Climatic reconstruction of two Pliocene floras from Mexico

The role that climate plays in influencing the physiognomy of modern and fossil plant communities is widely acknowledged and forms the basis for several palaeoclimate proxies. In this work, both univariate Leaf Margin Analysis and multivariate Climate/Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP) were used for the climatic reconstruction of two fossil localities of the Atotonilco El Grande Formation. Using the predominantly North American and Asian calibration data set PHYSG3BRC, supplemented with new African material, results from two sites, Los Baños (present position 20°18′18″N, 98°42′44.4″W) and Sanctorum (20°18′18.5″N and 98°46′52.2″W), indicate that during the Pliocene a mesothermal climate existed with mean annual temperatures between 12 and 22°C, with the most likely being approximately 15°C, and a mean annual temperature range of 21°C. A distinct seasonal variation in rainfall is evident with a mean annual relative humidity of 60–70%. Differences between the sites can be explained by differences in depositional regime and spatial heterogeneity in the predominantly Quercus-dominated woodland. The continuous subsequent uplift of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the resulting development of a rain shadow, and the eventual disappearance of a palaeolake appear to have caused a transition to the modern xerophytic shrub vegetation

Beveling the Colorado Plateau: Early Mesozoic Rift‐Related Flexure Explains Erosion and Anomalous Deposition in the Southern Cordilleran Foreland Basin

Deposition of the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation in a back-bulge depozone and formation of the overlying sub-Cretaceous unconformity above a forebulge mark the birth of the foreland basin system in the central U.S. Cordillera. In the southern U.S. Cordillera, the Morrison Formation is either anomalously thick or absent and the sub-Cretaceous unconformity cuts out progressively older stratigraphy toward the south on the Colorado Plateau. Based on results of 2D and 3D flexural modeling, we suggest that flexural uplift of the northern rift flank of the Bisbee segment of the Borderland Rift Belt can explain these observations. Structural restoration of the sub-Cretaceous unconformity indicates a minimum of 1.5 km of uplift and flexural models with an effective elastic thickness of 55 ± 5 km can reproduce the geometry of the unconformity and rift flank. This implies that effective elastic thickness has decreased between the Jurassic and the present, consistent with hypotheses for uplift and modification of the Colorado Plateau lithosphere during the Late Mesozoic to Cenozoic. Modeling results also predict the presence of a rift-related flexural trough in the Four Corners region of the Colorado Plateau, which may explain above-average thickness of the Morrison Formation. Constructive interference between a flexural back-bulge depozone and a flexural rift-flank trough may help explain anomalously high Late Jurassic subsidence. © 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.6 month embargo; first published: 25 May 2021This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Nora and her sisters: Lu Xun's reflections on the role of women in Chinese society with particular reference to Elfriede Jelinek's What happened after Nora left her husband or pillars of society (1979)

In the context of Lu Xun’s critical pre-occupation with Chinese society and its cultural foundations, the socio-economic plight of women constitutes, without doubt, a lifelong concern of his artistic endeavour and social outlook. It is not only reflected in his literary oeuvre, but also in his scholarly writings, personal reminiscences, correspondences and public statements (e.g. “Talk at Peking Women’s Normal College”, December 26, 1923). While Lu Xun’s public position, albeit conservative and pessimistic in some respects, is generally one of unambiguous sympathy and support, his literary representation of women in Chinese society is less forthright and convincing as far as fair and just solutions are concerned. Like many progressive Chinese intellectuals of his time, Lu Xun was greatly inspired by the enormous success of Henrik Ibsen’s plays such as A Doll’s House, among others, and their forceful advocacy of women’s interests and the right to individual freedom, claims which found considerable resonance in the educated sections of Chinese society and leading intellectuals of the May Fourth Movement such as Lu Xun himself and Hu Shi, whose literary articulation and representation of social injustice and discrimination against women led to public debates and open protests with sometimes fatal consequences. This study focuses on Lu Xun’s artistic exploration and interpretation of the socio-economic plight of Chinese women in the first half of the twentieth century with particular reference to current Chinese and Western feminist criticism and the recent feminist dramatisation of Ibsen’s (and Lu Xun’s) ominous question concerning Nora’s future in the brave new world of twentieth century capitalism and male domination, exploitation and abuse