Permo-Triassic Deposits: from shallow water to base of slope

Conference on the Geology of Oman, Muscat, Oman, Field Guidebook A0

Importance of carbon isotopic data of the Permian-Triassic boundary layers in the Verkhoyansk region for the global correlation of the basal Triassic layer

© 2015, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. This paper is dedicated to a global correlation of marine Permian-Triassic boundary layers on the basis of partially published and original data on the δ13Corg and δ13Ccarb values of the Suol section (Setorym River, South Verkhoyansk region). The section consists of six carbon isotopic intervals, which are easily distinguishable in the carbon isotopic curves for a series of Permian-Triassic reference sections of Eurasia and Northern America, including paleontologically described sections of Central Iran, Kashmir, and Southern China. This suggests that the Permian-Triassic boundary in the Suol section is close to the carbon isotopic minimum of interval IV. In light of new data, we suggest considering the upper part of the Late Permian Changhsingian Stage and the lower substage of the Early Triassic Induan Stage of Siberia in the volumes of the rank Otoceras concavum zone and the Tompophiceras pascoei and Wordieoceras decipiens zones, respectively. The O. concavum zone of the Verkhoyansk region probably corresponds to the Late Changhsingian Hypophiceras triviale zone of Greenland. The carbon isotopic intervals II, III, IV, and V in the Permian-Triassic boundary layers of the Verkhoyansk region traced in a series of the reference sections of Eurasia correspond, most likely, to intensification of volcanic activity at the end of the Late Changhsingian and to the first massive eruptions of Siberian traps at the end of the Changhsingian and the beginning of the Induan Stages. New data indicate the possible survival of ammonoids of the Otoceratoidea superfamily at the species level after mass extinction of organisms at the end of the Permian

Palaeo-environmental evolution of Central Asia during the Cenozoic: new insights from the continental sedimentary archive of the Valley of Lakes (Mongolia)

The Valley of Lakes basin (Mongolia) contains a unique continental sedimentary archive, suitable for constraining the influence of tectonics and climate change on the aridification of Central Asia in the Cenozoic. We identify the sedimentary provenance, the (post)depositional environment and the palaeo-climate based on sedimentological, petrographical, mineralogical, and (isotope) geochemical signatures recorded in authigenic and detrital silicates as well as soil carbonates in a sedimentary succession spanning from ~34 to 21 Ma. The depositional setting was characterized by an ephemeral braided river system draining prograding alluvial fans, with episodes of lake, playa or open-steppe sedimentation. Metamorphics from the northern adjacent Neoarchean to late Proterozoic hinterlands provided a continuous influx of silicate detritus to the basin, as indicated by K-Ar ages of detrital muscovite (~798-728 Ma) and discrimination function analysis. The authigenic clay fraction is dominated by illite-smectite and “hairy” illite (K-Ar ages of ~34-25 Ma), which formed during coupled petrogenesis and precipitation from hydrothermal fluids originating from major basalt flow events (~32-29 and ~29-25 Ma). Changes in hydroclimate are recorded in [delta]18O and [delta]13C profiles of soil carbonates and in silicate mineral weathering patterns, indicating that comparatively humid to semi-arid conditions prevailed in the late(st) Eocene, changing into arid conditions in the Oligocene and back to humid to semi-arid conditions in the early Miocene. Aridification steps are indicated at ~34-33, ~31, ~28 and ~23 Ma and coincide with some episodes of high-latitude ice-sheet expansion inferred from marine deep-sea sedimentary records. This suggests that long-term variations in the ocean-atmosphere circulation patterns due to pCO2 fall, reconfiguration of ocean gateways and ice-sheet expansion in Antarctica could have impacted the hydroclimate and weathering regime in the basin. We conclude that the aridification in Central Asia was triggered by reduced moisture influx by westerly winds driven by Cenozoic climate forcing and the exhumation of the Tian Shan and Altai Mountains and modulated by global climate events

New data on the structure and age of the terminal Permian strata in the South Verkhoyansk region (northeastern Asia)

© 2015.We present new data on the structure and age of the upper Permian strata in the basin of the Setorym River (tributary of the Vostochnaya Khandyga River) in the South Verkhoyansk region, represented by the Imtachan Formation and the lower part of the Nekuchan Formation. Based on the new findings of bivalve fossils from the Intomodesma costatum Zone, as well as on the study of carbon isotopes in the shells and carbon isotopes of the organic matter of the host mudstones, we have for the first time proved the completeness of the Permian section. The detailed description of the contact between the Imtachan and Nekuchan Formations bears evidence for a certain continuity of the lithologic characteristics of the sandstones. The sharp lithologic contact between the formations reflects not a regional sedimentation hiatus but a shift of depositional settings from the upper parts of a delta to the deep shelf, caused by forced marine transgression. It is concluded that there was no long-term hiatus between the accumulation of the Imtachan and Nekuchan Formations. Images of the most characteristic species of bivalves and crinoids from the Imtachan Formation are presented

Ocean acidification and the Permo-Triassic mass extinction.

Ocean acidification triggered by Siberian Trap volcanism was a possible kill mechanism for the Permo-Triassic Boundary mass extinction, but direct evidence for an acidification event is lacking. We present a high-resolution seawater pH record across this interval, using boron isotope data combined with a quantitative modeling approach. In the latest Permian, increased ocean alkalinity primed the Earth system with a low level of atmospheric CO2 and a high ocean buffering capacity. The first phase of extinction was coincident with a slow injection of carbon into the atmosphere, and ocean pH remained stable. During the second extinction pulse, however, a rapid and large injection of carbon caused an abrupt acidification event that drove the preferential loss of heavily calcified marine biota

Human and machine recognition of transportation modes from body-worn camera images

Computer vision techniques applied on images opportunistically captured from body-worn cameras or mobile phones offer tremendous potential for vision-based context awareness. In this paper, we evaluate the potential to recognise the modes of locomotion and transportation of mobile users, by analysing single images captured by body-worn cameras. We evaluate this with the publicly available Sussex-Huawei Locomotion and Transportation Dataset, which includes 8 transportation and locomotion modes performed over 7 months by 3 users. We present a baseline performance obtained through crowd sourcing using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Humans infered the correct modes of transportations from images with an F1-score of 52%. The performance obtained by five state-of-the-art Deep Neural Networks (VGG16, VGG19, ResNet50, MobileNet and DenseNet169) on the same task was always above 71.3% F1-score. We characterise the effect of partitioning the training data to fine-tune different number of blocks of the deep networks and provide recommendations for mobile implementations

Macrophage metabolic reprogramming presents a therapeutic target in lupus nephritis.

IgG antibodies cause inflammation and organ damage in autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We investigated the metabolic profile of macrophages isolated from inflamed tissues in immune complex (IC)-associated diseases, including SLE and rheumatoid arthritis, and following IgG Fcγ receptor cross-linking. We found that human and mouse macrophages undergo a switch to glycolysis in response to IgG IC stimulation, mirroring macrophage metabolic changes in inflamed tissue in vivo. This metabolic reprogramming was required to generate a number of proinflammatory mediators, including IL-1β, and was dependent on mTOR and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)1α. Inhibition of glycolysis, or genetic depletion of HIF1α, attenuated IgG IC-induced activation of macrophages in vitro, including primary human kidney macrophages. In vivo, glycolysis inhibition led to a reduction in kidney macrophage IL-1β and reduced neutrophil recruitment in a murine model of antibody-mediated nephritis. Together, our data reveal the molecular mechanisms underpinning FcγR-mediated metabolic reprogramming in macrophages and suggest a therapeutic strategy for autoantibody-induced inflammation, including lupus nephritis

The impact of hypoxia on B cells in COVID-19

Background: Prominent early features of COVID-19 include severe, often clinically silent, hypoxia and a pronounced reduction in B cells, the latter important in defence against SARS-CoV-2. This presentation resembles the phenotype of mice with VHL-deficient B cells, in which Hypoxia-Inducible Factors are constitutively active, suggesting hypoxia might drive B cell abnormalities in COVID-19. Methods: Detailed B cell phenotyping was undertaken by flow-cytometry on longitudinal samples from patients with COVID-19 across a range of severities (NIHR Cambridge BioResource). The impact of hypoxia on the transcriptome was assessed by single-cell and whole blood RNA sequencing analysis. The direct effect of hypoxia on B cells was determined through immunisation studies in genetically modified and hypoxia-exposed mice. Findings: We demonstrate the breadth of early and persistent defects in B cell subsets in moderate/severe COVID-19, including reduced marginal zone-like, memory and transitional B cells, changes also observed in B cell VHL-deficient mice. These findings were associated with hypoxia-related transcriptional changes in COVID-19 patient B cells, and similar B cell abnormalities were seen in mice kept in hypoxic conditions. Interpretation: Hypoxia may contribute to the pronounced and persistent B cell pathology observed in acute COVID-19 pneumonia. Assessment of the impact of early oxygen therapy on these immune defects should be considered, as their correction could contribute to improved outcomes. Funding: Evelyn Trust, Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust, UKRI/NIHR, Wellcome Trus