Volume 4, Issue 1

Mudstones of the Triassic Passaic Formation, near Milford, New Jersey, have yielded the first evidence of an arthropod impression in that formation. Associated trace fossils include Helminthoidichnites, Lockeia, Scoyenia, Spongeliomorpha, and the reptile footprint Rhynchosauroides, representing the Scoyenia ichnofacies. Associated sedimentary structures include desiccation cracks and raindrop impressions. The Passaic sediments were deposited under shallow water lacustrine shoreline conditions subject to periodic subaerial exposure.

The Middle Triassic fossil reptile localities near Bayreuth (Bavaria, southern Germany) consist of shallow marine autochthonous glauconitic marls and terebratulid-rich tempestite carbonates of the newly defined Bindlach and Hegnabrunn formations. Single bones and incomplete skeletons of marine reptiles have been recorded in bone beds within in the Illyrian and Fassanian stages. These include the remains of the sauropterygians Neusticosaurus sp., Lariosaurus cf. buzzii [1], Nothosaurus mirabilis [2], Paranothosaurus giganteus [2], Placodus gigas [3], Cyamodus rostratus [4], Cyamodus münsteri [5], Pistosaurus longaevus [6], and ichthyosaursOmphalosaurus sp., and Shastasaurus sp. or proterosaur Tanystrophaeus conspicuus [7]. New skeletal reconstructions are based on the osteological analysis of three dimensionally preserved bones and skeletal remains. The large number of marine endemic placodont macroalgae feeders (P. gigas) in the Bayreuth sites coincides with the presence of invertebrate palaeocommunities that are characteristic of macroalgae meadow paleoenvironments. Most of the reptile species and genera from the Bayreuth localities also occur in beds of similar ages from the Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland/Italy) or Perledo (Italy) lagoonal areas. Ichthyosaurs and pistosaurs were adapted for open marine conditions, and may have migrated from the Panthalassa Oceans into the shallow marine Germanic Basin to reproduce, whereas placodonts and many other sauropterygians seem to have lived permanently in those shallow marine habitats, with large squamates and thecodont or smaller archosaurs in coastal areas.

The effects of the intensive rainfall episodes in the years 2009 and 2010 in the Kőszeg Mountains were investigated. Channel profiles were constructed at various times during these periods, which were used to describe the channel changes. We measured the length of the incised and filled sections on multiple occasions. We could establish the degree and the direction of the changes using this data. The sediment veneer that developed in the area of Kőszeg town was mapped and its conditions of development were examined. The erosion and accumulation landforms developed during these years were classified and described. These forms are the following: rills, gullies, alluvial fans and sediment veneer. We distinguished and characterised those which had previously formed, but they were changed or increased (the channels). We established the conditions under which the sediment veneer can develop, furthermore those conditions which can increase the chance of the formation of this landform. These conditions are the following: the high density of roads in the catchment areas of valleys leading to settlements, the great thickness of superficial deposit, and the steep slope of the surface of the catchment area. We created theoretical classification of the morphological environment where the development of sediment veneer may happen and identified settlements with structures which promote or prevent the development of the sediment veneer. We determined the probability of the development of the sediment veneer at some settlements in Kőszeg, and suggestions have been given to decrease the chance of the development of this sediment veneer.

As a result of the massive irrigation development during the Soviet Union era and intensive chemization of agriculture, the surface runoff quality has been degraded in this arid and endorheic region. Moreover hydraulically related groundwater has also been affected. Excessive irrigation has lead to land salinization, which now threatens the soil quality of significant areas where crop yields would be at risk in the future. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, institutional changes have been undertaken for the management of natural resources and water infrastructure. At present, underdeveloped and inadequate systems have been practiced with respect to groundwater use and management. This paper analyzes the present extent of groundwater resources with consideration to their reserves, quality evolution, and to technical, institutional and transboundary management practices in Uzbekistan.

This article presents hydrogeophysical investigations performed in a well-developed, long-term hydrogeological gypsum karst research site where subsurface evaporite dissolution has led to the subsidence of a river dam and an adjacent highway; both constructed on gypsum-containing rock, southeast of Basel, Switzerland. An observation system was set up to improve the protection of surface and subsurface water resources during remedial construction measures of the highway and in order to understand the processes, as well as the temporal evolution, of rock water interaction (flow and dissolution). However, no detailed hydrogeological information beneath the river could be derived from the previous investigations. To supplement the basic knowledge on this area, underwater Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) measurements were conducted in the river bed upstream of the dam. The ERT-data are interpreted together with drill-core information and a conceptual 3D-Model of the area behind the dam and beneath the river. Results help to delineate weathered zones, associated faults and the thickness of sediment deposits behind the dam, as well as to locate voids within the local karst system. The combination of the ERT and modeling allows the optimization of future site-specific remedial construction measures.

Lake Ohrid (between FYR of Macedonia and Albania), situated in an active tectonic region of the Balkanides, is characterized by N — S trending active faults. To reconstruct the Holocene shoreline evolution we investigated the coastline using sediment cores and geophysical methods to image sedimentary and tectonic structures. We revealed areas of differing sedimentation regimes. The plains north and south of the lake are dominated by clastic input related to climate variations and uplift/erosion, whereas the steep western and eastern margins are controlled by recent tectonics. Furthermore, no evidence for a much higher lake-level during the Holocene was found in the plains north and south of the lake, except rare temporary floodings. This is supported by mappings of the limestone cliffs around Lake Ohrid, which yielded no evidence for abrasional platforms or notches as indicators for past highstands.

Fifty-two ostracod taxa were identified from two sediment cores collected from the early Badenian Židlochovice stratotype. Ostracod assemblages were analyzed with a focus on taxonomy, paleoecology, distribution of taxa along the sediment cores, quantification of valve/carapace ratios, and species richness by Simpson’s Reciprocal Index. The changes in ostracod assemblages identified in these cores reflect a shallowing of the marine water-depth from circalittoral/epibathyal to shallow infralittoral, and an increase in the sedimentation rate upwards through time. A comparison of all Badenian ostracod assemblages in the Carpathian Foredeep indicates a high proportion of deep-water ostracod species in Židlochovice and its surroundings, suggesting that the deepest part of the Carpathian Foredeep was probably situated in this part of the Czech Republic.

The paleogeographic reconstruction for an early Badenian connection of the Vienna Basin and the Carpathian Foredeep in the Mikulov area (Mikulov Gate) based on paleontological (otoliths) and geological (regional geology, tectonics) data has been provided. The ecologically homogenous deep water associations of otoliths in the most NW tip of the Vienna Basin (Sedlec HJ-2 Borehole) links up bathymetrically with nearly adequate otolith assemblages in the southernmost Moravian part of the foredeep. Ten meso- and bathypelagic teleost species have been identified in the Vienna Basin for the first time. Geological analyses proved inversion processes of recurrent nature along old faults of the NW-SE direction in the Dyje (Thaya) Depression. In the early Badenian the Mikulov Gate resulted from the sagging block of the Waschberg Zone. This marine channel was relatively deep (> 200m, as indicated by otoliths) and in all probability flooded an entire front of the nappes in this area.

In southern Poland, Miocene deposits have been recognised both in the Outer Carpathians and the Carpathian Foredeep (PCF). In the Outer Carpathians, the Early Miocene deposits represent the youngest part of the flysch sequence, while in the Polish Carpathian Foredeep they are developed on the basement platform. The inner foredeep (beneath the Carpathians) is composed of Early to Middle Miocene deposits, while the outer foredeep is filled up with the Middle Miocene (Badenian and Sarmatian) strata, up to 3,000mthick. The Early Miocene strata are mainly terrestrial in origin, whereas the Badenian and Sarmatian strata are marine. The Carpathian Foredeep developed as a peripheral foreland basin related to the moving Carpathian front. The main episodes of intensive subsidence in the PCF correspond to the period of progressive emplacement of the Western Carpathians onto the foreland plate. The important driving force of tectonic subsidence was the emplacement of the nappe load related to subduction roll-back. During that time the loading effect of the thickening of the Carpathian accretionary wedge on the foreland plate increased and was followed by progressive acceleration of total subsidence. The mean rate of the Carpathian overthrusting, and north to north-east migration of the axes of depocentres reached 12 mm/yr at that time. During the Late Badenian-Sarmatian, the rate of advance of the Carpathian accretionary wedge was lower than that of pinch-out migration and, as a result, the basin widened. The Miocene convergence of the Carpathian wedge resulted in the migration of depocentres and onlap of successively younger deposits onto the foreland plate.

The 22 meter thick marine carbonate Upper Oligocene series of Astrup (NW Germany) is correlated with the Chattian type section of Doberg. It indicates a more constrained palaeogeographical and biostratigraphical position ranging from the biozones of Chlamys (C.) decussata (upper Chattian A) to Chlamys (C.) semistriatus (lower Chattian C). The macrofauna can be subdivided into three main benthic communities: A. the „coarse gravel spondylid beach fauna“ of the shore zone with „pebble beach facies“ dominated by sessile brachiopods, large balanids, spondylids, oysters or small regular echinoids. Borings are common in pebbles; B. the „glauconite fine gravel brachiopod-bryozoan littoral fauna“ of the shallow subtidal zone where a terebratulid/lithothamnid dominated fauna/flora is present. The rhodophyceans were most possibly anker stones and substrates for cirripeds and serpulids; C. the „glauconite carbonate sand phytal fauna“ of the shallow subtidal zone with a rich benthic mollusc dominated fauna. Indirect evidence for seagrass and macroalgae occurs on the attachment negatives of balanids and oysters, and also on Cibicides foraminifera or bryozoans like Cellepora. The facies types along the Wiehengebirge Island and Teutoburger Wald Peninsula coasts of the southern Pre-North Sea Basin differ with respect to their benthic communities to that of the siliciclastic Leipziger and the Rhenish Bay facies.

The stratigraphy of the Taman Peninsula is defined using the sections at Zelensky Hill — Panagia, Popov Kamen, Taman and Zheleznyi Rog. The stratigraphy is constructed from distribution of mollusks, foraminifers, nannofossils, diatoms, and organic-walled phytoplankton, as well as incorporating paleomagnetic data. The occurrence of oceanic diatom species in the Middle-Upper Sarmatian, Maeotian and Lower Pontian makes a direct correlation possible between the sections studied, the Mediterranean basin and oceanic zonation. The new data on planktonic and benthic biotic groups suggests a pulsating connection of the Eastern Paratethys with the open marine basins, especially during transitional intervals within constant environments. Comprehensive studies of the Chokrakian-Kimmerian microbiota provide evidence for several levels of marine microbiotic associations that are related to short-term marine invasions. The biotic and paleomagnetic data of the Taman Peninsula sections give a more comprehensive, but sometimes a controversial picture on the Eastern Paratethys history and the nature of its relationship with the adjacent marine basins.