Facies and seismic analysis of the Late Carboniferousâ\u80\u93Early Permian Finnmark carbonate platform (southern Norwegian Barents Sea): An assessment of the carbonate factories and depositional geometries

The late Palaeozoic buried Finnmark platform, in the Norwegian Barents Sea, is a depositional system which developed under major modifications of palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic conditions, given by the northward drifting of the Arctic depositional domain beyond the tropical belt, the activity of the Gondwanan icecaps, and the gradual closure of the Eastern European seaway. In this study, detailed core/microfacies analysis from the explorations wells 7128/4-1 and 7128/6-1, combined with new 2D seismic sections and available dataset from previous studies in the eastern Finnmark area, have allowed a re-evaluation of the depositional scenarios associated with the Ã\u98rn and Isbjørn/Polarrev Formations. The late Asselianâ\u80\u93early Sakmarian depositional record of the Ã\u98rn Formation, followed by the middle Sakmarian transition to the Isbjørn/Polarrev Formations, shows depth-related variations in sedimentation modes and a change of the platform morphology. In particular, a shift from Chloroforam to Bryonoderm sedimentation mode took place through a stratified water column during the deposition of the Ã\u98rn Formation, over what we suggest was a distally steepened ramp. In the late Sakmarian, the deposition of the Isbjørn/Polarrev Formations, characterised by a full Bryonoderm sedimentation mode, took place through a cooler non stratified water column, leading to the gradual instauration of a homoclinal ramp profile. Among the other results, our integrated study suggests the development of subtidal heterozoan mounds associated with the Ã\u98rn Formation, predating the formation of the larger, stacked and well-known heterozoan distal complexes of the Polarrev Formation. Given the good potential of the Ã\u98rn Formation within the Finnmark depositional domain, our results may help to improve the assessment of future evaluations of reservoir properties in the area, which are closely associated with the depositional style and their post-depositional modifications

Late Paleozoic seismic sequence stratigraphy and paleogeography of the paleo-Loppa High in the Norwegian Barents Sea

The paleo-Loppa High in the SW Barents Sea is a ridge structure, which developed during the late Paleozoic when the earliest phase of the Atlantic rifting between Greenland and Norway occurred. The southwest of the Barents Sea, located at the northern margin of Pangaea during the Carboniferous and Permian, was characterized by a structural style of half-graben geometries. The northward drift of the northern Pangaea triggered changes in regional climatic conditions that are reflected in the preserved sedimentary deposits. 2D/3D seismic combined with well and core data were used to define depositional seismic sequences and to understand the stratigraphic evolution of the paleo-Loppa High during the late Paleozoic. Based on the geometry of the defined seismic sequences and the character of observed sedimentary facies, a paleogeographic reconstruction of the key stages in the paleo-Loppa High evolution is also proposed and discussed in relation to local tectonic, global sea-level oscillations, and climatic changes. A total of seven seismic sequences, ranging from clastic-dominated to transitional clastic-carbonate sedimentation followed by an evaporitic drawdown phase, then shifting to carbonate-dominated sequences and finally capped by silica- and chert-dominated deposits, have been defined and represent the infill evolution of the paleo-Loppa High. Tectonics processes associated with the rifting are the principal controls in the 3-D morphology of the defined sequences. Sea-level fluctuations and climate changes have modified the biotic evolution and were responsible of the small-scale features inside each sequence. A renewed interest, in the study of the late Paleozoic sedimentary deposits of the paleo-Loppa High, has been manifested due to the recent discoveries of hydrocarbons in the Gohta and Alta prospects

"Beholders’ sensorimotor engagement enhances aesthetic rating of pictorial facial expressions of pain"

The present study addresses a novel issue by investigating whether beholders’ sensorimotor engagement with the emotional content of works of art contributes to the formation of their objective aesthetic judgment of beauty. To this purpose, participants’ sensorimotor engagement was modulated by asking them to overtly contract the Corrugator Supercilii facial muscles or to refrain from any voluntary facial movement while judging the aesthetic value of painful and neutral facial expressions in select examples of Renaissance and Baroque paintings. Results demonstrated a specific increase in the aesthetic rating of paintings showing painful facial expressions during the congruent activation of the Corrugator Supercilii muscles. Furthermore, participants’ empathetic traits and expertise in art were found to correlate directly with the amplitude of the motor enactment effect on aesthetic judgments. For the first time, we show the role of bottom–up bodily driven sensorimotor processes in the objective aesthetic evaluation of works of ar