Sedimentary context and palaeoecology of Gigantoproductus shell beds in the Mississippian Eyam Limestone Formation, Derbyshire carbonate platform, central England

A sedimentological study was conducted at two localities exposing the Mississippian Eyam Limestone Formation of the Derbyshire carbonate platform, UK. Ricklow Quarry comprises seven facies with diverse skeletal assemblages, representing deposition on the inner to middle ramp within open marine waters. Once-a-Week Quarry comprises four facies, dominated by crinoidal debris representing deposition on the inner ramp. Both localities expose Gigantoproductus shell beds. Palaeoecological analysis of a single shell bed from each locality enabled investigation of the rapid colonization and success of this taxon on the platform. At Ricklow Quarry, on the eastern side of a localized mud mound, both life (>72% of thin and thick-shelled brachiopods in life position) and neighbourhood assemblages are present. A low-moderate diversity community (<1.37 and <0.8 Shannon diversity index) rapidly established over relict Brigantian mud mounds. Shell beds are preluded by intervals of decreased energy that allowed larvae to settle. Once established, the dominance of thick-shelled individuals enabled baffling, potentially providing localized shelter for larvae and nearby individuals. At Once-a-Week Quarry, where no mud mound is present, only thick-shelled Gigantoproductus species and a low diversity community (<1.07 Shannon diversity index) exclusively comprising neighbourhood assemblages (37% in life position) is present. The presence of inactive mud mounds at Ricklow Quarry appears to have been the key to the success of Gigantoproductus species enabling the onset of stable communities in the shelter provided by the relict mound. Once the first palaeocommunities were established, larvae dispersed and colonized higher energy settings, such as at Once-a-Week Quarry

Opening of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and the Pangea B to Pangea A transformation during the Permian

We studied the stratigraphy, composition, and paleomagnetic properties of lateritic weathering profiles of Permian age from northern Iran and western Karakoram, Pakistan. A limited set of samples deemed representative yielded stable low-inclination paleomagnetic components carried essentially by hematite of chemical origin isolated in massive, fine-grained, and homogeneous ferricrete facies. These laterites originated at equatorial paleolatitudes characterized by intense weathering processes under warm and humid climatic conditions. Paleomagnetic estimates of paleolatitude from Iran, Karakoram, and north Tibet from this study and the literature, albeit sparse, provide testable constraints on the motion of the Cimmerian terranes as the result of the opening of the Neo-Tethys Ocean along the eastern margin of Gondwana during the Permian. We confirm and help refine previous suggestions that the Cimmerian terranes migrated from southern Gondwanan paleolatitudes in the Early Permian to subequatorial paleolatitudes by the Middle Permian – Early Triassic. As a novel conclusion, we find that timing, rates, and geometry of Cimmerian tectonics are broadly compatible with the transformation of Pangea from an Irvingian B to a Wegenerian A-type configuration with Neo-Tethyan opening taking place contemporaneously essentially in the Permian

Brachiopod-based oxygen-isotope thermometer: Update and review

In the early 1950\u2019s, McCrea and Epstein and co-workers laid the foundation for the oxygen isotope-based thermometers. Many variations of the thermometer have been since formulated based on synthetic and biogenic carbonates. Overall, the use and application of oxygen isotope thermometers must consider and be specific as to the mineralogy, and whether it is synthetic, abiogenic or biogenic carbonate. Here, we propose an updated and refined oxygen-isotope thermometer based on a large database of articulated brachiopods from high to low latitudes, cold to warm and shallow to deep-water regimes. In general, brachiopod-based oxygen isotopes are offset from abiogenic calcite precipitated in thermodynamic equilibrium by about -1 . They maintain this offset and that allows for the determination of robust ambient water temperatures over the full marine spectrum. Thus, the specific brachiopod-based oxygen-isotope thermometer applies, with few exceptions, to most modern articulated brachiopods, and potentially their ancient counterparts, and it is as follows: T\ub0C =17.3750 \u2013 4.2535 (\u3b4c-\u3b4w) + 0.1473 (\u3b4c-\u3b4w)2 (N=578, r2 = 0.980) Furthermore, it is imperative that mineralogy and taxa be considered for their appropriateness in the application of oxygen isotope thermometers on synthetic, abiogenic and biogenic marine carbonates. Articulated brachiopods are ideal recorders of oceanographic parameters due to their sessile nature, widespread distribution, high abundance in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, high resilience to most environmental stresses (e.g., climate change - global warming, ocean acidification), and the resistance of the calcite shell \u2013 the archive \u2013 to post-depositional diagenetic alteration

Combined treatment with inhibitors of ErbB Receptors and Hh signaling pathways is more effective than single treatment in reducing the growth of malignant mesothelioma both in vitro and in vivo

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare orphan aggressive neoplasia with low survival rates. Among the other signaling pathways, ErbB receptors and Hh signaling are deregulated in MM. Thus, molecules involved in these signaling pathways could be used for targeted therapy approaches. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of inhibitors of Hh- (GANT-61) and ErbB receptors (Afatinib)-mediated signaling pathways, when used alone or in combination, on growth, cell cycle, cell death and autophagy, modulation of molecules involved in transduction pathways, in three human MM cell lines of different histotypes. The efficacy of the combined treatment was also evaluated in a murine epithelioid MM cell line both in vitro and in vivo. This study demonstrated that combined treatment with two inhibitors counteracting the activation of two different signaling pathways involved in neoplastic transformation and progression, such as those activated by ErbB and Hh signaling, is more effective than the single treatments in reducing MM growth in vitro and in vivo. This study may have clinical implications for the development of targeted therapy approaches for MM

New national and regional Annex I Habitat records: From #37 to #44

In this contribution, Italian new data concerning the distribution of the Annex I Habitats 3150, 3170*, 3260, 4090, 91L0, 91M0, 9340 are reported. In detail, 20 new occurrences in Natura 2000 sites are presented and 30 new cells are added in the EEA 10 km × 10 km reference grid. The new data refer to the Italian administrative regions of Campania, Lazio, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany, and Umbria

Experimental diagenesis: insights into aragonite to calcite transformation of Arctica islandica shells by hydrothermal treatment

Abstract. Biomineralised hard parts form the most important physical fossil record of past environmental conditions. However, living organisms are not in thermodynamic equilibrium with their environment and create local chemical compartments within their bodies where physiologic processes such as biomineralisation take place. In generating their mineralised hard parts, most marine invertebrates produce metastable aragonite rather than the stable polymorph of CaCO3, calcite. After death of the organism the physiological conditions, which were present during biomineralisation, are not sustained any further and the system moves toward inorganic equilibrium with the surrounding inorganic geological system. Thus, during diagenesis the original biogenic structure of aragonitic tissue disappears and is replaced by inorganic structural features

Alnus glutinosa Riparian Woodlands of Italy and Corsica: Phytosociological Classification and Floristic Diversity

A comparative analysis of the riparian vegetation dominated by Alnus glutinosa in Italy and Tyrrhenian islands, based on literature data and unpublished releves, is presented. A total of 456 phytosociological releves were processed. For the definition of plant communities and alliances, hierarchical clustering was performed by using Bray-Curtis coefficient and Detrended Correspondence Analysis ordination methods. Identification of diagnostic species of the vegetation units was performed by means of the phi fidelity index. Quantum GIS software version 3.6 was used for the interpolation of the bioclimatic variables and A. glutinosa communities. Overall, a total of 18 A. glutinosa-riparian wood communities were distinguished for Italy and Tyrrhenian islands, of which two new associations and one new subassassociation are described. The classification of the releves showed two main vegetation groups: the first one including the plant communities of the Osmundo-Alnion alliance, and the other including the vegetation of the Ligustro vulgaris-Alnion glutinosae alliance. This latest includes the riparian meso-thermophilous communities of central and northern Italy. Within the Osmundo-Alnion alliance, two subgroups can be recognized: the first one includes the thermophilous communities of the Hyperico hircini-Alnenion glutinosae sub-alliance, mainly spread in the Tyrrhenian islands, while the second group includes the mesophilous communities attributed to the new suballiance Struthioptero-Alnenion glutinosae, widespread in central Italy and the Corsican mountains. The present paper provides the first comprehensive and exhaustive scheme of the A. glutinosa riparian woodlands diversity in Italy and Corsica