Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Paleobiology
Fully Automated Carbonate Petrography Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks
Published: 2020-06-22
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Geology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Carbonate rocks are important archives of past ocean conditions as well as hosts of economic resources such as hydrocarbons, water, and minerals. Geologists typically perform compositional analysis of grain, matrix, cement and pore types in order to interpret depositional environments, diagenetic modification, and reservoir quality of carbonate strata. Such information can be obtained primarily [...]
Weak influence of paleoenvironmental conditions on the subsurface biosphere of lake Ohrid in the last 515 ka
Published: 2020-04-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Other Earth Sciences, Paleobiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Understanding the response of geo- and biosystems to past climatic disturbance is primordial to assess the short to long terms effects of current global change. Lacustrine sediments are commonly used to investigate the impact of climatic change on biogeochemical cycling. In these sediments, subsurface microbial communities play a primordial role in nutrient, organic matter and elemental cycling, [...]
International disparities in open access practices of the Earth Sciences community
Published: 2020-03-31
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Hydrology, Library and Information Science, Mineral Physics, Other Earth Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Soil Science, Speleology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Short communication on international disparities in open access practices of the Earth Sciences community
High-resolution terrestrial climate, bioclimate and vegetation for the last 120,000 years
Published: 2019-08-14
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Paleobiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The variability of climate has profoundly impacted a wide range of macroecological processes in the Late Quaternary. Our understanding of these has greatly benefited from palaeoclimate simulations, however, high-quality reconstructions of ecologically relevant climatic variables have been limited to a few selected time periods, thus impeding continuous time analyses. Here, we present a 0.5° [...]
‘Trapping and binding’: A review of the factors controlling the development of fossil agglutinated microbialites and their distribution in space and time
Published: 2019-01-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Paleobiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Trapping and binding of allochthonous grains by benthic microbial communities has been considered a fundamental process of microbialite accretion since its discovery in popular shallow-marine modern examples (Bahamas and Shark Bay). However, agglutinated textures are rare in fossil microbialites and, thus, the role of trapping and binding has been debated in the last four decades. Recently, [...]
Ocean Drilling Perspectives on Meteorite Impacts
Published: 2018-08-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Sciences, Stratigraphy
Extraterrestrial impacts are a ubiquitous process in the solar system, reshaping the surface of rocky bodies of all sizes. On early Earth, impact structures may have been a nursery for the evolution of life. More recently, a large meteorite impact caused the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, causing the extinction of 75% of species known from the fossil, including non-avian dinosaurs, and clearing [...]
Fluid inclusions from the deep Dead Sea sediment provide new insights on Holocene extreme microbial life
Published: 2018-07-24
Subjects: Biology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Paleobiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project allowed to retrieve a continuous sedimentary record spanning the two last glacial cycles. This unique archive, in such an extreme environment, has allowed for the development of new proxies and the refinement of already available paleoenvironmental studies. In particular, the interaction of the lake and sediment biosphere with elements and minerals that [...]
A fossiliferous spherule-rich bed at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary in Mississippi, USA: implications for the K-Pg mass extinction event in the MS Embayment and Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain
Published: 2018-06-14
Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
We describe an outcrop of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary exposed due to construction near New Albany, Union County, Mississippi. It consists of the Owl Creek Formation and overlying Clayton Formation. The Owl Creek Formation is rich in the ammonites Discoscaphites iris and Eubaculites carinatus, which, along with biostratigraphically important dinoflagellate cysts and calcareous [...]
What caused Earths largest mass extinction event? New evidence from the Permian-Triassic boundary in northeastern Utah
Published: 2018-02-26
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Chemistry, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Life Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
The discovery of a Permian-Triassic boundary section in northeastern Utah reveals a detailed record of events that led to one of the greatest mass extinctions on the planet. From 83% to 97% of the species living on the planet went extinct during this relatively short interval of geological time, which defines the major geological boundary between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Eras. The cause and [...]
Macrostrat: a platform for geological data integration and deep-time Earth crust research
Published: 2018-01-26
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geology, Paleobiology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Characterizing the lithology, age, and physical-chemical properties of rocks and sediments in the Earths upper crust is necessary to fully assess energy, water, and mineral resources and to address many fundamental questions in the Earth sciences. Although a large number of geological maps, regional geological syntheses, and sample-based measurements have been produced, there is no openly [...]