What Darwin did not see : Pleistocene fossil assemblages on a highenergy coast at Ponta das Bicudas, Santiago, Cape Verde Islands

Two distinct Pleistocene assemblages from SE Santiago Island are comparable to modern analogues elsewhere in the Cape Verde Islands. A low-diversity Siderastrea radians assemblage lived atop basalt knobs surrounded by sand on a slope below a cliff. A Millepora alcicornis–Megabalanus azoricus assemblage occupied the cliff. The latter was a typical rocky-shore assemblage from a high-energy setting belowthe tidal zone.Bioerosion structures in basalt produced by Circolites kotoncensis and Gastrochaenolites isp. also occur there. Despite extensive studies on local limestone deposits in 1832 and 1836, lack of exposure prevented Darwin from seeing these fossils.Funding for fieldwork on Santiago Island in June 2011 was provided under grant CGL2010-15372-BTE from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to project leader Eduardo Mayoral (University of Huelva). Financial support to A. Santos came from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (Juan de la Cierva subprogram, Ref: JCI-2008-2431). Additional support by the Junta de Andalucia (Spanish government) to the Research Group RNM276 is also acknowledged. Partial funding to J. Ledesma-Vazquez on this project came from the Programma Integral de Fortalecimiento Institucional 2010. We thank Christopher K. Pham, Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, University of the Azores, Portugal, for help with identification of the fossil barnacles and Ricardo Ramalho, Institut fur Geophysik, Westphalishe-Wilhelms Universitat, Germany, for discussions about bioerosion by sea urchins on basalt surfaces

Healthcare workers hospitalized due to COVID-19 have no higher risk of death than general population. Data from the Spanish SEMI-COVID-19 Registry

Aim To determine whether healthcare workers (HCW) hospitalized in Spain due to COVID-19 have a worse prognosis than non-healthcare workers (NHCW). Methods Observational cohort study based on the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry, a nationwide registry that collects sociodemographic, clinical, laboratory, and treatment data on patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in Spain. Patients aged 20-65 years were selected. A multivariate logistic regression model was performed to identify factors associated with mortality. Results As of 22 May 2020, 4393 patients were included, of whom 419 (9.5%) were HCW. Median (interquartile range) age of HCW was 52 (15) years and 62.4% were women. Prevalence of comorbidities and severe radiological findings upon admission were less frequent in HCW. There were no difference in need of respiratory support and admission to intensive care unit, but occurrence of sepsis and in-hospital mortality was lower in HCW (1.7% vs. 3.9%; p = 0.024 and 0.7% vs. 4.8%; p<0.001 respectively). Age, male sex and comorbidity, were independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality and healthcare working with lower mortality (OR 0.211, 95%CI 0.067-0.667, p = 0.008). 30-days survival was higher in HCW (0.968 vs. 0.851 p<0.001). Conclusions Hospitalized COVID-19 HCW had fewer comorbidities and a better prognosis than NHCW. Our results suggest that professional exposure to COVID-19 in HCW does not carry more clinical severity nor mortality

re-habitar El Carmen : Un proyecto sobre patrimonio contemporáneo

El proyecto _re-HABITAR suponía para el propio proceder de la institución un avance más allá del reconocimiento, registro, inventario o protección patrimonial de la arquitectura del siglo XX y del Movimiento Moderno para posicionarse en la acción preventiva y conservativa de ese legado contemporáneo. Para ello, la praxis patrimonial se aferraba a un modelo: el de la vivienda social en España en la segunda mitad del siglo XX; a un caso concreto: el de la barriada de Nuestra Señora del Carmen (Recasens Méndez-Queipo de Llano, 1958); y a un requisito fundamental: analizar un objeto vivo y en uso, aún con la presencia de quienes lo vivieron y usaron desde su origen

A gap in the Pliocene invasion of seawater to the Gulf of California: Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas

ABSTRACT The Proto-Gulf extensiona

A gap in the Pliocene invasion of seawater to the Gulf of California

El Proto-Golfo se formó durante el Mioceno, entre 14 y 12 Ma. Como resultado directo del episodio extensional principal, dentro del dominio central de Baja California, se formaron múltiples depocentros, incluyendo la cuenca El Boleo, seguida al sur por la cuenca Bahía Concepción y al sureste la cuenca San Nicolás. Esta última se asocia a una zona de transferencia de tipo sintética múltiple, relacionada con la zona de acomodamiento de Bahía Concepción. El proceso extensional del Mioceno exhuma al basamento regional de granodiorita cretácica, haciéndolo aflorar en Punta San Antonio, península Concepción y el Valle San Juan Londó. La misma extensión genera el arreglo de bloques basculados de material volcánico del Mioceno. La Formación San Nicolás del Plioceno tardío se presenta con tres miembros sedimentarios. Los estratos reflejan en general un episodio post-extensional con alta tasa de subsidencia inicial, reactivación asociada con bajas tasas de sedimentación, seguida por periodos de depositación somera asociados con eventos de tormenta, y la presencia de depósitos de ondas de arena de gran escala que reflejan condiciones extremas de marea. La máxima edad determinada en las unidades depositadas al interior de la cuenca es de 3.3. ± 0.5 Ma. En contraste, en Punta Chivato y en Bahía Concepción, se presentan capas de origen marino asignadas a la Formación San Marcos del Plioceno inferior y a la Formación Marquer del Plioceno superior. Estas unidades sedimentarias reflejan en general un episodio post-extensional con tasas de subsidencia bajas, asociadas a tasas moderadas de sedimentación, seguidas por períodos de depositación somera en condiciones de baja energía. Estas relaciones sugieren que durante el Plioceno tardío no se había alcanzado la conexión entre las aguas del proto-golfo y el actual Golfo de California y que la cabeza del actual Golfo de California se encontraba cerca de la cuenca de San Nicolás durante el Plioceno tardío, en una clara asociación con el régimen transtensional responsable de la configuración tectónica del actual Golfo de California

Evaluation of Boulder Deposits Linked to Late Neogene Hurricane Events

The Neogene is a globally recognized interval of geologic time that lasted from 23 until 1 [...

Coastal Geomorphology of a Holocene Hurricane Deposit on a Pleistocene Marine Terrace from Isla Carmen (Baja California Sur, Mexico)

This study reports the first example of major erosion from hurricanes degrading a rocky coastline anywhere around the Gulf of California, although other sources of evidence are well known regarding the effect of inland erosion due to catastrophic rainfall in the Southern Cape Region of the Baja California peninsula and farther north. The uplifted, 12-m terrace on the eastern shore of Isla del Carmen is the site of an unconsolidated coastal boulder deposit (CBD) consisting of large limestone blocks and boulders eroded from underlying Pliocene strata. The CBD stretches approximately 1.5 km in length, mostly set back 25 m from the lip of the terrace. The largest blocks of upturned limestone near the terrace edge are estimated to weigh between 5.8 and 28 metric tons. Waves impacting the rocky coast that peeled back slabs of horizontally-layered limestone at this spot are calculated to have been between 11.5 and 14 m in height. Analysis of sampled boulders from the CBD set back from the terrace edge by 25 m suggest that the average wave height responsible for moving those boulders was on the order of 4.3 m. Additional localities with exposed limestone shores, as well as other more common rock types of igneous origin have yet to be surveyed for this phenomenon elsewhere around the Gulf of California

Rhyolite Domes and Subsequent Offlap of Pliocene Carbonates on Volcanic Islets at San Basilio (Baja California Sur, Mexico)

San Basilio basin in Baja California Sur (Mexico) exhibits distinct styles of volcanism that interrupted phases of normal sedimentation correlated with the Zanclean Stage (Lower Pliocene). Sea cliffs around a 4-km2 bay opening onto the Gulf of California are dominated by rhyolite, mudstone, sandstone, and limestone. Volcanism associated with re-sedimented hyaloclastite is regionally uncommon and the goal was to investigate interactions between volcanic events and intervals of stability represented by fossil-rich strata. Methods of study involved a combination of microfossil and macrofossil analyses. Relating the basin&rsquo;s faults to Pliocene development in the greater Gulf of California was a secondary goal. Microfossils Bolivina bicostata and B. interjuncta recovered from mudstone indicate an initial water column of 150 m. An abrupt hydromagmatic explosion ruptured the mudstone cover, followed by banded rhyolite flows inter-bedded with sandstone. Outlying limestone beds with the index fossil Clypeaster bowersi are separated from rhyolite by conglomerate eroded under intertidal conditions. A renewed phase of activity saw eruption of smaller volcanoes in the basin center semi-contemporaneous with pecten limestone deposited on unstable slopes. Normal faults conform to a pattern of extensional rifting in the proto-gulf, followed by cross-cutting faults indicating the onset of transtensional tectonics beginning about 3.5 Ma

Microbial diversity of a closed salt lagoon in the Puertecitos area, Upper Gulf of California

Located 20 km south of Puertecitos on the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, is a salt-crusted lagoon with a surface area of approximately 265,000 m2 that is isolated from the adjacent Upper Gulf of California by a 50-m wide berm. The berm rises 2 m above mean sea level extending for 530 m across the lagoon’s seaward front to bar replenishment by normal seawater except possibly by seepage. On another side of the lagoon an extinct Pliocene volcano, Volcán Prieto, marks an equally abrupt boundary delineated by basalt flows. The lagoon’s well-constrained physical geography represents a high-salinity environment under conditions of extreme aridity, flooded only during rare events associated with subtropical storms. The Volcán Prieto Lagoon (so named herein) formed through distinct stages in developmental geomorphology outlined in this study. A duplicate set of sediment cores (17 cm in length) were retrieved from the lagoon and sampled for biological associations that record high-diversity colonization and stratification of microbial mats dominated by bacteria. Small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequencing of different horizons revealed at least 25 major named bacterial phyla and 8 major named archaeal phyla as well as several unnamed candidate taxa from miscellaneous groups. Lipid biomarker analyses of the same horizons revealed that cyanobacteria contributed significantly to biomass production only at shallow depth, whereas the lipids of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria persisted to a depth of 15 cm, although with decreasing contents. The lipid patterns also showed that sulfate-reducing bacteria became more abundant with depth, whereas the contents of archaeal lipids increased from 1 to 5 cm depth but remained relatively constant below. Closed lagoons on the Gulf of California are widely distributed over the length of the Baja California Peninsula, but detailed taxonomic studies regarding the diverse microbial communities that colonized these extreme habitats have only begun to shed light on complex colonization patterns. Key words: coastal processes, closed lagoons, Gulf of California, microbial assemblages, lipid biomarkers