Unusual, basin-scale, fluid–rock interaction in the Palaeoproterozoic Onega basin from Fennoscandia : Preservation in calcite δ18O of an ancient high geothermal gradient

Acknowledgements We acknowledge financial support from ICDP for the drilling programme. AEF, ATB and ARP thank NERC for financial support through NE/G00398X/1. VAM thanks the Norwegian Research Council for financial support through 191530/V30. We are grateful for sample preparation and analyses to all the personnel at NGU lab. At SUERC we enjoyed exceptional analytical support from Julie Dougans. Anonymous reviewers and the editor provided comments that improved the final manuscript.Peer reviewedPostprin

Petrography and geochemistry of carbonate rocks of the Paleoproterozoic Zaonega Formation, Russia : Documentation of C-13-depleted non-primary calcite

The Norwegian Research Council grant 191530/V30 to V.A. Melezhik fully funded the work of AEC, VAM and AL. ATB was supported by NERC grant NE/G00398X/1 to AEF and ARP. We are grateful for sample preparation and analyses to all the personnel at NGU lab. We appreciate the work on carbon and oxygen isotope analyses by Julie Dougans and Chris Taylor. Bojan Otoničar organized and helped with the CL work at the Karst Research Institute at Postojna. Arrangement of TOC, IC, and TC analyses at University of Münster is acknowledged to Harald Strauss.Peer reviewedPostprin

When Being in the Minority Pays Off: Relationships among Sellers and Price Setting in the Champagne Industry

Economic sociologists have studied how social relationships shape market prices by focusing mostly on vertical interactions between buyers and sellers. In this paper, we examine instead the price consequences of horizontal relationships that arise from intergroup processes among sellers. Our setting is the market for Champagne grapes. Using proprietary transaction-level data, we find that female grape growers—a minority in the growers’ community—charge systematically higher prices than do male grape growers. We argue that the underlying mechanism for this unexpected pattern of results involves the relationships developed and maintained by minority members. More specifically, in-depth fieldwork reveals that female growers get together to compensate for their isolation from the majority. This behavior enables them to overcome local constraints on the availability of price-relevant information, constraints that stem from prevailing norms of market behavior: individualism and secrecy. We discuss the implications of these findings for the study of how relationships shape price-setting processes, for the sociological literature on intergroup relations, and for our understanding of inequality in markets

Earliest Cretaceous cocoons or plant seed structures from the Wealden Group, Hastings, UK

We thank Jason Hilton (University of Birmingham) and Alan Spencer (Imperial College) for discussion. RG is a member of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life (UMRI). We are grateful for the reviews of both Jorge Genise, and Duncan McIlroy whose comments and guidance greatly improved the manuscript.Postprin

Late Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers

Acknowledgments SM acknowledges support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 747877, and from the NASA Astrobiology Institute NNA13AA90A, Foundations of Complex Life, Evolution, Preservation and Detection on Earth and Beyond. JJM recognised funding from Novas Consulting, through the Geological Society of London, as well as from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. We thank B. Lynne and J. Poling for help in obtaining panels A, C and D of Figure 4. Discussions with D. McIlroy and P. Smith, and the comments of William McMahon (no relation to SM) and three anonymous reviewers, significantly improved this work. We thank the people of Ferryland for their continued support and hospitality. The early stages of this research benefited greatly from the guidance of M. D. Brasier.Peer reviewedPostprin

Travertine precipitation in the Paleoproterozoic Kuetsjärvi Sedimentary Formation, Pechenga Greenstone Belt, NE Fennoscandian Shield

PES was supported by Väisälä Foundation (Finnish Academy of Science and Letters) and the Finnish Doctoral Program in Geology. ATB was supported by NERC grant NE/G00398X/1. VAM was supported by NFR grant 191530/V30 (projects 331000 and 802795). This is a contribution (paper) # 18 to the ICDP FAR-DEEP project.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Integrated chemo- and biostratigraphic calibration of early animal evolution: Neoproterozoic-early Cambrian of southwest Mongolia

Five overlapping sections from the thick Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian sediments of western Mongolia were analysed to yield a remarkable carbon-isotope, strontium-isotope and small shellyfossil (SSF) record. Chemostratigraphy suggests that barren limestones of sequences 3 and 4, which lie above the two Maikhan Uul diamictites, are post-Sturtian but pre-Varangerian in age. Limestones and dolomites of sequence 5, with Boxonia grumulosa, have geochemical signatures consistent with a post-Varangerian (Ediacarian) age. A major negative δ13C anomaly (feature ‘W') in sequence 6 lies a shortdistance above an Anabarites trisulcatus Zone SSF asemblage with hexactinellid sponges, of probable late Ediacarian age. Anomaly ‘W' provides an anchor point for cross-correlation charts of carbon isotopes and small shelly fossils. Trace fossil assemblages with a distinctly Cambrian character first appear in sequence 8(Purella Zone), at the level of carbon isotopic feature ‘B', provisionally correlated with the upper part of cycle Z in Siberia. A paradox is found from sequence 10 to 12 in Mongolia: Tommotian-type SSFs continue to appear, accompanied by Nemakit-Daldynian/Tommotian-type 87Sr/86Sr ratios but by increasingly heavyδ13C values that cannot be matched in the Tommotian of eastern Siberia. The steady rate of generic diversification in Mongolia also contrasts markedly with the Tommotian ‘diversity explosion' in eastern Siberia, which occurs just above a major karstic emergence surface. One explanation is that sequences 10 to 12 in Mongolia preserve a pre-Tommotian portion of the fossil record that was missing or removed in easternSiberia. The Mongolian sections certainly deserve an important place in tracing the true course and timing of the ‘Cambrian radiation

Carbonate deposition in the Palaeoproterozoic Onega basin from Fennoscandia : a spotlight on the transition from the Lomagundi-Jatuli to Shunga events

Date of Acceptance: 08/05/2015 Date of online publication: 16/05/2015 Acknowledgements Elemental and isotopic data, thin and polished sections used in this contribution were obtained through two large umbrella-projects with grants provided by the Norwegian Research Council grant 191530/V30 to VAM and NERC grant NE/G00398X/1 to AEF. We thank A. Črne, the editor A. Strasser as well as one anonymous reviewer and D. Papineau for providing their valuable criticism and suggestions.Peer reviewedPostprin

Detecting ancient life : Investigating the nature and origin of possible stromatolites and associated calcite from a one billion year old lake

ATB acknowledges the hospitality of the North West Highlands Geopark in July 2017. DW acknowledges funding from the Australian Research Council via the Future Fellowship scheme (FT 140100321).Peer reviewedPostprin

The geomorphological distribution of subaqueous tufa columns within a hypersaline lake : Mono Lake, USA

Acknowledgments This work was supported by funding from BP Group. We thank the Mono Lake Committee for supporting fieldwork and for helping our vessel onto and most of all off the lake, and the State of California for permitting access to the lake and its environs. Dave Marquart is thanked for his support and knowledge of the lake environment. Cody and Phillip are thanked for their help on the lake, and Vern for vital logistical support. Ian Billing is thanked for his instrumental involvement in this project, and his role in shaping our thoughts. We hope he would be pleased with this paper. Dr. Chelsea Pederson, Dr. W. Fischer are heartily thanked for their excellent efforts as reviewers improving this manuscript, and Dr. Juan Carlos Laya is thanked for his careful handling of the manuscript as Associate Editor.Peer reviewedPostprin