Megafossils of Betulaceae from the Oligocene of Qaidam Basin and their paleoenvironmental and phytogeographic implications

Understanding the paleoenvironment and phytogeographical history of the Tibetan Plateau,China relies on discovering new plant fossils.The Qaidam Basin has long been regarded as an ideal‘field laboratory’to investigate the paleoclimate and paleobiological evolution of the northern Tibetan Plateau.However,fossil angiosperms from the Qaidam Basin are rare,and our knowledge of its paleovegetation is poor.Here,we report fossil leaves and fruits of Betulaceae found from the Oligocene Shangganchaigou Formation of northwestern Qaidam Basin(Huatugou area).Comparative morphological analysis led us to assign the fruits to the Betula subgenus Betula and the leaves to Carpinus grandis.These findings,together with other reported fossil plants from the same locality,reveal a close floristic linkage between the Qaidam Basin and Europe during the Oligocene.The northern pathway of this floristic exchange may have crossed through the Qaidam Basin during the late Paleogene.This floristic linkage may have been facilitated by the continuous narrowing of the Turgai Strait and stronger westerlies,which transported moisture and provided favorable climatic conditions.Indeed,fossil plants collected from the Qaidam Basin suggest that during the Oligocene this region had warm and humid deciduous broad-leaf forest,which differs from the region’s modern vegetation and indicates that the Qaidam Basin may have been a suitable region for these plants to flourish and spread during the Oligocene.

pyIFPNI:A package for querying and downloading plant fossil data from the IFPNI

The International Fossil Plant Names Index(IFPNI,2014-onwards)not only serves as an online gateway to the fossil plant name registry for the global scientific community,but also serves as a comprehensive and dynamic archive of fossil plants(Doweld,2016,2022).Since its establishment in 2014,the IFPNI has accumulated more than 80,000 entries of fossil plant names,along with information on over 10,000 documents and over 6000 paleobotanists,all supported by exhaustive data,demonstrating the scope of the IFPNI's work(IFPNI,2014-onwards).

The Homines Fossilization: Brief Review of Anthropocene

This article is an insight into our lifetime and the enduring capacity of the planet—especially regarding water and space, in face of the Homines population growth. This is and will be recorded in the geological time: once preserved as human fossils, we will be part of a chapter in Earth’s history. A brief taphonomic chronology is presented, from the emergence of humans to the domination of the environment and supremacy over other species, and also a concern on how much planet Earth can bear Homines neglects. The objective of this review is to show that the strata that contain human fossils change during the Anthropocene not only the human body but also its tools, resulting from its development. Four stages were identified as taphonomic phases: the first wave, when organic Homines fossils were preserved only with materials in natura, including natural artefacts. The second fossilization phase has occurred and still occurs with the urban Homines, a product of the proliferation of cities, including anthropogenic waste and diseases. The technology that we master today also belongs to our taphonomy: hydrocarbons, metals, plastic, radioactive elements—all fossilize together with the industrial Homines, representing the third fossilization phase, which is very close to the fourth fossilization phase, where our enlightened intelligence buries the technological Homines together with his world of digital waste and new viruses. How will we fossilize the future? This question makes us think about the behavior we assume today—who or what will go to the grave with us, which geological/environmental response will stop superpopulation, which extinction event will hold human proliferation? Which will be the mineral, human and waste components of our subsequent strata? How much water and space can we still use without causing a global environmental collapse?

Inner Ear of Miocene Fossil Ape Gives Clues to Evolution of Bipedalism

Anew study of a 7–8-million-year-old extinct fossil ape from China called Lufengpithecus offers new insights into the evolution of human bipedalism.The study,published in The Innovation,was conducted by a team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology(IVPP)of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology(YICRA),and New York University(NYU).

Direct transformation of fossil carbon into chemicals: A review

Despite the long tradition of fossil carbon(coal,char,and related carbon-based materials)for fueling mankind,the science of transforming them into chemicals is still demandingly progressing in the current energy scenario,especially when considering its responsibilities to the global climate change.Traditionally,there are four routes of preparing chemicals directly from fossil carbon,including hydrogasification,gasification,direct liquefaction,and oxidation,in the macroscope of gas-solid reaction(hydrogasification and gasification)and liquid-solid reaction(direct liquefaction and oxidation).When the study goes to microscale,the gas-solid reaction can be considered as the reaction between the severe condensed radicals and gas,while the liquid-solid reaction is the direct reaction between the radical and the activated-molecule.To have a full overview of the area,this review systematically summarizes the main factors in these processes and shows our own perspectives as follows,(ⅰ)stabilizing the free radicals generated from coal and then directly converting them has the highest efficiency in coal utilization;(ⅱ)the research on the self-catalytic process of coal structure will have a profound impact on the direct preparation of chemicals from fossil carbon.Further discussions are also proposed to guide the future study of the area into a more sustainable direction.

Coryphoid palms from the K-Pg boundary of central India and their biogeographical implications:Evidence from megafossil remains

Ten palm leaf impressions are documented from the latest Maastrichtian(late Cretaceous) to early Danian(earliest Paleocene) sediments(K-Pg,c.66-64 Ma) of the Mandla Lobe of the Deccan Intertrappean Beds,Madhya Pradesh,central India.The palmate leaf shape along with a definite wellpreserved costa support their placement in the subfamily Coryphoideae of the family Arecaceae.We place all recovered palm leaf specimens in the fossil genus Sabalites,report seven species of coryphoid palms and describe two new species namely,Sabalities umariaensis sp.nov.and Sabalites ghughuaensis sp.nov.The fossils indicate that coryphoid palms were highly diverse in central India by the latest Cretaceous.These and earlier reported coryphoid palm fossils from the same locality indicate that they experienced a warm and humid tropical environment during the time of deposition.These discoveries confirm the presence of a diversity of Coryphoideae in Gondwana prior to the India-Eurasia collision and provide information about coryphoid biogeographical history over geological time.Based on megafossil remains,we trace coryphoid palm migration pathways from India to mainland Southeast(SE) Asia and other parts of Asia after the docking of the Indian subcontinent with Eurasia early in the Paleogene.

Latest Neogene Paleoclimate Variation in Yunnan,Southwest China,Revealed by Fossil Leaf Physiognomy

Yunnan Province,located in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau,can provide important information on how climate change was influenced by global cooling.However,its variation patterns in temperature and precipitation during the latest Neogene are not well-understood.Based on the 357 specimens assigned to 31 morphotypes of plant fossils from the upper Pliocene Ciying Formation in Yiliang County,Yunnan Province,Southwest China,paleoclimate was estimated by Leaf Margin Analysis and Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program.Compared to the present climate,the mean annual temperature and coldest month temperature have not changed significantly since the late Pliocene,whereas the warmest month temperature has decreased significantly.All precipitation-related parameters have decreased,particularly winter precipitation.Combined with the climatic data of the same period in other areas of Yunnan,the western and eastern Yunnan has shown a similar pattern in temperature variation since the late Pliocene except for central Yunnan;whereas the variation in precipitation does not follow a common law except for a consistent decrease in winter precipitation.Our study reinforced the fact that under the background of global cooling and intensified monsoon systems,different areas of Yunnan exhibit different climatic responses to these changes because of their topographic heterogeneities.

Late Oligocene fossil acorns and nuts of Quercus section Cyclobalanopsis from the Nanning Basin,Guangxi,South China

Quercus is the largest genus within the Fagaceae and has a rich fossil record.Most of the fossil material is attributed to the subgenus Quercus based on leaves,pollen or rarely acorns and nuts.Fossil records of Q.section Cyclobalanopsis characterized by ring-cupped acorns are relatively few and especially those described based on nuts are scant.In this study,we described four new species of Quercus section Cyclobalanopsis based on mummified acorns and nuts:Q.paleodisciformis X.Y.Liu et J.H.Jin sp.nov.,Q.paleohui X.Y.Liu et J.H.Jin sp.nov.,Q.nanningensis X.Y.Liu et J.H.Jin sp.nov.and Q.yongningensis X.Y.Liu et J.H.Jin sp.nov.These species closely resemble the extant species Q.disciformis,Q.hui,Q.kerrii,and Q.dinghuensis.The occurrence of Q.section Cyclobalanopsis in the Oligocene stratum of Guangxi,South China,suggests that the section has diversified within its extant distribution center since the Oligocene.By combining records from other areas,we propose that the section first appeared in the middle Eocene of East Asia(Sino-Japan),has diversified in situ with a few elements scattering into West Asia and southern Europe since the Oligocene and Pliocene,respectively,and finally became restricted in East Asia since the Pleistocene.This indicates that the section originated and diversified in East Asia,before spreading into West Asia no later than the Oligocene and into southern Europe by the Pliocene.Subsequently it disappeared from South Europe and West Asia due to the appearance of the(summer dry)Mediterranean climate and widespread cooling during the Pleistocene.

Recovery of greenhouse gas as cleaner fossil fuel contributes to carbon neutrality

Under the context of carbon neutrality of China,it is urgent to shift our energy supply towards cleaner fuels as well as to reduce the greenhouse gas emission.Currently,coal is the main fossil fuel energy source of China.The country is striving hard to replace it with methane,a cleaner fossil fuel.Although China has rich geological resources of methane as coal bed methane(CBM)reserves,it is quite challenging to utilize them due to low concentration.The CBM is however mainly emitted directly to atmosphere during coal mining,causing waste of the resource and huge contribution to greenhouse effect.The recent work by Yang et al.demonstrated a potential solution to extract low concentration methane selectively from CBM through using MOF materials as sorbents.Such kind of materials and associated separation technology are promising to reduce greenhouse gas emission and promote the methane production capability,which would contribute to carbon neutrality in dual pathways.

Physical Characterization and Evaluation of the Water Potential of the Watershed of the Ferlo Fossil Valley, Senegal: Louga Area

This study is an evaluation of the water potential of the Ferlo fossil valley in the Louga area in Senegal. It consisted in determining the volume of water that could be mobilized at the level of a confluence point of the waters according to the flow lines, where a dam would be placed to create a reservoir. This volume of mobilizable water was compared to the average water consumption of the area in order to evaluate its adequacy or not. To do this, a delineation, physical characterization and mapping of the Ferlo watershed was done using Google Earth, Global Mapper and Arc GIS softwares. A catchment area of 28,754 sq·km was obtained with a perimeter of 976 km, an average slope of 0.52% and a hydraulic length of 336 km. Then the decennial runoff of the watershed was calculated using the CIEH method, this flow is estimated at 1120 cm/s. On the basis of this flow, the annual volume of water that can be mobilized was estimated at 11,089,758 cm per year with a solid deposits of 93 cm per year. The conclusions reached are that there is a lack of mobilizable water resources in the area and that the entire fossil valley needs to be rewatered to provide a sustainable alternative water source.

Air Pollution, Global Warming and Difficulties to Replace Fossil Fuel with Renewable Energy

Since the Industrial Revolution, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have greatly increased with the increased use of fossil fuels, leading to air pollution and global warming. We present the researches on air pollution and the use of fossil fuels in north China, the economic zone of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan and the economic zone of the Pearl River Delta region. Researches indicate that the use of fossil fuels has been the main source of air pollution in the three regions. We present researches on global mean surface temperature (GMST) with the rise of carbon dioxide concentration (CDC) and global fossil fuel consumption (GFFC);researches indicate that the rise in CDC can account for 91% of the rise in GMST, and GFFC can account for 90% of the rise in GMST. We analyse the factors that bring about air pollution and temperature rise, they are the use of fossil fuels and deforestation. It is critically important to replace fossil fuels with clean energy, but renewable energy has also disadvantages. The world faces difficulties in solving air pollution and global warming, so governments of the world should cooperate to solve the technologies of clean energy, and preserve the forests and the natural environment.

Calcareous Nannofossils and Molecular Fossils in Cobalt-rich Crusts and their Response to the P/E Global Event

A biostratigraphic study on calcareous nannofossils from the CM3D06 Co-rich ferromanganese crust from the Magellan seamounts in the northwestern Pacific enabled estimation of depositional age. The bio-imprinting of calcareous nannofossils and other fossil species suggests six age ranges for the nannofossils： late Cretaceous, late Paleocene, （early, middle, late） Eocene, middle Miocene, late Pliocene, and Pleistocene. Gas chromatography （GC） and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry （GC-MS） were used to test the Co-rich crusts, and a variety of molecular fossils were detected, such as chloroform bituminous ＂A＂ , n-alkane, isoprenoid and sterol. Peak carbon and molecular indices （such as C23-/C24＋, CPI, Pr/Ph, Pr/nC17, Ph/nCxs and j13C） indicate that the parent organic matter is dominated by marine phytoplankton and thallogen whereas there is little input of terrestrial organic matter. Researches on calcareous nannofossils, molecular fossils and molecular organic geochemistry data reveal that the Paleocene/Eocene （P/E） global event is recorded in the cobalt- rich crusts from the northwestern Pacific Ocean. A succession of biomes can be observed near the 85 mm boundary （about 55 Ma）, i.e., the disappearance of the late Cretaceous Watznaueria barnesae and Zigodicus spiralis, and Broisonia parka microbiotas above the P/E boundary, and the bloom of Coccolithus formosus, Discoaster multiradiatus, Discoaster mohleri and Discoaster sp. below the boundary. Typical parameters of molecular fossils, such as saturated hydrocarbon components and carbon-number maxima, Pr/Ph, Pr/C17, Ph/C18, distribution types of sterols, Ts/Tm ratios and bacterial hopane, also exhibit dramatic changes near the P/E boundary. These integrated results illustrate that the biome succession of calcareous nannofossils, relative content of molecular fossils and molecular indices in the cobalt-rich crusts near the 85 mm boundary faithfully record the P/E global event.

“Fossil”汉语译名演变考

"Fossil"来源于拉丁文fossilis,最初用于指地中挖掘物。中文"化石"一词初为矿物、岩石的总称,或用作动词。西文"fossil"先后被汉译为塔形石、殭石等,汉语译名亦几经变化。本文根据晚清西学译著、近代刊物及教科书中关于化石的介绍,厘清了"fossil"一词译名的演变,指出中文将"fossil"译为"化石"并用于指地中生物遗迹的说法至20世纪初方才确定。

Research on Non-English Major Undergraduates'Interlanguage Fossilization-A Case Study of HBUE

Interlanguage Fossilization is a thorny obstacle to learners in second language acquisition process. Based on data collected from non-English major undergraduates in Hubei University of Economics (HBUE), this paper carries out an empirical study on students'fossilized errors in the learning process, and aims to explore fossilization causes and propose de-fossilization techniques so as to improve students'language learning.

Projecting the global impact of fossil fuel production from the Former Soviet Union

Detailed projections of the Former Soviet Union(FSU)fossil fuel production has been created.Russian production has been modelled at the region(oblast)level where possible.The projections were made using the Geologic Resource Supply-Demand Model(GeRS-DeMo).Low,Best Guess and High scenarios were created.FSU fossil fuels are projected to peak between 2027 and 2087 with the range due to spread of Ultimately Recoverable Resources(URR)values used.The Best Guess(BG)scenario anticipates FSU will peak in 2087 with production over 170 EJ per year.The FSU projections were combined with rest of the world projections(Mohr et al.2015b),the emissions from the High scenario for the world are similar to the IPCC A1 AIM scenario.

An Analysis on Causes of Fossilization in Oral English of Vocational College Students

The main causes of the vocational college students' oral fossilization summarized in the thesis are as follows:negative transfer of the native language,overgeneralization,communication strategies blockage.

Oral Fossilization Phenomena of Vocational College Non-English Majors

This thesis sets out to classify the fossilized errors made by the subjects from lexical and syntactic levels respectively,through the empirical experiment and questionnaire.

Quantitative Analysis of Paleoatmospheric CO2 Level Based on Stomatal Characters of Fossil Ginkgo from Jurassic to Cretaceous in China

A better theoretical and practical understanding of the linkage between paleo-CO2 and climate during geological history is important to enhance the sustainable development of modern human society. Development in plant physiology since the 1980s has led to the realization that fossil plants can serve as a proxy for paleoatmosphere and paleobiosphere. As a relict gymnosperm with evolutionary stasis, Ginkgo is well suited for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. This paper analyzes fossil Ginkgo species from integrated strata in the north of China using anatomic data of plant physiology. Using stomatal parameters, a trend for the paleo-CO2 level during the Early-Middle Jurassic and the Early Cretaceous was obtained, which is consistent with the estimates by GEOCARB. The trend is also similar to that of Mean Global Surface Temperature in geological time. Compared with three other atmospheric CO2 concentration parameters, the trend of paleo-CO2 level based on the stomatal parameter of the fossil Ginkgo specimens from three contiguous strata is more exact.

Estimating ancestral distributions of lineages with uncertain sister groups:a statistical approach to Dispersal-Vicariance Analysis and a case using Aesculus L.(Sapindaceae) including fossils

We propose a simple statistical approach for using Dispersal-Vicariance Analysis （DIVA） software to infer biogeographic histories without fully bifurcating trees. In this approach, ancestral ranges are first optimized for a sample of Bayesian trees. The probability P of an ancestral range r at a node is then calculated as P（rY） = ∑t^n=1 F（rY）t Pt where Y is a node, and F（rY） is the frequency of range r among all the optimal solutions resulting from DIVA optimization at node Y, t is one of n topologies optimized, and Pt is the probability of topology t. Node Y is a hypothesized ancestor shared by a specific crown lineage and the sister of that lineage ＂x＂, where x may vary due to phylogenetic uncertainty （polytomies and nodes with posterior probability 〈 100%）. Using this method, the ancestral distribution at Y can be estimated to provide inference of the geographic origins of the specific crown group of interest. This approach takes into account phylogenetic uncertainty as well as uncertainty from DIVA optimization. It is an extension of the previously described method called Bayes-DIVA, which pairs Bayesian phylogenetic analysis with biogeographic analysis using DIVA. Further, we show that the probability P of an ancestral range at Y calculated using this method does not equate to pp＊F（rY） on the Bayesian consensus tree when both variables are 〈 100%, where pp is the posterior probability and F（rY） is the frequency of range r for the node containing the specific crown group. We tested our DIVA-Bayes approach using Aesculus L., which has major lineages unresolved as a polytomy. We inferred the most probable geographic origins of the five traditional sections of Aesculus and ofAesculus californica Nutt. and examined range subdivisions at parental nodes of these lineages. Additionally, we used the DIVA-Bayes data from Aesculus to quantify the effects on biogeographic inference of including two wildcard fossil taxa in phylogenetic analysis. Our analysis resolved the geographic ranges of the parental nodes of the lineages of Aesculus with moderate to high probabilities. The probabilities were greater than those estimated using the simple calculation ofpp＊F（rY） at a statistically significant level for two of the six lineages. We also found that adding fossil wildcard taxa in phylogenetic analysis generally increased P for ancestral ranges including the fossil＇s distribution area. The AP was more dramatic for ranges that include the area of a wildcard fossil with a distribution area underrepresented among extant taxa. This indicates the importance of including fossils in biogeographic analysis. Exmination of range subdivision at the parental nodes revealed potential range evolution （extinction and dispersal events） along the stems ofA. californica and sect. Parryana.

New Jurassic Fossil True Bugs of the Pachymeridiidae(Hemiptera:Pentatomomorpha)from Northeast China

Four new fossil genera and species of true bugs from the family Pachymeridiidae, Beipiaocoris multifurcus, Bellicoris mirabilis, Nitoculus regiUus, and Viriosinervis stolidus, are described. New specimens were collected from the Middle and Upper Jurassic non-marine sedimentary strata from the Jiulongshan and Yixian Formations of northeast China. The species Karatavocoris asiatica Becker-Migdisova, 1963, which was considered to be a member of the family Coreidae is transferred to the Pachymeridiidae. A new map of all known and newly discovered fossil pachymeridiid localities is given. The diagnosis of the family is modified.