the A1 subtype and the inner zone to the A2 subtype of Eby. The trace element trends observed from outer zone to the inner zone suggests that crystal fractionation may have been the dominant process in the generation of high levels of the incompatible elements in the case of inner zone samples. The high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio (0.7135) and high Y/Nb ratios (Y/Nb > 1.2) are in the range expected for rocks derived from crustal protoliths. A petrogenetic model involving partial melting of a charnockitic, mafic to intermediate lower crust followed by limited fractional crystallization of the magma in a high-level magma chamber is proposed. The enrichment of HFSE and REE (except Eu) in the inner zone is considered the ultimate product of crystal–melt and volatile activity during the final stage of crystallization in a highly silicic (SiO2 > 74%) magma chamber.

This paper is a contribution to the redefinition of the base of Carboniferous system. At present the criterion for the definition of the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary is the first occurrence of a conodont species. In order to evaluate the stratigraphic potential for new criteria for the definition of the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary, the distribution of conodont species of Bispathodus, Branmehla, Palmatolepis, Polygnathus, Protognathodus, Pseudopolygnathus and Siphonodella across the boundary is presented and discussed. An updated biozonation scheme across the boundary based on the First Appearance of Bispathodus ac. aculeatus, Bispathodus costatus, Bispathodus ultimus, Protognathodus kockeli, Siphonodella bransoni and Siphonodella duplicata is proposed, and it is suggested that the new criterion for the definition of the base of the Carboniferous system be the First Appearance Datum of Pr. kockeli or Si. bransoni.

A review of the palynofloral succession at the well-documented Triassic–Jurassic boundary sites – Kuhjoch (Austria), St Audrie's Bay (UK), Stenlille (Denmark), Astartekløft (Greenland), Sverdrup Basin (Arctic Canada), Northern Carnarvon Basin (Western Australia), Southeast Queensland (eastern Australia) and New Zealand – show all sites experienced major to moderate re-organization of the terrestrial vegetation during the end-Triassic event. The changes led to subsequent taxonomic losses of between 17% and 73% of the Rhaetian pre-extinction palynoflora. The majority of the typical Rhaetian taxa that disappear are so far not known from in situ occurrences in reproductive structures of macrofossil plant taxa. From an ecological perspective, the most dramatic changes occurred in the Sverdrup Basin, Stenlille, Kuhjoch and Carnarvon Basin, where the pre- and post-extinction palynofloras were fundamentally different in both composition and dominance. These changes correspond to ecological severity Category I of McGhee et al. (2004), while the remaining sites are placed in their Subcategory IIa because there the pre-extinction ecosystems are disrupted, but recover and are not replaced post-extinction. Increased total abundances of spores on both hemispheres during the extinction and recovery intervals may indicate that environmental and/or climatic conditions became less favourable for seed plants. Such conditions may include expected effects of volcanism in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, such as acid rain, terrestrial soil and freshwater acidification due to volcanic sulfur dioxide emissions, fluctuating ultraviolet flux due to ozone depletion caused by halogens and halocarbon compounds, and drastic changes in climatic conditions due to greenhouse gas emissions.