A fractional matter sector for general relativity

In this work, we construct a fractional matter sector for general relativity. In particular, we propose a suitable fractional anisotropy function relating both the tangential and radial pressure of a spherically symmetric fluid based on the Gr\"unwald-Letnikov fractional derivative. The system is closed by implementing the polytropic equation of state for the radial pressure. We solve the system of integro-differential equations by Euler's method and explore the behavior of the physical quantities, namely, the normalized density energy, the normalized mass function, and the compactness

New information on the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition in the Vestertana Group, Finnmark, northern Norway, from trace fossils and organic-walled microfossils

Journal home page at https://njg.geologi.no/.The Vestertana Group on the Digermul Peninsula, Finnmark, northern Norway, presents one of the few, potentially continuous Ediacaran– Cambrian sections in Scandinavia. Trace fossils provide the main age constraint, with the boundary traditionally placed at the base of the Breidvika Formation. Here, we provide trace-fossil evidence to show that this boundary is at least as low as the third cycle of the Manndraperelva Member, Stáhpogieddi Formation, where Treptichnus pedum is associated with trilobed trace fossils. Organic-walled microfossils from the same stratigraphic interval include Granomarginata prima and the first report from Scandinavia of Cochleatina. The second cycle of the Manndraperelva Member contains trace fossils, including treptichnids and ?Cochlichnus isp. tentatively interpreted as latest Ediacaran. Reports of palaeopascichnids suggest a late Ediacaran age for the first cycle. The age of lower parts of the Stáhpogieddi Formation is poorly constrained but discoidal Ediacara-type fossils, vendotaenids, and possible simple trace fossils, suggest that the middle part of the Innerelva Member is younger than c. 560 Ma

A child with resistant Kawasaki disease successfully treated with anakinra: a case report

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute self-limited systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is an effective treatment and decreases the risk of cardiac complications to less than 5%. In spite of its effectiveness, some children do not respond to this therapy and still develop coronary aneurysms (CAA). The optimal treatment for IVIG non-responsive patients remains controversial although corticoids have been suggested to be an effective treatment in some patients. For those patients still resistant to IVIG and corticoids, interleukin-1 receptor antagonists (IL-1RA) such anakinra could be an alternative. Case presentation: We present a 3 year-old Caucasian patient with KD without cardiac complications but with important resistance to treatment. After becoming resistant to IVIG and corticoids, anakinra proved to be an effective treatment. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report of the utility of IL-1RA in refractory KD without coronary impairment. The patient fulfilled the classical criteria for KD and, after becoming resistant to first and second line treatments, anakinra proved to be an effective treatment. Further studies are required to determine if this is an effective treatment option for other cases of resistant Kawasaki disease

Life through an Ediacaran glaciation: Shale- and diamictite-hosted organic-walled microfossil assemblages from the late Neoproterozoic of the Tanafjorden area, northern Norway

New organic-walled microfossil (OWM) assemblages are reported from upper Neoproterozoic glacial and interglacial siliciclastic deposits in Finnmark, northern Norway. A nearly continuous sedimentary succession of the Vestertana Group contains two glaciogenic units, the Smalfjorden and Mortensnes formations, interpreted as end-Cryogenian Marinoan and Ediacaran glaciations, respectively. We investigated the OWM record in the Nyborg, Mortensnes, and Stáhpogieddi formations to assess the impact of a glacial interval on the diversity of microscopic eukaryotes. A modified acid-extraction technique was applied to recover OWM from the diamictite matrix. The upper Nyborg Formation contains morphologically complex Doushantuo-Pertatataka acritarchs (DPA), restricting the age of the Nyborg Formation to early-mid Ediacaran. DPA occur below the dolostones that record a negative carbon isotope excursion correlated with the Shuram anomaly and below a glacial diamictite. A decline in species richness and compositional change is observed in the Mortensnes glacial assemblage. DPA are replaced by bacterial filaments and cell aggregates. The overlying Indreelva Member, Stáhpogieddi Formation contains Ediacara-type biota and palaeopascichnids, but only a depauperate OWM assemblage of leiosphaerids and flask-shaped microfossils characteristic of the late Ediacaran.The succession of assemblages in the Vestertana Group demonstrates a turnover from large eukaryotic OWM to a microbial community in the glacial interval, to a low diversity post-glacial assemblage during the rise of macroscopic life. We compared the Vestertana record to global DPA occurrences. Although one DPA assemblage zone postdates the Shuram excursion, no DPA occur above Ediacaran glacial diamictites in successions where those deposits are present. Considering this, and the community changes in the Vestertana succession, we suggest that DPA were affected by the onset of an Ediacaran glaciation. Lastly, we combined the biostratigraphic markers in the Vestertana Group to constrain the age of the Mortensnes diamictite

Pre-Ordovician units and Cadomian megastructures of La Serena and La Siberia Extremeña (Southern Iberian Massif)

New mapping of the pre-Ordovician basement (Schist and Greywacke Complex or Lower Alcudian) from the La Serena and La Siberia Extremeña regions of the southern Central Iberian zone has allowed the distinction of up to four independent stratigraphic units. The studied sequence is exposed in two megastructures: the Almorchón-Valdecaballeros Antiform and the Cerro de los Moros Synform, separated by the Patin Fault, which seems to correspond to an ancient paleogeographic boundary. The continuity of these structures under the Paleozoic synclines and the sub-orthogonal directions with respect to those of the Variscan cover is regarded as an evidence for deformational events related to the Cadomian (pan- African) cycle, likely in connection to those recorded in the adjacent Ossa-Morena Zon

Distribution and correlation of Sabellidites cambriensis (Annelida?) in the basal Cambrian on Baltica

Sabellidites cambriensis is a tubular non-mineralized metazoan that appears as compressed ribbon-shaped imprints with transverse wrinkling, thick walls and an even tube diameter of up to 3 mm. The distribution of Sabellidites is investigated in three Ediacaran–Cambrian sections on the Digermulen Peninsula in Arctic Norway, spanning the Manndrapselva Member of the Stáhpogieddi Formation and the lower member of the Breidvika Formation. Here, the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary is located in the lower part of the upper parasequence (third cycle) of the Manndrapselva Member. Specimens of Sabellidites are rare but consistently present close to the lowest level of Treptichnus pedum and upsection, whereas the taxon is common and abundant in the lower part of the lower member of the Breidvika Formation, with an upper record at c. 55 m above the base. The range is comparable with that of the GSSP section in Newfoundland, Canada, establishing Sabellidites as an index fossil for the lowermost Cambrian. In the Manndrapselva Member, Sabellidites co-occurs with the acritarch Granomarginata, indicative of the lowermost Cambrian Granomarginata Zone, whereas in the Breidvika Formation it co-occurs with Asteridium. Sabellidites is widely distributed in Baltica, through the Rovnian and Lontovan regional stages but confined to the Fortunian global stage. In its lower range, Sabellidites is associated with a Treptichnus pedum trace fossil association and a depauperate leiosphaerid acritarch assemblage, followed by a Granomarginata assemblage. In its upper range, Sabellidites co-occurs with acritarchs of the Asteridium–Comasphaeridium Zone and the tubular foraminiferan Platysolenites. In Baltica, Sabellidites is a useful index fossil

First record of carbonates with spherulites and cone-in-cone structures from the Precambrian of Arctic Norway, and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Accepted manuscript version, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We report for the first time carbonates from the upper Ediacaran sedimentary succession of Finnmark, Arctic Norway. Carbonates occur as calcareous siliciclastic beds, lenses, and concretions, some with calcite spherulites and cone-in-cone (CIC) calcite, in a mudrock to fine-grained sandstone succession from approximately 3 m to 26 m above the base of the 2nd cycle of the Manndrapselva Member of the Stáhpogieddi Formation (Vestertana Group). They occur c. 40 m below the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary, which is well defined by trace fossils. Thin-section petrography and scanning micro X-ray fluorescence elemental mapping reveal a layered composition of the calcareous sedimentary rocks. In some of those, well-developed nested cones of CIC calcite form the outer layer. Thin clay coatings outline individual cones. The inner layers are composed of (1) carbonate with calcite spherulites (grainstone) and (2) thinly laminated fine-grained calcareous siliciclastics (mudstone and wackestone) indicated by elevated concentrations of Al, Si, Fe, and Ti. The inner siliciclastic layers contain framboidal pyrite and probably organic matter. Formation of calcite spherulites took place probably at the sediment–water interface either in a coastal littoral environment or in situ in the sublittoral zone under high alkaline conditions whereas CIC calcite formed during burial diagenesis and clearly in pre-Caledonian time before metamorphism and cleavage formation. This new record of carbonates with calcite spherulites and CIC structures from the Ediacaran of Arctic Norway adds to their rare occurrences in the geological record

A late Caledonian tectono-thermal event in the Gaissa Nappe Complex, Arctic Norway: evidence from fine-fraction K‒Ar dating and illite crystallinity from the Digermulen Peninsula

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in GFF on 03 Oct 2019, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/https://doi.org/10.1080/11035897.2019.1583685.Fine-fraction K‒Ar dating and illite crystallinity determination were applied on a peculiar pale olive green shale sample from the upper Ediacaran Indreelva Member (Stáhpogieddi Formation, Vestertana Group, Gaissa Nappe Complex) of the Digermulen Peninsula in Finnmark, Arctic Norway, to constrain the age and metamorphic conditions of tectono-thermal overprint. The <2 and <0.2 µm grain-size fractions are almost purely illite and yielded an illite crystallinity (expressed as the Kübler index) of 0.215 Δ° 2θ and 0.228 ∆° 2θ and K‒Ar ages of 403.9 ± 4.2 and 391.5 ± 4.0 Ma, respectively. The K‒Ar ages are interpreted to present late-stage thermal overprint under low epizonal conditions along a localised shear zone, likely post-dating the peak of metamorphism and cleavage generation on the Digermulen Peninsula. Thus, a later tectono-metamorphic event related to the late stage of the Scandian orogeny is locally recorded in the Gaissa Nappe Complex of the Caledonides of Finnmark. This late Scandian event was probably caused by orogenic extensional collapse and appears to have extended at least into Mid-Devonian time

Rare earth elements and neodymium and strontium isotopic constraints on provenance switch and post-depositional alteration of fossiliferous Ediacaran and lowermost Cambrian strata from Arctic Norway.

The Digermulen Peninsula in northeastern Finnmark, Arctic Norway, comprises one of the most complete Ediacaran–Cambrian transitions worldwide with a nearly continuous record of micro- and macrofossils from the interval of the diversification of complex life. Here, we report on the provenance and post-depositional alteration of argillaceous mudstones from the Digermulen Peninsula using rare earth elements and Sm–Nd and Rb–Sr isotopic systematics to provide an environmental context and better understand this important transition in Earth’s history. The studied sections comprise a mid-Ediacaran glacial–interglacial cycle, including the Nyborg Formation (ca. 590 Ma) and Mortensnes Formation (related to the ca. 580 Ma-old Gaskiers glaciation), and the Stahpogieddi ´ Formation (ca. 560–537 Ma), which yields Ediacara-type fossils in the Indreelva Member and contains the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary interval in the Manndrapselva Member and basal part of the informal Lower Breidvika member (ca. 537–530 Ma). Three sample groups, (1) Nyborg and Mortensnes formations, (2) the lowermost five samples from the Indreelva Member and (3) the remaining samples from the Indreelva as well as from the Manndrapselva and Lower Breidvika members, can be distinguished, belonging to distinct depositional units. All samples have negative εNd(T) values (− 6.00 to − 21.04) indicating a dominant input of terrigenous detritus with an old continental crust affinity. Significant shifts in Sm–Nd isotope values are related to changes in the sediment source, i.e. Svecofennian province vs Karelian province vs Svecofennian province plus in addition likely some juvenile (late Neoproterozoic volcanic) material, and probably reflect palaeotectonic reorganisation along the Iapetus-facing margin of Baltica. The combined Rb–Sr isotopic data of all samples yield an errorchron age of about 430 Ma reflecting the resetting of the Rb–Sr whole-rock isotope systems of the mudstones during the Scandian tectono-metamorphic event in the Gaissa Nappe Complex of Finnmark. Preservation of palaeopascichnids coincides with the sedimentation regimes of sample groups 2 and 3 while other Ediacara-type fossils, e.g. Aspidella-type and frondose forms, are limited to the sample group 3. Our results are similar to those of earlier studies from the East European Platform in suggesting oxic seafloor conditions during the late Ediacaran

U–Pb dating of calcite in ancient carbonates for age estimates of syn- to post-depositional processes: a case study from the upper Ediacaran strata of Finnmark, Arctic Norway

Results of in situ U–Pb dating of calcite spherulites, cone-in-cone (CIC) calcite and calcite fibres from a calcareous concretion of the upper Ediacaran of Finnmark, Arctic Norway, are reported. Calcite spherulites from the innermost layers of the concretion yielded a lower intercept age of 563 ± 70 Ma, which, although imprecise, is within uncertainty of the age of sedimentation based on fossil assemblages. Non-deformed CIC calcite from the bottom part of the concretion yielded an age of 475 ± 25 Ma, which is interpreted as the age of CIC calcite formation during a period of fluid overpressure induced during burial of the sediments. Deformed CIC calcite from the top part of the concretion yielded an age of 418 ± 23 Ma, which overlaps with a known Caledonian tectono-metamorphic event, and indicates a potential post-depositional overprint at this time. Calcite fibres that grew in small fissures along spherulite rims, which are interpreted as a recrystallization feature during deformation and formation of a cleavage, gave an imprecise age of 486 ± 161 Ma. Our results show that U–Pb dating of calcite can provide age constraints for ancient carbonates and syn- to post-depositional processes that operated during burial and metamorphic overprinting