More Material From Globidensine Mosasaur Prognathodon From Maastrichtian Cretaceous Netherlands

New material of Prognathodon (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the type Maastrichtian of the Netherlands

Authors:

Schulp et al

Abstract:

A partial quadrate, here assigned to the globidensine mosasaur Prognathodon cf. saturator, is recorded from the basal Valkenburg Member (Maastricht Formation) in the type area of the Maastrichtian Stage (southeast Netherlands, northeast Belgium). Occurrences of Prognathodon saturator in this area are extremely rare, which might well be linked to the offshore habitat preferred by this species.

Stromatolites From Anisian Triassic Southwest China

Early Middle Triassic stromatolites from the Luoping area, Yunnan Province, Southwest China: Geobiologic features and environmental implications

Authors:

Luo et al

Abstract:

An early Middle Triassic stromatolite deposit is documented from the Guanling Formation of the Luoping area, Yunnan, SW China. The Luoping stromatolite shows five types of constructional microbial forms in various magnifications: 1) typical stratified columnar structures, up to 20 cm high, with crinkled laminae. Dark coloured laminae, 1 mm thick, are composed of upright filamentous tubes, averagely 29.4 μm in diameter, showing a vertical growth fabric. 2) Laminoid fenestrae, 0.5–1 mm wide, and 3) prostrate filaments, which are reflected by strong fluorescence in sharp contrast to dolomite cement in fluorescent images. 4) Rod-like aggregates, 4.6–18 μm in diameter, composed of minute dolomite rhombs, are very common in stromatolitic laminae; they resemble present-day cyanobacterial trichome, and thus may represent putative fossilized cyanobacteria. 5) Moreover, small pits, coccoid-like spheroids, calcified biofilms, and fibrous structures are also common in stromatolitic laminae. The last two may represent calcified extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) that contributed to the development and lithification of stromatolites. Authigenic quartz grains are common and may also have involved biological processes in stromatolite formation. Of these microbial functional-groups driving accretion and lithification processes of stromatolite documented in literature, both lithified cyanobacteria/oxygenic phototrophs and possible sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), which induced microbial formation of dolomite and contributed to the accretion of the Luoping stromatolite, are suggestive of biogenic origin. The Luoping stromatolite differs from the Permian–Triassic boundary microbialites (PTBMs) in having abundant filamentous structures and growing in an oxic marine environment. Both sedimentary facies analysis and abundant fossilized cyanobacteria may indicate proliferation of oxygenic phototrophs in a normal, oxic habitat during the middle Anisian (early Middle Triassic), a period when hospitable environments, coupled with biotic diversification, prevailed in South China and set an agenda for the full recovery of marine ecosystems in middle–late Anisian. However, the post-extinction stromatolites and other anachronistic facies are not necessarily indicative of anoxic or oxic conditions, and their environmental settings are much more complex than previously thought.

Evidence of Oxygenated Marine Bottom Waters at the NeoArchean/PaleoProterozoic Boundary?!?!

Petrology And Geochemistry Of The Wangjiazhuang Banded Iron Formation And Associated Supracrustal Rocks From The Wutai Greenstone Belt In The North China Craton: Implications For Their Origin And Tectonic Setting

Authors:

Wang et al

Abstract:

The Wutai greenstone belt (WGB) is one of the most extensively studied greenstone belts in China. Together with the Hengshan and Fuping complexes, these three associations compose the central segment of the Trans-North China Orogen (TNCO) in the North China Craton (NCC). The Wangjiazhuang banded iron formation (BIF) is located in the bottom of the Jingangku Formation of the WGB. The associated supracrustal rocks consist of meta-basalts (amphibolites), meta-felsic volcanic rocks (leptynite) and metapelites (mica schist), which have experienced amphibolite-facies metamorphism. Amphibolites are commonly intercalated with the BIF. SIMS zircon U-Pb analyses on amphibolites suggest that the Wangjiazhuang BIF was formed at ca. 2543 ± 4 Ma. Combined with most Neoarchean Algoma-type BIFs in the NCC, these features indicate that a significant tectothermal event of the NCC have occurred at ∼2.5 Ga. Mineral assemblages of the Wangjiazhuang BIF are composed of quartz, magnetite, amphibole, and minor garnet, pyrite and calcite. The precursor deposits of this BIF were likely ferric-oxyhydroxides, fine-grained carbonate oozes, silicate phases rich in Al-Ca-Mg-Fe and amorphous silica. The appearance of garnet and ferro-pargasite, high concentrations of Al2O3, HFSEs, Sc, and positive correlations among Al2O3, TiO2, HFSEs and REE indicate that there was a significant terrigenous input. Even so, the Wangjiazhuang BIF samples display distinctively seawater-like REE + Y profiles, characterized by positive La and Y anomalies and HREE enrichment relative to LREE in PAAS-normalized REE diagrams. Consistently positive Eu anomalies are also observed, which are typically from high-T hydrothermal fluids. In addition, the true negative Ce anomalies recorded in the Wangjiazhuang BIF might indicate the onset of bottom-water oxidation at the Archean-Proterozoic boundary, at least in restricted basins. Amphibolites have geochemical affinity with both MORB- and arc-like components, and the trace element characteristics of leptynites are also consistent with a subduction zone signature. These features suggest that the Wangjiazhuang BIF was deposited in a back-arc basin. Oceanic subduction, coupled with contemporary depleted mantle upwelling related to back-arc basin extension, can account for the typical interaction between these two components.

Dengue Fever may Come to Europe due to Climate Change

Dengue fever could make headway in popular European holiday destinations if climate change continues on its predicted trajectory, according to research published in open access journal BMC Public Health.

The University of East Anglia study used current data from Mexico, where dengue fever is present, and information about EU countries in order to model the likelihood of the disease spreading in Europe. They found that coastal regions in around the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas, the Po Valley and North East Italy were most at risk.

Dengue fever is a tropical disease caused by a virus that is spread by mosquitoes, with symptoms including fever, headache, muscle and joint pain. Each year, dengue infects 50 million people worldwide and causes approximately 12,000 deaths; mostly in South-east Asia and the Western Pacific.

Because the mosquitoes that carry and transmit the virus thrive in warm and humid conditions, it is more commonly found in areas with these weather conditions. Dense populations and global travel are also associated with increasing the spread of the disease, which was observed in the last few decades. Local cases such as those reported in France and Croatia in 2010 clearly show that dengue can be transmitted in Europe, in areas where the mosquito species that carries the virus has established. For this study, the researchers wanted to estimate how likely the disease is to become established in Europe as its climate changes up to the end of the century.

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Turkey Leaning Against Developing Indigenous Fighter

Turkey’s new top defense procurement management is not as warm to the idea of designing and developing an indigenous fighter jet as it used to be, citing limits to technological capabilities.

A senior defense procurement official said a new assessment of the program, dubbed the TF-X, found that several aspects of the ambition may surpass local industrial capabilities.

“The program has not yet been shelved or restructured, but it should not surprise anyone if it is,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Turkey’s top procurement official, İsmail Demir, who took over from Murad Bayar in April, ordered a new assessment report on the program and concluded that a 100 percent Turkish fighter jet may be too ambitious, given Turkey’s local capabilities.

One government official said Demir, head of the Undersecretary for Defense Industries (SSM), has already briefed President-elect (Prime Minister) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the “potential infeasibility” of the program. Turkey has long claimed it would design, develop and manufacture its own fighter jet.

Erdoğan himself has boasted that the aircraft would make its maiden flight by 2023, the republic’s centennial.

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Chinese Navy Unveils Z-18F ASW Helicopter

A new anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is undergoing trials and testing, according to news reports and Chinese military websites.

The aircraft, believed to be designated Z-18F, has been developed from the Changhe Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) Z-8, itself a derivative of the long-serving French SA-321 Super Frelon.

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The Latest Nadir of Sino-Vietnamese Relations

For now, however, neither side appears eager for a rapprochement. Both China’s insertion and its withdrawal of the oil rig were done on its terms. And as the stronger, richer and more economically diversified of the two countries, it can more easily absorb the shock of extended bad relations. As for Vietnam, Dr Tuan says that China “underestimates the power, strength, will and nationalist sentiments of its opponents”. The flames of nationalism are always easier to stoke than to put out, however. If the Vietnamese public comes to see its leaders as weak in the face of foreign aggression, it may be the Communists in Hanoi that get burned.

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Quantum Hacking: The Latest Concern in Cybersecurity

Quantum hacking is the latest fear in the world of information security. Not so long ago, physicists were claiming that they could send information with perfect security using a technique known as quantum key distribution.

This uses the laws of quantum mechanics to guarantee perfectly secure communication. And perfectly secure communication is what you get, at least in theory.

The trouble is that in practice the equipment used to carry out quantum key distribution has a number of weaknesses that an eavesdropper can exploit to gain information about the messages being sent. Various groups have demonstrated how quantum hacking presents a real threat to “perfectly secure” communication.

So in the cat and mouse game of information security, physicists have been fighting back by designing equipment that is more secure. Today, Nitin Jain at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany, and a few pals show how the changes still leave the equipment open to attack but at the same time reveal how the next generation of quantum cryptography could be made better.

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Why There Ought to be a Bitcoin Central Bank

It is no secret that today, almost all modern banks operate on the basis of fractional reserves. To put in simpler terms: banks only has in their vaults a small percentage of the money that their customers gave them; if a large enough number of customers of a specific bank want to get their money back, the bank wouldn’t be able to meet the demand. Before there was modern central bank system, the bank could either have to borrow or file for bankruptcy. The central banks by design had infinite ability to lend, for they can legally conjure up money from thin air – there is a reason that modern currencies are called fiat money.

The Bitcoin world doesn’t have central banks, and this fact even appeal to some of its supporters with libertarian inclinations. Among these people, a widely-held belief is that bailing out insolvent banks is no different from highway robbing; if a bank screws up, the argument maintains, it should face the consequences alone, rather than letting all economy participants across the system to share the pain in the form of debased per unit currency value.

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The Robopocalypse Coming for Cephalopods?

Adaptive optoelectronic camouflage systems with designs inspired by cephalopod skins

Authors:

Yu et al

Abstract:

Octopus, squid, cuttlefish, and other cephalopods exhibit exceptional capabilities for visually adapting to or differentiating from the coloration and texture of their surroundings, for the purpose of concealment, communication, predation, and reproduction. Long-standing interest in and emerging understanding of the underlying ultrastructure, physiological control, and photonic interactions has recently led to efforts in the construction of artificial systems that have key attributes found in the skins of these organisms. Despite several promising options in active materials for mimicking biological color tuning, existing routes to integrated systems do not include critical capabilities in distributed sensing and actuation. Research described here represents progress in this direction, demonstrated through the construction, experimental study, and computational modeling of materials, device elements, and integration schemes for cephalopod-inspired flexible sheets that can autonomously sense and adapt to the coloration of their surroundings. These systems combine high-performance, multiplexed arrays of actuators and photodetectors in laminated, multilayer configurations on flexible substrates, with overlaid arrangements of pixelated, color-changing elements. The concepts provide realistic routes to thin sheets that can be conformally wrapped onto solid objects to modulate their visual appearance, with potential relevance to consumer, industrial, and military applications.

Japan Wants Flat-top Amphibious Assault Ship for V-22s and F-35Bs by 2019

The Japanese defense ministry has brought forward a proposal to construct at least one large amphibious assault ship that will enlarge the country’s naval aviation capability. The program may also enhance sales prospects for the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey.

Entry into service for the ship is now targeted for the fiscal year from March 2019; previous plans implied it would be commissioned in the early 2020s, if at all. The ministry will request funding for studies of the ship for the budget year beginning April 1, 2015, Jiji news agency reports.

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Hypersonic Conventional Prompt Global Strike Prototype Explodes After Lift-off

A new hypersonic weapon developed by the U.S. military exploded shortly after lift-off from an Alaska test facility during a long-awaited flight test early Monday, the Pentagon said.

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred shortly after 4 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT) at the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, said Maureen Schumann, spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Department.

"The weapon exploded during takeoff and fell back down the range complex," Schumann said.

The weapon was developed by Sandia National Laboratory and the U.S. Army, as part of the military's "Conventional Prompt Global Strike" technology development program which is seeking to build a weapon that can destroy targets anywhere on earth within an hour of getting data and permission to launch.

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The Record of Holocene Quaternary Tsunamis in Sri Lanka

Holocene Indian Ocean tsunami history in Sri Lanka

Authors:

Jackson et al

Abstract:

Sediment cores from Karagan Lagoon in southeastern Sri Lanka retrieved deposits from the A.D. 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and older similar deposits that provide evidence for a tsunami 2417 ± 152 cal. (calendar) yr B.P. to 2925 ± 98 cal. yr B.P., and for six tsunamis between 4064 ± 128 cal. yr B.P. and 6665 ± 110 cal. yr B.P., a period for which the sediment record appears continuous. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the recurrence interval is variable, ranging from 181–517 yr to 1045 ± 334 yr, with a mean recurrence interval of 434 ± 40 yr during the ca. 4000–7000 cal. yr B.P. continuous interval. Assuming that these tsunamis were generated by giant earthquakes along the Sumatra-Andaman subduction zone, a reasonable assumption for this far-field transoceanic location, this record extends the giant-earthquake history for the Indian Ocean region. The longest recurrence interval of more than 1000 yr implies that earthquakes along the subduction zone may reach twice the size of the 2004 earthquake.

Tracking Historical Water in the Melas Basin, on Mars

Reconstructing the aqueous history within the southwestern Melas basin, Mars: Clues from stratigraphic and morphometric analyses of fans

Authors:

Williams et al

Abstract:

New details of the aqueous history in the southwestern Melas Chasma elevated basin have been revealed from analysis of high-resolution image, topographic and spectral datasets. We have identified eleven fan-shaped landforms that reflect various depositional environments. A distinctive marker bed with inferred indurated aeolian bedforms is within the stratigraphic record of presumed lacustrine deposits. This observation, taken together with the stratigraphic succession of fan-shaped deposits indicates fluctuating lake levels with, at a minimum, early and late-stage lake highstands. Tributary drainage pattern in the western valley network changed from a dendritic to a meandering system, recording a shift in fluvial activity that is consistent with fluctuating lake levels. Only a few hydrated minerals have been detected in the study region, the most common being opal which appears to represent younger alteration and deposition within the basin. Landform scale was used to estimate average discharge (∼30 m3/s), formative discharge (200–300 m3/s), and fan formation timescale, which further inform the duration of lacustrine activity within the basin. Warm surface conditions and precipitation recharge of source basins is required to generate and sustain this long-lived lake over periods of at least centuries to millennia during the Late Hesperian to Early Amazonian.

Apes and Humans Have the Same Sort of Empathy

Whether or not humans are the only empathic beings is still under debate. In a new study, researchers directly compared the 'yawn contagion' effect between humans and bonobos (our closest evolutionary cousins). By doing so they were able to directly compare the empathic abilities of ourselves with another species, and found that a close relationship between individuals is more important to their empathic response than the fact that individuals might be from the same species.

The ability to experience others' emotions is hard to quantify in any species, and, as a result, it is difficult to measure empathy in an objective way. The transmission of a feeling from one individual to another, something known as 'emotional contagion,' is the most basic form of empathy. Feelings are disclosed by facial expressions (for example sorrow, pain, happiness or tiredness), and these feelings can travel from an "emitting face" to a "receiving face." Upon receipt, the mirroring of facial expressions evokes in the receiver an emotion similar to the emotion experienced by the sender.

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Janusaurus lundi: a new Ophthalmosaurid Ichthyosaur From Upper Jurassic Norway

A New Upper Jurassic Ophthalmosaurid Ichthyosaur from the Slottsmøya Member, Agardhfjellet Formation of Central Spitsbergen

Authors:

Roberts et al

Abstract:

Abundant new ichthyosaur material has recently been documented in the Slottsmøya Member of the Agardhfjellet Formation from the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. Here we describe a partial skeleton of a new taxon, Janusaurus lundi, that includes much of the skull and representative portions of the postcranium. The new taxon is diagnosed by a suite of cranial character states including a very gracile stapedial shaft, the presence of a dorsal process on the prearticular and autapomorphic postcranial features such as the presence of an interclavicular trough and a conspicuous anterodorsal process of the ilium. The peculiar morphology of the ilia indicates a previously unrecognized degree of morphological variation in the pelvic girdle of ophthalmosaurids. We also present a large species level phylogenetic analysis of ophthalmosaurids including new and undescribed ichthyosaur material from the Upper Jurassic of Svalbard. Our results recover all Svalbard taxa in a single unresolved polytomy nested within Ophthalmosaurinae, which considerably increases the taxonomic composition of this clade. The paleobiogeographical implications of this result suggest the presence of a single clade of Boreal ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs that existed during the latest Jurassic, a pattern also reflected in the high degree of endemicity among some Boreal invertebrates, particularly ammonoids. Recent and ongoing descriptions of marine reptiles from the Slottsmøya Member Lagerstätte provide important new data to test hypotheses of marine amniote faunal turnover at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary.

Early Permian Continental Environment had a Greater Latitudal Temperature Gradient Than Marine

Global continental weathering trends across the Early Permian glacial to postglacial transition: Correlating high- and low-paleolatitude sedimentary records

Authors:

Yang et al

Abstract:

Time-equivalent Early Permian sedimentary successions from high-latitude Gondwana basins and from equatorial accumulations in North China, covering the glacial to postglacial transition, display correlatable trends in continental weathering intensity based on chemical index of alteration (CIA) values. The successions display a pattern of CIA values that varies with latitude, similar to modern estuarine suspended sediments. Based on the modern-day CIA-temperature correlation, the glacial Early Permian low- to high-latitude land surface temperature gradient is estimated as ∼20 °C, slightly higher than the calculated values for the contemporaneous sea-surface temperature gradient.

Evidence From China PaleoProterozoic Plate Tectonics did NOT Shutdown

Early Paleoproterozoic (2.45–2.20 Ga) magmatic activity during the period of global magmatic shutdown: Implications for the crustal evolution of the southern North China Craton

Authors:

Diwu et al

Abstract:

A global database of zircon ages from both granitoids and detrital sediments shows an exceptionally and robust ages gap between 2.45 and 2.20 Ga. The early Paleoproterozoic magmatism dramatically decreased on the Earth, which was proposed to relate to the global plate tectonic shutdown. However, the available data indicate that 2.45–2.20 Ga magmatic rocks are widespread in the Taihua Complex during the quiet interval. The Taihua Complex is located in both the Lushan and Xiaoqinling areas along the southern segment North China Craton (NCC). The Complex is composed mainly of a gneiss series and the Khondalite-dominated supracrustal rock. The latter, occurs as a linear structural belt and was named the Khondalite Belt. The gneiss series in the Lushan area has an age of 2.85–2.72 Ga, whereas the Xiaoqinling region contains widespread tonalitic–trondhjemitic–granodioritic gneisses with ages of 2.45–2.20 Ga. Significant variation of Hf isotopes in zircons and whole-rock ɛNd(t) values suggest that these rocks were produced by variable mixing of a juvenile materials with older crust in an Andean-type continental margin arc or island arc setting. The depositional age of the sedimentary protoliths of the khondalite series can roughly constrained to between 2300 and 1970 Ma. It has been considered that they were deposited on a stable continental margin environment. The U–Pb dating of metamorphic zircons from the Taihua Complex suggest that the southern NCC underwent a polyphase tectonic evolution during the period 1.97–1.82 Ga, the peak metamorphism coeval with crustal thickening has occurred at ∼1.94 Ga.

Greenhouse Climate may Shift Heavy Precipitation Band Toward Poles

In a world warmed by rising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, precipitation patterns are going to change because of two factors: one, warmer air can hold more water; and two, changing atmospheric circulation patterns will shift where rain falls. According to previous model research, mid- to high-latitude precipitation is expected to increase by as much as 50%. Yet the reasons why models predict this are hard to tease out.

Using a series of highly idealized model runs, Lu et al. found that ocean warming should cause atmospheric precipitation bands to shift toward the poles. The changes in atmospheric circulation brought on by a warming ocean should cause an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme precipitation events at mid- and high-latitudes, and a reduction in the same near the equator. The changes would mean that, for high-latitude regions, now-rare storms would become much more common.

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Japan Unveils Stealth Fighter Testbed

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