The Chamberlain Formation, one of the lower members of the early Mesoproterozoic Belt Supergroup, has previously yielded low-diversity assemblages of microfossils but the reported fossils were of limited utility for inferring paleoenvironmental conditions. Here, we describe substantially more diverse microfossil assemblages from drill core of the Chamberlain Formation obtained from the Black Butte mine locality near White Sulphur Springs, Montana. The Chamberlain Formation biota contains abundant Valeria , Leiosphaeridia , Synsphaeridium , and Lineaforma , with lesser amounts of Satka , Symplassosphaeridium , and Coniunctiophycus. The assemblages partially overlap with, but are distinct from, microfossils recently reported from the Greyson Formation, another unit from the Helena embayment of the Belt Supergroup. Since the overlapping taxa exhibit similar states of preservation but dissimilar relative abundances, we interpret the assemblages as reflective of distinct paleoenvironmental conditions of the sampled sections of the Chamberlain and Greyson Formations. The Chamberlain Formation assemblages are most comparable to microfossil groupings reported from the Bylot Supergroup of Canada and the Roper Group of Australia from sediments from very shallow-water (supratidal to lower shoreface) marine environments. This comparison corroborates previous hypotheses on the basis of sedimentological data that the lower Chamberlain Formation sediments were formed in a lagoonal or mud-flat environment. By contrast, the Greyson Formation assemblages are most comparable to microfossil groupings associated with sediments from shallow-shelf marine environments. The fidelity of comparisons among the 1.2 Ga Bylot Supergroup, 1.49 Ga Roper Group, and 1.45 Ga Belt Supergroup assemblages indicates that the groups of microorganisms that produced these assemblages, and their associations with the paleoenvironments that they inhabited, may have been characteristic of the littoral marine biosphere throughout much of the Mesoproterozoic.

Previous palynological studies of the Caspian–Black Sea–Mediterranean corridor primarily focused on pollen and spores for paleoecological and chronostratigraphic studies. Until recently, there has been less emphasis on the nonpollen palynomorphs, such as dinoflagellate cysts, algal and fungal spores, and animal remains. New studies of nonpollen palynomorphs in land-locked seas, estuaries, and lakes reported here indicate that they are important markers of salinity, nutrient loading, and human activity, including ballast discharge, farming, and soil erosion. We describe the nonoxidative laboratory processing methods necessary to extract nonpollen palynomorphs from marine- and brackish-water sediment samples. We list 48 nonpollen palynomorphs taxa from 37 surface sediments (including the past millennium) for cores along the salinity gradient from <16‰ off the Danube Delta to >39‰ in the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Red Seas, for two Crimean saline lakes, the Caspian and Aral Seas, and for lakes in Iran and Kazakhstan. The main nonpollen palynomorphs taxa are illustrated and listed systematically to provide a baseline for future collaborative studies among Black Sea corridor palynologists. We outline the biological affinities of some nonpollen palynomorphs and discuss the initial results of the study in terms of what nonpollen palynomorphs may reveal about the history of the salinity in the Black Sea corridor and the impact of humans on soil erosion, plankton production, and harmful algal blooms.

There are several isolated outcrops (outliers?) of Devonian rocks in the Pacific Northwest (Washington and Oregon), USA. A locality in northeastern Washington, Limestone Hill, is considered in detail, and other small outcrops in northwest Washington and central Oregon are discussed. Limestone Hill is a Paleozoic outlier. The locality has Ordovician and Silurian (Llandovery and Wenlock) strata, Lower Devonian (Lochstone conglomerate, and Upper Devonian (Frasnian) carbonates with fossils. It has long been known that the area has many allochthons, and it has been assumed that Limestone Hill represents lithologies deposited much farther west. More recent data suggest that Limestone Hill is parautochthonous. Several brachiopod taxa, previously unknown from the Frasnian portion of Limestone Hill, have been found recently and are described herein. The brachiopod faunule consists of Emanuella sp., “ Allanella ” engelmanni , Cyrtina sp., Thomasaria sp., and an athyridid. These brachiopods appear to be like coeval faunas in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Nevada, although more species assignments must be made. Frasnian brachiopods are in serious need of updates, as Famennian miospore and acritarch data suggest significant basin restriction and reduced seaway connectivity, with at least ephemerally extensive land areas with ubiquitous land plant taxa.

From Middle Devonian times, the continental Old Red Sandstone Basin in NorthEast Greenland has accumulated more than 8 km of mainly coarse clastic sediments. These sediments have been studied for more than 100 yr, and they became world famous prior to the Second World War for the discovery of the earliest four-legged vertebrates, the tetrapods later assigned to the genus Ichthyostega . Basin initiation in East Greenland was caused mainly by extensional collapse of an overthickened Caledonian crustal welt accommodated by SE-NW–oriented dip-slip faulting and, subordinately, by N-S–oriented sinistral wrench faulting due to late Caledonian shear displacements along plate boundaries. Four main tectonostratigraphic basin stages have been recognized in the succession. The stages of basin development are separated by subregional to basinwide unconformities and represent depositional episodes punctuated by major tectonic events. Each basin stage is built up of one or several depositional complexes that share roughly similar drainage patterns, measured on a basinwide scale. The four basin stages indicate initial eastward drainage, followed by southward drainage, northward drainage, and finally southwestward drainage. In this paper, we review previous research on the dynamics of Devonian basin initiation, its filling, and the tectonic and climatic controls on sedimentary processes. The successive vertebrate faunal assemblages of the different basin stages are also reviewed, with some consideration of the preservational, ecological, and wider faunal contexts of the components of those faunas. Some remaining problems of correlation and precise dating are noted, and suggestions are made for further work.