A brief note on this subject was published in the GeologicalMagazine, Vol. LXXII, October, 1935. In September of that year certain more detailed experiments were prepared, whose object was to afford a means of measuring the rate of accretion of tidal silt on different types of marsh in various parts of the island complex. Reference to Text-fig. 1 will show that five lines were prepared. In each case patches of fine and distinctive light brown Lower Greensand were spread over the marsh at measured intervals. Sometimes the patches, each about 2–3 feet in diameter, were put down at regular distances, but, on account of the number of small creeks and salt pans intersected by any straight line across a marsh, it. was usually more convenient to make the intervals between patches irregular. The sand was spread as a fine layer in and on the vegetation, and after it had been covered by one or two big tides, it settled down easily on the true marsh surface under the plant covering. It was then only a matter of time before it was covered by tidal silt. The sand was put down in September, 1935, and the measurements of accretion were made at the end of June, 1937.

An integrated study of sedimentological, sequence-stratigraphic and palaeodispersal analysis was applied to the Upper-Permian clastic sedimentary succession in the Northern Sydney Basin, Australia. The succession is subdivided into fifteen facies and three facies associations. The facies associations are further subdivided into eight sub-facies associations. The sedimentary evolution involves progradation from delta-front to delta-plain to fluvial depositional environments, with a significant increase in sediment grain size across the unconformable contact that separates the deltaic from the overlying fluvial system. In contrast to the delta front that is wave/storm- and/or river-influenced, the delta plain is significantly affected by tides, with the impact of tidal currents decreasing up-sequence in the delta plain. The general lack of wave-influenced sedimentary structures suggests low wave energy in the delta plain. The abrupt termination of the tidal impact in the fluvial realm relates to the steep topographic gradients and high sediment supply, which accompanied the uplift of the New England Orogen. The sequence-stratigraphic framework includes highstand (deltaic forest and topset) and lowstand (fluvial topset) systems tracts, separated by a subaerial unconformity. In contrast to most of the mud-rich modern counterparts, this is an example of a sand-rich tidally influenced deltaic system, developed adjacent to the source region. This investigation presents a depositional model for tidal successions in regions of tectonic uplift and confinement.

Next to Hypsilophodon it was Polacanthus which attracted my attention. A careful study soon showed that, after the death of the animal, the remains of some Crocodilian had accidentally become commingled with this Dinosaur. Besides this, some pieces, namely, the back part of a skull and a cervical, showed remarkably Iguanodon-like characters, and the same is also true of the pubic bone described by Seeley in 1892 as belonging to Polacanthus.

As I intend pointing out further on, and as has also already been done by Seeley, Polacanthus was constructed essentially after the Struthiosaurus plan, and this is the reason why this Iguanodon-like basi-occipital has to be removed from the Polacanthus remains.

The biostratigraphic significance of selected uppermost Famennian (Upper Devonian) and lower Tournaisian (Mississippian) brachiopod genera, belonging to the orders Rhynchonellida (e.g. Araratella), Spiriferida (e.g. Sphenospira, Prospira), Spiriferinida (Syringothyris) and Productida (except Chonetidina), is discussed. Owing to the difficulties of identifying productidine and strophalosiidine genera, in contrast to rhynchonellides and spiriferides, the biostratigraphic potential of the former has generally been overlooked. Brachiopods flourished in neritic environments that were unfavourable for conodonts and ammonoids. In the absence of the latter traditional marker fossils, they are potentially important for locating the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary in shallow water depositional settings in conjunction with rugose corals and foraminifers. On a worldwide scale, further work is required to reach a better assessment of the aftermath of the Hangenberg biological Crisis on brachiopods, notably in revising the faunas from the classical areas of the Famennian and Tournaisian stages in Western Europe.

By the new method of Sm—Nd isotopic dating on phosphatic small skeletal fossils and collo-phanite minerals, the Zhongyicun Member of the earliest Cambrian Meishucun Stage at Meishucun in Yunnan, southern China, has been dated at 562.8 ± 7.9 Ma and 562.1 ± 5.7 Ma. Another Sm—Nd age, 570.3 ± 17.1 Ma, has been obtained with samples from the Zhongyicun Member in Yunnan and its stratigraphic equivalents in Sichuan and Xinjiang. These data tend to suggest that the best age estimate of the Precambrian—Cambrian boundary is very likely within the range of 560–570 Ma. As biophosphates and sedimentary phosphates are widely distributed in sequences of the Precambrian—Cambrian transition, the Sm-Nd isotopic method is recommended as an effective approach for precise dating of the initial Cambrian boundary.

The Notch Peak Formation (Late Cambrian, Sunwaptan) of western Utah yields diverse silicified trilobite faunas that provide new information on the anatomy of many taxa. The family Ptychaspididae Raymond, 1924, is represented by species of Keithiella Rasetti, 1944; Idiomesus Raymond, 1924; Euptychaspis Ulrich in Bridge, 1931; and Macronoda Lochman, 1964. At least four species are new, of which E. lawsonensis and M. notchpeakensis are named formally. Much previous work on Late Cambrian trilobites has emphasized biostratigraphic utility and the recognition of geographically widespread species. Data from new silicified collections indicate that this approach is difficult to justify because many putative ‘index species’ actually represent a plexus of closely related species whose biostratigraphic significance has yet to be determined. One such plexus is represented by E. kirki Kobayashi, 1935, whose previously reported occurrences in Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Nevada and northern Canada record at least four distinct species. Similarly, Macronoda can now be shown to consist of at least five late Sunwaptan species in south-central and western North America.

(1) 510 plants are recorded from various localities in the coalfield, fossils having been collected from several new localities.

(2) Fossil-plants are noted for the first time from the upper beds of the “Millstone Grit” of this district.

(3) Two new species of Sigillaria are described and figured.

(4) The known flora of the coalfield has been increased. Of the plants recorded—

6 species have not been recorded previously from Britain.

62 species have not been recorded previously from the coalfield, and

290 species have not been recorded previously from various localities in the coalfield.

Many of the species which have been previously recorded are here referred for the first time to definite horizons.

(5) The known vertical distribution of 38 species is extended to the Staffordian Series.

This paper describes the late Precambrian rocks in north-west Oscar II Land, western Spitsbergen, with particular emphasis on an upper (Haaken Formation) and lower (Trondheimfjella Formation) diamictite sequence. It is argued that both diamictites are glacigenic, formed by ice-rafting over distal turbidite basins, and correspond to the two Varangian tillite horizons of northern Norway and elsewhere. This leads to a radical reinterpretation of the age of the Oscar II Land succession, much of which now appears to be Vendian. With the exception of the Trondheimfjella Formation, which records an early phase of deepening of the depositional basin, the lower half of the succession (St Jonsfjorden Group) comprises mainly shallow water shelf sediments. The upper half of the succession (Comfortlessbreen Group) was deposited within a basinward prograding turbidite fan system, with the Haaken Formation representing the distal component of the complex. A return to a mixed clastic-carbonate shelf environment is recorded by the overlying Palaeozoic rocks.

The neontological concept of a species as a group of “unit populations” divided into geographical races or subspecies is applied to the palaeontological record, and the intrinsic similarities of geographical and chronological subspecies are discussed. It is concluded that the variety and the subspecies are different entities both of which have value in palaeontology. Quantitative measures of the level of specific and subspecific distinction are proposed.

From assemblages of Upper Jurassic organic-shelled microplankton from Dorset are described five new species of hystrichospheres. Of these, two are attributed to a new genus, Polystephanosphaera; one new species of the genus Hystrichosphaeridium, and two of the genus Baltisphaeridium are also described.

Richardson's (1911) detailed correlations of the Upper Rhaetic and Lower Lias strata of W Somerset are in need of revision; he wrongly identified the basal Langport Bed as the Cotham Marble at Blue Anchor and Lilstock. Likewise, his correlations of the Upper Rhaetic and Lower Lias strata between W Somerset and Glamorgan are erroneous; the lower parts of his Glamorgan Langport Beds were equated with the upper part of his W Somerset Cotham Beds. The greater part of the W Somerset Watchet Beds are, in the hand specimen, lithologically similar to Liassic shales and not to the White Lias ‘marly’ beds of Lavernock as he stated. The matter is important because the W Somerset coast is the recommended type area for the base of the Jurassic System, and Richardson&s classification of the strata is taken as the starting point for fixing this horizon.

Nearly 70 new Nd isotope analyses are presented for plutonic orthogneisses from the Grenvillian Central Metasedimentary Belt (CMB) in order to test a back-arc aulacogen model for its origin. Nd isotope signatures of metaplutonic rocks are used as probes of the formation age of the crust at depth, revealing sharp boundaries between old crustal blocks and juvenile (1.2–1.35 Ga) Elzevirian-age crust. Firstly, a hidden block of old crustal basement is revealed between areas of juvenile crust south of Douglas, Ontario. Secondly, TDM ages refine the boundary between juvenile crust and old basement (1.35–1.55 Ga) within the Weslemkoon batholith, showing this pluton to be a polygenetic stitching pluton that straddles a hidden crustal boundary. Finally, the CMB boundary zone is shown to form a sharp age boundary between juvenile and old crustal domains, and is interpreted as a reactivated rift-bounding normal fault. When the distribution of rift-related alkaline rocks is compared with these crustal boundaries, the Bancroft nepheline syenite suite is centrally located in a juvenile ensimatic zone between blocks of old basement. Such a location, near the axis of a juvenile crustal segment, implies emplacement late in the rifting process. Similarly, the Blue Mountain nepheline syenite appears to post-date an earlier rifting event to the southeast. Hence, a multi-stage model is proposed for the evolution of a back-arc aulacogen, which is consistent with the distribution of marble and volcanic/plutonic units in the CMB. The model places the Bancroft nepheline syenites in a precise plate tectonic context for the first time.

The East African Orogen contains a series of high-strain zones that formed as Gondwana amalgamated. The Tulu Dimtu shear belt is one of these N–S structures within the Barka–Tulu Dimtu zone in western Ethiopia, and contains ultramafic bodies of equivocal origin. Identifying the petrogenetic origin of these enigmatic rocks provides evidence for the geodynamic significance of these shear zones. Owing to their altered state, these ultramafic rocks’ well-preserved chrome spinels provide the only reliable evidence for their source and tectonic affiliation. Chrome spinels have high Cr2O3 (30.04–68.76 wt %), while recalculated Fe2O3 (< 2 %) and TiO2 (0.01–0.51 %) values are low. The Cr# (molar Cr3+/Cr3+ + Al2+) and Mg# (Mg2+/Mg2+ + Fe2+) have averages of 0.88 and 0.22, respectively. Based on olivine–spinel equilibria, the calculated fO2 values (FMQ +3.03) for the dunites reveal a highly oxidized environment. This spinel chemistry (high Cr# > 0.6 and low Ti) supports a supra-subduction origin, with an oxidized mantle source more refractory than depleted MORB mantle (DMM). These spinel compositions indicate that some ultramafic bodies in western Ethiopia, including those from Daleti, Tulu and Dimtu, are serpentinized peridotites emplaced as obducted ophiolite complexes. By contrast, the ultramafic rocks from the Yubdo locality have a different spinel chemistry, with strong affiliation with igneous spinels formed in Alaskan-style mafic intrusions. These collective results suggest that regardless of their origin as supra-subduction ophiolites or as Alaskan-type intrusions, these spinels were formed on a convergent-subduction margin.

Hydrofractures, or hydraulic fractures, are fractures where a significantly elevated fluid pressure played a role in their formation. Natural hydrofractures are abundant in rocks and are often preserved as magmatic dykes or sills, and mineral-filled fractures or mineral veins. However, we focus on the formation and evolution of non-igneous hydrofractures. Here we review the basic theory of the role of fluid pressure in rock failure, showing that both Terzaghi’s and Biot’s theories can be reconciled if the appropriate boundary conditions are considered. We next discuss the propagation of hydrofractures after initial failure, where networks of hydrofractures may form or hydrofractures may ascend through the crust as mobile hydrofractures. As fractures can form as a result of both tectonic stresses and an elevated fluid pressure, we address the question of how to ascertain whether a fracture is a hydrofracture. We argue that extensional or dilational fractures that formed below c. 2–3 km depth are, under normal circumstances, hydrofractures, but at shallower depth they may, but must not be hydrofractures. Since veins and breccias are often the products of hydrofractures that are left in the geological record, we discuss these and critically assess which vein structures can, and which do not necessarily, indicate hydrofracturing. Hydrofracturing can suddenly and locally change the permeability in a rock by providing new fluid pathways. This can lead to highly dynamic self-organization of crustal-scale fluid flow.

The geochemistry of Tertiary igneous rocks from Arran, western Scotland, provides a probe for the structure of the crust in the region of the Highland Boundary Fault (HBF). New Nd isotope data, coupled with other geochemical evidence, point to variable contamination of primitive mantle-derived magmas during magmatic differentiation in the crust. Two different isotopic contamination trends are seen. The northern granite was generated by contamination of basic differentiates by crust resembling exposed Dalradian units. Data for the central granite, and several other minor intrusions from south of the HBF, trend towards the reported isotopic signatures of granulite-facies xenoliths from the Midland Valley. However, quartz porphyry intrusions in the south of the island are compositionally similar to the nothern granite, and were probably intruded southwards across the HBF in dykes. Hence the isotopic signatures of the Tertiary intrusions reflect the different character of the crustal units on either side of the fault.

Zircon U–Pb dating and whole-rock geochemical analysis have been performed on Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous intrusive rocks of the Ulanhot area, NE China, with the aim of constraining the tectonic evolution of the central and southern Da Xingan Range. Zircon U–Pb dating indicates that Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous magmatic events experienced four stages at: c. 155 Ma; c. 144 Ma; 135–130 Ma; and c. 126 Ma. The c. 155 Ma magmatic event consists of quartz diorite and granite-porphyryp with the geochemical characteristic of high Sr and Sr/Y or high A/CNK (1.38), implying the primary magma was derived from partial melting of a thickened lower crust which induced the closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean. The c. 144 Ma magmatic event consists of quartz monzodiorite with the geochemical characteristics of alkaline series, and indicates the delamination of a thickened crust. The 135–130 Ma magmatic event consists of syenogranite and granite-porphyry with characteristics of both I-type and A-type granites, which induced both the subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific oceanic plate and the post-orogenic extension of the Mongol–Okhotsk Orogenic Belt. The c. 126 Ma magmatic event consisted of highly fractionated I-type biotite granite and alkaline series gabbro, marking the end of the Mongol–Okhotsk Orogen, and implying that the study area was controlled by the circum-Pacific tectonic system during this stage.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to deciphering the evolutionary history of the Hellenides by the study of a large sector of the chain located between the front of the ophiolitic units and the external zones classically attributed to the continental margin of Adria. In particular, the tectonic units located in Boeotia – a key area located in Central Greece at the boundary between the Internal and External Hellenides – were studied from structural, stratigraphic and biostratigraphic points of view. Addressing the main debated aspects concerning the origin of the ophiolite nappe(s), the tectonic evolution of the Hellenic orogen was revised with a particular emphasis on the period between obduction and continental collision. New findings were compared with consolidated data concerning the main metamorphic events recorded in the more Internal Hellenides, geochemistry and age of the ophiolites and main stratigraphic constraints obtained in other sectors of the belt. Finally, a new reconstruction of the tectonic evolution of this area was introduced and, in the context of the dispute concerning the origin of the ‘ophiolitic belts’ as a possible record of multiple oceanic basins, we put forward for consideration a ‘single ocean’ tectonic model spanning from Triassic up to Tertiary times, and valid for the whole Hellenic–Albanian sector.

The internal variations in the discordance of an inhomogenous zircon population from a bedded quartzite within a c. 2700 Ma old gneiss have been studied. Varying degrees of response to events in a common multi-episodic, post-depositional history are reflected in the uranium and lead isotopic systems of size and magnetic fractions.

A minimum 207Pb/206Pb age for non-magnetic zircons is 2840 Ma with 206Pb/238U and 207Pb/235U data for the three size fractions raising the possibility of an age of at least 3250 Ma. This is interpreted as a minimum age for crustal material that was in existence in the region before the formation of the Lewisian complex. Some of the slightly magnetic zircons also have a pre-2700 Ma radiogenic lead component.

The specimens submitted to me were obtained by Dr. E. O. Teale in the Tanga Hinterland in the Tanganyika Territory from beds assigned by Bornhardt to the Stormberg series of the Karroo system. Tanga is situated approximately on Lat. 5° S. Owing to the imperfect state of preservation and the fragmentary nature of the specimens, which occur as impressions on a hard lazninated arenaceous shale, it is impossible to express with confidence an opinion on the precise geological horizon of the beds or to assign all the fossils to a definite position in the vegetable kingdom.