Zoned olivine grains are abundant in the late Mesozoic Shatuo gabbro (southern Taihang Mountains, central North China Craton). Olivine cores are rich in MgO and NiO, rims are rich in FeO and MnO, and both cores and rims have very low CaO contents. The cores invariably have a high Mg no. (92–94), similar to olivine xenocrysts from Palaeozoic kimberlites in eastern China. The compositional features of these olivines imply that they are xenocrysts rather than phenocrysts, namely, disaggregates of mantle peridotites at the time of intrusion. The compositional similarity of olivine cores to xenocrysts from Palaeozoic kimberlites suggests that the lithospheric mantle beneath the central North China Craton is ancient and refractory in nature, and quite different from eastern China, where the mantle is mainly composed of newly accreted materials resulting from large-scale lithospheric removal and replacement. The contrasting features of the lithospheric mantle beneath the eastern and central North China Craton imply that the large-scale lithospheric removal in Phanerozoic times was mainly confined to the eastern North China Craton.

The global correlation standards now agreed for the Ordovician and Silurian systems, and partly so for the Cambrian System, are summarized. Correlation of the international series and stages with the traditional and revised British series and stages is reviewed, as well as with those in North America (Laurentia).

A perturbation in the carbon-isotope record at the time of the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary (~ 184 Ma) in the Early Jurassic is reported, based on new data from Yorkshire, England. Two sharp δ13Corg negative excursions, each with a magnitude of ~ −2.5 ‰ and reaching minimum values of −28.5 ‰, are recorded in the bulk organic-matter record in sediments of latest Pliensbachian to earliest Toarcian age. A similar pattern of negative carbon-isotope excursions has been observed at the stage boundary in the SW European section at Peniche, Portugal in δ13Ccarbonate, δ13Cwood and δ13Cbrachiopod records. The isotopic excursion is of interest when considering the genesis and development of the later Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE), as well as the second-order global extinction event that spans the stage boundary. Furthermore, the isotope excursion potentially provides a chemostratigraphic marker for recognition of the stage boundary, which is currently achieved on the basis of different ammonite faunas in the NW European and Tethyan realms.

The Mesozoic Austral Basin of Patagonia, in southwestern Gondwana, experienced a major tectonic segmentation during Aptian times. Sometime between 121 and 118 Ma (Aptian), the northern part of the Austral Basin, known as the Aisén Basin or Río Mayo Embayment, was inverted, with the sediments overlain by calc-alkaline subaerial volcanic rocks of Aptian to Maastrichtian age. In the southern segment of the Austral Basin, known as the Magallanes Basin, predominantly marine sediments accumulated until Cenozoic times in a back-arc position, relative to a magmatic arc located to the west. The subduction-related N–S-trending volcanic chains of both segments were geographically displaced during Aptian to Late Cretaceous times. In the Aisén segment north of ~49–50° S, the volcanic chain was located further east than the coeval arc in the Magallanes segment. A transform fault connected the trenches of both segments, with the Aisén segment dipping at a shallower angle than the Magallanes segment.

Analyses of sulphur isotope compositions in sedimentary pyrites from the Vindhyan, Chattisgarh and Cuddapah basins show heavy δ34S (> +25 ‰) values during the Mesoproterozoic. The data provide evidence in support of a hypothesized global Proterozoic sulphidic anoxic ocean where very low concentrations of marine sulphate, bacterially reduced in closed systems, produced δ34S values in pyrites similar to or even heavier than marine sulphate. The extreme environmental conditions induced by these anoxic oceans could have been responsible for the delayed oxygenation of the biosphere and retarded evolution of multicellular life.

The Jiuhuashan–Qingyang complex is one of the Mesozoic granite complexes in the NE Yangzte Block, China. New petrographical and petrochemical data show that the complex comprises a dominant granodiorite–monzogranite, the Qingyang body, which was intruded by the Jiuhuashan granite body. The two are characterized by distinct mineral components and trace element patterns. Compared to the Qingyang granodiorite and monzogranite, the Jiuhuashan granite is enriched in Rb, Th, U, Nb, Ta, Hf, Yb and Lu, and depleted in Ba, Sr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd and Ti, which are ascribable to the separation of plagioclase and biotite, and crystallization of thorite and fergusonite during the magmatism. New LA-ICPMS zircon U–Pb dating suggests that the crystallization age of the Qingyang body is 139–133 Ma, and the Jiuhuashan granite followed at 127 Ma. Moreover, the new zircon U–Pb dates reveal that Archaean materials were involved in the formation of these magmas, and that a sodium-rich metasomatic event occurred at about 100 Ma. The CHIME monazite and zircon ages studied for the Jiuhuashan body agree well with the LA-ICPMS zircon ages. Integrating this information with previous studies for granites in the NE Yangtze Block and in the coastal area of SE China, we believe that all of these Late Mesozoic granites were produced under the tectonic regime of palaeo-Pacific plate subduction towards the SE China continent in a NW direction, but the granites in the NE Yangtze Block are basically derived by crustal melting with limited mixing of juvenile material during the magma generation.

Subjectivity in visual selection of hinge and inflection points leads to significant errors in analyses of fold shapes in profile sections. This article gives a method for precise determination of these points. The method: (1) imports a fold image into Matlab, (2) digitizes points on the image, (3) increases the number of available points by using an interpolation algorithm, (4) fits a polynomial curve to the points, and (5) searches for the hinge and the inflection points mathematically. Tests on several folds confirm that the ‘HingeInflex’ is a rapid, robust and user-friendly method for precise selection of the hinge and inflection points.

A new component of the Early Palaeozoic arthropod fauna is described from a monospecific accumulate of carapaces in a Late Ordovician (Katian) hemipelagic mudstone from the Cardigan district of southwest Wales (UK). Its non-biomineralized carapace is preserved as a carbonaceous residue, as is more labile anatomy (soft-parts) including the inner lamella and sub-ovate structures near its antero-dorsal margin, which we interpret to be putative eyes. The depositional context and associated fauna indicate that the arthropods inhabited an area of deep water and high primary productivity above a pronounced submarine topography. The preserved density of carapaces suggests the arthropods may have congregated into shoals or been transported post-mortem into depressions which acted as detritus traps. The accumulate provides a rare example of soft-part preservation in hemipelagic mudstones and highlights the role of organic material as a locus for authigenic mineralization during metamorphism.

Integrated graptolite, conodont and chitinozoan biostratigraphical data are presented from the Llandovery and Wenlock of the Kolka-54 core, Latvia. Correlations between graptolite and chitinozoan biozones are consistent with those published from other East Baltic sections and the Welsh Basin. While most correlations between graptolite and conodont biozones agree with those presented in previous studies, there are important exceptions. Significantly, we report here the discovery of Distomodus staurognathoides Biozone conodonts in the lowest Aeronian Demirastrites triangulatus graptolite Biozone. The base of the D. staurognathoides Biozone was previously considered to lie much higher in the Aeronian. Also it is shown that Walliserodus survived the late Wenlock Mulde Event, during which it was considered previously to have become extinct.

Analysis of pelites with detrital white-micas in the Clew Bay–Galway Bay segment of the Irish Caledonides indicates that b0 data from whole-rock and < 2 μm fractions generally show differences smaller than the errors of the method, irrespective of (001) illite crystallinity values, probably due to metamorphic recrystallization. Intermediate pressure metamorphism of the Ordovician–Silurian Clew Bay Group indicates slow subduction, allowing partial thermal re-equilibration before exhumation. In contrast, the Croagh Patrick Group Laurentian shelf-sediments underwent high-pressure alteration, suggesting rapid subduction/exhumation, synchronous with strike-slip faulting. The Murrisk Group, which underwent high-intermediate pressure metamorphism in an Ordovician back-arc, forms a separate terrane to the Croagh Patrick Group to the north and also to the Ordovician Lough Nafooey and Tourmakeady groups and Rosroe Formation in the south, in which low-intermediate pressure alteration occurred. These, together with the Silurian North Galway Group, may have undergone heating due to movement over or deposition on the hot Gowlaun Detachment as the Connemara Dalradian was exhumed. The South Connemara Group also underwent a high-pressure alteration, consistent with its inferred subduction environment. Evidence of contact alteration, due to known or inferred buried late- to post-Caledonian granitoid plutons, has been found in the Clew Bay, Louisburg–Clare Island, Croagh Patrick, Murrisk and South Connemara groups. These show evidence of lower-pressure alteration than the surrounding country-rocks.

Palaeoenvironmental changes in the upper Middle Miocene Central Paratethys were reconstructed by using qualitative and quantitative palaeontological analyses of foraminifera and ostracods, coupled with trace elemental (Mg/Ca) and stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) analyses of their carbonate skeletons and of gastropod shells. Mean annual air temperatures were estimated using the oxygen isotope composition of contemporaneous rodent teeth. The studied aquatic fossils come from two boreholes in the Zsámbék Basin (northern central Hungary), while the terrestrial ones are from localities in NE Hungary and E Romania. In the studied Sarmatian successions, three zones could be distinguished, based on palaeontological and geochemical results. At the Badenian/Sarmatian boundary, faunal diversity decreased markedly. In the lower zone a transgressive event culminated in a seawater incursion into the semi-open basin system of the Central Paratethys. Stable bottom-water temperature (~15 °C) and variable salinities (20–32 ‰) are estimated for the Early Sarmatian Sea. The faunal changes (notably a strong reduction in biodiversity) occurring at the boundary between the lower and the middle zone can be explained by a sea-level highstand with dysoxic conditions. A relative sea-level fall is documented at the end of this middle zone. After a short regressive event, a marine connection between the Paratethys and the Mediterranean was established at the beginning of the upper zone. This is indicated by an increased microfaunal diversity and the re-appearance of marine Badenian ostracods and foraminifera, which are completely absent from the older Sarmatian series. During the upper zone, the temperatures and salinities are estimated to have fluctuated from 15 °C to 21 °C and from 15 ‰ to 43 ‰, respectively.