A coastal exposure at Wine Haven, Robin Hood's Bay (North Yorkshire, UK) fulfils the criteria for definition as the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Pliensbachian Stage (Lower Jurassic). This marine sequence was deposited during a long-term transgression and is relatively expanded stratigraphically. A rich fauna of ammonites above and below the boundary interval allows recognition of the Leptechioceras gr. meigeini, Paltechioceras aureolum and Paltechioceras tardecrescens horizons of latest Sinemurian age, and the Bifericeras donovani, and Apoderoceras gr. aculeatum horizons of earliest Pliensbachian age. A suitable level for the boundary is characterized by the faunal association of Bifericeras donovani Dommergues & Meister and Apoderoceras sp. Strontium-isotope stratigraphy, based on analysis of belemnites, yields a calcite 87Sr/86Sr ratio for the suggested boundary level of 0.707425±0.000021 (combined uncertainties based on line fit to stratigraphic dataset (±0.000004) and measurement of the standard (±0.000017)). Alternative uncertainties of ∼±0.000008 are associated with the most extreme interpretation of sedimentation-rate history allowed by the strontium-isotope data (that is, abrupt changes in sedimentation rate at precisely the boundary level); however, sedimentological considerations, and measured strontium-isotope values at the boundary, support condensation rather than hiatus. Belemnite oxygen-isotope data suggest a significant temperature drop (∼5 °C) across the boundary at this locality.

The Skattøra migmatite complex in the north Norwegian Caledonides consists of migmatized slightly nepheline-normative metagabbros that are net-veined by numerous (up to 90%) anorthositic and leucodioritic dykes. The average chemical composition of 17 anorthosite dykes is (wt %) 58.4% SiO2, 0.2% TiO2, 23% Al2O3, 1.8% FeOt, 0.7% MgO, 6.3% CaO, 7.8% Na2O, 0.2% K2O. A migmatite leucosome and a dyke have been dated by the U/Pb method on titanite to 456±4 Ma. In low melt fraction areas minor leucosomes are orientated parallel to the foliation. More intense anatexis formed stromatic to schlieric migmatites. The leucosomes are commonly connected to dykes, suggesting that melt segregated and left its source. Dyke thicknesses range from a few centimetres up to several metres. In general, early dykes are parallel to the foliation in the host rock, while the later dykes cut the foliation. Plagioclase (An20–50) is the dominant mineral (85–100%) in the dykes and the leucosome, but 0–15% amphibole is generally present. Field relations, geochemistry and preliminary melting-experiments strongly suggest that the anorthosites originated by H2O-fluxed anatexis of the gabbroic host rock.

Late Ordovician to earliest Silurian is an important geological period marked by large geological and biological events. However, the strata and fossils of this interval are not complete in many parts of the world. Based on studies of 43 sites in South China, in particular the continuous sections on the Yangtze platform, we recognize a complete succession including seven graptolite zones and two shelly faunas. In ascending order, the graptolite zones are the Dicellograptus complanatus, Dicellograptus complexus, Paraorthograptus pacificus (including Lower Subzone, Tangyagraptus typicus Subzone and Diceratograptus mirus Subzone), Normalograptus extraordinarius–Normalograptus ojsuensis, Normalograptus persculptus, Akidograptus ascensus and Parakidograptus acuminatus zones. The shelly faunas are the Foliomena–Nankinolithus and Hirnantia faunas, which may be correlated with D. complanatus Zone and N. extraordinarius–N. ojsuensis to part of N. persculptus zones respectively. The biozonation through this interval from the Yangtze region can be correlated with that of other parts of the world such as Dob's Linn in Scotland, Spain and Portugal, Thuringia–Saxonia–Bavaria, Bohemia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Kolyma, Malaya Peninsula, Yukon, Canadian Arctic Islands, Nevada, Argentina, Niger and Victoria, Australia. The Hirnantian Substage, which has been proposed by us recently, includes the N. extraordinarius–N. ojsuensis Zone, Hirnantia fauna and N. persculptus Zone. The base of the Hirnantian Substage is marked by the First Appearance Data (FADs) of N. extraordinarius and N. ojsuensis, which have been determined to be synchronous on a global scale.

In recent years, platinum-group mineral deposits have been reported from several of the Tertiary igneous complexes in East Greenland. These intrusions form part of the same igneous province as the Tertiary igneous centres in northwest Scotland, and recent work confirmed the presence of abundant platinum-group minerals in the Rum Central Complex. In this paper we report for the first time the presence of abundant and diverse platinum-group minerals from the Tertiary Ben Buie intrusion on Mull and the Cuillin Complex of Skye, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. The platinum-group minerals in the Ben Buie intrusion are associated with chromitite layers in ultramafic cumulates. The grains are small (1–2 μm), locally very abundant, and dominated by Pd–Bi–Te–Sb phases. In the Peridotite Series of the Cuillin Complex, the platinum-group minerals are dominated by laurite commonly enclosed within chromite or silicate. A combined orthomagmatic–hydromagmatic origin is proposed for the mineralization. However, the style and type of mineralization differs between each of the igneous centres. Platinum-group element mineralization is a ubiquitous feature of the Tertiary Igneous Province in northwest Scotland and in Greenland and is intimately linked to the regional tectonic setting.

A large temnospondyl mandible from the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone (Early Triassic) of South Africa is referred to the higher-level taxon Trematosauridae. The mandible is remarkably similar to that described for Trematosaurus from the Middle Buntsandstein of Germany, a genus closely related to the South African Trematosuchus, for which the mandible is unknown. However, the mandible cannot be referred unequivocally to either of these taxa. Trematosuchus is considered to be restricted to the lowermost subzone of the overlying Cynognathus Assemblage Zone, which, based principally on the temnospondyl and therapsid fauna, is considered to be of Upper Olenekian age. The mandible described here extends back the range of the Trematosauridae to the underlying Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone and argues against the long-held notion of a sharp palaeontological break between the faunas of the Lystrosaurus and Cynognathus Assemblage zones. It also supports the hypothesis that the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone extended up to the Upper Olenekian.

The Klematia–Paramythia basin is an internal part of the middle Ionian zone of the Hellenide orogen in western Greece. It consists of Middle Eocene to Late Miocene turbidites, up to 3300 m thick, which were deposited in a series of submarine fans. Field studies suggest that the configuration and the depositional environments of the basin were affected by two tectonic phases. During the first tectonic phase, in Middle Eocene to Late Oligocene times, a foreland basin was formed west of the Pindos Thrust front. During the second tectonic phase, in the Early Miocene, the Ionian zone (a part of the foreland basin) was subdivided by internal thrusting into three sub-basins (internal, middle and external) and changed to a complex type foreland basin. Comparison of the type and facies associations of the turbidite deposits that accumulated within the basin suggests that these two tectonic phases had a significant effect on sedimentary dispersal patterns. During the first tectonic phase in the Klematia–Paramythia basin (when it was part of the foreland basin), fine-grained turbidites, up to 1050 m thick, accumulated on the distal part of a submarine fan. The lower part (900 m thick) of these deposits consists of thin to thick interbedded sandstone/mudstone beds which are interpreted as lobes and lobe-fringe (outer-fan) deposits. The upper parts (150 m thick) of these deposits are composed of very thin to thin siltstone/mudstone beds, representing a basin plain environment. During the second tectonic phase, sediments up to 2260 m thick were deposited in the Klematia–Paramythia basin. These deposits are interpreted as lobes and lobe-fringe (outer-fan) fine-grained turbidites in the central part of the basin, channel and interchannel deposits (inner-fan) in some areas of the periphery of the basin, and shelf deposits in the northern and southern terminations of the basin.

More than 190 articulate brachiopods from Turonian sections in northwestern Germany and southern England were studied for their stable carbon and oxygen isotopic composition, and some of them for their elemental composition. Most of the brachiopod shells are well preserved, and oxygen isotope composition reflects the temperate conditions of the European epicontinental sea. Upper Turonian mean δ18O values from Lower Saxony and southern England show bottom-water temperatures in the range of 14.2 to 18.2 °C (δ18Ow = −1.5‰ SMOW for an ice-free world). The relative trend of mean brachiopod oxygen and carbon isotopes shows a short-term (200 k.y.) increase in the mid-Upper Turonian horizons that confirms the climate cooling (∼ 2 °C) observed in bulk-rock samples at different sites in Europe. Interbasinal comparisons between England and Germany show similar δ13C values in both basins, whereas oxygen isotopes are heavier in northwestern Germany than in England, suggesting a cool-water influence from the North Sea basin and temperate conditions in the Anglo-Paris basin.