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The geodynamic evolution of the South Armenian Block (SAB) within the Tethyan realm during the Palaeozoic to present-day is poorly constrained. Much of the SAB is covered by Cenozoic sediments so that the relationships between the SAB and the neighbouring terranes of Central Iran, the Pontides and Taurides are unclear. Here we present new geochronological, palaeomagnetic, and geochemical constraints to shed light on the Gondwanan and Cimmerian provenance of the SAB, timing of its rifting, and geodynamic evolution since the Permian. We report new 40Ar/39Ar and zircon U-Pb ages and compositional data on magmatic sills and dykes in the Late Devonian sedimentary cover, as well as metamorphic rocks that constitute part of the SAB basement. Zircon age distributions, ranging from ∼3.6 Ga to 100 Ma, firmly establish a Gondwanan origin for the SAB. Trondhjemite intrusions into the basement at ∼263 Ma are consistent with a SW-dipping active continental margin. Mafic intraplate intrusions at ∼246 Ma (OIB) and ∼234 Ma (P-MORB) in the sedimentary cover likely represent the incipient stages of breakup of the NE Gondwanan margin and opening of the Neotethys. Andesitic dykes at ∼117 Ma testify to the melting of subduction-modified lithosphere. In contrast to current interpretations, we show that the SAB should be considered separate from the Taurides, and that the Armenian ophiolite complexes formed chiefly in the Eurasian forearc. Based on the new constraints, we provide a geodynamic reconstruction of the SAB since the Permian, in which it started rifting from Gondwana alongside the Pontides, likely reached the Iranian margin in Early Jurassic times, and was subject to episodes of intraplate (∼189 Ma) and NE-dipping subduction-related (∼117 Ma) magmatism.

Our Earth’s magnetic field reverses its polarity non-periodically. Despite the large number of reversals in the magnetographic record, the geometry of the Earth’s magnetic field and the mechanisms driving reversals still remain obscure. One reason for this is that the majority of reversal datasets are sedimentary, which lack temporal resolution for recording the rapid field changes during reversals. Another reason is that most of the available volcanic reversal datasets -that may have the necessary temporal resolution- describe a reversal in discrete steps and therefore often have insufficient transitional directions to decipher the geometry of the changing field. Leonhardt et al. (2002) and Leonhardt and Soffel (2002) discovered and described a detailed volcanic record of a ~14Ma reversal on Gran Canaria that formed during a highly eruptive shield-building phase of the island. This paleomagnetic record has sufficient temporal resolution to show the dynamic behavior of the field before and after the reversal. It could therefore illustrate the non-dipolar behavior of the Earth’s magnetic field during a reversal. We resampled the section and extended it by 600 m below Leonhardt et al.’s (2002) section to a total of 110 flows. These flows were measured extensively for both paleodirections and paleointensities. A total of 922 paleodirection measurements were performed, 239 thermal and 683 alternating field demagnetization measurements, which resulted in a paleodirection for 109 flows. A total of 994 paleointensity measurements were performed, 307 IZZI-Thellier and 687 pseudo-Thellier measurements. The IZZI-Thellier measurements produced an absolute paleointensity for 29 flows, based on five sets of selection criteria. The Pseudo-Thellier measurements produced a relative paleointensity for 108 flows, based on one set of selection criteria. Absolute paleointensities from pseudo-Thellier measurements were obtained by scaling their results to IZZI-Thellier results. The resulting paleomagnetic record shows new and interesting features. First of all, during this single reversal the declination reverses only once whilst the inclination reverses its polarity at least five times. In addition, the magnetic field intensity appears to pulsate coinciding with the pattern of inclination reversals, which is observed in the IZZI-Thellier results as well as the pseudo-Thellier results. To analyze this behavior we used a simplified spherical harmonic model with stringent boundary conditions. We show that both these observations can be explained by interaction of the higher order poles during this reversal.

The island of Patmos, in the eastern Aegean Sea, consists almost entirely of late Miocene to Pliocene volcanic rocks. The magmatism in the Aegean is governed by subduction of the African plate below the Eurasian plate, back-arc extension, slab roll-back, slab edge processes and westward extrusion of central Anatolia to the west along the Northern Anatolian Fault into the Aegean domain, The evolution of the Aegean basin is that of a back arc setting, with a southerly trend in the locus of both convergent tectonics, and back arc stretching, allowing intermittent upwelling of arc, lithospheric and asthenospheric magmas. Here, we present new 40Ar/39Ar age data for Patmos and the nearby small island of Chilomodi to place this volcanism in a new high resolution geochronological framework. High resolution geochronology provides a key to understanding the mechanisms of both the tectonic and magmatic processes that cause the extrusion of magma locally, and sheds light on the tectonic evolution of the larger region of the back-arc basin as a whole. The volcanic series on Patmos is alkalic, consistent with a back arc extensional setting and ranges from trachybasalt, to phonolites, trachytes and rhyolites, with SiO2 ranging from 51.6–80.5 wt.% and K2O from 2–11.8 wt.% with extrusion ages ranging from 6.59 ± 0.14 Ma–5.17 ± 0.11 Ma. Volcanism on Patmos and adjacent Chilomodi can be understood by a combination of mantle and crustal tectonic processes including influence of transform faults and rotational crustal forces that also caused the opening of the south Aegean basin due to roll back of the subducting slab south of Crete.

High-resolution geochronology is essential for determining the growth rate of volcanoes, which is one of the key factors for establishing the periodicity of volcanic eruptions. However, there are less high-resolution eruptive histories ( > 10 6 years) determined for long-lived submarine arc volcanic complexes than for subaerial complexes, since submarine volcanoes are far more difficult to observe than subaerial ones. In this study, high-resolution geochronology and major-element data are presented for the Milos volcanic field (VF) in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, Greece. The Milos VF has been active for over 3 Myr , and the first 2 × 10 6 years of its eruptive history occurred in a submarine setting that has been emerged above sea level. The long submarine volcanic history of the Milos VF makes it an excellent natural laboratory to study the growth rate of a long-lived submarine arc volcanic complex. This study reports 21 new high-precision 40 Ar / 39 Ar ages and major-element compositions for 11 volcanic units of the Milos VF. This allows us to divide the Milos volcanic history into at least three periods of different long-term volumetric volcanic output rate ( Qe ). Periods I (submarine, ∼ 3.3–2.13 Ma ) and III (subaerial, 1.48 Ma –present) have a low Qe of 0.9 ± 0.5 × 10 −5 and 0.25 ± 0.05 × 10 −5 km3 yr−1 , respectively. Period II (submarine, 2.13–1.48 Ma ) has a 3–12 times higher Qe of 3.0 ± 1.7 × 10 −5 km3 yr−1 . The Qe of the Milos VF is 2–3 orders of magnitude lower than the average for rhyolitic systems and continental arcs.

The 40Ar/39Ar dating method is among the most versatile of geochronometers, having the potential to date a broad variety of K-bearing materials spanning from the time of Earth’s formation into the historical realm. Measurements using modern noble-gas mass spectrometers are now producing 40Ar/39Ar dates with analytical uncertainties of ~0.1%, thereby providing precise time constraints for a wide range of geologic and extraterrestrial processes. Analyses of increasingly smaller subsamples have revealed age dispersion in many materials, including some minerals used as neutron fluence monitors. Accordingly, interpretive strategies are evolving to address observed dispersion in dates from a single sample. Moreover, inferring a geologically meaningful “age” from a measured “date” or set of dates is dependent on the geological problem being addressed and the salient assumptions associated with each set of data. We highlight requirements for collateral information that will better constrain the interpretation of 40Ar/39Ar data sets, including those associated with single-crystal fusion analyses, incremental heating experiments, and in situ analyses of microsampled domains. To ensure the utility and viability of published results, we emphasize previous recommendations for reporting 40Ar/39Ar data and the related essential metadata, with the amendment that data conform to evolving standards of being findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) by both humans and computers. Our examples provide guidance for the presentation and interpretation of 40Ar/39Ar dates to maximize their interdisciplinary usage, reproducibility, and longevity.

Mts. Kalnik and Požeška gora volcaniclastic sequences hold valuable information concerning the Miocene syn-rift evolution of the North Croatian Basin, and the evolution of the Carpathian–Pannonian Region and the Central Paratethys. We present volcanological, high-precision geochronological, and compositional data of volcanic glass to constrain their tephrochronology, magmatic provenance, and timing of the initial Central Paratethys flooding of the North Croatian Basin. Based on CA-ID-TIMS U–Pb zircon ages (18.060 ± 0.023 Ma for Mt. Kalnik and 15.345 ± 0.020 Ma for Mt. Požeška gora) and coeval 40Ar/39Ar sanidine ages (18.14 ± 0.38 Ma and 18.25 ± 0.38 Ma for Mt. Kalnik and 15.34 ± 0.32 Ma and 15.43 ± 0.32 Ma for Mt. Požeška gora), Mt. Kalnik rhyolitic massive ignimbrites and Mt. Požeška gora rhyolitic primary volcaniclastic turbidites are coeval with Carpathian–Pannonian Region Miocene post-collisional silicic volcanism, which was caused by lithospheric thinning of the Pannonian Basin. Their affiliation to Carpathian–Pannonian Region magmatic activity is supported by their subduction-related geochemical signatures. Although Mts. Kalnik and Požeška gora volcaniclastics are coeval with the Bükkalja Volcanic Field Csv-2 rhyolitic ignimbrites, North Alpine Foreland Basin, Styrian Basin, Vienna Basin, and Dinaride Lake System bentonites and volcaniclastic deposits, reliable tephrochronological interpretations based on comparison of volcanic glass geochemical composition are not possible due to a lack of data and/or methodological discrepancies. Our new high-precision geochronology data prove that the initial Middle Miocene (Badenian) marine flooding of parts of the North Croatian Basin occurred at least ~ 0.35 Ma (during the NN4 Zone) before the generally accepted ~ 15 Ma maximum flooding age at the basin scale, calibrating the timing of the onset of the widespread “mid-Langhian” Central Paratethys flooding.

The Indo-Asia collision significantly changed the topography and drainage network of rivers around the Tibetan Plateau. Debate continues as to when and how the current drainage system of the Yangtze River was formed. Here we use 40Ar/39Ar dating of detrital micas (muscovite and biotite) to constrain provenances of the Pliocene sediments from the Jianchuan and Yuanmou basins in SE Tibet. Muscovite and biotite data of the same Pliocene samples from the Jianchuan Basin suggest contrasting distal versus local sources, respectively. Similarly, muscovite data of the Yuanmou Basin suggest a derivation of sediments from the Yalong River, but the characteristics of the Pliocene cobbles (paleocurrent and subrounded cobbles) suggest that these sediments are locally sourced. Sediment reworking is proposed as an explanation for the different sediment provenance signals in the Jianchuan and Yuanmou basins that have led to the controversy of an either Pleistocene or pre-Miocene age of formation of the current Yangtze. Based on sediment provenance constraints, the evolution of the Jinsha River was reconstructed. The upper Jinsha River lost its connection with the southward flowing Red River upstream from the Jianchuan basin at least before the Pliocene. At the same time a parallel site in the Yuanmou Basin shows that the Yalong River stopped flowing southward into this basin. Detrital mica from early Pleistocene sediments at the Panzhihua site between the Jianchuan and Yuanmou basins, is sourced from the current Jinsha and Yalong rivers. These results would suggest that the current upper Yangtze drainage system should have established before the Pliocene. Supplementary material:https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4821573

The authors regret that typographical and calculation errors occurred in Table 1 and some related figures. Corrected versions of Table 1, Figs. 4–6 are reproduced below. These errors do not affect the conclusions of the original paper and we summarise the main changes to Section 4 below. We calculate revised and values of 0.041692 ± 0.000024 (0.058%) and 0.16989 ± 0.00015 (0.087%), respectively. The former value is indistinguishable from the average value of 0.041680 ± 0.000050 (0.096%) reported by Phillips and Matchan (2013) [Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 121, 229–239]. Other corrections in Table 1 relate to typographical errors and inconsistent propagation of uncertainty levels (2σ vs 1σ uncertainties) associated with some mean and plateau ages. The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience these errors may have caused.

Geological records indicate that the hyper-aridity in the Atacama Desert has prevailed since at least the mid-Miocene, with shorter periods of increased humidity punctuating long-term aridity. The 7-m-high accumulation of colluvial sediments at the Salar Grande (21°S/70°W) studied here provides a key palaeoclimate record to understand hillslope dynamics and its relation to humid periods. While 10Be surface exposure ages point to long-term surface stability of the flat upslope surface, a combination of humidity-driven soil creep, overland flow and soil creep related to seismic shaking, caused denudation of the hillslope and accumulation of several metres of colluvium over much shorter timescales during the last 130 ka. A robust chronology for the hillslope sediments has been established by using Infrared Stimulated luminescence (pIR-IR225 protocol) on K-feldspar extracts from nine samples collected within the accumulation. A series of tests has been carried out to confirm the suitability of the method. The estimated ages indicate accelerated sedimentation at 35–80 ka, and 100–130 ka, which are interpreted as periods with more humid climate conditions than present. These findings agree with climate variations in the hyper-arid Atacama indicated by the activity of coastal alluvial fans and river catchments.

Significance The Chicxulub impact played a crucial role in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. However the earliest postimpact effects, critical to fully decode the profound influence on Earth’s biota, are poorly understood due to a lack of high-temporal-resolution contemporaneous deposits. The Tanis site, which preserves a rapidly deposited, ejecta-bearing bed in the Hell Creek Formation, helps to resolve that long-standing deficit. Emplaced immediately (minutes to hours) after impact, Tanis provides a postimpact “snapshot,” including ejecta accretion and faunal mass death, advancing our understanding of the immediate effects of the Chicxulub impact. Moreover, we demonstrate that the depositional event, calculated to have coincided with the arrival of seismic waves from Chicxulub, likely resulted from a seismically coupled local seiche., The most immediate effects of the terminal-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact, essential to understanding the global-scale environmental and biotic collapses that mark the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, are poorly resolved despite extensive previous work. Here, we help to resolve this by describing a rapidly emplaced, high-energy onshore surge deposit from the terrestrial Hell Creek Formation in Montana. Associated ejecta and a cap of iridium-rich impactite reveal that its emplacement coincided with the Chicxulub event. Acipenseriform fish, densely packed in the deposit, contain ejecta spherules in their gills and were buried by an inland-directed surge that inundated a deeply incised river channel before accretion of the fine-grained impactite. Although this deposit displays all of the physical characteristics of a tsunami runup, the timing (

The Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary infill of the Irish and Celtic Sea Basins is intimately associated with the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea, and the opening of the Atlantic margin. Previous basin studies have constrained tectonism, basin uplift and sediment composition, but sediment provenance and routing have not received detailed consideration. Current hypotheses for basin infill suggest localized sediment sourcing throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous, despite a dynamic tectonic and palaeoenvironmental history spanning more than 100 million years. We present detrital zircon, white mica and apatite geochronology alongside heavy mineral data from five basins. Findings reveal that basin infill derived predominantly from distal sources with lesser periods of local sourcing. We deduce that tectonically induced marine transgression and regression events had a first-order control on distal v. proximal sedimentary sourcing. Additionally, tectonism which uplifted the Fastnet Basin region during the Middle–Late Jurassic recycled basin sediments into the connected Celtic and Irish Sea Basins. Detrital geochronology and heavy mineral evidence support three distinct provenance switches throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous in these basins. Overall an integrated multi-proxy provenance approach provides novel insights to tectonic and environmental controls on basin infill as demonstrated in the Irish and Celtic Sea Basins. Supplementary material: Tables S1–S6 are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5343657

The observation that individual volcanic centres have their own eruption frequencies has been known for a long time but is as yet poorly understood. The key to a better understanding of the mechani...

The Yangtze River is the largest river in Asia and its age and evolution has been the subject of debate for more than one century. Here, we applied a combination of detrital muscovite and K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar dating on a set of samples from late Cenozoic Nanjing fluvial gravel sediments (overlain by basalt with ages of ∼22.9 and ∼10.3 Ma) distributed along the lower Yangtze River to trace the late Cenozoic Yangtze drainage. It is found that the characteristic Cenozoic muscovite and K-feldspar age signals of the upper Yangtze are absent in the gravel sediments, indicating that the upper Yangtze did not supply sediment to the lower Yangtze before at least late Miocene time. These results do not support a prelate Miocene birth of the Yangtze River, but favor an alternative model highlighting later integration of the upper Yangtze into the mid-lower reaches to form the current Yangtze drainage system.

The late Pliocene Akchagylian transgression in the Caspian Basin led to a five-fold increase of the Caspian Sea surface water, extending the basin to the vast areas of Central Asia, Caucasian foreland (Kura Basin) and the Russian Plate. It also changed the regional climatic conditions by making the Pliocene glaciation milder. Later, establishment of hydrological connection between the Caspian Sea and the global ocean known as the “Akchagylian flooding” enabled active fauna migrations transforming the paleoecology of the region. Despite a relatively well constrained palaeoenvironmental history, the Akchagylian still lacks a univocal age model and two major age constraints exist - the “long” (3.6-1.8 Ma) and the “short” Akchagylian (2.7-2.1 Ma). In this study, we resolve the age contradictions by magnetostratigraphic and 40Ar/39Ar dating of several sections in the Kura Basin. With our new data, we further revise magnetostratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar constraints in 25 sections across the Kura Basin and Turkmenistan. We propose a new unified age model for the Akchagylian Stage: 1. Akchagylian transgression at 2.95±0.02 Ma; 2. Caspian-Arctic connection (2.75–2.45 Ma); 3. “Desalinated” Akchagylian between 2.45-2.13 Ma; 4. Akchagylian-Apsheronian boundary at 2.13 Ma correlated to the Reunion subchron (C2r.1n). Our data shows, that magnetostratigraphy requires a careful assessment of sedimentation rates and support from other proxies such as sedimentology, biostratigraphy and radioisotopic dating. The new ages constrain a much shorter (2.95–2.1 Ma) Akchagylian than in previously mentioned regional geological time scales (3.6–1.8 Ma) and strongly appeal to reconsider the ages of numerous archaeological and mammalian sites in the south Caspian region.

In the North Croatian Basin which is located in the southwestern part of the Pannonian Basin System, Miocene tuff deposits have been observed at several localities in the area of Banovina, Medvednica Mt. and Slavonia. Here we present new40 Ar/39 Ar age results obtained from volcanic glass from the Laz tuff (15.42 ± 0.15 Ma) intercalated with lacustrine freshwater/brackish deposits, the Jovac tuff (15.10 ± 0.06 Ma) intercalated with lacustrine freshwater deposits, the Čučerje tuff (14.81 ± 0.08 Ma) and the Nježić tuff (14.40 ± 0.03 Ma) both deposited in a marine environment. Fossil data (calcareous nannofossils/foraminifera) from the underlying and overlying beds of the tuffs from Čučerje and Nježić match the geochronological data i.e. NN5 zone and M6 zone were determined. Integration of biostratigraphic and geochronological data enable a better understanding of the NCB sedimentary evolution and constrain the Middle Miocene marine flooding event in the marginal areas of the western part of the NCB at ~15 Ma i.e. early/middle Badenian bounda-ry. These results together with the existence of lower Badenian marine sediments in the Sava depression (in the southern part of NCB) suggest it is possible to conclude that during the early Badenian in the NCB, freshwater lacustrine and marine environments coexisted.

High-resolution geochronology is essential for determining the growth rate of volcanoes, which is one of the key factors for establishing the periodicity of volcanic eruptions. However, there are less high-resolution eruptive histories (> 106 years) determined for long-lived submarine arc volcanic complexes than for subaerial complexes, since submarine volcanoes are far more difficult to observe than subaerial ones. In this study, high-resolution geochronology and major-element data are presented for the Milos volcanic field (VF) in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, Greece. The Milos VF has been active for over 3 Myr, and the first 2 × 106 years of its eruptive history occurred in a submarine setting that has been emerged above sea level. The long submarine volcanic history of the Milos VF makes it an excellent natural laboratory to study the growth rate of a long-lived submarine arc volcanic complex. This study reports 21 new high-precision 40Ar/39Ar ages and major-element compositions for 11 volcanic units of the Milos VF. This allows us to divide the Milos volcanic history into at least three periods of different long-term volumetric volcanic output rate (Qe). Periods I (submarine, ∼ 3.3–2.13 Ma) and III (subaerial, 1.48 Ma–present) have a low Qe of 0.9 ± 0.5 × 10−5 and 0.25 ± 0.05 × 10−5 km3 yr−1, respectively. Period II (submarine, 2.13–1.48 Ma) has a 3–12 times higher Qe of 3.0 ± 1.7 × 10−5 km3 yr−1. The Qe of the Milos VF is 2–3 orders of magnitude lower than the average for rhyolitic systems and continental arcs.

The Global climate reorganisation in the late Pliocene linked to enhancement of the Atlantic Ocean Thermohaline Circulation (AOTC), instigated a transition to glacial-interglacial cyclicity in the Quaternary. Enhancement of the AOTC amplified atmospheric precipitation over the Eurasian interior strengthening Northern Hemisphere Glaciation. Increased rainfall on the vast Russian Plain drained into the endorheic Caspian Sea, which makes the Caspian geological record highly potential for tracing atmospheric precipitation changes. Two major palaeohydrological events in the Caspian Sea, the Akchagylian transgression and the Akchagylian marine incursion, led to a five-fold enlargement of the Caspian Sea surface area and transformed the basin palaeoecology, enabling active interregional faunal dispersals. The Akchagylian Stage still lacks an unequivocal age model with two age constraints – the “long Akchagylian” (3.6–1.8 Ma) and the “short Akchagylian” (2.7–2.1 Ma) standing on magnetostratigraphic studies of geological records in Turkmenistan and the Kura Basin, respectively. The age discrepancies also exist within the Kura Basin, where the fossil mammal-bearing Kvabebi locality with Akchagylian marine fauna was magnetostratigraphically dated at 3.2 Ma. In this paper, we try to resolve the age contradictions for the Akchagylian Stage. We revisit the Kvabebi (Georgia) and Kushkuna (Azerbaijan) sections of the western Kura Basin and provide new magnetostratigraphic and 40Ar/39Ar age constraints on these marginal Akchagylian deposits. Moreover, we revise the magnetostratigraphy of 25 geological records from Turkmenistan and the Kura Basin and propose a new unified age model for the Akchagylian Stage: 1. Intrabasinal Akchagylian freshwater-mesohaline transgression at 2.95 ± 0.02 Ma; 2. Akchagylian marine incursion through establishment of a Caspian-Arctic connection (2.75–2.45 Ma); 3. Akchagylian–Apsheronian boundary highlighting a Caspian-Black Sea connection at 2.13 Ma. The sudden expansion of the Caspian Sea at 2.95 ± 0.02 Ma potentially correlates to the interglacial intensification of the AOTC between 2.95 and 2.82 Ma. The new ages constrain a much shorter (2.95–2.1 Ma) Akchagylian than in previously mentioned regional geological time scales (3.6–1.8 Ma) and strongly appeal to reconsider the ages of numerous archaeological and mammalian sites in the Caspian region.

A significant discrepancy of up to 0.6 Myr exists between radio-isotopically calibrated and astronomically tuned time scales of the late Eocene-Oligocene. We explore the possible causes of this discrepancy through the acquisition of “high-precision” 206Pb/238U dating of zircons from 11 volcanic ash beds from the Umbria-Marche sedimentary succession, which hosts the Global Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Oligocene. Our results indicate that the four 40Ar/39Ar dates from the Umbria-Marche succession, which underpin the late Eocene-Oligocene portion of the Paleogene geomagnetic polarity time scale in the 2012 edition of the Geological Time Scale, are anomalously old by up to 0.5 Myr. Conversely, when integrated with the established magnetic polarity record of the Umbria-Marche succession, 206Pb/238U (zircon) data from this study result in Oligocene magnetic reversal ages that are generally equivalent to those obtained through the tuning of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1218 (equatorial Pacific). Furthermore, our results indicate that the late Eocene tuning of ODP Site 1218, and International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Sites U1333–1334 (equatorial Pacific), to the 405 kyr eccentricity signal is accurate, at least back to 36 Ma. Propagating the full uncertainty of our radio-isotopic data set and, where appropriate, taking into account locally derived astronomical time scales, we arrive at an age of 34.09 ± 0.08 Ma for the Eocene-Oligocene boundary and 28.11 ± 0.17 Ma for the base of the Chattian.

Detrital muscovite and biotite 40Ar/39Ar analyses are useful tools for studying regional tectonic histories, sediment provenances and paleo-drainage reconstructions. During transport and recycling of detrital micas physical and chemical weathering occurs. This process effects the grain size and age populations ultimately found in river sediments, but is often ignored in provenance studies. Here, we present detrital muscovite and biotite 40Ar/39Ar results of 15 modern sediments from the Yangtze River to address the impact of grainsize on provenance age populations. The beam intensities of 39Ar, formed from 39K by neutron capture reaction during sample irradiation, have been used as an index for grain size. We found that relatively older detrital mica ages of the Yangtze River are often characterized by small 39Ar signals (i.e., grain sizes), and large grain sizes correspond to younger grains. This observation is also revealed by reanalysis of previously reported detrital mica studies in other major river systems (Red and Brahmaputra rivers) and sediments (Scotian Basin, Canada and Antarctic) and probably results from physical and chemical weathering during transport and recycling. Our Yangtze results indicate that detrital muscovite and biotite ages of grainsize ranging from 100 to 1000 μm cover all age components as identified in all dated grains (with a size of >100 μm), and thus indicate that detrital mica 40Ar/39Ar analyses should include also small grains from >100 μm to reduce the effects of hydraulic sorting and weathering. Grainsizes smaller than 100 μm have not been tested in this study, but will be more difficult to date due to both smaller beam intensities and possible recoil effects.

The Kuchyňa tuff is found on the Eastern margin of the Vienna Basin and was formed by felsic volcanism. The Ar/Ar single grain sanidine method was applied and resulted in an age of 15.23±0.04 Ma, which can be interpreted as the age of the eruption. The obtained numerical age is in accordance with the subtropical climate inferred by the presence of fossil leaves that originated in an evergreen broadleaved forest. Furthermore, the described volcanism was connected with the syn-rift stage of the back-arc Pannonian Basin system. The sedimentological data from the underlying sandy mudstones indicate alluvial environment what confirms terrestrial conditions during deposition. Moreover, the tuff deposition probably occurred shortly before the Badenian transgression of the Central Paratethys Sea.

Current generation multi-collector mass spectrometers allow for increasingly more precise measurements of small ion beams. The improvement of instrument sensitivity and resolution compared with older generation mass spectrometers has important implications for 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating and allows the expanding of its range of applicability. Thermochronological analysis of detrital modern river sands is a powerful tool for unraveling provenance and exhumation histories of eroding hinterlands. Better instrument sensitivity allows refining the precision of dates for young and small grains, which in turn acknowledge an interpretation of the detrital signals from a wider range of micas. Previous studies have used the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar method to assess how the detrital mineral age signals can evolve downstream in the river trunk of an active mountain range. So far, however, there has not been a robust assessment of how grain-size variability can introduce biases in the analysis of age distributions. For example, the white mica signal from the Namche Barwa syntaxis in the eastern Himalaya is interpreted to be diluted downstream from its source due to the admixture of micas from downstream sources to the total population, but grain-size variability biases were not evaluated. Here we use the latest developments in multi-collector noble gas mass spectrometry to (1) test if the precision in the analysis of young and small muscovite samples can be improved by use of new faraday collector amplifier technology and (2) to apply this approach to test the variability of the age distribution as a function of the grain size from five modern rivers samples draining the Eastern Himalaya. The Helix MC plus at VUA is equipped with 10 13 Ohm amplifiers on the H2-H1 Faraday cups. We compare the functioning of the 10 13 Ohm amplifiers with the 10 12 amplifiers on the in-house Drachenfels (DRA) standard. The use of the new 10 13 Ohm amplifiers to measure the 40 Ar and 39 Ar ion beams improved the precision when measuring standards by a factor of two. We show that for larger catchment areas multi grain-size analyses lead to a more complete assessment of the full spectrum of ages obtained from different sources. The analyses of smaller grain sizes (< 250 μm) show that previous ideas/arguments about the process of dilution of the Namche Barwa syntaxis age signal for muscovite were biased due to the measurement of exclusively larger grain-sizes (> 250 μm) of the analyzed samples. This outcome potentially has important implications for future provenance studies.

The geometry and evolution of rivers originating from the Tibetan plateau are influenced by topography and climate change during the India-Asia collision. The Yangtze River is the longest among these rivers and formed due to capturing many rivers on the eastern Tibetan Plateau by the middle Yangtze. The timing of these capture events is still controversial. Here, we use detrital muscovite 40Ar/39Ar and zircon U–Pb ages to constrain the provenance of late Cenozoic sediments in the Jianghan Basin in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The combined data suggest that late Pliocene sediments were mainly derived from a local source in the Jianghan Basin including the Dabie Shan. The middle Pleistocene sediments were derived from the Min River west of the Three Gorges. This implies that at least one river, perhaps the palaeo-Han River, originating from the Dabie Shan region, flowed through the centre of the Jianghan Basin during the late Pliocene. The appearance of sediment from the Min River in the Jianghan Basin somewhere between late Pliocene and middle Pleistocene suggests that the Three Gorges section of the Yangtze River was formed somewhere between late Pliocene and middle Pleistocene (N2– Q2).

The new generation of multi-collector mass spectrometers (e.g. ARGUSVI) permit ultra-high precision (40Ar/39Ar geochronology of rocks and minerals. At the same time, the 40Ar/39Ar method is limited by relatively large uncertainties (>1%) in 40K decay constants and the ages of natural reference minerals that form the basis of the technique. For example, reported ages for widely used 40Ar/39Ar reference materials, such as the ca. 28 Ma Fish Canyon Tuff sanidine (FCTs) and the ca. 1.2 Ma Alder Creek Rhyolite sanidine (ACRs), vary by >1%. Recent attempts to independently calibrate these reference minerals have focused on K–Ar analyses of the same minerals and inter-comparisons with astronomically tuned tephras in sedimentary sequences and U–Pb zircon ages from volcanic rocks. Most of these studies used older generation (effectively single-collector) mass spectrometers that employed peak-jumping analytical methods to acquire 40Ar/39Ar data. In this study, we reassess the inter-calibration and ages of commonly used 40Ar/39Ar reference minerals Fish Canyon Tuff sanidine (FCTs), Alder Creek Rhyolite sanidine (ACRs) and Mount Dromedary biotite (MD2b; equivalent to GA-1550 biotite), relative to the astronomically tuned age of A1 Tephra sanidine (A1Ts), Faneromeni section, Crete (Rivera et al., 2011), using a multi-collector ARGUSVI mass spectrometer. These analyses confirm the exceptional precision capability (40Ar/39Ar step-heating spectra, with generally monotonically increasing ages (∼1% gradients). The similarity in these patterns, mass-dependent fractionation modeling, and results from step-crushing experiments on FCTs, which yield younger apparent ages, suggest that the discordance may be due to a combination of recoil loss and redistribution of 39ArK and isotope mass fractionation. In contrast to our previous inferences, these results imply that the sanidine samples are suitable 40Ar/39Ar reference materials, provided appropriate corrections are included for differential recoil loss of 39ArK and contributions from xenocrysts/antecrysts can be resolved. Relative to an age of 6.943 ± 0.005 Ma for A1Ts, we calculate astronomically tuned ages for FCTs, ACRs and MD2b of 28.126 ± 0.019 (0.066%) Ma, 1.18144 ± 0.00068 (0.058%) Ma and 99.125 ± 0.076 (0.077%) Ma, respectively (95% internal errors). These results are consistent with recent 238U/206Pb age data from these localities, but are marginally younger (∼0.2%) than previous 40Ar/39Ar ages inter-calibrated with astronomically tuned tephra from the Mediterranean, and distinctly younger (0.6%) than results optimized against a broad array of 238U/206Pb zircon ages. Consideration of published and assumed recoil loss 39ArK proportions (0.18–0.40%), yields recoil-corrected age estimates of 28.187 ± 0.019 Ma, 1.18404 ± 0.00068 Ma and 99.204 ± 0.076 Ma, respectively. This comparison indicates inherent uncertainties of >0.1% in the 40Ar/39Ar ages of reference minerals without consideration of recoil artefacts, thus limiting the benefits of high precision multi-collector analyses. Significant improvement to the accuracy of the 40Ar/39Ar method (40Ar/39Ar studies utilizing multi-collector mass spectrometry, additional constraints on recoil 39ArK loss from reference minerals, further resolution of discrepancies between astronomically tuned sedimentary successions and refinement of the 238U/206Pb zircon age cross-calibration approach.

International audience; The Maikop Series forms an important source rock in the former Paratethys. Deposition is often interpreted as anoxic, linked to restriction of the Paratethys. The Pirembel formation in the Talysh Mountains (Azerbaijan) is attributed to the Maikop Series and was deposited above the Eocene volcanic Peshtasar formation. Dating the onset of anoxia could help to distinguish glacio-eustatic from tectonic causes of restriction. We integrated magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy to date the onset of Pirembel sedimentation and used geochemistry to characterize the tectonic setting of the Peshtasar volcanic rocks. The onset of Maikop sedimentation in the Talysh was determined to be 37.7 Ma, ruling out a link with the major sea-level drop at the Eocene–Oligocene Transition (33.9 Ma) and favouring a tectonic cause. Extrapolating the average sedimentation rate (34 cm kyr) suggests that the entire Pirembel formation belongs to the Late Eocene. We hypothesize that the end of volcanism is important in the transition to Pirembel sedimentation. The palaeomagnetic and geochemistry results for the volcanic rocks cluster in three groups, suggesting three distinct episodes of volcanism. Volcanic sills within the Eocene Arkevan formation plot exactly on these groups, confirming the relationship between the Arkevan and Peshtasar formations. Volcanic rocks of the Talysh show continental-arc signatures and may be related to an Eocene volcanic belt extending towards southeastern Iran.

Sediment load in rivers is an indicator of erosional processes in the upstream river catchments. Understanding the origin and composition of the sediment load can help to assess the influence of natural processes and human activities on erosion. Tectonic uplift, precipitation and run-off, hill slopes and vegetation can influence erosion in natural systems. Agriculture and deforestation are expected to increase the sediment yield, but dams and reservoirs can trap much of this sediment before it reaches the ocean. Here, we use major element composition and 40Ar/39Ar ages of detrital muscovites to constrain the sediment contribution of various tributaries to sedimentation in the Yangtze delta. The sediment contribution calculated from muscovite data was compared with that estimated from current sediment load data from gauging stations. Muscovite data show that the main contributor to the Yangtze delta sands is the Min River, while the current sediment load suggests that the Jinsha and Jialing rivers are the most important current contributors to delta sediments. We suggest that this difference reflects an "old" and "young" erosion pattern, respectively as medium grained muscovite could be transported much slower than suspended sediment load in the complex river-lake systems of the Yangtze River basin. These two different erosion patterns likely reflect enhanced human activity (deforestation, cultivation, and mining) that increasingly overwhelmed long-time natural factors controls on erosion since ~1900 cal years B.P.

Cenozoic convergence between the Eurasian and African plates and concurrent slab roll-back processes have produced a progressive extension in back-arc areas, such as the Aegean region and western Anatolia. There is still a long-standing controversy as to whether this was a continuous or stepwise process. To shed light on this controversy and on the driving mechanism of regional extension, we present palaeomagnetic and geochronological results from the Soke Basin located at the southeastern rim of the Izmir–Balikesir Transfer Zone. Our improved geochronology shows that volcanic activity in the region occurred between 11.66 and 12.85 Ma. Middle to late Miocene palaeomagnetic data for the Soke Basin show a c. 23° clockwise rotation, whereas early Miocene data show a c. 28° counterclockwise rotation. The primary nature of the magnetization is indicated by a positive tilt test. The resulting c. 51° counterclockwise rotations during the middle Miocene signify a major tectonic reorganization, during a period when an interruption of exhumation of metamorphic massifs has been reported. We suggest that the Izmir–Balikesir Transfer Zone is the main driver of the reorganization in the region. The regional fingerprint of this tectonic reorganization coincides with the acceleration of trench retreat and illustrates the surface impact of tearing of the Hellenic slab. Supplementary material: Details of 40 Ar/ 39 Ar analysis including heating steps and the output (.pmag) file including details of paleomagnetic analysis performed in this study are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3690871

In situ Terrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclides (hereafter TCNs) are increasingly important for absolutely dating terrestrial events and processes. This study aimed at improving our knowledge of the production rate of Terrestrial Cosmogenic 3 He formed in situ in rock surfaces at low latitude and sea level as well as re-evaluation of the Canary Islands as a calibration site for TCNs. For this purpose, we sampled basaltic lava flows from some of the youngest and yet undated volcanic sites and used the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar incremental heating method on groundmass samples and in situ cosmogenic 3 He on olivine and clinopyroxene phenocrysts. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar analysis was done on a Hiden HAL Series 1000 triple filter quadrupole mass spectrometer with extraction furnace. Incremental heating data shows ages in the Late Pleistocene from 52.7 ± 21.6 ka to 398.6 ± 27.6 ka. We measured cosmogenic 3 He concentrations in olivine and clinopyroxene phenocrysts from flow top samples on a MAP 215-50 sector mass spectrometer with a crushing device and a diode laser extraction system. Exposure age calculations yielded ages in the range 38.9 ± 4.0 ka to 62.3 ± 6.7 ka for the youngest lava flow and the data series is in broad agreement with the argon data up to 250 ka and reveals a more continuous time line of volcanism during the late Pleistocene on the island. However, the dataset was not sufficient for calculation of production rates for in situ Terrestrial Cosmogenic 3 He as many samples showed signs of erosion. Calculated erosion rates range from none to as high as 7.3 mm/kyr assuming a rock density of 2.9 g/cm 2 . This finding puts a constraint on the use of Fuerteventura as a calibration site for exposure histories older than 50–100 ka. A comparison with cosmogenic 36 Cl data supports these findings and indicates substantial weathering.

During the Early to Middle Miocene, a complex interplay of climate variability, sea level change, and Alpine tectonics resulted in the development of a series of long-lived lakes in the Dinarides and Serbian regions. While recent dating studies improved understanding of the Dinaride Lake System (DLS) evolution, independent age constraints are still lacking for the Serbian Lake System (SLS). Here, we present the results of an integrated study combining biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, and 40Ar/39Ar radioisotopic dating of the sedimentary succession of ancient Lake Popovac to improve the chronostratigraphic framework and paleoenvironmental understanding of the SLS. Our biostratigraphic analyses of the mollusks and ostracods show endemic marker taxa for the Middle Miocene bioprovince of the SLS, such as Prososthenia fuchsi PAVLOVIĆ, ?Mediocypris sp., and ?Dinarocythere sp. Magnetostratigraphy revealed only one normal polarity interval, with a single reversed sample on top and, combined with an 40Ar/39ArAr weighted mean crystallization age of 14.40 ± 0.01 Ma, we correlate the studied Lake Popovac succession to Chron C5ADn, with a maximum extent from 14.61-14.16 Ma. Cyclostratigraphic analysis based on magnetic susceptibility and natural gamma radiation field logs suggest insolation forcing of the succession with an upward decrease in sedimentation rate from 25 to 12 cm/kyr. While the majority of the DLS originated during the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) at ~ 17 Ma and disappeared before ~ 15 Ma, the development of the SLS started around 14.5 Ma in the Langhian. Regionally overlying Serravallian marine sediments of the Central Para - tethys imply that the Serbian Lake cycle must have ended before 13.8 Ma. Initiation of SLS deposition in the study area coincided with a peak of syn-rift extension in the Pannonian back-arc basin, which apparently also affected the Peri-Pannonian realm as far south as the study area in the Morava depression.

Impact Dating The large mass extinction of terrestrial and marine life—most notably, non-avian dinosaurs—occurred around 66 million years ago, at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods. But attributing the cause to a large asteroid impact depends on precisely dating material from the impact with indicators of ecological stress and environmental change in the rock record. Renne et al. (p. 684 ; see the Perspective by Pälike ) acquired high-precision radiometric dates of stratigraphic layers surrounding the boundary, demonstrating that the impact occurred within 33,000 years of the mass extinction. The data also constrain the length of time in which the atmospheric carbon cycle was severely disrupted to less than 5000 years. Because the climate in the late Cretaceous was becoming unstable, the large-impact event appears to have triggered a state-shift in an already stressed global ecosystem.

High-precision geochronology is integral to testing hypotheses regarding the correlation, causes, and rates of events and processes in Earth history. Recent studies have sought to reconcile very precise, but apparently conflicting, ages for the same geological samples and events using different chronometers. Both systematic (decay constants, ages of standard materials) and geological (daughter-nuclide loss, inheritance) complexities contribute to the challenges of rock-clock calibration. Community-wide efforts to improve radioisotope geochronology have successfully mitigated many of these factors, and have brought high-precision geochronology to a threshold of unprecedented integration with stratigraphic and geochemical proxies of Earth systems dynamics.

The isolation of the Caspian Sea took place in the latest Miocene coinciding with a significant lowering of sea level and the deposition of a massive lowstand deltaic system. This so-called Productive Series is the main reservoir unit of the South Caspian oil-province. The Productive Series is overlain by marine clays from the Akchagylian and Apsheronian regional stages. During the Plio-Pleistocene, the Caspian basin experienced several short periods of intermittent connectivity with other marine basins. This work aims to create integrated, high-resolution, bio-magnetostratigraphic dating of these regional transgressions in key sections of the South Caspian Basin in Azerbaijan. We sample two long sections, the Lokbatan section in the Palaeo-Volga delta and the Xocashen section in the Kura Basin. Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions are derived from characteristic ostracod species. Rock magnetic analyses combined with thermal demagnetisation data indicate that the magnetic signal is carried dominantly by the iron oxide magnetite in the Productive Series of Lokbatan section and in the Xocashen section. The marine Akchagylian and Apsheronian of Lokbatan are characterised by the iron sulphide greigite, which appears to be of (near-) primary origin. The most logical correlation of the magnetic polarity patterns to the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale dates the Akchagylian transgression at ~ 3.2 Ma, a major transgression during the Apsheronian at ~ 2.0 Ma and the Bakunian transgression at 0.85–0.89 Ma. Ostracod assemblages indicate increasing salinities during these transgressions, from fresh water lacustrine to brackish-marine species. This implies that marine connections have been created with an adjacent basin that has a higher salinity, most likely the Black Sea.

In the Early to Middle Miocene, a series of lakes, collectively termed the Dinaride Lake System (DLS), spread out across the north-western part of the Dinaride-Anatolian continental block. Its deposits, preserved in numerous intra-montane basins, allow a glimpse into the palaeoenvironmental, palaeobiogeographic and geodynamic evolution of the region. Lake Gacko, situated in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, is one of the constituent lakes of the DLS, and its deposits are excellently exposed in the Gračanica open-cast coal-mine. A detailed study of the sedimentary succession that addresses facies, sediment petrography, geophysical properties, and fossil mollusc palaeoecology reveals repetitive changes in lake level. These are interpreted to reflect changes in the regional water budget. First-order chronologic constraints arise from the integration of radio-isotopic and palaeomagnetic data. (40)Ar/(39)Ar measurements on feldspar crystals from a tephra bed in the upper part of the sedimentary succession indicate a 15.31 ± 0.16 Ma age for this level. The reversed magnetic polarity signal that characterises the larger part of the investigated section correlates to chron C5Br of the Astronomically Tuned Neogene Timescale. Guided by these chronologic data and a detailed cyclostratigraphic analysis, the observed variations in lake-level, evident as two ~ 40-m and seven ~ 10-m scale transgression-regression cycles, are tuned to ~ 400-kyr and ~ 100-kyr eccentricity cycles. From the tuning, it can be inferred that the sediments in the Gacko Basin accumulated between ~ 15.8 and ~ 15.2 Ma. The economically valuable lignite accumulations in the lower part of the succession are interpreted to indicate the development of swamp forests in conjunction with lake-level falls corresponding to ~ 100-kyr eccentricity minima. Pedogenesis, rhizoliths and palustrine carbonate breccias in the upper part of the section reveal long-term aridity coinciding with a ~ 400-kyr eccentricity minimum. Eccentricity maxima are interpreted to trigger lake-level high-stands. These are accompanied by eutrophication events caused by enhanced denudation of the surrounding basement and increased detrital input into the basin. The presented age model proves that Lake Gacko arose during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum and that the optimum climatic conditions triggered the formation of this long-lived lake.

Intercalibration between the astronomical and radio-isotopic dating methods provides a means to improving accuracy and reducing uncertainty of an integrated, multi-chronometer geologic timescale. Here we report a high-precision 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age for the Fish Canyon sanidine (FCs) neutron fluence monitor, by multi-collector noble gas mass spectrometry, through cross-calibration with A1 tephra sanidines (A1Ts) of the direct astronomically tuned Faneromeni section (Crete). The astronomically intercalibrated 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age of FCs of 28.172 ± 0.028 Ma (2σ, external errors) is within the uncertainty of, but more precise (± 0.10%) than, the previous 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age determined by intercalibration with astronomically tuned tephras from the Melilla Basin (Morocco). Using this proposed age for FCs, combined with measurements using the A1Ts as the neutron fluence monitor, a weighted mean Bishop Tuff 40 Ar/ 39 Ar sanidine age of 0.7674 ± 0.0022 Ma (2σ, external errors) is indistinguishable from the ID-TIMS U/Pb zircon age (0.7671 ± 0.0019 Ma). The consistency between the astronomically calibrated 40 Ar/ 39 Ar sanidine age and U/Pb zircon age for this Quaternary unit suggests that agreement between these two radio-isotopic dating techniques is now achievable at better than ± 0.3% (2σ) in the youngest part of geologic time (

Samples in this paper have been assigned formations based on the Geological Survey of Ireland shapefile released prior to the commencement of the study. However, the authors were not aware that, since obtaining the samples, an updated shapefile had been released. This update affects three of the four apatite samples assigned to the Lower Devonian Ballymore Formation. The location of samples Mb-1, Mb-4 and Mb-5 now places them well within the undifferentiated, Upper Devonian Slieve Mish Group. As outlined in our paper, the apatite ages were originally produced concurrently with apatite fission track analysis and were later used in our study to provide additional provenance information in support of the detrital zircon geochronological data. In the second paragraph of the discussion section we say the following: "Williams et al. (1999) obtained an age of 411 Ma for the Cooscrawn Tuff Bed in the Ballymore Formation, which is older than 22 of the 70 detrital apatites analysed in this formation". The reassignment of the three samples to the Upper Devonian Slieve Mish Group nullifies the above statement. However, our interpretation that the depositional age of the Ballymore Formation is younger than the 411 Ma age given by Williams et al. (1999) is predominantly based upon the evidence given by the six youngest detrital zircons from the formation which underlies the Ballymore Formation (i.e. the Slea Head Formation). These zircons give a concordia age of 405 ± 4 Ma. This suggests that the Ballymore Formation was more than likely deposited after 409 Ma. We do not believe that the reassignment of the three samples has any major impact on our provenance interpretations. The ∼420 Ma age of the majority of the apatites in samples Mb-1, Mb-4 and Mb-5 actually fits with the range of Palaeozoic detrital zircons in sample AK-17 which was taken from the Slieve Mish Group, thereby supporting minor input of rocks affected by end-Scandian metamorphism.

Massive evaporites were deposited in the Central European Paratethys Sea during the Badenian salinity crisis (BSC). The scarcity of absolute age data has hampered a thorough understanding of these salt deposits. Here we present a robust chronology for this catastrophic event by 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanic tuffs below and within the Badenian salts in southern Poland. The onset of BSC evaporite deposition is dated at 13.81 ± 0.08 Ma and the entire event is estimated to have lasted 200-600 k.y. Correlation to oxygen isotope records shows that the BSC evaporites were just preceded by glacial event Mi-3b, suggesting a causal relationship. The corresponding sea-level fall most likely restricted the open marine connection to the Mediterranean, thereby trapping the salt in the deep Paratethys basins.

An integrated magneto-biostratigraphic framework is presented for Middle Miocene sediments of DSDP Site 372 located in the Western Mediterranean. Detailed biostratigraphic analysis shows a nearly complete sequence of early Middle Miocene calcareous plankton bioevents in the Mediterranean, including the LCO (Last Common Occurrence) of the nannofossil Sphenolithus heteromorphus which has been astronomically dated in the Ras il Pellegrin (RIP) section on Malta Island [Abels, H.A., Hilgen, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Kruk, R.W., Raffi, I., Turco, E., Zachariasse, W.J., 2005. Long-period orbital control on middle Miocene global cooling: integrated stratigraphy and astronomical tuning of the Blue Clay Formation on Malta, Paleoceanography, 20, PA4012. doi: 10.1029/2004PA001129. 11 pp]. Thermal demagnetization of discrete samples revealed a characteristic low-temperature component with dual polarities despite a weak paleomagnetic signal. The resultant magnetostratigraphic record, combined with the calcareous plankton biostratigraphy, is straightforwardly correlated to the geomagnetic polarity time scale (CK95) of Cande and Kent [Cande, S.C., Kent, D.V., 1995. Revised calibration of the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale for the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 6093-6095] and the Astronomical Tuned Neogene Time Scale (ATNTS04) of Lourens et al. [Lourens, L.J., Hilgen, F.J., Laskar, J., Shackleton, N.J., Wilson, D., 2004. The Neogene Period. In: Gradstein F.M., Ogg J.G., Smith A.G. (Eds.), A Geologic Time Scale, Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 409-440]. The subchrons recorded in Site 372 succession range from C5Br up to C5AAr. To confirm the magnetostratigraphic calibration, 40Ar/39Ar dating was performed on feldspar of two volcanic ash layers. The radio-isotopic dating indicates a younger age for these two ash layers compared to the magnetostratigraphic calibrated ages according to the CK95 and ATNTS04 age models. However, if the astronomically calibrated age of 28.21 ± 0.04 Ma is used for the Fish Canyon standard (FCs), the age for the older ash layer exactly matches its ATNTS04 age. Ages for bioevents were calculated assuming constant sedimentation rates between magnetostratigraphic age-tie points. The S. heteromorphus LCO has an age of 13.54 Ma and 13.63 Ma according to CK95 and ATNTS04, respectively, which is consistent with the astronomical tuned age of 13.65 Ma determined at RIP section [Abels, H.A., Hilgen, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Kruk, R.W., Raffi, I., Turco, E., Zachariasse, W.J., 2005. Long-period orbital control on middle Miocene global cooling: integrated stratigraphy and astronomical tuning of the Blue Clay Formation on Malta, Paleoceanography, 20, PA4012. doi:10.1029/2004PA001129. 11 pp]. We therefore conclude that the magnetostratigraphic calibration of DSDP Site 372 is correct and that, for the time being, this site can be considered as a reference section for the early Middle Miocene of the Mediterranean region.

Records of terrestrial environmental change indicate that continental cooling and/or aridification may have predated the greenhouse-icehouse climate shift at the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) by ca. 600 kyr. In North America, marine-terrestrial environmental change asynchronicity is inferred from a direct comparison between the astronomically tuned marine EOT record and published 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of volcanic tuffs from the White River Group (WRG) sampled at Flagstaff Rim (Wyoming) and Toadstool Geologic Park (Nebraska), which are type sections for the Chadronian and Orellan North American Land Mammal Ages. We present a new age-model for the WRG, underpinned by high-precision 206Pb/238U zircon dates from 15 volcanic tuffs, including six tuffs previously dated using the 40Ar/39Ar technique. Weighted mean zircon 206Pb/238U dates from this study are up to 1.0 Myr younger than published anorthoclase and biotite 40Ar/39Ar data (calibrated relative to Fish Canyon sanidine at 28.201 Ma). Giving consideration to the complexities, strengths, and limitations associated with both the 40Ar/39Ar and 206Pb/238U datasets, our interpretation is that the recalculated 40Ar/39Ar dates are anomalously old, and the 206Pb/238U (zircon) dates more accurately constrain deposition. 206Pb/238U calibrated age-depth models were developed in order to facilitate a robust intercomparison between marine and terrestrial archives of environmental change, and indicate that: (i) early Orellan (terrestrial) cooling recorded at Toadstool Geologic Park was synchronous with the onset of early Oligocene Antarctic glaciation and (ii) the last appearance datums of key Chadronian mammal taxa are diachronous by ca. 0.7 Myr between central Wyoming and NW Nebraska.

The Melilla Basin (NE Morocco) formed the easternmost part of the Rifian Corridor, which was an important Mediterranean– Atlantic gateway during the Late Miocene. The sedimentary infill of the basin consists of a shallow marine, precession-related cyclic marl–diatomite succession, laterally grading into a marginal carbonate complex. Three bio-sedimentary events have been recorded within the marl succession: 1) onset of diatomite deposition, 2) major change in foraminiferal assemblages, and 3) transition to Halimeda-rich carbonates and Porites coral reef build-ups. Recent 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating has provided a good age control for the Melilla carbonate sequences, but a high-resolution astronomical time frame is necessary to solve the climatic signature of the basin sediments. This study focuses on the shallow marine marl succession of the Melilla Basin. Integrated magneto-, cyclo- and biostratigraphy allowed a detailed correlation to the astronomical target curve, resulting in a high-resolution time frame for the Late Miocene evolution of the basin. Comparison of the Melilla data with previous results from other Moroccan and Mediterranean basins indicates that the input of Atlantic waters through the Rifian Corridor became restricted after 6.84 Ma, and was minimized by 6.58 Ma. In the final period (6.58–5.96 Ma) towards the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the Melilla Basin can be considered as a marginal basin of the Mediterranean. The astronomical time frame for the marl sequences of the Melilla Basin moreover enables a direct comparison between the independent isotopic and astrochronological dating techniques, as astronomical ages have also been assigned to intercalated volcanic tuffs for which 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages were previously determined. We conclude that the isotopic ages are systematically younger

Tectonic uplift and sea level lowering are two proposed mechanisms to explain the development of thresholds in front of the widespread evaporite basins of the circum-Mediterrranean region during the Miocene. Here we apply a multi-disciplinary approach to the continuously marine sequences of the Murcia–Cartagena basin to investigate which mechanism is responsible for the Tortonian evaporites of the Eastern Betics. First we develop a high-resolution chronology for the Venta de la Virgen section by integration of biostratigraphic, magnetostratigraphic and isotopic dating results. Next we construct palaeobathymetry and geohistory curves for this section and the Abad composite of the Sorbas basin. We show that the apparent differential vertical motions between the two sections cannot be explained by sea-level change but only by local tectonics. The Murcia–Cartagena basin shows significant tectonic uplift during the late Tortonian and early Messinian, while the neighboring Fortuna basin was rapidly subsiding. We conclude that tectonic activity on the Alhama de Murcia Fault was responsible for the emergence of a threshold that finally led to evaporite formation in the Fortuna basin.