The Casablanca region is world famous for its fossil sites,ranging from the Mio-Pliocene to the Holocene. The"gazelles cave"at Tamaris I in the region of Casablanca(Morocco),was recently discovered during co...The Casablanca region is world famous for its fossil sites,ranging from the Mio-Pliocene to the Holocene. The"gazelles cave"at Tamaris I in the region of Casablanca(Morocco),was recently discovered during construction work.It forms a pocket,cut into the marine calcarenite of the A(i|¨)n Roumman Member and is filled with continental sediments(Lahlalfa member) of Upper Pleistocene age.The fauna is largely dominated by gazelles,hence the name given to this locality.Ankle bones discovered at the展开更多
The Neogene interval witnessed three major waves of intercontinental dispersals by carnivoran mammals,mainly migrating from Eurasia to North America but with rare occurrences going in the opposite direction(e.g.,Sthen...The Neogene interval witnessed three major waves of intercontinental dispersals by carnivoran mammals,mainly migrating from Eurasia to North America but with rare occurrences going in the opposite direction(e.g.,Sthenictis,Leptarctus).The timing and composition of dispersers are thought to be controlled by filter-bridge mechanisms,but it is unclear what types of regional conditions promoted occasional dispersals outside of the three major waves.We study and report on new occurrences of small-bodied carnivorans from late Clarendonian-aged Black Hawk Ranch and Cuyama Valley fossil mammal assemblages in California.The relatively late occurrences of the mustelids Sthenictis and Hoplictis and the ailurid Alopecocyon in coastal regions of western North America suggest that nearshore dispersal corridors both facilitate and preserve faunal elements later than they might otherwise occur further inland.The availability of both marine-and terrestrially-derived food resources may be an important factor in allowing coastally dispersing taxa to be accommodated in those ecological communities compared to less heterogenous environments further inland.展开更多
Prof.Qiu Zhanxiang’s academic life presents a cross regional scientific research landscape:born in Qingdao City on the coast of the Yellow Sea,he devoted his life to exploring the mysteries of terrestrial mammalian e...Prof.Qiu Zhanxiang’s academic life presents a cross regional scientific research landscape:born in Qingdao City on the coast of the Yellow Sea,he devoted his life to exploring the mysteries of terrestrial mammalian evolution.In his early years,he received systematic training at the Geological Department of Moscow University and graduated in 1960,which laid a solid disciplinary foundation for him.After returning to China,he took root in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,starting a scientific research journey that lasted for more than half a century.As a paleontologist,his career has distinct international characteristics:from 1982 to 1984,he was awarded the Humboldt Scholarship from the Federal Republic of Germany and completed his doctoral thesis at the Gutenberg University of Mainz,and from 1982 to 1999,he conducted a series of international cooperation projects.His academic leadership was particularly prominent in his career,as he led multiple strategic scientific research projects during his tenure at the institute from 1991 to 1995.His scientific research footprint spans from the Nei Mongol Gobi to the Tibetan Plateau,and from the Yushe Basin in Shanxi Province to the Linxia Basin in Gansu Province.The National Climbing Plan of“Research on the origin of early human beings and environmental background”presided over by him has created a new paradigm of interdisciplinary research.In terms of disciplinary achievements,Prof.Qiu has achieved three landmark accomplishments:deciphering the evolutionary code of the Paleocene red bed mammalian fauna of South China,clarifying the lineage of giant rhino fossils,and establishing a biochronological scale for the Neogene terrestrial strata in China and conducting in-depth research on the carnivore and perissodactyl fossils contained therein.These achievements have provided a key evidence chain for analyzing the evolutionary mechanism of mammals’adaptation to environmental changes over 66 million years,which not only won him the title of CAS Academician in 2005,but also left China’s mark in the field of international Cenozoic paleontology and stratigraphy.展开更多
The elevation of Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau is a epoch\|making event in the global evolutionary history, which not only constructed the modern magnificent geomorphic feature, but also influenced far\|reachingly the glob...The elevation of Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau is a epoch\|making event in the global evolutionary history, which not only constructed the modern magnificent geomorphic feature, but also influenced far\|reachingly the global climate. The evolutionary models of its uplifting time and scope has been primarily set up, and is waiting to be competed with new discovery and supplement. A comprehensive field geologic excursion on the Cenozoic strata of the Kumukuli basin, Xinjiang, northwest Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau by authors has collected a lot of first\|hand data, and the discovery and dating of the late Pleistocene mammal fossils made an important supplement to the scarcity of late Quaternary fossil recorders in many basins, as well as contributed a great deal to the quantitative study of the researches alike, in the main time, provided new evidences to the uplift of Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau since late pleistocene.Lies in the northwest part of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau, and between the Kunlun and Altum Mountain ranges, Kumukuli basin is a intracontinental plateau basin, with a mean elevation about 4000m. Cenozoic strata have a time span from Oligocene to Pleistocene.The stratigraphic and lithologic association displays that the development of Kumukuli basin started at the Oligocene, at the primary uplift stage of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau. The Oligocene and Miocene, with a giant thickness and multiple layers of thick conglomerate, is of the products of stronger erosional stage, and a reflection of higher differential in inner geomorphology of the plateau. The aggradation led to the smoothness of the geomorphic feature and fineness of sedimentary particle since Pliocene. Since then, Large scale conglomerate outcroped in the peripheral of the plateau, and differential of geomorphology in the plateau and its peripheral areas became distinct. Kumukuli basin is one of the synchronously developed basin with the plateau, having the most completed Cenozoic sequence with a thickness over 7000m. Its Tertiary sedimentary sequence is basically similar to that of the Ningxia basin, northeastern margin of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau, and can be well correlated each other, mutually, they recorded the uplift process of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau, and their difference may represent the contrast evolution of the plateau and inhomogeneous differential in geomorphic feature of the plateau and its perimeter respectively. Being two sedimentary basins in separately tectonic units, the former has much thicker strata and coarser particles, for instance, the Oligocene is over 3000m in thickness in Kumukuli basin, however, only about 100m in Ningxia basin. Several uncomformities occurring in Kumukuli basin, namely, between the Quarternary and the Pliocene, the Pliocene and the Middle\|Upper Miocene, as well as the Middle\|Upper Miocene and the Lower Miocene, are the direct effects of horizontal movement accompanied with the process of the uplift of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau. Maybe those data imply that the western part of the plateau much stronger in uplift and distinct in horizontal movement than that of the east.展开更多
文摘The Casablanca region is world famous for its fossil sites,ranging from the Mio-Pliocene to the Holocene. The"gazelles cave"at Tamaris I in the region of Casablanca(Morocco),was recently discovered during construction work.It forms a pocket,cut into the marine calcarenite of the A(i|¨)n Roumman Member and is filled with continental sediments(Lahlalfa member) of Upper Pleistocene age.The fauna is largely dominated by gazelles,hence the name given to this locality.Ankle bones discovered at the
文摘The Neogene interval witnessed three major waves of intercontinental dispersals by carnivoran mammals,mainly migrating from Eurasia to North America but with rare occurrences going in the opposite direction(e.g.,Sthenictis,Leptarctus).The timing and composition of dispersers are thought to be controlled by filter-bridge mechanisms,but it is unclear what types of regional conditions promoted occasional dispersals outside of the three major waves.We study and report on new occurrences of small-bodied carnivorans from late Clarendonian-aged Black Hawk Ranch and Cuyama Valley fossil mammal assemblages in California.The relatively late occurrences of the mustelids Sthenictis and Hoplictis and the ailurid Alopecocyon in coastal regions of western North America suggest that nearshore dispersal corridors both facilitate and preserve faunal elements later than they might otherwise occur further inland.The availability of both marine-and terrestrially-derived food resources may be an important factor in allowing coastally dispersing taxa to be accommodated in those ecological communities compared to less heterogenous environments further inland.
文摘Prof.Qiu Zhanxiang’s academic life presents a cross regional scientific research landscape:born in Qingdao City on the coast of the Yellow Sea,he devoted his life to exploring the mysteries of terrestrial mammalian evolution.In his early years,he received systematic training at the Geological Department of Moscow University and graduated in 1960,which laid a solid disciplinary foundation for him.After returning to China,he took root in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,starting a scientific research journey that lasted for more than half a century.As a paleontologist,his career has distinct international characteristics:from 1982 to 1984,he was awarded the Humboldt Scholarship from the Federal Republic of Germany and completed his doctoral thesis at the Gutenberg University of Mainz,and from 1982 to 1999,he conducted a series of international cooperation projects.His academic leadership was particularly prominent in his career,as he led multiple strategic scientific research projects during his tenure at the institute from 1991 to 1995.His scientific research footprint spans from the Nei Mongol Gobi to the Tibetan Plateau,and from the Yushe Basin in Shanxi Province to the Linxia Basin in Gansu Province.The National Climbing Plan of“Research on the origin of early human beings and environmental background”presided over by him has created a new paradigm of interdisciplinary research.In terms of disciplinary achievements,Prof.Qiu has achieved three landmark accomplishments:deciphering the evolutionary code of the Paleocene red bed mammalian fauna of South China,clarifying the lineage of giant rhino fossils,and establishing a biochronological scale for the Neogene terrestrial strata in China and conducting in-depth research on the carnivore and perissodactyl fossils contained therein.These achievements have provided a key evidence chain for analyzing the evolutionary mechanism of mammals’adaptation to environmental changes over 66 million years,which not only won him the title of CAS Academician in 2005,but also left China’s mark in the field of international Cenozoic paleontology and stratigraphy.
文摘The elevation of Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau is a epoch\|making event in the global evolutionary history, which not only constructed the modern magnificent geomorphic feature, but also influenced far\|reachingly the global climate. The evolutionary models of its uplifting time and scope has been primarily set up, and is waiting to be competed with new discovery and supplement. A comprehensive field geologic excursion on the Cenozoic strata of the Kumukuli basin, Xinjiang, northwest Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau by authors has collected a lot of first\|hand data, and the discovery and dating of the late Pleistocene mammal fossils made an important supplement to the scarcity of late Quaternary fossil recorders in many basins, as well as contributed a great deal to the quantitative study of the researches alike, in the main time, provided new evidences to the uplift of Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau since late pleistocene.Lies in the northwest part of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau, and between the Kunlun and Altum Mountain ranges, Kumukuli basin is a intracontinental plateau basin, with a mean elevation about 4000m. Cenozoic strata have a time span from Oligocene to Pleistocene.The stratigraphic and lithologic association displays that the development of Kumukuli basin started at the Oligocene, at the primary uplift stage of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau. The Oligocene and Miocene, with a giant thickness and multiple layers of thick conglomerate, is of the products of stronger erosional stage, and a reflection of higher differential in inner geomorphology of the plateau. The aggradation led to the smoothness of the geomorphic feature and fineness of sedimentary particle since Pliocene. Since then, Large scale conglomerate outcroped in the peripheral of the plateau, and differential of geomorphology in the plateau and its peripheral areas became distinct. Kumukuli basin is one of the synchronously developed basin with the plateau, having the most completed Cenozoic sequence with a thickness over 7000m. Its Tertiary sedimentary sequence is basically similar to that of the Ningxia basin, northeastern margin of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau, and can be well correlated each other, mutually, they recorded the uplift process of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau, and their difference may represent the contrast evolution of the plateau and inhomogeneous differential in geomorphic feature of the plateau and its perimeter respectively. Being two sedimentary basins in separately tectonic units, the former has much thicker strata and coarser particles, for instance, the Oligocene is over 3000m in thickness in Kumukuli basin, however, only about 100m in Ningxia basin. Several uncomformities occurring in Kumukuli basin, namely, between the Quarternary and the Pliocene, the Pliocene and the Middle\|Upper Miocene, as well as the Middle\|Upper Miocene and the Lower Miocene, are the direct effects of horizontal movement accompanied with the process of the uplift of the Qinghai\|Tibetan plateau. Maybe those data imply that the western part of the plateau much stronger in uplift and distinct in horizontal movement than that of the east.
