Phanerozoic oceanic and climatic perturbations in the context of Tethyan evolution

Climatic and environmental conditions play a pivotal role in the evolution of the biosphere,serving as the primary natural factors influencing biological evolution and the development of human civilization.The study of the evolution of Earth's habitability primarily revolves around the reconstruction of climatic and oceanic conditions in geohistorical periods,shedding light on their dynamic changes.This paper collates classic geological indicators and geochemical proxies associated with paleoclimatic and oceanic environmental conditions.The latest“big data”analyses and simulations made possible by the availability of previously unimagined massive datasets reveal several key findings:During the early Paleozoic,atmospheric oxygen levels were low,and widespread oceanic anoxia was prevalent;the Devonian era witnessed a greenhouse climate,followed by the Carboniferous ice age characterized by higher oceanic oxidation levels and alkalinity.The latest Paleozoic deglaciation occurred under high pCO_(2) conditions,extending into much of the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic,marked by multiple hyperthermal and anoxia expansion events,until the resurgence of global glaciation in the middle-late stages of the Cenozoic,ultimately bringing environmental and climatic conditions closer to modern levels.By correlating the aforementioned long-term trends with major geological events,we can delineate the co-evolution of paleoclimate and oceanic environments in tandem with the development of Tethys tectonics as follows.(1)During the Proto-Tethys stage,global paleo-elevations were relatively low,and atmospheric oxygen levels were also relatively modest.Despite the occurrence of significant tectonic movements that led to noticeable transgressive-regressive cycles,their effects on climate and oceanic environments were somewhat limited due to the relatively weak interactions.(2)The emergence of the Paleo-Tethys was a significant event that coincided with the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea.Intensive orogenic movements during this period increased the global land area and elevation.This,in turn,led to enhanced terrestrial weathering,which elevated sea surface productivity and resulted in massive nutrient input into the oceans.Consequently,this process contributed to the rise of oxygen levels in the atmosphere and a decrease in atmospheric pCO_(2).These changes are considered potential driving mechanisms for late Paleozoic glaciation and oceanic oxygenation.(3)The transition from the Paleo-Tethys to the Neo-Tethys was closely linked to the breakup of Pangaea.During this period,the terrestrial weathering processes were relatively weak due to decreased continental elevations.This resulted in a long-term greenhouse climate and intermittent global oceanic events,which were responses to the high atmospheric pCO_(2) levels during the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic eras.(4)The Neo-Tethys stage ended with the dramatic uplift of the Alps-Himalaya Mountain ranges due to the collision of India and Asia.This uplift had a profound global impact,significantly increasing continental elevations.As a result,weathering and carbon burial processes intensified,leading to a reduction in atmospheric pCO_(2).Concurrently,this uplift played a crucial role in the establishment of the East Asian monsoon and North Atlantic deep-water circulations,both of which played a part in triggering the late Cenozoic ice age.These models suggest that the teleconnections between land and sea(orogeny-terrestrial weathering-marine carbon burial)span over the whole Phanerozoic and might have played a key role in balancing the Earth surface system.Combined,the tectonic,volcanic,paleo-climatic,as well as paleoenvironmental events recorded in the Tethys oceans and adjunct continents represent valuable natural experiments and lessons for understanding the present and the future of Earth's habitability.

Spherical Packing Superlattices in Self-Assembly of Homogenous Soft Matter:Progresses and Potentials

The construction of complex superlattices using homogenous soft matter has great potential for the bottom-up fabrication of complex,nanoscale structures.This topic is not only interested in scientific exploring for new concepts of supramolecular crystals with nanometer in sizes,which is about thousand times larger in volumes than those of normal crystals,but also practically important to provide construction principles of metamaterials which are artificially structured materials for controlling and manipulating light,sound,and other physical behaviors.These systems have fast assembly kinetics and convenient processing procedures,making them ideal for large-scale superlattice production.In this perspective,we focus on recent developments in the construction of complex spherical packing superlattices using homogenous soft self-assemblies.We discuss the general mechanism of those formations of supramolecular motifs and provide an overview of the spherical packing superlattices self-assembled by homogenous soft matters based on different volume asymmetry.Additionally,we outline the potentials of utilizing this approach in constructing novel superlattices as well as its future challenges.

Constituent Isomerism-Induced Quasicrystal and Frank-KasperσSuperlattices Based on Nanosized Shape Amphiphiles

Naturally,subtle variations in the chemical structures of constituent molecules may significantly affect their multiscale spatial arrangements,properties,and functions.Deceptively simple spherical assemblies supply an ideal platform to investigate how subtle chemical differences affect hierarchically assembled structures.Here,the authors report two sets of nanosized shape amphiphiles,which were constructed by a triphenylene core and six polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane cages peripherally grafted through linkers.The slight differences in these samples are merely several methylene units in their linkers,including several pairs of constituent isomers.These nanosized shape amphiphiles self-assemble into a variety of unconventional spherical packing structures,which include the Frank-Kasperσphase and dodecagonal quasicrystal.Several types of unconventional phase transitions were systematically investigated.The authors alternated the conventional columnar phases of discotic molecules to unconventional spherical packing phases.These unconventional structures may shed light into discovering discotic mesogens-based materials with new properties and functions.