The Cambrian radiation is commonly described as a rapid increase in biodiversity and morphological disparity, yet the spatial organization underlying this diversification remains less well resolved. Using fossil occurrence data compiled from global databases, this paper examines how Cambrian diversity was assembled across space and how patterns of regional differentiation varied through time. Our results show that global diversity increased alongside a pronounced rise in spatial differentiation during the Fortunian–Cambrian Stage 3 interval, driven largely by taxonomic turnover among regions rather than hierarchical nesting. Measures of beta diversity, endemism and network structure indicate that strong regional contrasts were established early in the Cambrian and persisted throughout this period, despite fluctuations in global diversity. Analyses of latitudinal turnover further suggest that faunal differentiation is not organized as a continuous latitudinal gradient but instead reflects regionalization that is weakly related to latitudinal separation. Overall, we demonstrate that the Cambrian radiation was characterized not only by increasing diversity, but also by the early establishment of pronounced spatial differentiation among both endemic and non-endemic faunas, which persisted through the Cambrian despite of high temporal turnover.
The extensional Neogene Pannonian Superbasin was superimposed on an Alpine, Cretaceous-Paleogene compressional realm which left a significant structural footprint in the pre-rift basement. Even though the surrounding Eastern Alps, Carpathians, and Dinarides project below the Pannonian Basin, even the existence of Alpine thrust-fold belts, including large nappes in the pre-rift basement of the Pannonian Basin has been debated until just a few decades ago. Based on the interpretation of primarily subsurface data sets, such as academic and industry reflection seismic and borehole data, the Cretaceous structural units of the Eastern Alps are correlated beneath the northwest Pannonian Basin with corresponding tectonic units of the Western Carpathians. Similarly, the Alpine folded belt beneath the southeast Pannonian Basin has a structural style very similar to the internal part of the Eastern and Southern Carpathians, specifically that of the Apuseni Mts. However, the level of understanding of the Eo- and Meso-Alpine thrust-fold belts beneath the Pannonian Basin system remains rudimentary compared to those known in the surrounding classical regions of the Eastern Alps, Carpathians and Dinarides. This mismatch is primarily caused by the subsurface nature of the problem and the pronounced overprint by Neogene transtensional tectonics.
Low-temperature thermochronology is a widely used approach for studying the thermal and exhumation histories of orogens. Here we focus on the zircon fission-track method for studying the Northern Andes of Colombia and Venezuela, by reviewing published zircon fission-track data and providing new data from 31 bedrock and seven detrital river samples collected from the Central and Eastern Cordilleras, the Santander Massif, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Guajira peninsula of Colombia and the Mérida Andes of Venezuela. The data are summarized in a data table and presented in a series of maps. The observed cooling age patterns reflect the established tectonic history of the Northern Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, together with the global climatic changes since the Eocene. Tectonics and related erosion are recognized as the main drivers for exhumation of the Santander Massif and Eastern Cordillera during the late Oligocene and the Middle Miocene respectively, whereas the Central Cordillera and parts of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta were strongly affected by Late Cretaceous and/or Paleogene magmatism, as well as parts of the Western Cordillera by Miocene intrusions. Future research may be guided by this compilation, as many areas in the Northern Andes warrant detailed thermochronological research.
The Asbian (upper Visean, Mississippian) reefs of North Yorkshire, Derbyshire (UK) and Visé (Belgium) host rich brachiopod faunas studied since the 19th century. This paper revises the productide brachiopods, which dominate the benthic assemblages in both abundance and diversity. Productidines and strophalosiidines inhabiting the reef framework show attachment cicatrices and clasping or creeping spines used for cementation to hard substrates. Other productidines living on soft, muddy substrates of the reef bank and flank facies display semi-infaunal habits and specialized trail morphologies-such as cinctures, gutters, flanges and tubiform terminations-that likely enhanced internal water flow and reduced sediment ingress, representing adaptations to the highly competitive reef environment. Comparable morphological traits are known in productides from Pennsylvanian reefs in Spain and Arctic Canada, and from Middle Permian reefs in North America, whereas Carboniferous and Permian reefs in China are mostly devoid of reef specialized productides until the Changhsingian. We describe a new genus, Mosaproductus n. gen. (with M. arcuarius as type species), and three new species: Mosaproductus cocksi n. sp., Ovatia burrowi n. sp., and Ovatia tubiformis n. sp., providing a revised assessment of the long-studied Visean brachiopod faunas of the UK and Belgium. Moreover, Undaria erminea is revised and the enigmatic Productus tortilis is tentatively reassigned to Undaria .
In the past decade, using plate tectonic models has become a cornerstone of quantitative palaeobiology. Despite their broad distribution, frequent use and the increasing number of available global plate models (GPMs) there is little communication between palaeobiologists and model developers, which limits not only their critical use for palaeontological data analysis, but also the responsible integration of fossil data into palaeogeographic reconstructions. Focussing on GPM application in quantitative palaeobiology, in this introductory chapter we revisit the use of basic features of GPMs, the types of data integrated in them, highlight some technical aspects of plate tectonic reconstructions and try to provide guidelines to using the available resources. We introduce practical suggestions for model selection and usage, discuss consequences of plate model differences, and propose practices for community-driven data refinement. We highlight best practices for using GPMs in palaeontological research focussing on the importance of reproducibility and data principles. Through this synthesis, we aim to facilitate more robust and reproducible applications of tectonic models in palaeontology, and to support a broader, interdisciplinary dialogue around the role of Earth's dynamic surface in shaping the history of life.
The ever-expanding corpus of published zircon ages facilitates the characterisation of magmatic barcodes, metamorphic episodes and detrital pathways at previously unattainable levels of detail. This development subsequently precipitated the emergence of numerous database projects, exhibiting varying degrees of scope and magnitude. Notwithstanding a number of seminal publications in the field of geochronology, a significant proportion of the extant data are not being utilised to their full potential for the purposes of future studies. Consequently, the substantial potential of all kinds of zircon age data for palaeogeographic reconstructions remains underestimated. The utilisation of previously unexploited data will enhance the spatio-temporal density of geochronological information, particularly within the context of provenance analyses. Based on an initial compilation of zircon age data (N>8400, n>325000) which characterises the circum-Atlantic (s.l.) zircon provinces, the publication will outline the data that has been compiled for the geologic components located along the east coast of North America (N>930, n>45700). This data set has been further augmented by additional information pertaining to igneous and metamorphic events, drawn from other databases. Here we present an overview of the typical igneous, magmatic and detrital zircon age patterns observed in these areas and compare them particularly with their European counterparts.
The Carboniferous world was a time of transition in terms of climate, geography and its characteristic faunas. A holdover from the Devonian, proetid trilobites were the final representatives of the Class Trilobita and maintained diversity throughout the remainder of the Paleozoic. The biogeographic patterns of these trilobites in the Late Paleozoic have been studied to a certain degree, but not in totality. This study uses a network analysis and corresponding metrics to assess the connectivity of regions where proetids were found beginning in the Famennian until the end of the Carboniferous Period. Two time bins, the latter part of the Tournaisian and the Serpukhovian, display networks that are unique in comparison to the other time bins. The mid–late Tournaisian shows a network with strong connections and therefore more open dispersal pathways, while the Serpukhovian shows three distinct regional clusters. The closing of the Rheic Ocean most likely reduced connectivity from the Serpukhovian onwards, and strong connectivity between regions never fully returned.
This study recovers the overlooked contributions of Inocenta González Vázquez (1893-1971) to early twentieth-century geology and palaeontology in Spain and Latin America. A trained educator recognized for her work with blind and deaf pupils, Inocenta transitioned from teaching to scientific documentation after marrying geologist José Royo Gómez in 1920. Her intellectual work, -cataloguing, annotating, and organizing thousands of photographs, was essential to the production and preservation of geological knowledge. Among the most tangible traces of her work are more than 6000 images, meticulously labelled with site names, stratigraphic units, and lithological descriptions, forming a visual archive that underpinned Royo Gómez's publications and exhibitions. Drawing on archival sources, diaries, and photographic collections mainly in Spain, this study situates Inocenta within historiographical frameworks of the invisible technician , the feminization of pedagogical professions, and domestic spaces as scientific workplaces. Her biography reveals the blurred boundaries between education and research and underscores the gendered dynamics of scientific collaboration. By restoring her role as co-producer of scientific order, this paper contributes to ongoing debates on gender, mobility, and the material culture of science, highlighting the collaborative foundations of geological knowledge. (186 words < 200)
This study provides a comprehensive scientometric and historical analysis of the legacy of DSc Lora Nikolaevna Lordkipanidze (1932-2022), a foundational figure in the history of geology in Uzbekistan in the late 20 th to early 21 st century. Her early research focused on history of platform evolution studies and she was later renowned as an international expert in this field. Based on a database of 234 publications spanning her seventy-year career, we identify a bimodal temporal structure of her scientific activity, with peak periods of institutionalization and contemporary international synthesis (more than 40% each). The paper highlights her pivotal role in the technological transition of geological data starting from 1967 – from the systematization of 15,000 paper-based sources to the creation of databases containing criteria related to 1,056 geological faults. Her career culminated in international recognition as an Honorary Senior Member of IUGS International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO), with reports submitted to the Commission over a period of 21 years, whereby she ensured the systematic integration of Uzbekistan's geological history into the global scientific record. The findings herein solidify her status as a “methodological bridge” between Central Asian geological traditions and global scientific heritage. Her biography embodies the role of a woman scientist as a guardian of historical memory and a pioneer of systematic scientific analysis.
A tribute to the career of Rob Strachan, this volume encompasses his main fields of influence by covering topics ranging from field geology to laboratory techniques that have provided insights into the evolution of the circum-Atlantic orogens from the Proterozoic to the Mesozoic.
Women have been pioneers in a broad range of geoscience disciplines across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. This volume highlights important STEM role models across three centuries, focusing on trailblazers, excelling in research; leaders, who held important positions; and in particular those in the shadows, their contributions often unacknowledged or forgotten.
This study presents the first comprehensive 3D representation of the Roșia Poieni ore deposit, revealing its true size, geometry and structural complexity. Such models are essential tools in modern geological and mining studies, enabling accurate visualization of mineral resources. The results support key technical decisions related to future exploitation, including the selection between open-pit and underground mining methods, determination of optimal mining depths, and planning of waste disposal sites. The model also informs open-pit design and the placement of surface and underground infrastructure. The Leapfrog Geo software was used to enhance the understanding of the targeted mineral deposit. The main objective was to develop a detailed 3D model of the ore body using multiple data sources. These included publicly available geological information, geological maps provided by the Romanian Geological Institute, non-classified data supplied by the CupruMin mining company and aerial data collected through drone surveys. Prior to this initiative, no detailed 3D model of the deposit existed, making this work a major milestone for the project. Furthermore, the model contributes to underground mining preparation by integrating structural geology data, supporting safe, efficient and environmentally responsible mining operations.
Kono Yasui (1880–1971) graduated from the Women's Higher Normal School in 1902. She became assistant professor in 1907. In order to earn a doctorate degree, she had to go abroad for further studies. In 1914 she went to the US for two years, where she began research on fossil plants in coal. Supported by Kenjiro Fujii (1866–1952), professor of botany at the Tokyo Imperial University, on her return she was able to continue this research in Japan for 10 years, collecting coal samples from various places in Japan and China. In 1928, Yasui became the first woman to obtain a science doctorate with her thesis “Botanical Study on Coals Produced in Japan”. Her path had apparently been paved by British palaeobotanist Marie Stopes (1880–1958), who was awarded a PhD in palaeobotany in 1904 in Germany. Stopes met Associate Professor Fujii in Germany, where they became secretly engaged. Stopes followed Fujii to Japan in 1907, exploring coal mines on the island of Hokkaido for fossil plants. For the Japanese scientific community, she came as a shock-as a female palaeontologist, in possession of a doctorate degree and even doing research underground in coal mines. Possibly, it was Stopes' example that led to Fujii supporting Yasui's research and allowing her to pursue a doctorate degree.
During the introduction and dissemination of modern geology in China, male geologists have long been the dominant force. Female geologists have developed from individual figures to a certain scale of groups, experiencing a long journey from sacrifice to ‘half the sky’. Even now, there is still little attention paid to the role of female geologists in China's geological cause. This article explores the ice-breaking journey of Chinese female geologists through multiple typical pioneering cases and showcases the contributions of female geologists to China's geological cause.
Earth observation technologies for mining are widely available and currently transitioning from specialized, experimental tools to essential operational capabilities for exploration, safety and environmental monitoring. The market is driven by high-resolution imagery, synthetic aperture radar that works through cloud cover and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven analytics, which allow for real-time monitoring of mine sites and remote exploration. Together with recent advancements in unmanned aerial vehicle capabilities, proximity sensing and positioning technologies, these systems enable accurate multiscale applications from exploration to environmental monitoring in the mining environments, infrastructures, and site-specific operations and processes. This book presents remote sensing applications as well as proximity and positioning technologies utilizing advanced data fusion, and it also introduces the Goldeneye platform that employs AI, including natural language processing to analytical and visualization tools simplifying computational tasks. Demonstrated in five field trials across Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Kosovo and Finland, the results show potential for better environmental monitoring as well as for time and cost savings in exploration, mine safety monitoring and operations reporting. Overall, the technologies and their adaptations contribute to a more responsible and sustainable supply of raw materials within Europe.
Whether the contact between Moine (Tonian) metasedimentary rocks of the Morar and Glenfinnan groups on the Ross of Mull, Scottish Caledonides, is a stratigraphic transition, an unconformity or a ductile thrust is controversial. Quartz c -axis fabrics indicate that distributed WNW–NW-directed ductile D2 shearing occurred within the Lagan Mor Formation (LMF; Morar–Glenfinnan transition zone) and the Scoor Pelite (SP; Glenfinnan Group) at deformation temperatures of 520–580°C. Although the LMF–SP junction is marked by a macroscopic ‘platy’ zone, there is no obvious microtextural evidence for increasing strain magnitude and hence the nature of this contact remains uncertain. Metamorphic temperatures of 740–780°C documented in structurally higher Glenfinnan Group rocks suggest that they were thrust over cooler and more foreland positioned Morar Group rocks. Whether this was accomplished by distributed shearing on a kilometre-wide shear zone or a much narrow shear zone, such as the LMF–SP junction, is unknown. D2 shearing probably occurred at c. 450 Ma, and the D3 Assapol Synform on the Ross of Mull correlates with formation of the Northern Highlands Steep Belt at c. 448–432 Ma. We speculate that top-to-the WNW mylonite zones on the para-autochthonous Caledonian foreland of Iona formed during the same tectonic episode.
Anna Hietanen (1909–1994) was a bedrock geologist and the first woman in Finland to defend a doctoral thesis in geology. She was most active in Finland in the 1930s and 1940s, and then she moved to the United States in 1946. Here I review, for the first time, her eleven field journals from the period when she was working in Finland. The material contains both original field journals used during her fieldwork as well as transcribed field journals. The field journals are an excellent source of information for reviewing her fieldwork, its progress, and information included in the field journals, for example, about how she moved around during the fieldwork, as well as notes about the weather and her being occasionally ill. They also provide very concrete evidence on how Anna Hietanen conducted her field work and of her contributions to the history of geology, and thus making her more visible as an important female scholar.
The Northern Highlands terrane (NHT) of Scotland preserves a complex Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic tectono-metamorphic evolution. Work over the past three decades has helped constrain the timing and conditions of metamorphism in the northern NHT, yet parts of the southern NHT remain less well-constrained. New petrochronological analyses (accessory phase geochronology, monazite–xenotime (Mnz–Xtm) and garnet–biotite (Grt–Bt) thermometry, microstructural analysis) of the high-grade Sgurr Beag Thrust sheet in the southern NHT provide significant constraints on the thermal and deformational history. Monazite inclusions in garnet cores and inner rims yield two age populations: an ∼750–720 Ma population correlated with the Knoydartian (840–720 Ma) orogeny and an ∼680–600 Ma population provisionally linked to a regional hydrothermal event. A third event ranging from ∼465 to 435 Ma, peaking at ∼450 Ma, is recorded by monazite and xenotime in garnet inner rims and the matrix. Paragenetic fabric relationships between garnet, monazite and xenotime indicate at least two distinct phases of post-450 Ma garnet growth, and associated Mnz–Xtm and Grt–Bt thermometry yields 640–680°C conditions. These data suggest a continuous and prolonged high-temperature orogenic event that contrasts with traditional interpretations of distinct Grampian and Scandian events or simple Scandian re-working of older Grampian and/or Knoydartian metamorphic assemblages.
Margaret Isabella Gardiner (1858–1944) studied geology at Newnham College, Cambridge in the late nineteenth century and went on to publish petrographic studies in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London in 1888 and 1890. Advancing two manuscripts to publication at a time when women could not be members of the Society was an extraordinary accomplishment. A review of the status of metamorphic petrology in the last decades of the nineteenth century contextualizes the scientific setting in which Gardiner worked. The respect with which she was held by her contemporaries was based on the quality and significance of her petrographic observations that advanced George Barrow's landmark study of metamorphism. Despite a positive reception, analysis of subsequent citations shows that her work was largely forgotten by the first decades of the twentieth century. However, Gardiner and some of her accomplishments have been included in compilations documenting the historical impact of pioneer female geologists. Gardiner went on to realize a life-long ambition by founding St. Felix School where she served as the school's first headmistress. The school stands as a lasting monument to the intelligence and determination she exhibited in the face of significant societal, cultural, and political headwinds.
When Charles Lyell married Mary Elizabeth Horner in 1832, he had found himself a well-educated wife who took interest in his geological endeavours. She acted as his geological and secretarial amanuensis. She accompanied him on his travels, went in the field together with her husband as well as alone. As Charles Lyell had trouble with his eyesight, Mary Elizabeth did a considerable part of his correspondence. She was fluent in German, Dutch and French, allowing her to act as interpreter. However, she was also greatly interested in palaeontology and over the years became an accomplished taxonomist of fossil shells in her own right. Seven years after Lyell, Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood. When she expressed her plans to read up on geology, her husband told her not to bother. Darwin apparently was favouring a wife who took care of his household, played the piano and cared for him during his long phases of illness. On Charles Lyell's marriage, Darwin commented negatively, believing that Lyell ill-treated his wife, when she sat by while the two men talked science. The paper explores the respective gender roles of the two women, the views of their husbands and how these were shaped by their upbringing.
