High-Precision U-Pb Zircon Age Calibration of the Global Carboniferous Time Scale and Milankovitch Band Cyclicity in the Donets Basin, Eastern Ukraine

High-precision ID-TIMS U-Pb zircon ages for 12 interstratified tuffs and tonsteins are used to radiometrically calibrate the detailed lithostratigraphic, cyclostratigraphic, and biostratigraphic framework of the Carboniferous Donets Basin of eastern Europe. Chemical abrasion of zircons, use of the internationally calibrated EARTHTIME mixed U-Pb isotope dilution tracer, and improved mass spectrometry guided by detailed error analysis have resulted in an age resolution o

The Origin and Initial Rise of Pelagic Cephalopods in the Ordovician

BACKGROUND: During the Ordovician the global diversity increased dramatically at family, genus and species levels. Partially the diversification is explained by an increased nutrient, and phytoplankton availability in the open water. Cephalopods are among the top predators of today's open oceans. Their Ordovician occurrences, diversity evolution and abundance pattern potentially provides information on the evolution of the pelagic food chain. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We reconstructed the cephalopod departure from originally exclusively neritic habitats into the pelagic zone by the compilation of occurrence data in offshore paleoenvironments from the Paleobiology Database, and from own data, by evidence of the functional morphology, and the taphonomy of selected cephalopod faunas. The occurrence data show, that cephalopod associations in offshore depositional settings and black shales are characterized by a specific composition, often dominated by orthocerids and lituitids. The siphuncle and conch form of these cephalopods indicate a dominant lifestyle as pelagic, vertical migrants. The frequency distribution of conch sizes and the pattern of epibionts indicate an autochthonous origin of the majority of orthocerid and lituitid shells. The consistent concentration of these cephalopods in deep subtidal sediments, starting from the middle Tremadocian indicates the occupation of the pelagic zone early in the Early Ordovician and a subsequent diversification which peaked during the Darriwilian. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The exploitation of the pelagic realm started synchronously in several independent invertebrate clades during the latest Cambrian to Middle Ordovician. The initial rise and diversification of pelagic cephalopods during the Early and Middle Ordovician indicates the establishment of a pelagic food chain sustainable enough for the development of a diverse fauna of large predators. The earliest pelagic cephalopods were slowly swimming vertical migrants. The appearance and early diversification of pelagic cephalopods is interpreted as a consequence of the increased food availability in the open water since the latest Cambrian

Investigation of kinetic compensation effect in lignocellulosic biomass torrefaction: Kinetic and thermodynamic analyses

The kinetic compensation effect between the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor has extensively existed in the thermochemical conversion processes of lignocellulosic biomass. The research on the kinetic compensation effect in lignocellulosic biomass torrefaction has been insufficient yet. The torrefaction of the pinewood sample was experimentally investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at five isothermal temperatures of 220, 250, 265, 280 and 295 °C. The reaction order model was used to analyze the isothermal torrefaction kinetics of lignocellulosic biomass, and the results showed that many sets of activation energy and pre-exponential factor could describe the experimental data at each temperature equally well and they excellently satisfied the kinetic compensation effect relationship. The linear regression lines of the kinetic compensation effect points at different temperatures intersected at one point, whose values corresponded to the obtained optimal kinetic parameters. A kinetic-compensation-effect-based method was developed and verified to determine the kinetic parameters of isothermal biomass torrefaction. Based on the optimal kinetic parameters, the thermodynamic parameters (including Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy) of biomass torrefaction processes at various temperatures were calculated and analyzed

Aragonitic rostra of the Turonian belemnitid Goniacamax: arguments from diagenesis

The hypothesis that belemnitid rostra are formed by primary biogenic low−Mg calcite is widespread. However, the coexistence in the same rostrum of both aragonitic and calcitic components has been reported in true belemnites (Goniocamax, Turonian). A combined microstructural and chemical composition study of the comparison of shells with undisputed mineralogy from the same site as the Turonian Goniocamax, shows that these aragonitic shells display the effects of diagenetic alteration. These observations favour the hypothesis that belemnite rostra are composed of primary aragonite, rather than low−Mg calcite, and are consistent with all other cephalopod shells. Calcitic and aragonitic rostra are also known in other Dibranchiata such as Triassic Aulacocerida and Eocene Belopterina. Diagenetic changes such as shown here may clearly affect palaeo−environmental interpretations based on carbonate shells

Comments On The Proposed Designation Of A Type Species For Gnathodus Pander, 1856 (Conodonta) Z.n.(S.) 2279 (1.)

Volume: 39Start Page: 7End Page: 1

On the Applicability of Similarity Theory for the Stable Atmospheric Boundary Layer over Complex Terrain

Micrometeorological measurements in the atmospheric boundary layer over a hilly forest terrain have been made on a meteorological tower at several levels from the forest canopy top to a height that exceeds the height of trees almost seven times. A semiempirical length scale depending on the local topography features and the underlying surface type has been proposed and calculated. This scale has been shown to allow the universal functions of the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory to be corrected for a stable atmospheric boundary layer over complex terrain without substantial modification when compared to the universal functions over a homogeneous surface with small roughness elements. This approach can be used to refine the methods for calculating turbulent momentum fluxes from profile measurements over spatially inhomogeneous landscapes.Peer reviewe