In a previous paper, we derived plate tectonic models for continental accretion from the early Archaean (3800 m.y.B.P.) until the present. The models are dependent upon the number of continental masses, the seafloor creation rate and the continental surface area. The models can be tested by examining their predictions for three key geological indicators: sea level changes, stable isotopic evolu...

The azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus), has long presented a puzzle for biologists. The naturalist Alfred Wallace was one of the first to consider it. The puzzle lies in its extraordinary distribution. It exists in two distinct locations: Iberia and eastern Asia, 9,000 kilometres apart. Two alternative theories have been put forward to explain this curious distribution. The first proposes t...

Paleotemperature indicators and apatite fission track analysis of Australian continental margin cover sequeRces accreted to the active Banda arc-continent collision indicate little to no heating during rapid late Neogene uplift and exhumation. Thermal maturation patterns of vitrinite reflectance, conodont alteration and' illite crystallinity show that peak paleotemperatures (PPT) increase with ...

A 14-meter long pelagic clay core recovered at Marlin Rise (40°00.531′S, 154°2.601′W; 4775 m water depth) in the Southwest Pacific Basin contains a record of eolian dust deposited since the early Miocene. Downcore analysis of detrital minerals reveals a dominantly eolian signature with relatively constant proportions of quartz, feldspar and illite and trace amounts of chlorite, kaolinite and sm...

Why should we researchers and university teachers carry particular societal responsibility?—The answer follows from the function of universities within our society, to educate future generations and to act as “truth-seeking” centers. Given the increasing public costs of universities, there has also been a rise in the expectations in their beneficial output for society. The current global politi...

The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) advanced onto the continental shelf during the last glacial period. While deglacial records for when the GrIS withdrew onto the modern coastline are relatively abundant, the timing of early GrIS retreat on the shelf is poorly constrained. Here we use planktic foraminiferal d18O, sediment grain size, sedimentation rates, and 14C ages in southeastern Davis Strait co...

A decade has yielded much progress in understanding polar disturbance and community recovery-mainly through quantifying ice scour rates, other disturbance levels, larval abundance and diversity, colonization rates and response of benthos to predicted climate change. The continental shelf around Antarctica is clearly subject to massive disturbance, but remarkably across so many scales. In summer...

Geologists are acquainted with the principle of uniformitarianism, which holds that present day processes are the key to those that operated in the past. But the extent this applies to the processes driving the growth and differentiation of the continental crust throughout the Earth history remains a major controversy in earth sciences. An important part of the discussion circles around the pre...

The oxygen consumption of Nephrops norvegicus animals collected from the upper continental slope (400 m depth) in the northwestern Mediterranean was monitored under constant conditions of darkness and temperature. Two experiments were performed starting at the beginning of the expected day and at the beginning of the expected night phases, respectively. Mean oxygen consumption values recorded d...