Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-11-14DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100022
Fabienne Marret
{"title":"The impact of artificial intelligence systems in micropalaeontology","authors":"Fabienne Marret","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100022","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100022","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The discipline of micropalaeontology, fundamental in Geology, has witnessed substantial technological advancements in recent decades, aided by the exploitation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to facilitate microfossil identification. This perspective paper explores the transformative role of AI in micropalaeontology, particularly in species identification, and its potential to help with the interpretation of microfossil assemblages. While it is argued that AI cannot fully replicate the expertise of a micropalaeontologist, an abundance of scientific studies shows the promising success of AI becoming adept at accurately identifying microfossil species.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100022"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000225/pdfft?md5=46d37a9b7c3ebf9ead5fe96e73457cdf&pid=1-s2.0-S2950117223000225-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135763584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-11-14DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100023
Luciano Varela , Ximena Martínez-Blanco , Raúl Ugalde , P. Sebastián Tambusso , Carolina Lobato , Claudio Gaucher , Richard A. Fariña
{"title":"Late Miocene mammalian burrows in the Camacho Formation of Uruguay reveal a complex community of ecosystem engineers","authors":"Luciano Varela , Ximena Martínez-Blanco , Raúl Ugalde , P. Sebastián Tambusso , Carolina Lobato , Claudio Gaucher , Richard A. Fariña","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100023","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100023","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We report fossil mammal burrows from backshore beach facies in the Camacho Formation of southern Uruguay, of Late Miocene (Huayquerian SALMA) age. The presence of desiccation cracks and rhizoliths indicate the occurrence of relatively extended periods of subaerial exposure and the incipient development of vegetation. The analysis of the burrows' spatial extent, size, and structure reveals the existence of exceptionally well-preserved and intercrossing tunnel systems. We show the existence of different size classes of burrows, which indicate that at least four different taxa were responsible for their construction. Considering the inferred body masses of the trace makers obtained from allometric relationships and the body masses of taxa recovered for the Camacho Formation, the burrows may have been produced by a combination of the following mammals: one of several rodents, notoungulates, cingulates, folivorans, and a carnivoran. The fossil association represents an exceptional case of a community of ecosystem engineers in the Late Miocene of southeastern South America.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100023"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000237/pdfft?md5=4f31908c0e28b65d49ebef7063d4ffc8&pid=1-s2.0-S2950117223000237-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135763371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-11-11DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100021
Robin J. Bailey
{"title":"Power-law stratigraphy","authors":"Robin J. Bailey","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100021","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100021","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Digital well-logs registering the mineral properties of a drilled section provide information directly referring to its layering. Returns analyses of such logs can be used to generate an inventory of the layer thicknesses defined by the sampled variable. This reveals that layer thickness relationships have fractal-like power-law attributes, with negative exponents around 1.7, independent of the scale, age, facies and rates of accumulation of the analysed sections. Further research may show this to be a universal property of the stratigraphic record. Also, global average rates of accumulation of a wide range of facies prove to decline, power-law fashion, as the time-span of the estimate increases. Hence the stratigraphic record's layer-limiting hiatuses appear fractal-like in their temporal scaling. These related lines of evidence combine to suggest that the record is neither naturally hierarchical, nor inherently cyclic; and the corollary of an established universal stratal power-law would be that accumulation rarely occurs other than in circumstances leading to this condition.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100021"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000213/pdfft?md5=98ecbcdadd09e7b238e7c94bfc8986fa&pid=1-s2.0-S2950117223000213-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135664499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-11-10DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100018
Thomas Servais , Borja Cascales-Miñana , David A.T. Harper , Bertrand Lefebvre , Bert Van Bocxlaer , Wenhui Wang
{"title":"Cambrian explosion and Ordovician biodiversification or Cambrian biodiversification and Ordovician explosion?","authors":"Thomas Servais , Borja Cascales-Miñana , David A.T. Harper , Bertrand Lefebvre , Bert Van Bocxlaer , Wenhui Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100018","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100018","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In this study, we examine how metazoan biodiversity has accumulated from the late Precambrian until the Silurian at various scales of taxonomic organization using compilations of the First Appearance Data (FAD) of global marine Metazoa from the datasets available in the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) and primary literature. The results indicate that all animal phyla appear during the late Precambrian and the earlier parts of the Cambrian, which corresponds to the usual concept of the Cambrian Explosion. However, at lower taxonomic ranks, a significant increase of first appearances is observed during the Ordovician, corresponding to an Ordovician Explosion of animal orders, families and genera. The cumulative counts of metazoan FADs at these lower taxonomic ranks reveal a gradual and long-term increase of diversity, reflecting a single large-scale radiation that started in the late Precambrian and lasted at least until the Silurian. This scenario corroborates recent studies that point towards a single long-term radiation during the early Palaeozoic, without clearly distinguishable global diversity explosions during discrete intervals.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100018"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000183/pdfft?md5=6e09209d12af271fa285a0dcd4dbf42d&pid=1-s2.0-S2950117223000183-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135614129","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-11-02DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100020
William A. DiMichele, Carol L. Hotton, Conrad C. Labandeira, Hans-Dieter Sues
{"title":"A paleontological perspective on ecosystem assembly rules in the Paleozoic terrestrial realm","authors":"William A. DiMichele, Carol L. Hotton, Conrad C. Labandeira, Hans-Dieter Sues","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eve.2023.100020","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The principles of ecosystem and community assembly developed by modern ecologists should be, in principle, applicable to the evolutionary assembly of terrestrial ecosystems during the Paleozoic. There are three broad, general, not time-specific Assembly Rules that have been described by ecologists: dispersal constraints (i.e., can a species reach a given location?), environmental constraints (i.e., if it can reach the location, can a species survive under the prevailing physical conditions there?), and biotic constraints (i.e, once on site, can a species co-exist with or compete successfully against occupants, if any?). These three constraints are, in fact, filters, and function to mediate the process of evolution, selection acting only as a passive arbiter of variation. A paleontological perspective adds consideration of irreducible historical contingency that invisibly, unless explicitly considered, affects the detailed manifestation of the other three; this also can be and has been accessed to some degree via considerations of phylogeny. An explicitly ecological perspective provides a framework to conceptualize the development of early ecosystems via the evolutionary addition of plant-based architectural complexity and the addition of the fungal, arthropod, and vertebrate components. For long-term patterns, such as the increase in structural complexity of vegetation through the Devonian and Carboniferous, assembly rules help to explain long lag times between the origin of innovations and their rise to widespread prominence. For individual paleocommunities, they help to resolve questions of biodiversity - whether the taxonomic record of an assemblage is oversplit or overlumped, for example. That evolution takes place within the framework of ecology is undisputed. But what exactly is that framework? At the most basic level, it is assembly rules.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100020"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000201/pdfft?md5=e9e240ef75d66772d3ebaffb86568846&pid=1-s2.0-S2950117223000201-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134656759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-10-29DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100019
Brian F. Platt , Jon J. Smith
{"title":"Late Miocene paleoecology and paleoclimate in the central High Plains of North America reconstructed from paleopedological, ichnological, and stable isotope analyses of the Ogallala Formation in western Kansas, USA","authors":"Brian F. Platt , Jon J. Smith","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eve.2023.100019","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The late Miocene was a critical time in the development of the North American Great Plains marked by paleoclimate-driven biotic change, including faunal turnovers and the spread of C<sub>4</sub> dominated grasslands. The large volume of sediment shed from the Rocky Mountain region during this time preserves a record of these transitions, which can be informed by previously undescribed paleosol and trace fossil properties from the Ogallala Formation of the central High Plains. The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct paleoenvironments, paleoclimate, and paleoecology from outcrops of the Ogallala Formation in western Kansas by integrating paleopedology, ichnology, and stable isotope geochemistry. Eleven lithofacies are recognized in the study area, mostly massive to crudely stratified, fine-to coarse-grained sandstone and pebbly gravel with stratigraphically uncommon fine-grained lithofacies restricted to thinly bedded intervals or lens-shaped geometries within the sand-dominated strata. These host five pedotypes: 1) calcic Vertisols developed on overbank fines, 2) Entisols developed on braid bar gravels, 3) Entisols developed on volcaniclastic sediment lenses, 4) calcic Inceptisols developed on coarse sandy channel fills, and 5) calcareous Mollisols developed on fine sandy bedforms and channel fills. We recognize ten ichnogenera within paleosols, including burrows attributed to ants, bees, beetles or hemipterans, vinegarroon-like arthropods, fossorial reptiles, seed caching mammals, and large carnivorous mammals. Organic carbon stable isotopes indicate that the flora consisted entirely of C<sub>3</sub> plants, and paleosols and trace-fossil evidence suggest a tree-limited savanna environment with patches of unvegetated soil. Paleoclimate proxies from paleosol and trace fossil properties indicate mean annual air temperatures between 8 °C and 20 °C with seasonal differences of up to 14 °C between mean monthly temperatures of the warmest and coolest months. Mean annual precipitation was likely between 250 mm and 460 mm with a seasonal difference of up to 250 mm between mean monthly precipitation of the driest and wettest months. While hymenopteran tracemakers were active, soil surface temperatures reached at least 30 °C and moisture content was between 10% and 20%. With timing of deposition constrained biostratigraphically to the Barstovian through Hemphillian, our paleoclimate interpretations are most consistent with the period of relative climate stability after Middle Miocene Climate Transition cooling and before Late Miocene Cooling (∼13.8 Ma–7 Ma). The trace-fossil assemblage reveals previously unknown biodiversity among soil arthropods, as well as important trophic connections between the belowground and aboveground components of the terrestrial food web.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100019"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000195/pdfft?md5=449db58d6d86866bb00d0fb75ec46dc8&pid=1-s2.0-S2950117223000195-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136571803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100017
Josep Marmi , Aixa Tosal , Carles Martín-Closas
{"title":"Evolutionary history, biogeography, and extinction of the Cretaceous cheirolepidiaceous conifer, Frenelopsis","authors":"Josep Marmi , Aixa Tosal , Carles Martín-Closas","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eve.2023.100017","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><em>Frenelopsis</em> Schenk (family Cheirolepidiaceae†) was among the most widespread conifer genera and a dominant element of wetland ecosystems in low to mid-palaeolatitudes in the the Northern Hemisphere. It was also one of the more important peat-forming shrubs and trees generating extensive deposits of Cretaceous lignite. The genus became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. Studies of the presence/absence and diversity of <em>Frenelopsis</em> allow us to analyse its evolutionary history, biogeography, and the consider the possible causes of its extinction. During the Early Cretaceous, the genus diversified, triggered by the rise of short-lived species and the constraint of endemism. The maximum diversity and species richness were attained in Barremian and Aptian times while the maximum number of global occurrences is documented during the Albian. In the Late Cretaceous, <em>Frenelopsis</em> species richness declined and the genus became progressively more restricted to the Tethyan archipelago in the context of the rise to dominance of angiosperms. In the Maastrichtian, the last representatives of <em>Frenelopsis</em> survived in the coastal wetlands of Iberia as a relictual plant. In northeast Iberia (present-day Pyrenees) the last occurrences from this genus are early to middle Maastrichtian in age and show an intriguing contrast between the abundance of vegetative remains and the lack of <em>Classopollis</em> pollen grains. These data suggest that at the end of its lineage, the plant was reproducing only vegetatively and that male sterility may have contributed to extinction.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100017"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000171/pdfft?md5=9d7b608b2f34dac9129d5df883924ee7&pid=1-s2.0-S2950117223000171-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136571798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-10-17DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100016
Page C. Quinton, Michael C. Rygel
{"title":"Is there a link between carbon isotopes and sea level in epicontinental carbonate settings?","authors":"Page C. Quinton, Michael C. Rygel","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100016","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100016","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>A presumed link between carbon isotopic trends and sea level change features prominently in many studies of epicontinental carbonates. In these shallow marine environments, a combination of basin restriction, burial/oxidation of organic carbon, proximity to terrestrial carbon sources, carbonate mineralogy, and/or meteoric influence can result in δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>carb</sub> records that are distinct from that of the open ocean. Because many of these processes are linked to sea level change, it has been argued that sea level might exert a significant and systematic control on the δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>carb</sub> records from epicontinental settings. Multiple studies have attempted to document sea level's influence on carbon isotopic trends, but they do so with only limited constraints on sea level change and without objective evaluations of interpreted trends and relationships. We argue that the complex and complicated set of processes influencing carbon isotopic values in epicontinental settings requires a systematic approach to truly address the question of sea level's influence on δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>carb</sub>. Only by integrating carbon isotopic records with a detailed sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic framework can we properly track changes in depositional environments and reconstruct the transgressive-regressive history of the rocks. Trends and relationships in these robust datasets can be evaluated with rank correlation tests specifically designed and empirically tested to deal with noisy datasets. In short, we map a possible path forward for systematic testing of the relationship between sea level and δ<sup>13</sup>C<sub>carb</sub>.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100016"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S295011722300016X/pdfft?md5=c783a7e8b990a68ebb4f19ca0cbd22f8&pid=1-s2.0-S295011722300016X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135809637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-10-14DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100015
Mariano J. Tapia , Carolina Panti , Damián A. Fernández , Roberto R. Pujana , Viviana D. Barreda , Luis Palazzesi
{"title":"Response of the Patagonian floras to climatic cooling during Oligocene−Miocene transition and the expansion of Antarctic glaciation","authors":"Mariano J. Tapia , Carolina Panti , Damián A. Fernández , Roberto R. Pujana , Viviana D. Barreda , Luis Palazzesi","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eve.2023.100015","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Pulses of Antarctic ice sheet expansion and associated climatic deterioration are thought to have driven major shifts in the world's flora during the Cenozoic Era. However, the rarity of fossils from well-constrained sedimentary strata in high palaeolatitudes makes it difficult to explore to these vegetation shifts directly. In this study, we infer changing patterns of floristic richness through the Oligocene−Miocene cooling event (∼23 Ma), based on analysis of terrestrial palynological samples in the radiometrically-constrained sediments of the Río Guillermo Formation of southern Patagonia. Our fossil assemblages include plant families typical of modern Magellanic subpolar forests such as Nothofagaceae, Podocarpaceae, Araucariaceae, and Myrtaceae. Adjusted for sample completeness (or coverage), our floristic richness estimates are, on average, higher than those from modern subpolar forests yet considerably lower than any other Paleogene or Neogene palynological records published elsewhere from the continent. The transient Oligocene−Miocene cooling episode, whose effects were probably intensified in southern Patagonia due to its close proximity to the glaciated Antarctic Peninsula, may have contributed to the steep decline in floristic richness. We infer that most Gondwanan plant relicts that survived across the Oligocene−Miocene transition endured through subsequent Neogene climatic fluctuations and contribute to present-day Magellanic subpolar forests. Our study highlights how precisely-dated fossil assemblages and robust diversity methods can be used to track biodiversity shifts in response to past climate change.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100015"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000158/pdfft?md5=9e1af49cc9f8e769306a656d4aa2c76c&pid=1-s2.0-S2950117223000158-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136570895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolving EarthPub Date : 2023-10-12DOI: 10.1016/j.eve.2023.100013
T.P. Lange , L. Palcsu , A. Szakács , Á. Kővágó , O. Gelencsér , Á. Gál , S. Gyila , T. M. Tóth , L. Mațenco , Cs. Krézsek , L. Lenkey , Cs. Szabó , I.J. Kovács
{"title":"The link between lithospheric scale deformations and deep fluid emanations: Inferences from the Southeastern Carpathians, Romania","authors":"T.P. Lange , L. Palcsu , A. Szakács , Á. Kővágó , O. Gelencsér , Á. Gál , S. Gyila , T. M. Tóth , L. Mațenco , Cs. Krézsek , L. Lenkey , Cs. Szabó , I.J. Kovács","doi":"10.1016/j.eve.2023.100013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eve.2023.100013","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Understanding the formation, migration and emanation of deep CO<sub>2</sub>, H<sub>2</sub>O and noble gases (He–Ne) in deep-seated deformation settings is crucial to know the complex relationship between deep-originated fluids and lithospheric deformation. To gain a better insight into these phenomena, we studied the origin of H<sub>2</sub>O, CO<sub>2</sub> and noble gases of gas-rich springs found in the Târgu Secuiesc Basin located in the southeasternmost part of the Carpathian-Pannonian region of Europe. This study area is one of the best natural examples to understand the connection between the deep sources of gas emanations and deep-seated deformation zones, providing an excellent analogue for regions with similar tectonic settings and fluid emanation properties. We studied the δ<sup>2</sup>H and δ<sup>18</sup>O stable isotopic ratios of the spring waters, and the δ<sup>13</sup>C, He and Ne stable isotopic ratio of the emanating CO<sub>2</sub>-rich gases dissolved in the mineral spring waters in Covasna town and its vicinity. Based on the δ<sup>2</sup>H, δ<sup>13</sup>C, δ<sup>18</sup>O stable isotopic ratios, the spring waters and the majority of the gases are released through two consecutive fluid infiltration events. The preservation of the metamorphic signal of the upwelling H<sub>2</sub>O is linked to the local groundwater flow and fault abundancy. Furthermore, the noble gas isotopic ratios show a high degree of atmospheric contamination in the dissolved water gasses that is most likely related to the local hydrogeology. Nevertheless, the elevated corrected helium stable isotopic ratios (R<sub>c</sub>/Ra) of our filtered data suggest that part of the emanating gases have a potential upper mantle source component. Beneath the Southeastern Carpathians, mantle fluids can have multiple origin including the dehydration of the sinking slab hosting the Vrancea seismogenic zone, the local asthenospheric upwelling and the lithospheric mantle. The flux of the mantle fluids is enhanced by lithospheric scale deformation zones that also support the fluid inflow from the upper mantle into the lower crust. The upwelling CO<sub>2</sub>–H<sub>2</sub>O mantle fluids may induce the release of crustal fluids by shifting X(CO<sub>2</sub>) composition of the pore fluid and, consequently, initiating decarbonisation and devolatilization metamorphic reactions as a result of carbonate and hydrous mineral destabilisation in the crust. Based on the p-T-X(CO<sub>2</sub>) conditions of calc-silicates and the local low geotherm, we emphasise the importance of the upwelling fluids in the release and upward migration of further H<sub>2</sub>O and CO<sub>2</sub> in the shallower lower and upper crust. We infer that migration of deep fluids may also play an important role in addition to temperature control on the generation of crustal fluids in deep-seated deformation zones.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100516,"journal":{"name":"Evolving Earth","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100013"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950117223000134/pdfft?md5=760562bb09cda23425114f08388c1c93&pid=1-s2.0-S2950117223000134-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136571797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}