The Nanxiong Basin (Guangdong Province, China) preserves the most complete Asian stratigraphic record of the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary extinction and the subsequent Paleocene mammalian radiation. Despite extensive study, the precise placement of the K/Pg boundary in the Nanxiong Basin sequence has been controversial, and the timing of subsequent mammalian turnover is poorly constrain...

The Valley of Lakes is approximately a 500-km elongate depression in Central Mongolia, where Eocene to Miocene continental sediments are long known for their outstanding fossil richness. The palaeontological record of this region is an exceptional witness for the evolution of mammalian communities during the Cenozoic global cooling and regional aridification. In order to precisely elucidate the...

Forty strains of Gram-positive, aerobic, heterotrophic bacteria isolated from saturated subsurface lacustrine, paleosol and fluvial sediments at the US Department of Energy's Hanford Site in south central Washington State were characterized by phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences and by determination of selected morphological, physiological and biochemical traits. Phylogenetic analy...

Three methods for the isolation of microbial RNA from low-biomass deep-subsurface sediments have been developed and evaluated. RNA was isolated from samples taken from depths ranging from 173 to 217 m, and samples represented a variety of lithologies, including lacustrine, fluvial sand, and paleosol sediments. Cell numbers in these samples were estimated to be between log 4.0 and log 5.1/g on t...

One timeless challenge in rock magnetic studies, inclusive of paleomagnetism and environmental magnetism, is decomposing a sample’s bulk magnetic behavior into its individual magnetic mineral components. We present a method permitting to decompose the magnetic behavior of a bulk sample experimentally and at low temperature avoiding any ambiguities in data interpretation due to heating-induced a...

A large (> 200-cm diameter) coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) stump occurring upright on an Oregon beach, 257 km from the northern limit of its native distribution, may be a remnant of an extinct disjunct population or it may be the result of vertical emplacement of a drift log. Holocene tree stumps in situ in paleosols commonly emerge on the shore platform as a result of a complex history o...