In 2017 a 75 g meteorite was recovered from a roof cavity of a summer house annex at Dueodde on the Danish island of Bornholm. Although the fall of Denmark’s 8th recovered meteorite was not witnessed, the meteorite could have only resided there for a few years due to the age of the annex. We report the first detailed micro-analytical analysis of the mineral textures and mineral chemistries of this little-studied meteorite and attempt to classify the class, metamorphic grade and weathering state. Dueodde is a small, slightly abraded fusion-encrusted meteorite that has a pale medium to coarse-grained orthopyroxene-olivineplagioclase-metal-rich interior. The compositional range of olivine (Fa16-20; where Fa = 100*Fe/(Fe+Mg)) and orthopyroxene (Fs17-18; where Fs = 100*Fe/(Fe+Mg)) in matrix and chondrules confirms Dueodde to be an H class ordinary chondrite. Chemical element maps highlight the occurrence of barred, radial and porphyritic chondrules, some of which are up to c. 3 mm in diameter. These maps also reveal that all three types of chondrule are distinctly depleted in metal minerals compared to the matrix, with this texture interpreted to represent metal expulsion during chondrule formation prior to incorporation and metamorphism in the parent body. The preservation of chondrule textures, the small variation in olivine Fa across the entire sample, and the plagioclase compositions suggest that Dueodde experienced metamorphism of grade 5 whilst in the parent body.
Microcommacopros is suggested as a replacement name for the ichnogenus Commacopros Hunt, Nielsen & Milàn, 2026, from the Eocene Lillebælt Clay Formation, to avoid confusion with the ichnogenus Kommacopros Duffin & Ward, 2025, from the Late Cretaceous of Marocco, as they share the same etymological root, but are morphologically different.
The majority of Palaeogene coprolite localities are in nonmarine strata. We describe a new, large and diverse ichnofauna of small-sized vertebrate and invertebrate coprolites ranging from 0.5 – 14 mm in length, from the marine Eocene of Denmark that includes several new ichnotaxa. The ichnofauna derives from the early – middle Eocene Røsnæs Clay Formation (R6) and Lillebælt Clay Formation (L2) in the active claypit at Hinge, middle Jylland, Denmark. The vertebrate coprolites represent six morphotypes and 6 new ichnotaxa – Kylindrocopros hingeensis igen. et isp. nov., Kathemacopros duffini igen. et isp. nov., Osteocopros frandseni igen. et isp. nov., Commacopros dentziendiasae igen. et isp. nov., Kranocopros lucasi igen. et isp. nov. and Hingecopros lillebæltensis igen. et isp. nov. We recognize a new ichnospecies of Kylindrocopros, K. rakshitae igen. et isp. nov. from the Eocene of the United States. Funiculocopros sinuosus igen. et isp. nov. is a member of the invertebrate coprolite ichnofamily Lumbricariidae and is the only post-Mesozoic example. This assemblage includes a rare co-occurrence of vertebrate and invertebrate coprolites.
New material of trilobites and agnostoids has been collected from in situ occurrences of the Miaolingian Exporrecta Conglomerate in V & auml;sterg & ouml;tland, Sweden, and from Pleistocene ice-rafted boulders of the Andrarum Limestone and Exporrecta Conglomerate in Denmark, which are assumed to derive from that region. Both units represent the lower part of the Lejopyge laevigata Zone. The erratic boulders of Andrarum Limestone consist of compact, light-to dark-grey, highly fossiliferous limestone, essentially identical to the Andrarum Limestone in southernmost Scandinavia (Sk & aring;ne-Bornholm). To date, no in situ occurrences of this lithology have been documented from anywhere in Scandinavia north of Sk & aring;ne. The new fossil material includes well-preserved specimens of Acontheus acutangulus, Corynexochus spinulosus and Dolichometopus svecicus. Notably, the new pygidia of these taxa show features not recorded in the respective type specimens, which are refigured here for comparison.
The majority of Palaeogene coprolite localities are in nonmarine strata. We describe a new, large and diverse ichnofauna of small-sized vertebrate and invertebrate coprolites ranging from 0.5-14 mm in length, from the marine Eocene of Denmark that includes several new ichnotaxa. The ichnofauna derives from the early-middle Eocene R & oslash;sn ae s Clay Formation (R6) and Lilleb ae lt Clay Formation (L2) in the active claypit at Hinge, middle Jylland, Denmark. The vertebrate coprolites represent six morphotypes and 6 new ichnotaxa-Kylindrocopros hingeensis igen. et isp. nov., Kathemacopros duffini igen. et isp. nov., Osteocopros frandseni igen. et isp. nov., Commacopros dentz iendiasae igen. et isp. nov., Kranocopros lucasi igen. et isp. nov. and Hingecopros lilleb ae ltensis igen. et isp. nov. We recognize a new ichnospecies of Kylindrocopros, K. rakshitae igen. et isp. nov. from the Eocene of the United States. Funiculocopros sinuosus igen. et isp. nov. is a member of the invertebrate coprolite ichnofamily Lumbricariidae and is the only post-Mesozoic example. This assemblage includes a rare co-occurrence of vertebrate and invertebrate coprolites.
This is the first comprehensive description of late Oligocene otoliths from the northern North Sea Basin, i.e., the Norwegian-Danish Basin. More than 2100 otolith specimens had been collected from 17 localities in Denmark and from the er-ratic Sternberger Gestein of Mecklenburg, Germany. A total of 60 species have been identified from the Danish localities, of which 9 are new species, and four from the Sternberger Gestein and three further species are described from localities in the southern North Sea Basin that have previously remained as nomina nuda. The new species in the sequence of description are Sardinella mecklenburgensis, Palaeoesox scandicus, Paraulopus superstitius, Lampanyctus morsensis, Lampanyctus vilsundensis, Enchelyopus dybkjaerae, Palimphemus pinguis, Trisopterus brevicollum, Trisopterus cylindratus, Trisopterus weileri, Coelorinchus ignotus, Nomeus sternbergensis, Artediellus iutlandicus, Myoxocephalus aculeatus, Dapalis bradicae and Lophiodes sliwinskae. The faunal composition exhibits some substantial differences to well-known otolith assemblages of the southern North Sea Basin in western Germany, The Neth-erlands and Belgium. These differences are thought to be related to cooler water temperatures in the northern North Sea Basin during the late Oligocene compared to the postulated warm pool in the southern North Sea Basin. Certain localities in the northwestern region of Jutland (Denmark) were deposited in greater water depth on the lower shelf or upper bathyal zone and contained for the first time in the upper Oligocene otoliths of the mesopelagic Myctophidae and the bathybenthic Macrouridae in the North Sea Basin. In combining the knowledge of otoliths from the southern and northern parts of the basin, we arrive at an improved understand-ing of the evolution of bony fishes in the region during the late Oligocene, a time when the North Sea Basin had transformed into a cul-de-sac basin open only to the north. Climatic changes such as cold pulses (Oi-2 and Mi-1 events) and warm influx (Asterigerina Horizon) are reflected in the composition of the fish fauna. The enhanced otolith database enabled us to establish a consistent, formal otolith zonation for the Oligocene of the North Sea Basin based on gadid otoliths. More-over, we performed 87Sr/86Sr isotope analyses for certain localities in addition to those published, and as a result, we propose to expand the range of the Brejning Formation from about 22.4 Ma to 26.0 Ma, therewith extending into the basal Mio-cene.
The serpulid palaeocommunity of the Late Oligocene Brejning Formation in Jylland (Jutland) is described and discussed based on specimens collected at Vil-sund, Mogenstrup, Hinge, Aarhus, and N & oslash;rre Vissing localities. The serpulid species are: Protula cf. septaria (Giebel, 1858), Filogranula mogenstrupensis sp. nov., Placostegus vilsundensis sp. nov., Placostegus cf. erectus (Nielsen, 1931), and Placostegus cf. bilobatus (von Koenen, 1891). The semi-ordered irregularly oriented prismatic microstructure (SOIOP) of the tube wall of Protula cf. septaria (Giebel, 1858) is examined and discussed for the first time. These serpulids lived in a calm, normal marine palaeoenvironment below storm wave base. Furthermore, the first known vermetid gastropod from the Late Oligocene of Jylland, Vermetus jyllandensis sp. nov., is introduced, and its shell microstructure is discussed.
The Putoq Intrusion is a small (8 & times; 4 km) body of distinctive rocks that intruded comprises an outer hornblende monzonite surrounding an inner hornblende syenite. Evidence for mingling with mafic magmas is present in both the monzonite and syenite. The rocks are metaluminous and quartz-bearing. Zircon U-Pb dating of two samples yields an age of c. 1.81 Ga, indicating a link to c. 1.81-1.79 Ga rocks of the younger portion of the Julianeh & aring;b Igneous Complex, and that the Putoq Intrusion is unrelated to the c. 1.1 Ga Gardar Province intrusions to the north. The Putoq Intrusion is similar to the Julianeh & aring;b Igneous Complex in that it has trace element patterns typical of crustal rocks linked to subduction, and initial 87Sr/86Sr and epsilon Nd values of 0.7027 to 0.7044 and +0.6 to -1.4, respectively. The higher K2O contents, more alkalic and ferroan compositions of the Putoq Intrusion are similar to contemporaneous granitoids of the Adlavik Domain in the Makkovik Province of Labrador, Canada. However, the Adlavik rocks are distinguished from the Putoq Intrusion by higher concentrations of high field strength elements. The Putoq Intrusion is therefore considered to represent an alkalic component of the Julianeh & aring;b Igneous Complex, potentially formed by fractionation of mafic magmas derived from melting of an enriched lithospheric mantle source.
The free-living part of the restricted bryozoan fauna in the Late Miocene (Torto-niart) Gram Formation, Denmark is described. Four species are recorded: C & icy;& rcy;& icy;-ladria sp. aff. biporosa, Lunulites voigti, Reussirella germinatio n. sp. and Gramipora laxevincta n. gen., n. sp. The new suborder Cupuladriina nov. is introduced. The condepts of 'free-living' vs. 'free-lying' colonies are discussed briefly, with three categories of 'free-living' colonies considered, all exemplified by the four free-living taxa in the Gram fauna.
Cavities (crypts) formed postmortally within conjoined valves of acrotretoid bra-chiopods from the Fimbuldal Formation (Cambrian, Miaolingian Series) of North Greenland contain phosphate encrustations of microbial threads, probably fungi. The planar relationship between these cryptoendolithic masses and the sediment that partially fills the brachiopod interiors defines palaeohorizontal surfaces with-in geopetal structures. These surfaces parallel the commissural plane, indicating that the dead shells lay in a hydronamically stable position on or within the bot-tom sediment at the time the geopetals were formed
The systematic affinities of Palaeocentrotus boggildi within acanthomorph fishes have never been properly discussed. A comparative analysis of the skeletal anat-omy of the genera Cyttus and Zeus was used by K & uuml;hne to support the placement of Palaeocentrotus within the zeiforms, despite certain features are completely dif-ferent from those characteristic of zeiforms. Bonde (1966) was the first that rec-ognised the lampridiform affinities of Palaeocentrotus and allocated the genus to its own family, Palaeocentrotidae. However, this hypothesis was not supported by a discussion of the relevant features to justify a possible relationship with the Lampridiformes. The anatomical survey of the known material of Palaeocentrotus boggildi presented here resulted in the identification of a suite of features that is re-garded as diagnostic of the Lampridiformes, including: anterior palatine process absent, mesethmoid posterior to lateral ethmoids, elongate ascending premaxil-lary process longer than the alveolar process and inserting into the frontal vault, premaxilla and dentary edentolous, endopterygoid teeth absent, urohyal bearing a large ventral laminar expansion, second ural centrum free from fused first ural and preural centra and fused posteriorly to the upper hypural plate, presence of two supraneurals and of a single postcleithrum. The most striking feature of the Palaeocentrotidae, comprising only Palaeocentrotus and Natgeosocus, is the unique configuration of the dorsal fin wherein true spines occur exclusively in the central portion. This peculiar condition represents a further example of the remarkable plasticity of the acanthomorph median fins.
The Lower Cretaceous Tuxen and Sola formations in the Danish Central Graben (North Sea) constitute pelagic chalks and marlstones, which locally are hydrocarbon-bearing. Based on previous identification of 21 sedimentary facies in the cored Boje-2C well of the Boje Field, 66 samples were analysed through backscattered electron microscopy to delineate how the microscopic character reflects the macroscopic sedimentary facies and to identify indications of diagenesis. For most samples, microscopic characters can clearly be related to the previously identified sedimentary facies. Bioturbation and shear deformation, however, were not consistently reflected in the microscopic character. In all samples, the microtexture is characterised by massive or laminated calcareous mudstone with varying content of mainly kaolinitic clay and only sparse remains of microfossils or shell fragments, whereas particles of quartz silt and kaolinitic claystone silt are common. Porosity is mainly interparticular, typically reaching 25% in the Sola and upper Tuxen formations, and declining with depth to ca. 17% in the lower Tuxen and upper Valhall formations. Diagenesis is reflected in the occurrence of calcite cementation, pyrite and calcite-rimmed dolomite, and some pores may represent moulds after silicious microfossil fragments, which probably sourced the locally observed silicification of the sediment. Further, in clay-poor intervals below the oil zone, a significant diagenetic feature constitutes biogenic calcite mud particles that become increasingly recrystallized and euhedral with depth. It is therefore possible that burial-related crystal ripening was delayed in the oil zone represented by the upper part of the core. In the underlying transition zone, which in the Boje-2C well comprises most of the Tuxen Formation, the degree of recrystallization increases with depth as water saturation increases. Pressure dissolution features were noted in clay-rich intervals, but proper stylolites were not encountered, reflecting the generally high clay content of these marly chalks.
The Cambro–Ordovician successions penetrated by the fully cored shallow boreholes Gravgærde-1, Hjulmagergård-1 and Vasegård-1 are summarised; none has been described previously. All three boreholes are located south-west of Åkirkeby on Bornholm, Denmark. Gravgærde-1 drilled 4.1 m of the Alum Shale Formation and the upper 2.2 m of the Rispebjerg Member (Læså Formation). Hjulmagergård-1 drilled 7.65 m of the Dicellograptus Shale, 1.55 m of the Sularp Formation and 4.6 m of the Komstad Limestone before being terminated 3.7 m into the Alum Shale. The basal part of the Komstad Limestone is faulted and shows slight repetition, suggestive of reverse reactivation of the fault. The underlying Alum Shale is completely brecciated and clearly represents a fault zone. Vasegård-1 drilled the basal 2.0 m of the Dicellograptus Shale, the Sularp (1.65 m) and the Komstad Limestone (4.8 m) formations in their entirety, before being terminated 9.65 m into the Alum Shale. The Alum Shale succession in Vasegård-1 was analysed using a handheld XRF analyser, allowing construction of a core gamma-ray curve that can be correlated with wireline-logged boreholes as well as with the Alum Shale exposed at Limensgade, where a detailed tie between the gamma-ray log pattern and the Tremadocian graptolite zonation has been established using a handheld gamma-ray logger. The correlation indicates that the upper part of the Alum Shale Formation in the Vasegård-1 core represents the Tremadocian (4.9 m) and the Furongian Acerocarina (1.5 m) plus the uppermost Peltura (3.2 m) superzones. Gravgærde-1 confirms that the Alum Shale constitutes the bedrock in a belt extending from Soldatergård to north of Gravgærde. This belt is separated from the Ordovician strata to the east by a NW–SE striking fault with a vertical offset of around 40–50 m, which was intersected by the Hjulmagergård-1 borehole. A combination of data from Vasegård-1, Limensgade quarry and the nearby St. Bukkegård-1 borehole indicates that the Alum Shale Formation is at least 35.6 m thick in the Læså area but may reach 38 m. The maximum documented thicknesses on Bornholm of the Komstad Limestone (4.8 m) and the Ordovician Alum Shale (4.9 m) are recorded in the Vasegård-1 borehole.
The Greenland Ice Sheet experienced a minimum ice volume phase in the middle Holocene. The timing and footprint of this minimum ice configuration remain poorly constrained. This minimum configuration, along with ice-sheet recession into and re-growth out of this minimum ice phase, provide critical constraints of the ice sheet's response to Holocene climate forcing. With few exceptions, the late Holocene expansion across the entire ice-sheet perimeter culminated during the last millennium - a period that encompasses the Little Ice Age. Here we focus on a rare moraine in North-East Greenland to which we assign an age of similar to 4600 +/- 400 cal. yr BP via correlation with local sea level curves. Thus, the moraine post-dates the middle Holocene minimum ice phase yet pre-dates the Little Ice Age by thousands of years. The early Neoglacial age of the moraine attests to this sector of the ice sheet reaching modern day ice-margin configuration as early as similar to 4.6 ka, which is consistent with findings elsewhere in North-East Greenland.
On 2 October 1951, a 750 g meteorite fell as two pieces over the Danish city of Aarhus. A sample of Aarhus is examined here using modern in situ analytical methods to reassess the meteorite's history, which was previously investigated in 1963 using petrography, wet chemistry and X-ray diffraction. It is here confirmed to be an H6 ordinary chondrite based on the textural characteristics and the homogenous olivine (olivine (#Fa19.9 +/- 0.5) and orthorhombic low-Ca pyroxene (enstatite, Fs17.6 +/- 0.7) compositions. The meteorite's pyroxene Mn/Fe ratios align with the trend of those for non-differentiated planetary bodies and thus support the assumption that the parent body largely retained a chondritic composition. Aarhus preserves textural evidence for a phase of brecciation pre-dating the major metamorphic recrystallisation phase and so occurred early on in the parent body history, possibly during the asteroid's construction. The main metamorphic textures are then overprinted by shock fracturing of olivine and pyroxene and the formation of maskelynite after plagioclase, which may relate to the catastrophic disruption of the parent body. Aarhus is similar to the Danish meteorites Ejby (H5/6), which landed on Copenhagen in 2016, and Dueodde (H5), which was recovered from a roof on Bornholm in 2017.
A new stromateiform fish from the earliest Eocene Fur Formation, northwestern Denmark, is described as Parapropercarina multispinata gen. et sp. nov. by using non-destructive µXRF-element mapping and standard comparative osteology. The new genus and species is diagnosed by a distinctive combination of characters: a moderately elongate, laterally compressed body; six branchiostegal rays, a single deeply notched dorsal fin with 15 spines and 18 rays; three supraneurals; anal fin with two or three spines and 24 soft rays; pectoral fin with 18 rays extending posteriorly approximately at the level of the 10th abdominal vertebra; pelvic fin containing one spine and five rays; 36 (15+21) vertebrae; well-developed parapophyses on posterior abdominal vertebrae; caudal skeleton comprising fused hypurals 1+2, partially fused hypurals 3+4, autogenous hypural 5, autogenous parhypural lacking parhypurapophysis, two uroneurals, and three epurals; oral jaw dentition uniserially arranged; body densely covered with thin, cycloid scales. Parapropercarina multispinata gen. et sp. nov. thus shows a mosaic of features, that clearly aligns it within the Stromateiformes (Stromateoidei). This new fossil extends the occurrence of a body plan similar to that of propercarinids back to the early Eocene of the eastern North Sea Basin.
The Danish subsurface ash series within the Eocene-aged Fur and Ølst Formations has a large theoretical CO2 storage capacity through carbon mineralisation, a potential that is the main motivation behind the C·ASH project initiated by researchers from the Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University. The potential carbon storage is achieved by injection of CO2 into the closely spaced volcanic ash beds in the Danish subsurface to accelerate silicate dissolution, leading to carbon fixation by mineralisation of CO2 as carbonate minerals. This provides a valuable alternative to conventional CO2 storage technologies that typically aim to store CO2 as a supercritical phase in deep porous aquifers. One of the essential requirements for the mineralisation technology is the identification of ash beds that contain enough reactive divalent cations (Ca2+, Fe2+, Mg2+) to sustain the silicate dissolution – carbonate precipitation reactions. This study aims to provide a geochemical proxy to identify and locate suitable ash beds with high CO2 sequestration potential. For this purpose, the shallow Harre borehole drilled in 1980 in northwestern Denmark is analysed using high-resolution XRF and SEM-EDS. In the Harre well the ash beds are most abundant within a five meters thick interval in the uppermost part of the Ølst Formation between 191 and 196 meters below surface. The XRF data show that titanium (Ti) is the most reliable elemental proxy for identifying the volcanic ash beds and that calcium (Ca), which is an important divalent cation for carbon mineralisation, is mostly enriched in the volcanic ash beds within the five meters interval. However, Ca may also be associated with gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) and carbonates (CaCO3), suggesting that part of the Ca have already leached from silicates within the ash beds. This fraction is believed to be low and that the ash beds’ suitability for carbon mineralisation remain high.
We present summary of results from the LOCRETA project, grouped according to scientific approach: 1) Sedimentology and stratigraphy, 2) Structural geology, 3) Petrography and Petrophysics, and 4) Rock mechanics.
Plesiosaurs were an extremely successful, globally distributed group that thrived from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period. The Early/Middle Jurassic faunal turnover greatly affected plesiosaur evolution, although it remains poorly understood, partly due to the scarcity of plesiosaur fossils from the Pliensbachian age (192.0–184.2 Ma). This paper describes five fossil plesiosaur skeletal elements found in the Pliensbachian aged Hasle Formation on the Danish island of Bornholm. The five specimens are isolated remains, including a tooth, spinal fragments, a rib and a propodial. The tooth can be assigned to Pliosauridae indet. due to its robust form and ornamentation, and the spinal fragments to Plesiosauria indet. The neural spine is detached and could therefore either be from an osteologically immature individual or show signs of paedomorphism. Lastly, but most importantly, an osteologically immature propodial is described. It is the first of its kind found in Denmark.
The Early Triassic (Olenekian) Bunter Sandstone Formation represents a major prospective reservoir for CO2 storage in southern Denmark especially in the four-way dip structure in the Rødby area (Lolland, southern Denmark), and is expected to play animportant role for reaching climate targets. The Bunter Sandstone Formation in southern Denmark formed along the northern margin of the North German Basin and is composed of terrestrial sediments and subdivided into the Volpriehausen, Detfurth and Solling members. Each member has a basal sandstone unit overlain by a mudstone unit. The sandstone units form potential reservoirs in the formation. Their thickness and composition, however, vary somewhat along the basin margin from west to east in southern Denmark. In this paper focus is on the 256 m thick Bunter Sandstone Formation in the Rødby-1 well on Lolland. Visual analysis of the gamma ray records from wireline logging of the sedimentary succession in the Rødby-1 well indicates the presence of a composite cyclicity both in sandstone and mudstone units. Spectral analysis finds identical, significant cycles both in mudstone-rich and sandstone-rich units; in mudstone-rich units cycles have the following thicknesses: 62, 16, 7.5, 5.8, 4.4, 3.6, 3.0, 2.6, and 2.3 m. Assuming that these sedimentary cycles record astronomical climate control on sedimentation and the 62 m cycle records the 405,000 years eccentricity cycle, then the remaining cycles represent the following periods: 104,500; 49,000; 38,000; 28,500; 23,500; 19,500; 17,000; and 15,000 years. Thus both a 100,000 years eccentricity as well as precession cyclicity with periods between 15,000 and 23,500 years can be identified. More surprising also a likely obliquity signal seems to be present as given by cycles with periods of 28,500, 38,000 and 49,000 years. In Rødby-1, the sandstone units vary in thickness between 23 and 29 m. The new cyclostratigraphy indicates that deposition of the sandstone units took place during the arid parts of a 405,000 years eccentricity cycle, when the central playa lake had its minimum extension. Mudstones units formed during the humid parts of these climate cycles when the central playa lake expanded in size. Internal lithological variation and thereby reservoir properties (sandstone-mudstone ratio) in the sandstone units are related to 100,000 years eccentricity variation in climate as well as to obliquity and precession variation. There is very limited core evidence on facies characteristics in the Rødby-1 well, but comparison with core data from the Tønder area in southern Jutland suggests that the sandstone unit in the Volpriehausen Member is composed of alternating aeolian and ephemeral river deposits with facies change mainly related to climate variation. A similar sedimentary facies pattern is probably also characterizing the sandstone unit of the Detfurth Member. In the Solling Member only fluvial facies are present, and it is suggested that the lithological variation primarily reflects climatic induced variation in fluvial style and transport capacity. Mudstones units that separate the sandstone units are interpreted to have formed on sabkhas and in large playa lakes.
