We analyzed the plant macro- and mesofossil records deposited in the Paleocene oil shales of the Boltysh crater (Ukraine) in terms of leaf morphology and its implication for reconstruction of the vegetation and paleoecology of the region. During the early Cenozoic, the Boltysh astrobleme formed a geothermal crater lake that accumulated sediments, preserving a record from the Paleocene to the early middle Eocene. These sediments contain fossil leaf fragments of ferns and angiosperms that grew close to the lake. The occurrence of the Mesozoic fern Weichselia reticulata is of importance. This discovery suggests the survival of this Jurassic to Cretaceous fern into the early Paleogene in the refugial geothermal ecosystem of the Boltysh crater area. Our finding is the youngest record of this fern, although it was a widespread and common element of secondary vegetation during the Cretaceous. The local survival of this fern may have been fostered by the unique combination of edaphic environmental factors of the Boltysh hydrothermal area. Other plant fossils include fragments of leaves that represent ferns likely belonging to lineages that diversified in the shadow of angiosperms, as well as remains of the flowering plants Pseudosalix , Sorbus , Comptonia , and ? Myrica leaf morphotypes.

College geoscience departments keep archives of student research ranging from senior theses to master's and Ph.D. dissertations. In field geology, these archives often include maps, cross sections, stereographic projections, field notes and photographs, hand specimens, and thin sections. Subsequent publications may result from the thesis work, but much of this valuable legacy data is difficult to access and assess. Here we describe the conversion of a pre–digital-era thesis on the Vredefort Rim Synclinorium in South Africa from hard copy to digital format using Keyhole Markup Language (KML) to drape maps and inset photographs, and COLLADA (COLLAborative Design Activity) models to create stereographic projections, emergent cross sections, and virtual specimens. In addition to using the Google Earth terrain to fine-tune draped map locations, errors in field locations arising from pace and compass or bearing methods of geo-location that preceded the availability of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) were recognized and corrected. At 2.023 billion years in age and an estimated 300 km in original diameter, the Vredefort Dome is the world's oldest and largest known impact structure. The Vredefort region has been designated a World Heritage Site and specimen collection is prohibited. Only a few geologists are ever likely to visit the region, so geo-referenced field photography, specimens, and structural data are irreplaceable. An interpretative center is being planned for the Vredefort structure by South African authorities and our interactive Google Earth resources will be made available to the visiting public as well as those browsing over the Internet. Thus draped maps and scanned models provide an invaluable opportunity for enhanced instruction, continued research, and public outreach.

Abstract One of the liveliest, contentious, and long-running scientific debates began over three decades ago with the discovery of an iridium anomaly in a thin clay layer at Gubbio, Italy, that led to the hypothesis that a large impact caused the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. For many scientists the discovery of an impact crater near Chicxulub on Yucatan in 1991 all but sealed the impact-kill hypothesis as proven with the impact as sole cause for the mass extinction. Ever since that time evidence to the contrary has generally been interpreted as an impact-tsunami disbturbance. A multi-disciplinary team of reserachers has tested this assertion in new cores and a dozen outcrops along the Brazos River, Texas. In this area undisturbed sediments reveal a complete time stratigraphic sequence containing the primary impact spherule ejecta layer in late Maastrichtian claystones deposited about 200-300 thousand years before the mass extinction.