We investigated leaf, cone and fruit impressions preserved in a siltstone deposit between coal seams the late Paleocene Tongue River Member near Otter, southeast Montana, to assess floristic diversity composition. document presence of Taxodium based on seed scales as well foliage branches associated pollen cones, low-diversity angiosperm assemblage about 15 genera dominated by Platanaceae (Plat...

Testing models of macroevolution, and especially the sufficiency of microevolutionary processes, requires good collaboration between molecular biologists and paleontologists. We report such a test for events around the Late Cretaceous by describing the earliest penguin fossils, analyzing complete mitochondrial genomes from an albatross, a petrel, and a loon, and describe the gradual decline of ...

Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the high levels of plant diversity in the Neotropics today, but little is known about diversification patterns of Neotropical floras through geological time. Here, we present the longest time series compiled for palynological plant diversity of the Neotropics (15 stratigraphic sections, 1530 samples, 1411 morphospecies, and 287,736 occurrences) f...

The Asian continent preserves a rich and diverse record of Paleogene mammal faunas and their evolution through time. The sequence of faunal succession is of key importance to our understanding of the origin and diversification of modern mammal groups, as phylogenetic data suggest that many major modern clades may be rooted in Asia. By calibrating the Asian fauna sequence within a chronostratigr...

Paleocene and  Lower Eocene deposits in SW Iran are known as Pabdeh formation.Pabdeh formation is one of the most important lithostratigraphy unit as source rock has been deposited in Zagros basin over an extremely long period in time. The area under research is the Ghachsaran 55 subsurface Section located  from the Ghachsaran oil field in Dezful embeyment in zagros fold zone. The Lower boundry...

Ampelopsis Michx. (Vitaceae) contains more than 30 species and is discontinuously distributed in Eurasia, North America, Central America. China hosts an abundance of species. Until now, fossil records have been reported only from the Paleocene to Pleistocene Europe, Eocene Pliocene Asia, Miocene Although abundant widespread today, no fossils so far found there, except for seed Upper Yunnan. In ...

Abstract. Sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructions based on isoprenoid glycerol dialkyl tetraether (isoGDGT) distributions from the Eocene southwest (SW) Pacific Ocean are unequivocally warmer than can be reconciled with state-of-the-art fully coupled climate models. However, SST signal preserved in sedimentary archives affected by contributions of additional isoGDGT sources. Methods now e...

Eclogites formed during the Eo-alpine metamorphic event are common within the ophiolitic unit of the Mulhacén complex, which forms part of the Betic Cordillera in southeastern Spain. A detailed study with cathodoluminescence (CL) images of zircon from these eclogites has revealed three types of domains, confirmed by some differences in their REE patterns and ages. There are a) igneous domains, ...

The fossil record of marine ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) from the time interval surrounding Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction is scarce at a global scale, hampering our understanding impact, patterns and processes recovery in realm, its role evolution modern ichthyofaunas. Recent fieldwork K–Pg Pindos Unit Eurytania, continental Greece, shed new light on forgotten assemblages allowed...

The timing of the development of the East Asian monsoon in the geologic past is critically important for paleoclimatological studies, yet few quantitative data are available. Based on palynomorphs from six formations, supplemented by leaf fossils from one of these formations in Fushun, northeastern China, we present a quantitative estimate of the evolution of precipitation in this area during t...