华北克拉通破坏对地表地质与陆地生物的影响

晚中生代古太平洋板块俯冲导致东亚古大地幔楔形成和华北克拉通破坏,该动力过程引发华北克拉通发生强烈伸展和岩浆活动,广泛形成裂谷盆地和变质核杂岩,并造成燕辽和热河生物群的繁盛与消亡.古太平洋板块俯冲角度的变化导致东亚大陆经历了三次短暂挤压事件和两次强烈伸展构造.多学科综合研究进一步揭示,晚中生代燕辽和热河生物群的演化与华北克拉通的破坏强度、岩浆活动强弱以及盆地发展存在明显的时空相关性.上述现象表明地球深部动力过程不仅控制了克拉通破坏和地壳构造演化,而且也极大地影响了地表环境的变迁和陆地生态系统的演变.因此,地球生命是与环境协同演化,并且共同受地球深部过程的控制.

A nearly completely articulated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur with exceptionally well-preserved wing membranes and "hairs" from Inner Mongolia, northeast China

We report a new and nearly completely articu-lated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, Jeholopterus ningchen-gensis gen. et sp. nov., with excellently preserved fibres in the wing membrane and 'hairs' in the neck, body and tail re-gions. Many of its characteristics such as a short neck, short metacarpals and distinctively long fifth pedal digit are char-acteristic of rhamphorhynchoids. The new species can be further referred to the ’strange’ short-tailed rhamphorhyn-choid family Anurognathidae. It is much more complete than the other known members of the family, namely, Anurog-nathus from Solnhofen, Germany, Batrachognathus from Karatau, Kazakhstan, and Dendrorhynchoides from Beipiao, Liaoning Province, China. The new pterosaur also shows that the wing membrane is attached to the ankle of the hind limb. The pedal digits are webbed. Furthermore, the 'hair' of Jeholopterus bears some resemblance to the hair-like in-tegumental structures of the feathered dinosaur Sinosaurop-teryx although there is yet no direct

Two new ornithurine birds from the Early Cretaceous of western Liaoning,China

We describe two new ornithurine birds from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning, northeast China: Yanornis martini gen. et sp. nov. and Yixianornis grabaui gen. et sp. nov. They represent the best fossil record of ornithurine birds known from the Early Cretaceous. They are more advanced than the most primitive ornithurine Liaoningornis, and are more similar to the other two Chinese Early Cretaceous ornithurines Chaoyangia and Songlingornis. Compared with Confuciusornis, Liaoxiornls and Eoenantiornis from the same age, the two new birds show remarkable advanced characteristics and suggest the presence of powerful flight capability like modern birds. Compared with Yixianornis and Chaoyangia, Yanornis is larger, with a more elongated skull and relatively long wings. The new discoveries indicate that by the Early Cretaceous both enantiornithine and ornithurine birds had already radiated significantly. The flight structures of Yanornis and Yixianornis are hardly distinguishable from

Study on the Jehol Biota:Recent advances and future prospects

The Jehol Biota is an Early Cretaceous terrestrial fossil assemblage of paramount significance,and its core distribution areas are western Liaoning,northern Hebei,and southeastern Inner Mongolia.Despite with a research history of more than 150 years,it started yielding important fossils until early 1990s,which include feathered dinosaurs,early birds,early mammals,flower-visiting insects,and early angiosperms.These discoveries have implications for understanding the origins and early evolution of several major organismal groups,as well as the origin and initial formation of modern terrestrial ecosystem.This review presents a brief introduction of the major discoveries,research history,and current understanding of this biota,and also provides future prospects for studying the Jehol Biota.