The timing of exhumation of metamorphic rocks and granitoids of the Niğde metamorphic dome, at the southern tip of the Central Anatolian Crystalline Complex, is a matter of debate. According to some authors, the metamorphic rocks are overlain nonconformably by a sedimentary sequence of late Maastrichtian to Late Palaeocene age. In contrast, other authors recently argued that the Niğde dome represents an extensional core complex of Oligocene–Early Miocene age, finally unroofed during late Miocene times. On the one hand, the results of our study contradict the latter interpretation. A sedimentary sequence of earliest Eocene to early Middle Eocene age nonconformably overlies the high-grade rocks of the Niğde dome on its southeastern flank. Pebbles from the metamorphic rocks are ubiquitous in the conglomerates of this sequence. As a result, the Niğde metamorphic rocks must have reached the surface before Eocene times, or at the very beginning of the Eocene at the latest. The Üçkapılı granite, whose crystallization age has been inferred to be Early Miocene, has intruded the metamorphic complex during exhumation. The granite is also found as pebbles within the conglomerates of the Eocene sedimentary sequence and, thus, is actually older than the Eocene. Apatite fission track dates of 12–11 Ma across the Niğde dome do not indicate that the metamorphic rocks were still on their way to the surface at that time; instead, they must reflect a later event, which is most probably heating during late Neogene magmatism. Lastly, there is no ductile-then-brittle extensional detachment in the two areas where it has been invoked, that is, on the western and southern flanks of the dome. An extensional detachment nevertheless exists at the top of the Niğde dome, best documented in its northern part, where the detachment fault superposes a superficial unit made up of massive ophiolitic rocks onto the high-grade metamorphic sequence. Field evidence indicates that this detachment developed before Eocene times. On the other hand, our observations do not confirm the nonconformity of the sedimentary sequence dated as late Maastrichtian–Late Palaeocene onto the Niğde high-grade rocks. Field relations show either a tectonic contact between the two, or the direct nonconformity of the Eocene sediments onto the metamorphic rocks. The lack of coarse clasts originating from the Niğde high-grade rocks within the Maastrichtian–Palaeocene sequence further suggests that the metamorphic dome did not reach the surface before Late Palaeocene times. These results compare well with available data from the north-western part of the Central Anatolian Crystalline Complex, suggesting that exhumation has been broadly synchronous on the scale of the massif, as a result of an episode of high magnitude extension that affected the region in Campanian to Palaeocene times.

Sapphirine-bearing Mg–Al granulites from Rajapalaiyam in the southern part of the Madurai Block provide critical evidence for Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism in southern India. Poikiloblastic garnet in quartzo-feldspathic and pelitic granulites contain inclusions of fine-grained subidioblastic to xenoblastic sapphirine associated with quartz, suggesting that the rocks underwent T > 1000°C peak metamorphism. Quartz inclusions in spinel within garnet are also regarded as clear evidence for a UHT condition. Inclusions of orthopyroxene within porphyroblastic garnet in the sapphirine-bearing rocks show the highest Al2O3 content of up to 10.3 wt%, suggesting T = 1050–1070°C and P = 8.5–9.5 kbar. Temperatures estimated from ternary feldspar and other geothermometers (T = 950–1000°C) further support extreme thermal metamorphism in this region. Xenoblastic spinel inclusions in sapphirine coexisting with quartz suggest that the spinel + quartz assemblage pre-dates the sapphirine + quartz assemblage, probably implying a cooling from T ~ 1050°C or an anticlockwise P–T path. The FMAS reaction sapphirine + quartz + garnet → orthopyroxene + sillimanite indicates a cooling from the sapphirine + quartz stability field after the peak metamorphism. Corona textures of orthopyroxene + cordierite (± sapphirine), orthopyroxene + sapphirine + cordierite, and cordierite + spinel around garnet suggest subsequent near-isothermal decompression followed by decompressional cooling toward T = 650–750°C and P = 4.5–5.5 kbar. The sapphirine–quartz association and related textures described in this study have an important bearing on the UHT metamorphism and exhumation history of the Madurai Block, as well as on the tectonic evolution of the continental deep crust in southern India. Our study provides a typical example for extreme metamorphism associated with collisional tectonics during the Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian assembly of the Gondwana supercontinent.

A diverse fauna of trilobites, graptolites, inarticulate brachiopods, sponges, and a worm is described from the Tremadoc rocks cropping out in the Llangynog district, SW of Carmarthen. It permits identification of the Clonograptus tenellus Zone and older Tremadoc strata; younger Tremadoc strata are apparently absent. The fauna shows closest affinities with the Shineton Shales of Shropshire, while some of the trilobites also indicate a close relationship with those from the Tremadoc of NW Argentina.

Combined kinematic, structural and palaeostress (calcite twinning, fault-slip data) analyses are used to study the exhumation mechanism of the high-pressure rocks exposed on the island of Crete (southern Aegean, Greece). Our study shows that the evolution of windows in central Crete was controlled by two main contractional phases of deformation. The first phase (D1) was related to the ductile-stage of exhumation. NNW–SSE compression during D1 caused layer- and transport-parallel shortening in the upper thrust sheets, resulting in nappe stacking via low-angle thrusting. Synchronously, intracontinental subduction led to high-pressure metamorphism which, however, did not affect the most external parts of the southern Hellenides. Subsequent upward ductile extrusion of high-pressure rocks was characterized by both down-section increase of strain and up-section increase of the pure shear component. The second phase (D2) was associated with the brittle-stage of exhumation. D2 was governed by NNE–SSW compression and involved conspicuous thrust-related folding, considerable tectonic imbrication and formation of a Middle Miocene basin. The major D2-related Psiloritis Thrust cross-cuts the entire nappe pile, and its trajectory partially follows and reworks the D1-related contact between upper and lower (high-pressure) tectonic units. Eduction and doming of the Talea Window was accompanied by gravity sliding of the upper thrust sheets and by out-of-the-syncline thrusting. Late-orogenic collapse also contributed to the exhumation process. Therefore, it seems that the high-pressure rocks of central Crete were exhumed under continuous compression and that the role of extension was previously overestimated.

The diversity in mineral composition of metamorphic rocks can be regarded as the resultant of two independent variables, first of the ultimate composition of the rocks, and secondly of the grade of metamorphism, or the particular pressure-temperature conditions under which the rocks have arisen. It is clear that these two variables may well form the basis of a classification of rocks of metamorphic origin.

The need to re-examine Rangea has been motivated by two factors: first, by the recent progress in the understanding of three-dimensional mouldic preservation of Vendian fossils, and second, by discoveries of this taxon outside Gondwana albeit in the same sedimentary environment as seen in Namibia. Several important features are revealed, including the in situ posture in the sediment, the double-layered quilted structure, the tripartite stemless body and the mucous-supported sheath in the sediment. It is suggested that Rangea represents an infaunal organism, and that the similarity with other members of the Nama-type biota reflects convergence in functional and fabricational constraints in relation to infaunal life habit.

The tectonic origin of pre-Devonian rocks of Svalbard has long been a matter of debate. In particular, the origin and assemblage of pre-Devonian rocks of western Spitsbergen, including a blueschist-eclogite complex in Oscar II Land, are enigmatic. We present detrital zircon U–Pb LA-ICP-MS data from six Mesoproterozoic to Carboniferous samples and one U–Pb TIMS zircon age from an orthogneiss from Oscar II Land in order to discuss tectonic models for this region. Variable proportions of Palaeo- to Neoproterozoic detritus dominate the metasedimentary samples. The orthogneiss has an intrusion age of 927 ± 3 Ma. Comparison with detrital zircon age spectra from other units of similar depositional age within the North Atlantic region indicates that Oscar II Land experienced the following tectonic history: (1) the latest Mesoproterozoic sequence was part of a successor basin which originated close to the Grenvillian–Sveconorwegian orogen, and which was intruded by c. 980–920 Ma plutons; (2) the Neoproterozoic sediments were deposited in a large-scale basin which stretched along the Baltoscandian margin; (3) the eclogite-blueschist complex and the overlying Ordovician–Silurian sediments probably formed to the north of the Grampian/Taconian arc; (4) strike-slip movements assembled the western coast of Spitsbergen outside of, and prior to, the main Scandian collision; and (5) the remaining parts of Svalbard were assembled by strike-slip movements during the Devonian. Our study confirms previous models of complex Caledonian terrane amalgamation with contrasting tectonic histories for the different pre-Devonian terranes of Svalbard and particularly highlights the non-Laurentian origin of Oscar II Land.

The Gangjia granite stock is a garnet-bearing muscovite leucogranitic body emplaced in Yiwulüshan in Western Liaoning Province at the eastern segment of the Yanshan orogenic belt, North China craton. The SHRIMP U–Pb zircon age is 153±5 Ma. The Gangjia granites are peraluminous with A/CNK of more than 1.14, and exhibit a tetrad effect in their REE distribution patterns, as well as non-charge-and-radius-controlled trace element behaviour. This is in contrast to the LREE-enriched patterns of the host Lüshan monzogranites. These geochemical characteristics, together with low Th/U ratios in zircon, suggest that the parental magmas for the Gangjia granites have experienced extensive magmatic differentiation, including interaction between residual melt and a coexisting high-temperature aqueous fluid. Their similar ϵNd(t), model ages, compatible age patterns and common volcanic arc signature in source materials between the Gangjia granites and the host Lüshan monzogranites indicate their comagmatic relationship. These unusual peraluminous leucogranites, coupled with the voluminous adakitic granites hosting them, represent typical post-orogenic magmatism developed under an intra-continental extensional tectonic regime. At the very end of the prolonged Jurassic magmatic evolution in Western Liaoning, extensive fractionation of most probably ferromagnesian phases and plagioclase from a calc-alkaline magma parental to the host Lüshan pluton, with overprint of the magmatic hydrothermal fluid, produced highly evolved peraluminous parental magmas for the Gangjia granites.

The traditional concept of contraction crack formation is based on a model having a regular arrangement of stress centres. A more realistic result is produced if the model consists of a close random packing of stress circles; this gives a crack configuration very close to that observed in real basalt flows.

Detailed descriptions of plant remains from a late Silurian (Pridoli) locality in Xinjiang Province, northwest China are presented. They include Junggaria spinosa Dou, interpreted as identical with Cooksonella sphaerica Senkevich, Salopella xingjiangensis Dou, and a number of sterile axes, including one with a leafy appearance superficially resembling a lycophyte, and others of probable algal affinity. Lack of anatomical and reproductive characteristics precludes a more precise assessment of relationships. A justification for the Pridoli rather than Lower Devonian age of the assemblage is based on graptolites. The composition of the assemblage is compared with coeval ones from Europe, North America, north Africa and Kazakhstan and has closest similarities with the latter. Palaeogeographic proximity on the Kazakhstan palaeocontinent is postulated, but the dearth of global Silurian occurrences of land plants make it premature to evaluate the significance of Kazakhstan and Chinese assemblages in terms of global provincialism in the late Silurian. The most distinctive element in these assemblages (Junggaria/Cooksonella) has sporangia with more complex, indeed more enigmatic organization, than seen in most Silurian and early Devonian rhyniophytoids.

The Zarza la Mayor and Zarza de Montánchez tonalites and Arroyo de la Luz granodiorite are part of a tonalitic–granodioritic belt located along the Schistose-Greywacke Domain of the Central Iberian Zone. These intrusions are also part of the Central Extremadura Batholith, a set of plutons ranging from tonalite to leucogranite that have been considered a prime example of Variscan syn-kinematic plutonism. New LA-ICP-MS and CA-ID-TIMS U–Pb dating reveals that the Zarza la Mayor tonalite–granodiorite is an Early Ordovician intrusion. The LA-ICP-MS data show that there is an absence of inherited cores, despite some complex internal zoning with obvious resorption features in some of the zircon crystals. Dating of monazite and zircon by CA-ID-TIMS provides a concordant age of 478.1 ± 0.8 Ma. This age coincides with electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) monazite chemical ages for the Zarza de Montánchez (482 ± 10 Ma) and Arroyo de la Luz (470 ± 15 Ma) intrusions. These new data indicate the presence of an Early Ordovician belt of calc-alkaline tonalite–granodiorite in the Schistose-Greywacke Domain – the Beira Baixa–Central Extremadura tonalite–granodiorite belt – which resembles a continental magmatic arc. This belt is contemporaneous with the Ollo de Sapo magmatic event further north in the Central Iberian Zone.

One of the few detailed records of Mesozoic deep-water sedimentation and volcanism preserved along the tectonically emplaced Arabian continental margin is from the Baer–Bassit region of northern Syria. South-Tethyan units there occur as blocks, broken formation and disrupted thrust sheets within the Bear–Bassit Melange. Two overall composite successions are identified. The first comprises mainly sedimentary successions ranging from Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) in age. The second is dominated by Middle Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous alkaline/ per-alkaline volcanic and minor intrusive igneous rocks. The extrusives are intercalated with radiolarian sediments and capped by Cenomanian ferromanganese-rich pelagic limestone. Facies comparisons and the regional setting suggest that the Triassic to Cenomanian, mainly sedimentary units, formed in deep water near the base of the slope of the Arabian continental margin. The contrasting volcanogenic successions developed in a more distal off-margin setting. Regional comparisons (e.g. with southwestern Cyprus and southwestern Turkey) suggest that continental break-up to form a South-Tethyan oceanic basin took place in Late Triassic time, associated with alkaline volcanism. Similar alkaline volcanism of Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age could reflect the activity of a mantle plume beneath the Arabian plate. Overall, sedimentation was mainly controlled by an interplay of post-rift thermal subsidence, plume-related uplift, siliceous oceanic productivity, climatic change and eustatic sea-level change. The South-Tethyan marginal to oceanic units in northern Syria were detached from an inferred oceanic basement in latest Cretaceous time, emplaced onto the Arabian continental margin, then transgressed by Maastrichian and younger autochthonous successions.

The form and distribution of load-casts suggests a genetic connection with structures previously formed on the upper surface of the underlying bed. On analogy with salt-dome development, the growth of load-casts and associated flame-structures is attributed to the density contrast between upper and lower bands and differential loading caused by the projections and depressions formed by the upper-surface features. This hypothesis is the basis of a new classification of load-cast structures.

Radiometric ages for undated parts of the volcanic succession and intrusions in West Greenland were obtained by the 40Ar–39Ar incremental heating method. Acceptable crystallization ages were obtained for 27 samples. Combined with published results the new data provide a volcanic stratigraphy correlatable throughout the Nuussuaq Basin. The thick onshore volcanic pile consists of four widespread formations: 62.5–61 Ma picrites (Vaigat Formation), 61–60 Ma depleted basalts (Maligât Formation and the Hellefisk-1 well), 60–58 Ma less-depleted basalts (Svartenhuk Formation) and 56–54 Ma enriched basalts (Naqerloq Formation). Two local successions comprise 53.5 Ma alkali basalts (Erqua Formation) and 38.7 Ma transitional basalts (Talerua Member). A central volcano developed on Ubekendt Ejland, leading to the Sarqâta qáqâ gabbro-granophyre intrusion at 57–55 Ma. Pre-break-up volcanism took place further south as early as 64–63 Ma. The offshore volcanic succession most probably comprises the known onshore succession plus some younger lavas. The change in spreading direction near the Paleocene–Eocene boundary took place west of the Nuussuaq Basin c. 56.2 Ma. Some tectonomagmatic events are correlatable across the entire North Atlantic Igneous Province. A quiescent 58–56 Ma period correlates with similar periods in East Greenland and the Faroes, and the Naqerloq Formation is coeval with the Eocene basalts in East Greenland. The Paleocene and Eocene tholeiitic basalts are distinguishable chemically; in early Eocene time, mantle typical of the Iceland plume seems to have extended beneath the whole West Greenland margin as well as the central East Greenland margin.

The most important crustal growth on Earth occurred at ~2.7 Ga, but the North China Craton (NCC) is characterized by prevalent development of ~2.5 Ga juvenile crust, with relatively rare records of ~2.7 Ga crustal growth. The Fuping Complex in the middle segment of the Trans-North China Orogen (TNCO) between the Eastern and Western blocks of the NCC is composed mainly of ~2.5 Ga Fuping tonalitic–trondhjemitic–granodioritic (TTG) gneisses and Longquanguan augen gneisses, ~2.1 Ga Nanying granitic gneisses and the Wanzi supracrustal rocks. Previous studies have suggested one major phase of crustal growth at ~2.5 Ga, possible intracrustal recycling at ~2.1 Ga and the presence of older rocks in the Fuping Complex, but there has been no record of ~2.7 Ga crustal growth. The Fuping TTG gneisses are dominated by stromatic migmatite, and new U–Pb dating of magmatic zircons from two stromatic migmatite samples yielded three different ages: (1) 2.75 Ga, which is the oldest age obtained from the Fuping TTG gneisses, (2) 2.54 Ga, which just falls in the published zircon U–Pb age range of 2.53 to 2.47 Ga for the Fuping TTG gneisses, and (3) 2.11 Ga, which is almost the same as the age of the Nanying granitic gneisses. Therefore, there are two generations of TTG gneisses in the Fuping Complex. Importantly, both of the 2.75 and 2.54 Ga zircons have the highest εHf(t) values, almost equal to the contemporaneous depleted mantle. This indicates high contributions of juvenile material to the two generations of TTG gneisses. In contrast, the 2.11 Ga zircons have apparently low εHf(t) values of −0.47 to +2.04, just falling in between 2.55 and 2.75 Ga continental crust values. This strongly suggests the reworking of the two generations of TTG gneisses at 2.1 Ga. Zircon U–Pb and Hf isotopes convincingly reveal two major phases of crustal growth in the Fuping Complex at ~2.7 and ~2.5 Ga, the same as in the northern and southern segments of the TNCO, and also confirm one major phase of intracrustal recycling at ~2.1 Ga, which may be responsible for the Nanying granitic gneisses.

The Jurassic Linglong granites, intrusive into the North China Craton (NCC) in eastern China, provide a critical record of the first major episode of lithospheric-scale extension and magmatism in NE China during Mesozoic time. Our U–Pb zircon dating reveals that the Linglong granites were emplaced during 161–158 Ma, shortly after the inception of a shallow subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific plate beneath East Asia during Middle Jurassic time. These granites have high alkali contents (K2O + Na2O = 8–9 wt%), low MgO and Mg no. values and variable Cr–Ni abundances. Their relatively high Ba and Sr concentrations, relatively low heavy rare Earth element (HREE) and strongly fractionated REE patterns characterize them as high Ba–Sr granites. The negative whole-rock εNd(t) values ranging from −22.4 to −10.9 and wide-ranging zircon εHf(t) values of −39.1 to −1.5 suggest that magmas of the Linglong granites were produced by partial melting of a garnet-amphibolite-bearing lower crust of the Jiaobei Terrane and by re-melting of the Triassic ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks and alkaline suites of the Sulu Terrane. The occurrence in the granitic rocks of inherited zircons of the Neoarchaean, Palaeoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, Palaeozoic and Triassic ages suggests that magmas of the Linglong granites interacted with the ancient crust in these terranes during their ascent. Asthenospheric upwelling, induced by the steepening and rapid rollback of the Palaeo-Pacific slab during Late Jurassic time, provided the heat source for the inferred lower crustal melting. Trench migration and thermal weakening of the crust caused extensional deformation and thinning in the eastern part of the NCC.

The lower part of the limestone succession of the Hagab Monocline in the Oman Peninsula, Arabia, is divided into the Bih Dolomite (Permian, 650 m.), Hagil Limestone (Permian, 260 m.), Ghail Limestone (Trias, 600 m.) and the Elphinstone Beds (Noric, 431 m.). The latter consists of five formations, two of which are very fossiliferous. The succession also occurs to the south in borings in the forelands of the Oman Mountains and is similar to that of the foreland of the Zagros Range of Iran.

The Precambrian Murchisonfjorden Supergroup of Nordaustlandet, Svalbard, contains approximately 6000 m of folded, but essentially unmetamorphosed, shallow marine sedimentary rocks. The abundant microfossils found through much of the section allow confident biostratigraphic subdivision of the succession and correlation with contemporaneous sequences in East Greenland and Scandinavia.

Diamictite-bearing rocks of the Gotia Group (uppermost in the sequence) contain a depauperate assemblage of acritarchs dominated by Bavlinella Javeolata. A Vendian age of deposition is indicated. Carbonates of the immediately underlying Ryssö Formation contain a wide variety of microfossils including stromatolitic associations of several types, planktonic acritarchs, and, near the top of the formation, vase-shaped heterotrophic protists. The acritarchs, including Chuaria circularis, Kildinella hyperboreica, K. sinica, Trachysphaeridium spp., and others, and the protistan remains indicate a latest Riphean age. The underlying Hunnberg Formation is similarly fossiliferous. A typically Late Riphean acritarch suite is present, and in addition double-walled forms and large (500 μm), thick-walled spheroids bearing club-shaped 10 μm diameter spines are found. Thus, it appears that the entire carbonate sequence of the Roaldtoppen Group was deposited late in Late Riphean time.

The thick detrital succession comprising the lowermost part of the unmetamorphosed Nordaustlandet sequence, the Celsiusberget and Franklinsundet groups, contains fossils at various levels. Although microfossils are often somewhat coalified, identifiable Late Riphean taxa such as Chuaria circularis and Kildinella spp. are present in rocks as low as the middle Westmanbukta Formation. The presence of the distinctive carbonaceous macrofossil Tawuia dalensis in the Kapp Lord Formation permits an age estimate of 850–900 Ma for this formation.

All told, the entire Murchisonfjorden Supergroup of Nordaustlandet appears to have been deposited during the Late Riphean and Vendian intervals. The long-recognized lithostratigraphic parallels between this sequence and the Eleonore Bay and Tillite Groups of East Greenland are complemented by strong biostratigraphic similarities.

An angular unconformity below Cambrian rocks is present in the northwest Himalaya in the Hazara district, Pakistan. Low-grade metamorphism and folding with axial planar cleavage present in Precambrian rocks below the unconformity, but not in those above it, confirm orogenic deformation at this time. This is the first clear evidence for such a deformation episode and it may be referred to locally as the Hazaran orogeny. Anatectic peraluminous granites of the Himalaya are of only slightly younger age and may be related to this orogenic episode.

The North Singhbhum Mobile Belt (NSMB) is a 200 km long, curved Proterozoic fold–thrust belt that skirts the northern margin of the Archean Singhbhum Craton of NE India. The Singhbhum Shear Zone (SSZ) developed between the Dhanjori and Chaibasa formations near the southern margin of the NSMB and represents an important Cu-U-P metallotect. A SHRIMP U–Pb zircon date of 1861±6 Ma, obtained for the syn- to post-kinematic Arkasani Granophyre that has intruded the SSZ, provides a minimum age for the prolonged tectonic activity and mineralization along the SSZ and for the time of closure of the Chaibasa and Dhanjori sub-basins. The Dalma Volcanic Belt, a submarine rift-related bimodal mafic-felsic volcanic suite, forms the spine of the NSMB. A SHRIMP U–Pb zircon igneous crystallization date of 1631±6 Ma was obtained for an unfoliated felsic volcanic rock from the base of the Dalma volcanic sequence. These new findings suggest that the different sub-basins in the NSMB evolved diachronously under contrasting tectonic environments and were juxtaposed during a later orogenic movement.