Thrombolite and stromatolite reefs occur at several stratigraphic levels within the terminal Proterozoic Nama Group (c. 550–543 Ma) of central and southern Namibia. The reefs form integral parts of several carbonate platforms within the Nama Group, including the Kuibis platform of the northern Nama Basin (Zaris subbasin), and Huns platform (Witputs subbasin) of the southern Nama Basin. The reefs are composed of both thrombolites and stromatolites that form laterally continuous biostromes, isolated patch reefs, and isolated pinnacle reefs ranging in scale from a metre to several kilometres in width. In the majority of cases, the reefs occur stratigraphically as an integral facies within the transgressive systems tracts of sequences making up the Kuibis and Huns platforms. This suggests that a regime of increasing accommodation was required to form well-developed reefs, though reefs also occur sporadically in highstand systems tract settings. Within a given transgressive systems tract, a regime of increasing accommodation through time favours the transition from sheet-like biostromal geometries to more isolated patch and pinnacle biohermal geometries. Similarly, increasing accommodation in space, such as a transect down depositional dip, shows a similar transition from more sheet-like geometries in updip positions to more isolated geometries in downdip positions. Reefal facies consist of thrombolitic domes, columns and mounds with well-developed internal clotted textures, in addition to stromatolitic domes, columns and mounds, with crudely to moderately well-developed internal lamination. Stromatolites are better developed in conditions of relatively low accommodation, and updip locations, under conditions of higher current velocities and greater sediment influx. Thrombolites are better developed in conditions of relatively high accommodation and low sediment influx. Both types of microbialites are intimately associated with the first calcifying metazoan organisms, which may have attached themselves to the sediment surface or otherwise lived within sheltered depressions within the rough topography created by ecologically complex mats. The appearance of thrombolitic textures during terminal Proterozoic time is consistent with colonization of cyanobacterial mats by higher algae and metazoans, which would have been an important process in generating clotted textures. Fabrics in the Nama thrombolites are well preserved and show evidence of thrombolitic mesoclots being overgrown by fibrous marine carbonate, interpreted as former aragonite. This was followed by emplacement of geopetal micrite fills, and precipitation of dolomite as an isopachous rim cement, followed by occlusion of remaining porosity by blocky calcite spar.

Collision-related rocks intrude metamorphic rocks overthrust by ophiolitic units to make up the Central Anatolian Crystalline Complex. A wide variety of rock types were produced by the latest Cretaceous magmatism in the complex. These rocks can be divided into three distinct units: (1) calc-alkaline (Ağaçören, Behrekdağ, Cefalıkdağ, Çelebi, Ekecikdağ, Halaçlı, Karamadazı, Kösefakılı, Terlemez, Üçkapılı, Yozgat); (2) sub-alkaline (Baranadağ); and (3) alkaline (Atdere, Davulalan, Eğrialan, Hamit, İdişdağı, Karaçayır). The calc-alkaline rocks are metaluminous/peraluminous I- to S-type plutons ranging from monzodiorite to granite. The sub-alkaline rocks are metaluminous I-type plutons ranging from monzonite to granite. The alkaline rocks are metaluminous to peralkaline plutons, predominantly A-type, ranging from foid-bearing monzosyenite to granite. These plutons crystallized under varying pressures (5.3–2.6 kbar) and a wide range of temperatures (858–698 °C) from highly oxidized magmas (log fO2 −17 to −12). All intrusive rocks display enrichment in LILE and LREE compare to HFSE and have high 87Sr/86Sr and low 143Nd/144Nd ratios. These characteristics indicate that these rocks are derived from a mantle source containing large subduction components, and have experienced assimilation coupled with fractional crystallization (AFC) during uprise through crust. The coexistence of calc-alkaline and alkaline magmatism in the complex may be ascribed to mantle source heterogeneity before collision. Either thermal perturbation of the metasomatized lithosphere by delamination of the thermal boundary layer or removal of a subducted plate (slab breakoff) are the likely mechanisms for the initiation of the collision-related magmatism in the complex.

The Codó Formation exposed in the eastern Grajaú Basin, northeastern Brazil, consists mostly of black shales, limestones and evaporites arranged into several shallowing-upward cycles formed by progradation of lake deposits. Three ranks of cycles are distinguished. The lower-rank cycles correspond to millimetric interbeddings of: bituminous black shales with evaporites, calcimudstones or peloidal wackestone–packstone; grey/green shale with calcimudstone, peloidal wackestone–packstone or ostracodal wackestone/grainstone; and ostracodal wackestone/grainstone and/or calcimudstones with cryptomicrobial mats and ooidal/pisoidal packstones. The intermediate-rank cycles average 1.7 m in thickness and are formed by complete and incomplete cycles. Complete cycles show a transition from central to intermediate and then to marginal facies associations and include two types: C1 cycle with central lake deposits consisting of evaporites and black shales; and C2 cycle with central lake deposits formed by grey/green shale. Complete cycles were produced by the upward gradation from central to marginal environments of the lake or saline pan–sabkha system. Incomplete cycles are those where at least one facies association is lacking, having been formed by successions either with central and intermediate facies associations (I1) or intermediate and marginal facies associations (I2). The higher-rank cycles are, on average, 5.2 m thick and consist of four depositional units that display shallowing-upward successions formed by complete and incomplete intermediate-rank cycles that vary their distribution upward in the section, and are bounded by sharp surfaces. While the lower-rank cycles display characteristics that reveal their seasonal signature, detailed sedimentological characterization and understanding of stratal stacking patterns related to the intermediate and higher-rank cycles support a genesis linked to syn-sedimentary tectonic activity. This is particularly suggested by the high facies variability, limited lateral extension, and frequent and random thickness changes of the intermediate-rank cycles. Additionally, the four higher-rank cycles recognized in the Codó Formation match with stratigraphic zones having different styles of soft-sediment deformation structures attributed to seismic activities. Therefore, the several episodes of lake shallowing recorded in the Codó Formation are linked to seismic pulses that alternated with sediment deposition. This process would have created significant changes in the lake water level and resulted in sharply bounded successions with upward gradation from deeper to relatively shallower facies associations.

Very large volume (>1000 km3 of magma) crystal-rich dacitic ignimbrites that lack pronounced evidence of fractional crystallization or vertical zonation erupt in some continental magmatic arcs (e.g. the Lund Tuff of the Great Basin and the Fish Canyon Tuff of Colorado in western USA). Apparently, their magma chambers were only modestly heterogeneous and not systematically zoned from top to bottom. These ignimbrites have 40 to 50% phenocrysts set in a high-silica rhyolite glass. Mineral assemblages and mineral compositions suggest pre-eruption temperatures were 730 to 820°C and water and oxygen fugacities were relatively high. We have speculated that these very large volume ignimbrites are unzoned because crystallization and convection in slab-shaped magma chambers inhibited separation of crystals from liquids and resulted in a chamber filled with compositionally heterogeneous magma that lacked systematic chemical zonation or strong fractionation. However, many other very large volume silicic ignimbrites are strongly fractionated and may be vertically zoned (e.g. tuffs related to the Yellowstone hotspot). These rhyolitic tuffs typically have few phenocrysts, anhydrous mineral assemblages, low oxygen fugacities, crystallization temperatures of 830 to 1050°C, and a strong imprint of fractional crystallization. Yet these Yellowstone-type rhyolites are derived from chambers 40 to 70 km across which have sill-like shapes (depth/diameter ratios much less than 1). Thus, factors other than chamber shape must be important for establishing the degree of evolution and nature of zonation in silicic magma chambers. Here, the role of crystallinity-dependent viscosity on the evolution of these two types of contrasting magmas is explored. Calculated magma viscosities for the hot, dry, crystal-poor rhyolites are significantly lower than for the cooler, wetter, crystal-rich dacites. Perhaps these hot rhyolites had low enough crystal contents and viscosities to allow efficient crystal–liquid separation, probably by a combination of unhindered crystal-settling, floor crystallization (including compaction), and crystallization on the walls of large chambers. Clean separation of melt from residual solids at their sources may have been promoted by their high temperatures and low viscosities (<104.5 Pa s). In contrast, monotonous dacitic magmas may never have been crystal-free near-liquidus magmas. Their large magma chambers may have developed by progressive growth at a shallow level with repeated input of intermediate to silicic magma. Crystallization of the water-enriched dacitic magmas occurred at lower temperatures (<800 °C) where crystallinity and hence magma viscosity (>106.5 Pa s) were significantly higher. These characteristics inhibited all forms of crystal–liquid separation, hindered development of systematic vertical zonation, and promoted quasi-equilibrium crystallization in small domains within large heterogeneous magma chambers. Eruptions of these crystal-rich dacites may only occur if the roof fails over a growing magma chamber that is becoming increasingly molten.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate, or even modify where necessary, the geo-volcanological setting outlined by other authors on the history of the small volcanic field of San Venanzo (Umbria, Central Italy). To attain this goal, new accurate field investigations were carried out in that area, coupled with detailed stratigraphic studies and laboratory analyses, to support field evidence with experimental results. The first objective was to stress the importance of a groundwater reservoir whose interaction with magma at various degrees was responsible not only for the explosive character of volcanism in that area, but also for the complex morphology of the volcanic deposits that are widely scattered on the underlying sedimentary basement. Another objective was to clarify the role played by tectonic activity in enhancing the fast and discontinuous ascent of batches of magma from the mantle to the surface, through two different sets of faults, opened by tectonic unrest into the crust, that were also responsible for the morphology and spatial distribution of volcanic centres. This was considered to be very important in consideration of the still-active stress field of the region. Finally, special attention was focused on the presence of a palaeosol between two eruptive sequences, as it most likely denoted a split in the volcanic activity of this site into two separate phases. This observation leads to the conclusion that, in spite of its eruptive characteristics, the small volcano of San Venanzo is not monogenic. For all of these topics, a number of conclusions have been drawn and they are reported with more data in the following sections of this paper.

At least twenty silicified volcanic ash beds have been identified in the Kuibis and Schwarzrand subgroups of the terminal Proterozoic Nama Group of Namibia. Nineteen of the Nama ash beds are in the Schwarzrand Subgroup in the Witputs subbasin. Two of these are in the siliciclastic-dominated lower part of the subgroup, which consists of the Nudaus Formation and Nasep Member of the Urusis Formation and comprises two depositional sequences. Identification and correlation of these ash beds are very well known based on stratigraphic position. Sixteen ash beds are contained within the carbonate-dominated strata of the Huns, Feldschuhhorn and Spitskop members of the Urusis Formation. These strata comprise four large-scale sequences and eighteen medium-scale sequences. Ash beds have been found in three of the large-scale sequences and seven of the medium-scale sequences. Correlations are proposed for these ash beds that extend over large changes in facies and stratal thickness and across transitions between the seaward margin, depocentre and landward margin of the Huns-Spitskop carbonate shelf. A study of whole rock and in situ phenocryst compositions was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of independently testing sequence stratigraphic correlations by geochemically identifying individual ash beds. Whole rock abundances of Al, Fe, Mg, K and Ti vary inversely with Si, reflecting variations in phenocryst concentration due to air fall and hydrodynamic sorting. These sorting processes did not substantially fractionate whole rock rare earth element abundances (REE), which vary more widely with Si. REE abundances are higher in samples of the Nudaus ash bed than in samples of the Nasep ash bed, independent of position in bed, phenocryst abundance, or grainsize, providing a geochemical means for discriminating between the two beds. Variations in the position of chondrite-normalized whole rock REE plots similarly support suspected correlations of ash beds between widely separated sections of the Spitskop Member. Abundances of Fe, Mg and Mn in apatite plot in distinct clusters for Spitskop ash beds that are known to be different and in clusters that overlap for ash beds suspected of correlating between sections. Abundances of REE in monazites differ for the Nudaus, Nasep and Spitskop ash beds in which these phenocrysts were identified. Multivariate statistical analysis provided a quantitative analysis of the discriminating power of different elements and found that whole rock abundances of Ge, Nb, Cs, Ba and La discriminate among the whole rock compositions of the Nudaus and Nasep ash beds and the Spitskop ash beds that are thought to correlate between sections. Each of the above geochemical signatures, by itself, is not definitive because the differences between beds are comparable to the variability within beds and because some signatures are shared by beds known to be different. Taken together, however, weight-of-evidence arguments based on multiple components and phases can successfully discriminate among Nama ash beds. Results from this study support sequence stratigraphic correlations of Spitskop ash beds that document stratal truncations and gaps in the record related to onlap and erosion.

Tephra-fall deposits in the Late Mesoproterozoic Sleat Group (Torridonian) from Skye, Scotland, are described for the first time. Two individual beds occur within the Loch na Dal Formation which represents sedimentation in a shallow marine environment. Each bed has a distinctive brown, crumbly, amorphous appearance in the field and has sharp contacts with its host metasediment. This unique lithology is identical to that of albitic schists described recently from the Southern Highland Group, Dalradian Supergroup, which were identified as air-fall tuffs.

The Notch Peak Formation (Late Cambrian, Sunwaptan) of western Utah yields diverse silicified trilobite faunas that provide new information on the anatomy of many taxa. The family Ptychaspididae Raymond, 1924, is represented by species of Keithiella Rasetti, 1944; Idiomesus Raymond, 1924; Euptychaspis Ulrich in Bridge, 1931; and Macronoda Lochman, 1964. At least four species are new, of which E. lawsonensis and M. notchpeakensis are named formally. Much previous work on Late Cambrian trilobites has emphasized biostratigraphic utility and the recognition of geographically widespread species. Data from new silicified collections indicate that this approach is difficult to justify because many putative ‘index species’ actually represent a plexus of closely related species whose biostratigraphic significance has yet to be determined. One such plexus is represented by E. kirki Kobayashi, 1935, whose previously reported occurrences in Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Nevada and northern Canada record at least four distinct species. Similarly, Macronoda can now be shown to consist of at least five late Sunwaptan species in south-central and western North America.

Granulites including a charnockite suite, mafic granulites, pelitic granulites, metanorite dykes and their retrograde varieties occur as discontinuous shear zone-bounded bodies within the Archaean basement comprising a granite gneiss–amphibolite–metasedimentary rock association in the central part of the Aravalli Mountains, northwest India. The entire suite, named the Sandmata Complex, preserves a complex history of tectonothermal evolution. Except for their strongly foliated margins, the granulite bodies are largely massive. Partial melting in the ‘country rocks’ led to the development of migmatite gneisses close to the contact of the granulite, a feature not as common in the rocks further away from the granulite contact. Geothermobarometry of massive granulites indicates Tmax>900°C and Pmax∼7.5 kbar. The retrograde granulites, which formed at lower amphibolite/upper greenschist-facies conditions, experienced channelized hydration reactions concomitant with shearing. These rocks locally appear as hornblende–biotite-bearing foliated granulite with or without Cpx or Opx. The rocks seem to have followed an inverse PTt path and have undergone an earlier phase of near-isobaric cooling. Our single zircon Pb–Pb ages indicate that the exhumation of granulites to the shallower amphibolite-facies levels with concomitant melting in the country rocks took place between 1690 Ma and 1621 Ma. Assuming that the granulite-facies metamorphism took place at around 1725 Ma, we relate the entire process of granulite metamorphism and exhumation covering an age range between 1725 and 1621 Ma to the rift basin opening stages of the Delhi Orogenic cycle that culminated at c. 1450 Ma.

Precise biostratigraphic constraints on the age of the Tal Group are restricted to (1) a basal level correlative with the Anabarites trisulcatus–Protohertzina anabarica Assemblage Zone of southwest China, (2) a level near the boundary of the lower and upper parts of the Tal Group correlative with the early Tsanglangpuan Stage (Drepanuroides Zone), and (3) an interval low in the upper part of the Tal Group correlative with later in the Tsanglangpuan Stage (Palaeolenus Zone). These correlations are based on small shelly fossil and trilobite taxa. Other chronostratigraphic constraints include the marked negative δ13C isotopic excursion coincident with the transition from the Krol Group to the Tal Group. This excursion is used as a proxy for the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary in several sections worldwide and, if applied to the Lesser Himalaya, indicates that the boundary is at or just above the base of the Tal Group. The upper parts of the Tal Group may be of middle or late Cambrian age and might form proximal equivalents of sections in the Zanskar–Spiti region of the Tethyan Himalaya. Both faunal content and lithological succession are comparable to southwest China, furthering recent arguments for close geographic proximity between the Himalaya and the Yangtze block during late Neoproterozoic and early Cambrian time. Trilobites from the uppermost parts of the Sankholi Formation from the Nigali Dhar syncline are described and referred to three taxa, one of which, Drepanopyge gopeni, is a new species. They are the oldest trilobites yet described from the Himalaya.

Mudstones and shales in the Lower Cambrian Shipai Formation in the Three Gorge area, Hubei, China, are richly fossiliferous, containing common shelly fossils and some soft-bodied fossils. The latter provide important new information about the nature and variety of Cambrian soft-bodied organisms. Identifiable, non-mineralized taxa include components of the Chengjiang fauna, such as Vetulicola Hou, 1987, a palaeoscolecidan referable to Maotianshania Sun & Hou, 1987, and a brachiopod Diandongiapista with pedicle preserved (not illustrated). Cambrorhytium Conway Morris & Robison, 1988, co-occurring both in the Burgess Shale and the Chengjiang Lagerstätte, was also recovered. Additionally, a new worm is described based on two specimens. This taxon, in common with many other fossil worms, has a slender, cylindrical body with annulations, but it is characterized by each annulus bearing an elevated ridge and lacking surface ornamentation. The occurrence of exceptional preservation in the Shipai Formation has likely been overlooked due to the relatively poor resolution of soft-bodied fossils; nevertheless, this occurrence is an important extension of the Burgess Shale-type biotas in China, over 1500 km northeast of the provenance of the Chengjiang Lagerstätte.

Sea surface temperature (SST) estimates using the δ18O composition of fossil planktonic foraminifer calcite, within the time slice 3.12 to 3.05 Ma (Pliocene, Kaena Subchron – C2An1r) are assessed for nine Atlantic Ocean sites. These are compared with SST estimates from fossil assemblages for the ‘Time Slab’ 3.29–2.97 Ma and with estimates from a fully coupled ocean–atmosphere General Circulation Model (GCM) for the same time interval. Most SST estimates derived from the δ18O data indicate a cooler ocean surface than at present, through the latitudinal range 69.25° N to 46.88° S. At some sites the temperature difference is greater than 5 °C (cooler than at present). This contrasts with SST estimates from fossil assemblages that give warmer than present temperatures at mid- to high latitudes, and similar temperatures in the tropics, and with the GCM, which predicts SSTs warmer than at present across all latitudes for this time interval. Difficulties interpreting the ecology of fossil foraminifer assemblages and inaccurate estimates of mid-Pliocene seawater δ18O composition (δ18Osw) at some sites may partly produce the temperature discrepancy between isotope-based and fossil-based SST estimates, but do not adequately explain the cool signal of the former. We interpret the cool SST estimates from the δ18O data to be the product of: (a) calcite formed at a level deep within or below the ocean mixed-layer during the life-cycle of the foraminifera; (b) secondary calcite with higher δ18O formed in the planktonic foraminifer tests in sea bottom pore waters. Although these effects differ between sites, secular and temporal oceanographic trends are preserved in the primary calcite formed in the mixed-layer near the ocean surface, witnessed by the latitudinal variation in estimated SSTs. Reconstructing accurate mid-Pliocene SSTs with much of the existing published oxygen isotope data probably requires a detailed re-assessment of taphonomy, particularly at tropical sites. This study also indicates that methods for estimating Atlantic Pliocene δ18Osw need to be refined.

The occurrence of organic-walled microfossils is reported for the first time from the Neoproterozoic Port Nolloth Group, Gariep Belt (southern Namibia). Acritarchs assigned to Bavlinella faveolata occur in the Hilda Subgroup below the younger of two glaciogenic diamictite units (Numees Formation) within the Port Nolloth Group. The microfossil assemblage in the overlying upper Holgat Formation, above the Numees Formation, is characterized by low diversity (six species), dominance of Soldadophycus bossii, and absence of acanthomorphic or large sphaeromorphic acritarchs. The agglutinated foraminifer Titanotheca also occurs in the Holgat Formation. Combined with available chemostratigraphic data and Pb–Pb ages, this microfossil assemblage indicates an upper Ediacaran age of around 555 Ma for the Holgat Formation. Virtually identical microfossil assemblages, negative-to-positive δ13 C trends,87Sr/86Sr values between 0.7080 and 0.7085, as well as Pb–Pb carbonate ages, make it possible to correlate the Holgat Formation with the Buschmannsklippe Formation (Witvlei Group, central Namibia), the Kombuis Member (Cango Caves Group, southern South Africa) and the uppermost Polanco to lowermost Cerro Espuelitas Formation (Arroyo del Soldado Group, Uruguay). Based on these data, the underlying Numees Formation, the age of which has been only loosely constrained so far and subject to considerable debate, can now be assigned to the c. 580 Ma Gaskiers or the possibly younger (< 570 Ma) Moelv glacial event. The Numees glacial event may be represented in the uppermost Nooitgedagt Member (Cango Caves Group, South Africa) and the lower Barriga Negra formations (Arroyo del Soldado Group, Uruguay), characterized by a negative δ13C excursion and a strong sea-level drop. If this correlation is confirmed, lack of glacial deposits there might have implications for the palaeogeographic extent of upper Ediacaran glaciations. Our preliminary studies show that acritarch biostratigraphy can make a significant contribution to unravelling the stratigraphy of Neoproterozoic glacial deposits, especially when combined with C and Sr isotopic data.

A detailed field and microstructural investigation of mineral fabrics in the late-Caledonian Galway Granite Batholith (∼400 Ma) provides insights into the relationship between emplacement-related deformation and crystallization state. These relationships are used to infer the regional instantaneous strain pattern at the time of intrusion. A Marginal Deformation Zone occurs in the granite along part of its northern sector, where planar fabrics are contact-parallel and dip steeply to the north. Within the Marginal Deformation Zone, the granite has similar patterns of pre- and post-RCMP (Rheologically Critical Melt Percentage) fabrics on either side of the NNE-trending Shannawona Fault Zone, which separates the Western and Central blocks of the batholith. Oblate pre-RCMP fabrics, which intensify towards the contact, are overprinted in a down-temperature continuum of deformation by co-axial post-RCMP fabrics that also become more intense towards the contact. At the southern edge of the Marginal Deformation Zone, deformation ceased before the granite reached its RCMP whereas, close to the contact, deformation ceased at ∼500°C. Within the Central Block, oblate fabrics also developed parallel with internal granite facies boundaries. Throughout the batholith, the fabrics formed by co-axial deformation as a result of lateral expansion operating in successive magma batches at the emplacement level. These intrusion-related fabrics are consistent with other evidence that indicates the Galway Granite was emplaced into a transtensional setting at the end of the Caledonian Orogeny.

The radiolarian Beothuka terranova occurs in the Arenigian Didymograptellus bifidus Biozone (uppermost Lower Ordovician) of Spitsbergen (Svalbard), associated with a diverse and well-preserved radiolarian fauna. The presence of typical Cambrian spicular radiolarians associated with derived spherical forms shows a gradational faunal change from the Cambrian to the Ordovician. The genus and species Antygopora ordovicica n. gen. et n. sp. is described.

Streptichnus narbonnei igen. et isp. nov., a new trace fossil from the upper part of the Spitskop Member of the Urusis Formation, southern Namibia, consists of clusters of unidirectionally curved radial elements, in which individual elements typically are composed of imbricated sickle–shaped segments somewhat comparable to those of Treptichnus pedum. Such complex trace fossils generally are found only in Cambrian or younger strata. This opens to question the position of the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary in the Nama Group, suggesting that it may locally be within the uppermost part of the Urusis Formation, rather than at the base of the Nomtsas Formation.

Small theropod post-cranial material from Tendaguru, Tanzania, the only known Late Jurassic theropod locality in the Southern Hemisphere, is reviewed. Material originally described as ‘coelurosaurs’ includes at least one taxon of basal tetanuran and one taxon of small abelisauroid. Together with the abelisauroid Elaphrosaurus and the presence of a larger ceratosaur in Tendaguru, this material indicates that ceratosaurs were an important faunal element of Late Jurassic East African theropod faunas. One bone furthermore shares derived characters with the holotype of the poorly known Middle Jurassic Australian theropod Ozraptor and allows the identification of the latter as the oldest known abelisauroid, thus indicating an early divergence of ceratosaurids and abelisauroids within ceratosaurs. Abelisauroids might have originated in Gondwana and represent important faunal elements of Cretaceous Gondwanan theropod faunas in general.