Catalogue of the Hantken collection: carbonate microfacies photographs from 1872-82

Maximilian Hantken (1821-1893), founding professor of the Department of Palaeontology at Budapest University, was a pioneer in stratigraphic micropalaeontological studies. He assembled a collection of microphotographs of Mesozoic and Cenozoic carbonate rocks from Hungary and Italy for educational purposes. A catalogue of the 232 photos, mounted on wooden boards or cardboard is given here. The photos date back to the decade between 1872 and 1882, as shown by newspaper cuts pasted on the backsides

Birth, life and death of the Pannonian Lake

The Miocene-Pliocene Pannonian Lake formed in an extensional basin system behind the compressional arc of the Carpathians. Its size and depth were comparable to those of the Caspian Sea. Subsidence began in Middle Miocene times, forming deep, pelagic basins, separated by reef-bearing ridges. Clastic influx filled the marginal basins during Middle Miocene time. Prograding deltas dissected the lake and completed the infilling of the basin system by the end of the Pliocene. Basin plain, prodelta, delta front, delta plain, beach, fluviatile, and marsh environments can be recognized. Terminal Miocene uplift of the Carpathians isolated the Pannonian region from the rest of Paratethys. The subsequent decrease of salinity resulted in the evolution of an endemic, freshwater mollusc fauna. Rich nutrient influx from rivers supported high organic productivity (dinoflagellates, diatoms, nannoplankton, foraminifers, ostracods, etc.), yielding organic-rich sediments. Preservation of organic matter was helped by a stratified water column and oxygen deficient bottom conditions. Deep burial, continuing subsidence, and high geothermal flux due to an extremely thin crust, led to the formation of commercially exploitable oil and gas accumulations. Shallow lacustrine zones of basin margins provided suitable environments for a rich Congeria-Melanopsis mollusc fauna. Wave action on beaches produced commercially exploitable pure quartz sand deposits. Taxodium and Alnus forests flourished around the lake producing enormous lignite deposits. Besides a rich land snail and mammal fauna, prehominids lived in the forests. There was a warm, temperate climate, with probably frostfree winters. Basaltic volcanoes overlooked the landscape, and maars hosted minor lakes with rich algal flora forming oil shale. The catchment area included most of the Carpathians and parts of the Alps and Dinarides. The positive water balance resulted in a supposed overflow in the southern margin, supplying exotic fauna to the South Carpathian and Dacian basins of the Eastern Paratethys. The Pannonian Lake was completely filled by the end of Pliocene. Recent lakes in the Carpathian Basin are not descendants of it

The Miocene Bükkábrány Fossil Forest in Hungary – field observations and project outline

The oldest, standing forest preserved as wood has been found at Bükkábrány, Hungary. An open-pit mine working Upper Miocene (Pannonian) lignite revealed sixteen stumps, 1.8 to 3.6 m diameter at base, preserved up to 6 m height, standing on top of the coal bed. Suddenly rising water level of Lake Pannon drowned the forest 7 Ma ago. Sand of a prograding delta covered the landscape, preserving the trunks in waterlogged condition. A brief review of the environment allowing preservation is provided here, and investigations in progress are outlined

Late Eocene bryozoan faunas in the Alpine-Carpathian region - a comparison

Twelve Priabonian (Late Eocene) bryozoan faunas of the Alps and Carpathians, collected from shallow to deep marine sediments, are compared by similarity indices. High-diversity faunas from shallow bathyal bryozoan marls, where zoaria occur in rock-forming quantity, display the highest similarity - common for deep-water biota - despite their palaeogeographic position on widely separated terranes. Lower-diversity shallow marine faunas reflect less favourable conditions for bryozoan growth

Distinguishing damages from two earthquakes —Archaeoseismology of a Crusader castle (Al-Marqab citadel, Syria)

Damages from two major earthquakes are identified in medieval Al-Marqab citadel (Latin: Margat) in coastal Syria. Built by the Order of St. John (Hospitallers) in the twelfth–thirteenth centuries, the hilltop fortification has masonry walls made with and without mortar, using the opus caementum technology (Roman concrete). V-shaped and U-shaped failures, single-corner and symmetrical corner collapses, and in-plane shifts of ashlar masonry walls are identified and dated by historical and archaeological methods. The azimuth of displacement is NE-SW for the older damages of the Crusader period (A.D. 1170–1285), possibly related to the A.D. 1202 earthquake. A later, NW-SE displacement occurred during the Muslim period (post- 1285). The 1202 earthquake produced at least VIII intensity on the MSK scale at Al-Marqab, which is higher than previously considered

Bioerosion on the small scale – examples from the tropical and subtropical littoral

The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical guide assisting field workers in identification and interpretation of bioerosional textures created in limestone and other substrates by intertidal organisms. We provide examples of living, dead, and subfossil bioerosional agents and their corresponding traces. The discussion follows taxonomic order of bioerosional agents, rather than morphologic classification of their effects on the rock substrate. Traces left by sponges, molluscs (chiton Acanthopleura, limpets and various gastropods, bivalves Lithophaga and Tridacna, wood-boring bivalves), worms, echinoid Echinometra, and other taxa are illustrated. Features created by a distinct group of organisms but exhibiting excellent, average, and poor levels of preservation are displayed alongside each other to help identification under suboptimal conditions. We also show composite textures resulting from successive or coeval overlapping traces, and offer examples of pseudo-bioerosional features reminiscent of organism traces but created by physical processes

Johannes KENTMANN magyarországi ásványai 1565-ben = Johannes KENTMANN's minerals from Hungary in 1565

Archival and printed documents (letters, diaries, books, maps, etc.) are the usual sources of research in the history of science. Non-written sources (collections, models, instruments) and their catalogues might have significant role in revealing contemporary scientific thinking. Johannes KENTMANN (1518–1574) was the first to publish a catalogue of a mineral collection: Nomenclatura rerum fossilium (Zürich, 1565). His minerals from the Carpathian region, collected during his trip to Hungary in 1550, are discussed here. Although the minerals did not persist, the catalogue faithfully recorded their characters, localities, and their classification. KENTMANN was a medical doctor, who studied in Padova, and was a friend of Conrad GESNER. KENTMANN developed wide interests in botany and zoology while in Italy, and assembled a mineral collection during his later career. Requested to join the embassy of Josef STRAMBURGER to Hungary, sent by the elector Maurice of Saxony, in 1550 he paid a visit to the Hungarian mining centres and collected minerals there. There were 1608 mineral specimens derived from 135 localities, about three-fourths of them from Saxony. Thirty specimens came from the Carpathian region. What can we understand from this seemingly minor, but theoretically significant collection? We suggest that KENTMANN went himself to the field and collected – at least some of – the minerals by his own hands, as indicated by Nos. 17–19 (see Table 1), found at the same locality. He had a plan to assemble certain minerals in his collection. This plan is based mostly on those Carpathian minerals which have been discussed in AGRICOLA's De natura fossilium (1546): salt, bitumen, vitriol, copper, Bleiglanz, chrysocolla, and quicksilver. KENTMANN supplemented them by gold, bolus, enosteos (possibly fossil bones), antimon, and Bergblau. All these minerals had useful purposes, either for metallurgy, or for medicine. He collected no minerals just for their beauty or decorative character, therefore pyrites and quartz are missing from the collection. | Johannes KENTMANN (1518–1574) szászországi orvos 1550-ben részt vett a Josef STRAMBURGER vezette magyarországi követjáráson. Az útja során általa gyûjtött, ill. más úton megszerzett ásványok leírása megtalálható a „Nomenclatura rerum fossilium” címû, 1565-ben Zürichben megjelent munkájában, mely a világ elsõ, nyomtatásban megjelent ásványkatalógusa. A 11 magyarországi, ill. összesen 30 kárpáti ásvány ismertetése a régió addigi legteljesebb ásványkatalógusa. KENTMANN gyûjtése a (kohászati vagy orvosi célra) hasznosítható ásványi nyersanyagokra szorítkozott