On visiting Brough a short time ago I noticed a small section had been made on the western slope of Mill Hill, about twenty or thirty feet below the top. The excavation is made in soft white sand, which is very ferruginous in places. Beds of hard sandstone, varying in thickness from one to three inches, traverse it in the upper part of the section. These beds of sandstone are practically horizontal, and contain casts of Belemnites Owenii, Gryphæa bilobata, Trigonia, and other characteristic Kellaways Rock fossils. In not a single instance was a portion of a shell remaining, the whole of the calcite having been dissolved away. There is only a thin covering of soil; and this contains numerous pebbles of doubtful origin, and some pieces of Roman pottery.

Invertebrate bioerosion on fossil bone can contribute to reconstructions of benthic taxonomic assemblages and inform us about oxygenation levels, water depth and exposure time on the seafloor prior to burial. However, these traces are not commonly described in the fossil record. To date, there have been only 13 published studies describing a total of 15 instances of invertebrate bioerosion on marine reptile fossil bones from the Mesozoic globally. We surveyed the collections of several UK museums with substantial occurrences of Mesozoic marine reptiles for evidence of invertebrate bioerosion. Here, we document 153 specimens exhibiting 171 newly recorded instances of invertebrate bioerosion on Jurassic and Cretaceous marine reptile bones. Several major bioeroding taxonomic groups are identified. Within the geological strata of the United Kingdom, there is a higher prevalence of bioerosion in the Cretaceous relative to the Jurassic, despite greater sampling of specimens from the Jurassic. Although biotic turnover and food web restructuring might have played a role, potentially pertaining to heightened productivity during the later stages of the Mesozoic Marine Revolution, we consider it more likely that this temporal change corresponds to differences in depositional environment and taphonomic history between the sampled rock units. In particular, the Cretaceous deposits are characterized by heightened oxygenation levels relative to their Jurassic counterparts, as well as reworking, which would have allowed two phases of bioerosion. A spatiotemporally broader dataset on invertebrate bioerosion on vertebrate bone will be important in further testing this and other hypotheses.

This article integrates field, powder X-ray diffraction and microstructural data to constrain deformation mechanisms in and the rheology of granite-derived fault rocks exposed along the SE side of the crustal-scale, strike-slip Kellyland fault zone. Deformation in this area of the Kellyland fault zone localized during cooling and is marked by (1) foliated granite, (2) a ∼50 m wide band of pulverized foliated granite, (3) a ∼2.8 m wide breccia zone hosting coeval shear zones, and (4) a >100 m wide ultramylonite zone. The earliest fabric in the foliated granite is defined by elongated quartz grains, and quartz dislocation creep was the rate-controlling deformation mechanism. Seismogenic deformation initiated when recorded flow stresses reached 96–104 MPa at temperatures of 400–450 °C and is marked by coeval pulverization and formation of breccia. Interseismic viscous creep at similar flow stresses is recorded by mutual cross-cutting relationships between breccia-hosted shear zones, brittle fractures and pseudotachylyte. Field and microstructural observations indicate that breccia-hosted shear zones are low-strain equivalents of the >100 m wide ultramylonite zone, and seismogenic deformation abated as the ultramylonite formed. The rheology of ultramylonites was governed by grain-size-sensitive creep at 112–124 MPa flow stresses. Hence, from the onset of seismogenesis, the Kellyland fault zone was likely a constant-stress system wherein the rate-controlling mechanism shifted from episodic seismogenic slip and interseismic viscous creep to steady state grain-size-sensitive creep in ultramylonites derived from brittle fault rocks. Flow stresses recorded by these rocks also imply that the whole zone was relatively weak if the brittle–viscous transition and uppermost viscous zone are the strongest part of the crust.

Fossilized hackberry (Celtis) seeds were found within the shells of two Stylemys individuals excavated from Oligocene sediments from South Dakota. The presence of in situ skeletal elements indicates that the tortoises were buried without extensive disarticulation. Abiotic transport of the seeds into the carcasses is unlikely given the anatomically correct placement of both skeletal elements and seeds and the comparative settling velocities of the encasing sediment versus modern Celtis seeds. Ecological evidence from modern Celtis and Stylemys analogues suggests that tortoises are commonly seed dispersal agents. The fossils are therefore interpreted as enterolites, providing the oldest reliable evidence of tortoise frugivory.

The study presents detailed petrographical, geophysical, structural and geochemical data of the internal nappes zone to establish the deformational history, origin and tectonic setting and constrain the crustal growth and evolution of the active margin of the Dahomeyide belt. Two main lithological units, (i) deformed meta-granitoids (migmatites and gneisses) and (ii) undeformed granitoids, dominate the internal nappes zone. The granitoids are generally I-type, metaluminous to weakly peraluminous, low-K tholeiite to high-K calc-alkaline and of tonalite, granodiorite and granite affinity. The overall trace element patterns of the studied granitoids characterized by the enriched LILE and depleted HFS, with negative peaks of Nb-Ta, Sr, P and Ti, are indications of arc-related magmatism. Structural analysis reveals four deformation phases (D1-D4). D1 represents Northwest-Southeast (NW-SE) Pan African shortening associated with a continent-continent collision, resulting in westward nappe stacking. Progressive NW-SE shortening resulted in D2 and D3 top-to-the-NW dextral and sinistral thrusting events during the Pan-African orogeny. D4 is an extensional event likely associated with the orogenic collapse phase. The gneisses and migmatites, with dominant axial planar foliations, point to their formation in a collisional setting or influence by the Pan-African collisional processes. Continental-arc signatures in these rocks imply continental subduction during their protolith formation. The intrusive granitoid and pegmatite are undeformed, meaning late- to post-orogenic emplacement. These findings suggest that the internal nappes zone archived the subduction-collision and post-collisional phase of the Pan-African orogeny and recorded large-scale migmatization and granitoid emplacement due to partial melting of thickened lower crust between Mid-Cryogenian and late Ediacaran.

Planktonic foraminifera were studied at Lydden Spout, near Folkestone (southeast England, UK), the reference section of the middle Cenomanian Event 1 (MCE 1) characterized by a prominent double-peak δ13C excursion of 1 ‰ identified in different ocean basins and considered a global event. Biostratigraphic and quantitative analysis of planktonic foraminifera are correlated to the δ13C perturbation, to the positive δ18O shifts identified within MCE 1 and to the occurrence of Boreal macrofossils (the bivalves Chlamys arlesiensis and Oxytoma seminudum, and the belemnite Praectinocamax primus). Variations in abundance and species richness of planktonic foraminifera and the inferred palaeoecological preferences of taxa permit the identification of distinct palaeoenvironmental settings across MCE 1. The stratigraphic interval corresponding to MCE 1 is characterized by the absence of oligotrophic rotaliporids, and by the evolutionary appearance of meso-eutrophic dicarinellids and of Muricohedbergella portsdownensis, a cold-water species that occurs at the same level as the Boreal macrofossils. These observations indicate a palaeoceanographic scenario characterized by reduced stratification of surface waters and absence/disruption of the thermocline in a dominantly eutrophic regime during MCE 1. Evidence provided by planktonic foraminifera, Boreal macrofossils and δ18O records documented for the late Cenomanian Plenus Cold Event (PCE) at Eastbourne (UK) reveal similarities that confirm the periodic inflow of cold Boreal seawater originating in the Norwegian Sea as previously postulated to explain the occurrence of Boreal fauna in the Anglo-Paris Basin. The southerly extension of this water mass may be related to the reorganization of circulation driven by the long eccentricity cycle.

Investigations into the micromorphology of the Pwll Du Red Beds in Gower, South Wales, have revealed pedo-features in the form of compound void coatings. Overlying marine deposits dated to the Ipswichian (Oxygen Isotope Substage 5e), the Red Beds are interpreted as the product of sedimentation and pedogenesis during Early Devensian time.

We may pass next to the Sam Meylltern district, to examine the patch which Dr. Hicks on his sketch-map [Q.J.G.S. vol. xxxv. p. 297] has indicated as Dimetian with a strip of Arvonian along the north side. We read [l.c. p. 300], “Eastward (sic) of this, and as we approach the so-called altered Cambrian, rocks of a more felsitic character come in abruptly, and it is probable that these are of Arvonian age.” At the north end of the patch, by the Cromlech and Amwlch Lodge, the rock is however of the type which Dr. Hicks has termed Dimetian, and as it varies much in character at different parts of its course, I think we must ask for further proof that there is a second bed of rock of different age, in this area.

The lithological character and sequence of the lower part of the Coal-measures of the Yorkshire Coalfield have been well known since the publication of the memoir by the Geological Survey in 1878. No connected account of the explorations in the equivalent measures of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire portion of the coalfield has been written; thus the close correspondence which exists between the lower part of the Coal-measures of Yorkshire and that of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire is still generally unknown.

In the erection of a new home of rest—St. Monica's, in the grounds of what was formerly Cote House, near the top of Westbury Hill, an interesting section1 of the upper part of the Old Red Sandstone and of the lower Avonian rocks up to the top of Zx was exposed in digging the foundations. Although the section lies only a little over a mile north-east of the Avon section and the general succession of the two is very similar, the Westbury section is of considerable interest, particularly as certain levels were well seen which are not exposed in the Avon section. In all the following tables the strata are described from below upwards.

The zonal pattern of metamorphism in the Scottish Highlandsis more complex than that suggested by Chinner. It has been disrupted by major tectonic dislocations and cannot be interpreted as a simple thermal anticline. Retrogression and inversion of zones seen in NW Scotland may resulteither from structural perturbation or the interference effects of superimposed metamorphism. A sinistral displacement of the Great Glen Fault still seems to match the metamorphic patterns in the opposing blocks, even if allowance is made for a major downthrow to the SE.