The Mingshui–Jilasitai–Suolun area, located in the central part of the Great Xing’an Range, is characterized by large volumes of alkali feldspar granites. However, the formation time and tectonic setting of these rocks remains controversial owing to a lack of precise geochronological and detailed geochemical data. In this paper, we report new SIMS U–Pb zircon ages and mineralogical, petrographical and geochemical data for Lower Cretaceous alkali feldspar granites from the Mingshui–Jilasitai–Suolun area. The SIMS zircon dating results indicate that these granites formed at 133.6–135.9 Ma. The mineralogical, petrographical and geochemical data show that these granitic rocks belong to highly fractionated I-type granites. Combined with the regional geology data, we propose that the formation of the Lower Cretaceous alkali feldspar granitic rocks was related to an extension induced by delamination of the lithosphere that arose from subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific plate.

The uppermost Famennian – lowermost Tournaisian interval has been analysed in detail using biostratigraphy, sedimentology, magnetic susceptibility and geochemistry in a reference section of the relatively shallow carbonate ramp environment within the Pomeranian Basin. High-resolution biostratigraphic study, based on miospores, allows recognition of the standard western European lepidophyta–nitidus (LN) and verrucosus–incohatus (VI) zones, as well as the Convolutispora major Zone, a local Pomeranian equivalent of the European standard hibernicus–distinctus (HD) Zone. The sedimentary succession and specific phenomena recognized close to the Devonian/Carboniferous boundary, such as fluctuations in water column euxinia, wildfire evidence, relative sea-level changes and perturbations of the carbon cycle reflected by positive carbon excursions, display a pattern partly similar to that observed in many areas in Europe during the Hangenberg Event, although the Hangenberg Black Shale horizon is not developed here. These important microscale environmental perturbations were observed not only within the Famennian LN miospore Zone but in a wide interval between the LN and the lowermost local Convolutispora major miospore zones ( = lower part of HD standard miospore Zone). It is still uncertain whether the recognized event(s) were connected solely with the Hangenberg Event, which was possibly complex and multi-phased as is sometimes suggested, or whether they represent a succession of regionally limited, post-Hangenberg events. This question needs to be further investigated on broader stratigraphic and geographical scales.

U–Pb zircon ages from volcanic rocks of Early Permian age (Southern Alps, Lombardy), associated with fault-controlled transtensional continental basins, were determined with the laser ablation (LA)-ICP-MS technique. Four samples were collected at the base and at the top of the up to 1000 m thick volcaniclastic unit of the Cabianca Volcanite. This unit pre-dates the development of a sedimentary succession that still contains, at different stratigraphic levels, volcanic intercalations. Age results from a tuff in the basal part of the unit constrain the onset of the volcanic activity to 280 ± 2.5 Ma. Ignimbritic samples from the upper part of the unit show a large scatter in the age distribution. This is interpreted as the occurrence of antecrystic and autocrystic zircons. The youngest autocrystic zircons (c. 270 Ma) are thus interpreted as better constraining the eruption age, constraining the duration of the volcanic activity in the Orobic Basin to about 10 Ma. The new geochronological results compared with those of other Early Permian basins of the Southern Alps reveal important differences that may reflect (1) a real time-transgressive beginning and end of the volcanic activity or (2) the complex mixing of antecrystic and autocrystic zircon populations in the analysed samples.

Three isolated limestone deposits and their fauna are described from a middle Eocene Flysch succession in northwestern Istria, Croatia. The limestones are identified as ancient methane-seep deposits based on fabrics and characteristic mineral phases, δ13Ccarbonate values as low as −42.2 ‰ and 13C-depleted lipid biomarkers indicative of methane-oxidizing archaea. The faint bedding of the largest seep deposit, the great dominance of authigenic micrite over early diagenetic fibrous cement, as well as biomarker patterns indicate that seepage was diffusive rather than advective. Apart from methanotrophic archaea, aerobic methanotrophic bacteria were present at the Eocene seeps as revealed by 13C-depleted lanostanes and hopanoids. The observed corrosion surfaces in the limestones probably reflect carbonate dissolution caused by aerobic methanotrophy. The macrofauna consists mainly of chemosymbiotic bivalves such as solemyids (Acharax), thyasirids (Thyasira) and lucinids (Amanocina). The middle Eocene marks the rise of the modern seep fauna, but so far the fossil record of seeps of this age is restricted to the North Pacific region. The taxa found at Buje originated during the Cretaceous Period, whereas taxa typical of the modern seep fauna such as bathymodiolin mussels and vesicomyid clams are absent. Although this is only a first palaeontological glimpse into the biogeography during the rise of the modern seep fauna, it agrees with biogeographic investigations based on the modern vent fauna indicating that the dominant taxa of the modern seep fauna first appeared in the Pacific Ocean.

The basement of the Central Pontides, and by implication that of Crimea, consists of pre-Permian low-grade metaclastic rocks intruded by latest Permian – Early Carboniferous (305–290 Ma) granitoids. Further up in the stratigraphic sequence are Triassic limestones, which are now preserved as olistoliths in the deformed Upper Triassic turbidites. New conodont and foraminifera data indicate an Anisian to Carnian (Middle to Late Triassic) age for these hemi-pelagic Hallstatt-type limestones. The siliciclastic turbidites surrounding the Triassic limestone contain the Norian (Late Triassic) bivalve Monotis salinaria; the same species is also found in the Tauric series in Crimea. The Upper Triassic flysch in the Central Pontides is locally underlain by basaltic pillow lavas and includes kilometre-size tectonic slices of serpentinite. Both the flysch and the serpentinite are cut by an undeformed acidic intrusion with an Ar–Ar biotite age of 162 ± 4 Ma (Callovian–Oxfordian). This indicates that the serpentinite was emplaced into the turbidites before Middle Jurassic time, most probably during latest Triassic or Early Jurassic time, and that the deformation of the Triassic sequence pre-dates the Middle Jurassic. Regional geological data from the circum-Black Sea region, including widespread Upper Triassic flysch, Upper Triassic eclogites and blueschists of oceanic crustal affinity, and apparent absence of a ‘Cimmerian continent’ between the Cretaceous and Triassic accretionary complexes indicate that the latest Triassic Cimmeride orogeny was accretionary rather than collisional and is probably related to the collision and accretion of an oceanic plateau to the southern active margin of Laurasia.

On the New Siberian Islands the rocks of the east Russian Arctic shelf are exposed and allow an assessment of the structural evolution of the region. Tectonic fabrics provide evidence of three palaeo-shortening directions (NE–SW, WNW–ESE and NNW–SSE to NNE–SSW) and one set of palaeo-extension directions revealed a NE–SW to NNE–SSW direction. The contractional deformation is most likely the expression of the Cretaceous formation of the South Anyui fold–thrust belt. The NE–SW shortening is the most prominent tectonic phase in the study area. The WNW–ESE and NNW–SSE to NNE–SSW-oriented palaeo-shortening directions are also most likely related to fold belt formation; the latter might also have resulted from a bend in the suture zone. The younger Cenozoic NE–SW to NNE–SSW extensional direction is interpreted as a consequence of rifting in the Laptev Sea.

The North Singhbhum Mobile Belt (NSMB) is a 200 km long, curved Proterozoic fold–thrust belt that skirts the northern margin of the Archean Singhbhum Craton of NE India. The Singhbhum Shear Zone (SSZ) developed between the Dhanjori and Chaibasa formations near the southern margin of the NSMB and represents an important Cu-U-P metallotect. A SHRIMP U–Pb zircon date of 1861±6 Ma, obtained for the syn- to post-kinematic Arkasani Granophyre that has intruded the SSZ, provides a minimum age for the prolonged tectonic activity and mineralization along the SSZ and for the time of closure of the Chaibasa and Dhanjori sub-basins. The Dalma Volcanic Belt, a submarine rift-related bimodal mafic-felsic volcanic suite, forms the spine of the NSMB. A SHRIMP U–Pb zircon igneous crystallization date of 1631±6 Ma was obtained for an unfoliated felsic volcanic rock from the base of the Dalma volcanic sequence. These new findings suggest that the different sub-basins in the NSMB evolved diachronously under contrasting tectonic environments and were juxtaposed during a later orogenic movement.

Root-associated stalactites (rootsicles) in Galeria da Queimada lava tube have a mineralogical composition and developmental association with microbes that render them unique. Samples were examined by X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy/X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy. Three types of rootsicle were defined: incipient; hard (white and red); and black spongy. The incipient rootsicles still contained rotten organic material and showed the beginning of mineralization by allophane. The white hard and black spongy types were also composed of allophane, while the red hard type was composed of hydrous ferric oxi-hydroxide minerals (HFO). The allophane and HFO in the andisol covering the cave roof precipitated out of the dripwater running along the roots to form the studied rootsicles. All three types of rootsicle showed black layers, coatings, spots or patches composed of manganese oxide minerals and, occasionally, hisingerite (iron (III) phyllosilicate). An alternation of organic precipitation caused by filamentous bacteria and inorganic precipitation (the latter facilitated by pH changes in the dripwater and the cave's temperature) built up both the porous and compact rings observed in the white and red hard rootsicles. The largely straight filaments seen in the porous rings of the white hard rootsicles may be indicative of the previous presence of Leptothrix spp., while the helical morphologies seen in the red hard rootsicles may be indicative of that of Gallionella spp. The manganese oxide minerals detected probably formed via microbial activity. This study reflects the important role of filamentous bacteria in rootsicle formation, independent of their mineralogy.

The planktonic foraminifera assemblage across the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Cenomanian Stage defined at Mont Risou (Haute-Alpes in France) is here restudied to clarify the identification and stratigraphic distribution of Thalmanninella globotruncanoides ( = Rotalipora globotruncanoides Sigal, 1948) and Pseudothalmanninella tehamaensis ( = Rotalipora tehamaensis Marianos & Zingula, 1966) whose appearance levels are primary and secondary criteria for placing the Albian/Cenomanian boundary. Since the ratification of the GSSP in 2002, the identification of the foraminifera index species across the Albian/Cenomanian boundary has been reported to be sometimes difficult either because of their rarity or uncertainty in the taxonomic identifications. We discuss the taxonomic status of Thalmanninella brotzeni Sigal 1948, a species regarded for a long time to be a junior synonym of Th. globotruncanoides, through images of Sigal's type materials deposited at the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), and elucidate the taxonomically important characters that enable unequivocal identification of Th. brotzeni, Th. globotruncanoides and Ps. tehamaensis. Planktonic foraminifera marker species from Mont Risou are compared with well-preserved specimens from Blake Nose Plateau (ODP 171B, North Western Atlantic Ocean) to verify the reliability and stratigraphic distribution of these marker taxa outside the Mediterranean Tethyan area.

Paired isotope dilution – thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) zircon U–Pb data elucidate geochronological relations in the historically important Knaben molybdenum mining district, Sveconorwegian Orogen, south Norway. This polyphase district provided c. 8.5 Mt of ore with a grade of 0.2%. It consists of mineralized quartz veins, silica-rich gneiss, pegmatites and aplites associated with a heterogeneous, locally sulphide-bearing, amphibolites facies gneiss called Knaben Gneiss, and hosted in a regional-scale monotonous, commonly weakly foliated, granitic gneiss. An augen gneiss at the Knaben I deposit yields a 1257±6 Ma magmatic zircon age, dating the pre-Sveconorwegian protolith of the Knaben Gneiss. Mineralized and non-mineralized granitic gneiss samples at the Knaben II and Kvina deposits contain some 1488–1164 Ma inherited zircon and yield consistent intrusion ages of 1032±4, 1034±6 and 1036±6 Ma. This age links magmatism in the district to the regional 1050–1020 Ma Sirdal I-type granite suite, corresponding to voluminous crustal melting during the Sveconorwegian orogeny. A high-U, low-Th/U zircon rim is present in all samples. It defines several age clusters between 1039±6 and 1009±7 Ma, peaking at c. 1016 Ma and overlapping with a monazite age of 1013±5 Ma. The rim records protracted hydrothermal activity, which started during the main magmatic event and outlasted it. This process was coeval with regional high-grade Sveconorwegian metamorphism. Molybdenum deposition probably started during this event when silica-rich mineralizing fluids or hydrous magmas were released from granite magma batches. An analogy between the Knaben district and shallow, short-lived porphyry Mo deposits is inappropriate.

Two tuffs in the Lower Cretaceous Agrio Formation, Neuquén Basin, provided U–Pb zircon radioisotopic ages of 129.09±0.16 Ma and 127.42±0.15 Ma. Both horizons are well constrained biostratigraphically by ammonites and nannofossils and can be correlated with the ‘standard’ sequence of the Mediterranean Province. The lower horizon is very close to the base of the Upper Hauterivian and the upper horizon to the Hauterivian/Barremian boundary, indicating that the former lies at c. 129.5 Ma and the latter at c. 127 Ma. These new radioisotopic ages fill a gap of over 8 million years in the numerical calibration of the current global Early Cretaceous geological time scale.

We conducted isotope–geochemical studies of the Upper Devonian of the Rudny Altai. Whole-rock carbon isotope analyses of the studied section represented by carbonate fore-reef facies reveal a negative excursion at the base of punctata Zone. When compared to conodont biofacies turnovers and the Upper Devonian events chart, the new data have demonstrated a synchronism between the negative excursion and the coeval decline in conodont biodiversity corresponding to the Middlesex anoxic event of the Frasnian Stage of the Upper Devonian.

First, I would like to congratulate Wang et al. (2014) for their important work on the dating of the Panxian fauna, a Triassic fossil Lagerstätte that has produced many exquisitely preserved marine reptiles (Motani et al. 2008) and that marks the full recovery of the marine ecosystem (Jiang et al. 2009) following the Permian–Triassic marine mass extinction (PTME). Papers by Wang et al. (2014) and alike are especially welcomed by vertebrate palaeontologists since they provide precise dating results for some of the most important vertebrate fossils in the world, such as the bizarre protorosaur Dinocephalosaurus orientalis (Li, Rieppel & LaBarbera, 2004) and the earliest marine archosaur Qianosuchus mixtus (Li et al. 2006). This related topic is also interesting because of the very recent debate about the timing of recovery from the PTME, the largest biodiversity crash during the Phanerozoic, from the predators’ perspective (Chen & Benton, 2012; Scheyer et al. 2014).

We thank Liu Jun for his comment on our recent paper (Wang et al. 2014) and are grateful for his calling our attention to this apparent contradiction, and we welcome the opportunity to reply. Based on the sensitive high-resolution ion microscope (SHRIMP) U–Pb zircon age for a volcanic tuff bed within the upper part of the Guanling Formation, we suggested in our study that the age of the fossil horizon of the Panxian fauna is 244 ± 1.3 Ma, which is 14 Ma earlier than the previously estimated age that Li, Rieppel & LaBarbera (2004) published in Science. However, Liu Jun argued that this conclusion is confused, that there is no 14 Ma difference and that there is agreement between the biostratigraphic data and the new radiometric age.