Geology TodayPub Date : 2025-01-24DOI: 10.1111/gto.12503
James Barnet
{"title":"Eocene gastropods of the New Forest, UK","authors":"James Barnet","doi":"10.1111/gto.12503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12503","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Gastropods expanded into niches vacated by both terrestrial and marine organisms following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, to become one of the dominant mollusc groups of the Cenozoic. The Selsey Formation of Eocene age was deposited within a shallow marine embayment across the Hampshire Basin (southern England) and contains a particularly diverse gastropod assemblage, forming the surface geology across the northern part of the New Forest National Park. Here, I use closely related gastropod species alive in the seas today to offer insights into the lifestyles and habitats of extinct Eocene species. By integrating this with other geological evidence, including gastropod preservation and other associated fossils, I paint a picture of the climate and environment on the New Forest seafloor during the Eocene epoch.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"41 1","pages":"26-37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gto.12503","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143118818","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}
Geology TodayPub Date : 2025-01-24DOI: 10.1111/gto.12501
Simon J. Braddy
{"title":"The Tully monster remains an evolutionary enigma","authors":"Simon J. Braddy","doi":"10.1111/gto.12501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12501","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The affinities of the Tully monster (<i>Tullimonstrum gregarium</i>), from the late Carboniferous Mazon Creek Lagerstätte (~309 Ma) of Illinois, have been debated since its discovery. <i>Tullimonstrum</i> is up to ~35 cm long with a long proboscis ending in pincers and an elongate tapering body with caudal dorsal and ventral fins. This iconic evolutionary enigma or ‘weird wonder’ has been suggested to relate to arthropods, various ‘worms’, tunicates, conodonts, lancelets, vetulicolians and even vertebrates, but it may be a mollusc (Caenogastropoda) such as a pterotracheid (heteropod) pelagic gastropod, similar to <i>Pterotrachea coronata</i> (the ‘sea elephant’).</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"41 1","pages":"19-22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143118815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Geology TodayPub Date : 2025-01-24DOI: 10.1111/gto.12502
Deborah Painter
{"title":"The doctor who transported extinct reptiles by rail","authors":"Deborah Painter","doi":"10.1111/gto.12502","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12502","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"41 1","pages":"23-25"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143118816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Geology TodayPub Date : 2025-01-24DOI: 10.1111/gto.12500
Mats O. Molén
{"title":"Are all glacial diamictites glacial? Implications for palaeoclimatology","authors":"Mats O. Molén","doi":"10.1111/gto.12500","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12500","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Interpretations of the origins of pre-Pleistocene diamictites are in a state of flux, changing from glacial processes to sediment gravity flows (SGFs). Working methods for the study of such deposits need to be multi-proxy and process-sedimentological and not start with presumptions based on former models or interpretations. For instance, the detailed documentation of pavements, dropstones and erratics indicate that a shift from glaciogenic interpretations to SGFs for many pre-Pleistocene diamictites is needed. In another example, surface microtextures (SM) formed by glaciers display a combination of large-scale fractures and (irregular) abrasion, in contrast to non-glacial environments, and may therefore be used as a quick diagnostic working tool.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"41 1","pages":"10-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143118870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Geology TodayPub Date : 2024-11-26DOI: 10.1111/gto.12497
Krishanu Datta
{"title":"Cherrapunji, India: a land of waterfalls and speleothems, and the right place to become a UNESCO Global Geopark","authors":"Krishanu Datta","doi":"10.1111/gto.12497","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12497","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Here, I propose that Cherrapunji, one of the wettest places on the planet, should be a potential site as a UNESCO Global Geopark. This location is not only associated with numerous majestic waterfalls, karst topography and multiple natural caves and speleothems with global scientific value, but is also of great significance to local people. These features have made this place an important area for geoscience research, as well as an important area for the development of geotourism. Cherrapunji is also the source of the ‘Meghalayan Age’, the most recent age in the geological timescale, defined by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) in 2018, for the past 4200 years of the Holocene. This article calls on researchers, government officials as well as the local people to take all the necessary steps to make Cherrapunji a UNESCO Global Geopark.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"40 6","pages":"243-247"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142724185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Geology TodayPub Date : 2024-11-26DOI: 10.1111/gto.12495
James Barnet
{"title":"Can a 62-million-year-old ‘hyperthermal’ event hold the clues to our uncertain future climate?","authors":"James Barnet","doi":"10.1111/gto.12495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12495","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate change has been rising to an ever-increasing prominence in the news headlines in recent years, as local and global temperature records are obliterated, and extreme weather events occur with increasing frequency and severity. Preparing for an uncertain future climate represents one of the biggest challenges humans have ever faced. Here, I take you back 62 million years ago (Ma) to a poorly studied short-lived global warming event known as the Latest Danian Event (LDE), which may represent a good analogue for current human-induced climate change. I discuss evidence for changes in temperature and pH of the oceans during the LDE, using novel geochemical proxies on the calcite shells of zooplankton to prove that the LDE was the first global ‘hyperthermal’ event of the Cenozoic. I also delve into the potential forcing mechanisms behind the event, outlining the critical outstanding questions which palaeoclimatologists are yet to answer. Most importantly, I highlight the lessons we can learn from the LDE about our future climate, allowing us to better plan, prepare and adapt.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"40 6","pages":"228-235"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gto.12495","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142737406","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}
Geology TodayPub Date : 2024-11-26DOI: 10.1111/gto.12496
Mario Guglielmi, Valentin R. Troll, Joerg Foest, Juan Carlos Carracedo
{"title":"Messages from the past: the petroglyphs of El Hierro Island, Canary Islands","authors":"Mario Guglielmi, Valentin R. Troll, Joerg Foest, Juan Carlos Carracedo","doi":"10.1111/gto.12496","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12496","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ancient cultures have frequently made use of stone surfaces to carve and engrave symbols, letters and messages for others. These petroglyphs usually have a lasting character and are frequently preserved well beyond the survival of the culture that produced the petroglyphs. In this article, we focus on the written and pictorial testimony of the pre-Hispanic era of the island of El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain), which exploited a series of volcanic rock features to create a written testimony of their presence and their way of life. This specific cultural heritage has been adapted to the specific geological features on the island and the emerging stone masonry skill of the aboriginal culture of the original islanders, creating a unique and lasting record of their ability to use geological elements for cultural development.</p>","PeriodicalId":100581,"journal":{"name":"Geology Today","volume":"40 6","pages":"236-242"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gto.12496","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142737404","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}