We report a new relative sea level curve from Inglefield Land, northwest Greenland, to investigate the transition from maximum to minimum loading across Nares Strait. We sampled marine bivalves and terrestrial macrofossils for radiocarbon dating from raised marine terraces in Rensselaer Valley, Inglefield Land (78.58°N, 70.71°W) to constrain relative sea level through the Holocene. The oldest terrestrial macrofossil of 9010–8650 cal yr BP provides a minimum-limiting constraint for the deglaciation. Sea level fell rapidly from the marine limit at 85 ± 4 m to 37.5 ± 4 m above sea level (m asl) between 9010–8650 and 7970–7790 cal yr BP at a rate of 49 m/ka. The rate of sea -level fall decreased to 11 m/ka between 7970–7790 and 5320–5060 cal yr BP, when it fell from 37.5 ± 4 to 9 ± 4 m asl. After 5,320–5,060 cal yr BP, we estimate sea level fell at a lower rate of 2 m/ka to modern sea level. The period of fastest emergence in Inglefield Land is earlier in time than in Hall Land, reflecting earlier deglaciation, and is steeper than in Hall Land and Washington Land. This sea-level history captures the transition from the style of emergence from Pituffik to Hall Land.

We investigated radiocarbon dates of human bone samples from several medieval sites in Trondheim, central Norway. Stable isotope data was used to estimate marine correction for the radiocarbon dates, which is necessary to correct the radiocarbon ages and establish age models for the archaeological layers. We observed that a marine correction without ΔR does not lead to a well-defined model for all sites. Allowing a variable ΔR improves the model, which indicates that food sources and trade routes have changed over time, influencing the mobility of food resources as well as of people. However, this does not work for all sites, indicating that variation of reservoir ages could also be the result of individual preferences for the food and that fish with different ΔR, and thus different geographical origin, was consumed during the same periods. Many radiocarbon and stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N) measurements have been carried out for the project. We calculated %marine consumption from the isotope values and found that it varies greatly, between 7% and 51%, and apparently independent of period, social status, churchyard location or other factors. Based on these data, we determined average reservoir ages for the marine food consumed in Trondheim during different phases, varying between ΔR = –150 and 280 years.

A range of sizes of eight sea urchin species in the Family Echinometridae (Echinostrephus aciculatus, Heliocidaris erythrogramma, Colobocentrotus atratus, Heterocentrotus mamillatus, Heterocentrotus trigonarius, Echinometra mathaei, Echinometra lucunter, and Echinometra vanbrunti) were digitized and their shapes decomposed using elliptical Fourier analysis to quantify shape differences. Coefficients of sines and cosines of harmonics were used in a principal components analysis to show the separation of species. The principal component analysis shows the Echinometridae shape morphospace with the greatest separation of Echinostrephus and Colobocentrotus from other species. Major loadings were related to morphological measurements: height/diameter, lift of the oral surface above the substrate, and position of the ambitus to height. All species showed an increase in height/diameter with size, but only some species showed a correlation of oral lift or position of the ambitus with Fourier coefficients.

The mudskipper Boleophthalmus dussumieri (Teleostei, Gobiiformes, Oxudercidae) is an amphibious goby native to the Indian Ocean, from Kuwait Bay and Persian Gulf to the northeast of the Arabian Sea and the western coast of India. This study reports on the first record of B. dussumieri in the Atlantic Ocean, based on morphological and molecular evidence. A single specimen was collected in September 2024 in São Marcos Bay, on the coast of the state of Maranhão (Brazilian Amazon Coast). This is the second exotic species of oxudercid goby reported for the coast of Maranhão, possibly accidentally introduced through ballast water discharge.

Using calibrated radiocarbon dates, this study investigates climate signals recorded in fluvial sedimentary archives from southern Poland, eastern Netherlands, and eastern Germany. Summed probability density functions (PDFs) were constructed and analyzed in the context of INTIMATE stratigraphy. The results indicate that fluvial sedimentation and erosion processes were closely linked to climate fluctuations, particularly during GS/GI and GI/GS transitions. The analyses indicate multi-scale relationships between regional geomorphological processes and global climate trends during the period from 50 to 15 cal kBP. This study provides a reconstruction of Late Pleistocene fluvial activity and highlights the need for more precise radiocarbon dates to refine correlations between regional and global climate events.

The Ordovician Puna retroarc foreland basin in northwestern Argentina accommodated the c. 3500 m thick Puna Turbidite Complex, consisting of the Lower and Upper Turbidite systems. The turbidites accumulated in the Middle Ordovician over 15 Myr. 744 new detrital zircon U-Pb ages obtained from seven medium and fine-sand turbidite layers of the Puna Turbidite Complex reflect a South American provenance from the Terra Amazonica and the early Terra Australis orogens between 2000 Ma and 440 Ma. The most abundant detrital zircon age group consists of Ordovician ages representing the Famatinian orogenic cycle (520–410 Ma), followed by those of the preceding Olmos-Pampean orogenic cycle (650–520 Ma), the Neoproterozoic rifting phase connected to Rodinia dispersal (1000–650 Ma) and the Sunsás orogenic cycle (1200–1000 Ma). The age distributions of fine and medium sand turbidite layers are statistically almost identical and do not display significant effects of sorting. Subchondritic ϵHf(t) values of Ordovician zircon emphasise crustal recycling and reworking as the most significant processes during the Famatinian Orogenic cycle. Hf(TDM2) indicates that crustal material mostly formed as juvenile crust in Mesoproterozoic time, during the Rȏndonia-San Ignacio and Sunsás orogenic cycles. Detrital zircon δ18O data obtained from syndepositional Ordovician zircon are elevated and range between 6.5 and 8.8 ‰. Combined with similar data from the literature on intrusive and orthometamorphic rocks of the Famatinian magmatic arc, these data indicate that crustal recycling and reworking of supracrustal rocks played a major role in the evolution of the Famatinian arc in the southern central Andes.

Mars, one of the most Earth-like celestial bodies in the Solar System, is a key focus in the search for extraterrestrial life. However, pure liquid water – essential for life as we know it – is unstable on its surface today due to low pressure and frigid conditions. Concentrated salt solutions (brines) may form through the deliquescence of hygroscopic salts like chlorates and perchlorates detected on Mars, offering a potential water source for hypothetical halotolerant organisms due to the brines’ lower freezing point and reduced vapour pressure. This study simulates brine formation on Mars using a methodical setup. Martian global regolith simulant MGS-1 was either supplemented with hygroscopic salts such as sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium chlorate (NaClO3), sodium perchlorate (NaClO4) or used without the addition of salts as a control. Samples were inoculated with the halotolerant yeast Debaryomyces hansenii, chosen for its high (per)chlorate tolerance. Desiccated samples were transferred to an environment with constant relative humidity (98%), allowing the salts to absorb water from the atmosphere through deliquescence. The study examined the survival of D. hansenii after desiccation and its ability to grow using water absorbed through deliquescence. The results revealed that D. hansenii survived the desiccation in samples containing NaClO3, NaCl or no additional salt and grew in the control samples as well as in the deliquescent-driven NaClO3 and NaCl brines. No survival was observed in samples containing NaClO4 after the desiccation step. These findings suggest that Mars could potentially harbour life in specific niches where deliquescent brines form, specifically in NaCl or NaClO3 rich areas. NaClO4, at least for the yeast tested in this study, is too toxic to support survival or growth in deliquescene-driven habitats.

The study of Ordovician ostracods from eastern North America has been neglected for more than 40 years, prompting the need for taxonomic updates. Newly acquired silicified materials from the Late Ordovician Crown Point Formation of Valcour Island, northeastern New York State, are here systematically described. Fifty-two species of 42 genera are identified, including three new species: Vogdesella longidorsa n. sp., Eokloedenella duodepressa n. sp. and Aviacypris valcourensis n. sp. The combination of high diversity and dominance of both beyrichiocopids and podocopids indicates that the Valcour fauna existed in a stable, shallow-water carbonate environment. Biostratigraphical evidence supports an early Sandbian age designation for the Crown Point Formation. Comparison of the Valcour fauna with others in Laurentia as well as from adjacent paleocontinents shows shared composition at the genus level, especially with Baltica, but high endemicity at the species level. This suggests a history of frequent faunal exchange with a fast speciation rate during the early Late Ordovician in the southern region of Laurentia.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/e12dc8ce-0b2a-4f9d-aca2-bf3e298d9635

Here, we present a first assessment of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) “Grass-Cast Southwest,” which is a forecasting tool for rangeland aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) for the southwest region of the United States. Our results show that ANPP forecasts in early April were relatively close to the observation-based ANPP estimates in late May for all years evaluated (R = 0.6–0.9). The relatively high predictability of spring rangeland productivity in this region is likely because it is strongly driven by antecedent winter/early spring precipitation. Conversely, the first summer forecasts produced in June did not consistently predict the final observation-based ANPP estimates in late August (R = −0.5–0.7), likely because summer rangeland productivity in this region is highly dependent on variable, less predictable precipitation from the North American Monsoon (NAM). Antecedent El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indices could be used to improve Grass-Cast Southwest performance in both the spring and summer. The ENSOJFM (January–March) index was significantly positively correlated with rangeland productivity during the spring season, whereas ENSOMAM (March–May) was significantly negatively correlated with rangeland productivity during the summer season.