Lithostratigraphic and magnetic-susceptibility logs for four sections in the Blue Lias Formation are combined with a re-assessment of the ammonite biostratigraphy. A Shaw plot correlating the West Somerset coast with the Devon/Dorset coast at Lyme Regis, based on 63 common biohorizon picks, together with field evidence, demonstrate that intra-formational hiatuses are common. Compared to laminated shale deposition, the climate associated with light marl is interpreted as both drier and stormier. Storm-related non-deposition favoured initiation of limestone formation near the sediment–water interface. Areas and time intervals with reduced water depths had lower net accumulation rates and developed a greater proportion of limestone. Many homogeneous limestone beds have no ammonites preserved, whereas others contain abundant fossils. Non-deposition encouraged shallow sub-sea-floor cementation which, if occurring after aragonite dissolution, generated limestones lacking ammonites. Abundant ammonite preservation in limestones required both rapid burial by light marl during storms as well as later storm-related non-deposition and near-surface carbonate cementation that occurred prior to aragonite dissolution. The limestones are dominated by a mixture of early framework-supporting cement that minimized compaction of fossils, plus a later micrograde cement infill. At Lyme Regis, the relatively low net accumulation rate ensured that final cementation of the limestones took place at relatively shallow burial depths. On the West Somerset coast, however, much higher accumulation rates led to deeper burial before final limestone cementation. Consequently, the oxygen-isotope ratios of the limestones on the West Somerset coast, recording precipitation of the later diagenetic calcite at higher temperatures, are lower than those at Lyme Regis.

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Leg 307 Site U1318 is one of the few relatively complete middle Miocene drillcores from the North Atlantic (Porcupine Basin, offshore southwestern Ireland). Using benthic foraminiferal stable carbon and oxygen isotopes, the existing age model for Site U1318 was improved. The stable isotope record displays globally recognized isotope events, used to revise the existing magnetostratigraphy-based age model. Two intervals contained misidentified magnetochrons which were corrected. The sampled interval now has a refined age of 12.75–16.60 Ma with a temporal resolution of c. 29 ka.

The Jurassic Linglong granites, intrusive into the North China Craton (NCC) in eastern China, provide a critical record of the first major episode of lithospheric-scale extension and magmatism in NE China during Mesozoic time. Our U–Pb zircon dating reveals that the Linglong granites were emplaced during 161–158 Ma, shortly after the inception of a shallow subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific plate beneath East Asia during Middle Jurassic time. These granites have high alkali contents (K2O + Na2O = 8–9 wt%), low MgO and Mg no. values and variable Cr–Ni abundances. Their relatively high Ba and Sr concentrations, relatively low heavy rare Earth element (HREE) and strongly fractionated REE patterns characterize them as high Ba–Sr granites. The negative whole-rock εNd(t) values ranging from −22.4 to −10.9 and wide-ranging zircon εHf(t) values of −39.1 to −1.5 suggest that magmas of the Linglong granites were produced by partial melting of a garnet-amphibolite-bearing lower crust of the Jiaobei Terrane and by re-melting of the Triassic ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks and alkaline suites of the Sulu Terrane. The occurrence in the granitic rocks of inherited zircons of the Neoarchaean, Palaeoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, Palaeozoic and Triassic ages suggests that magmas of the Linglong granites interacted with the ancient crust in these terranes during their ascent. Asthenospheric upwelling, induced by the steepening and rapid rollback of the Palaeo-Pacific slab during Late Jurassic time, provided the heat source for the inferred lower crustal melting. Trench migration and thermal weakening of the crust caused extensional deformation and thinning in the eastern part of the NCC.

The Capitanian to Wuchiapingian deposits in Zagros (southwest Iran), Alborz (North Iran) and Central Iran display important information about the end-Guadalupian extinction. According to lithological characteristics in the studied sections, the Guadalupian–Lopingian boundary (G-LB) interval can be subdivided into three units: the Capitanian unit, the latest Capitanian unit or interval unit (i.e. deposits in the topmost portion of the Capitanian strata) and the Wuchiapingian unit. The G-LB horizon is set at the base of Wuchiapingian deposits based on the first appearance datum (FAD) of the Late Permian diagnostic small foraminifers. The Capitanian unit was deposited subtidally, but the latest Capitanian unit was in the intertidal zone. The Wuchiapingian unit shows the return of subtidal conditions. A remarkable subaerial exposure occurs at the top of the Ruteh Formation, in Alborz, which is a laterite/bauxite horizon followed by continental deposits. The overall facies change in the G-L boundary intervals in the sections under study indicates a sea level drop around the G-LB which was at its lowest level in the Ruteh section. The decline and elimination of shallow marine biota in the G-LB interval took place in two steps in the Zagros and Alborz sections and in one step in Central Iran. These are indicative of the appearance of the stressful environment during the late Capitanian shallowing trend before the G-LB. The sea level drop and regression in the late Capitanian can be considered the major causes of end-Guadalupian extinction in the Iranian sections, but in the Alborz area volcanic activity is another feasible cause of this crisis.

Although the brittle material in analogue models is characterized by a linear Navier-Coulomb behaviour and rate-independent deformation, the geometry and style of deformation in accretionary wedges is sensitive to shortening velocity. In this study we have constructed a series of analogue models with various shortening velocities in order to study the influence of shortening velocity on the geometry and kinematics of accretionary wedges. Model results illustrate how shortening velocity has an important influence on the geometry and kinematics of the resulting wedge. In general, for models having similar bulk shortening, the accretionary wedges with higher velocities of shortening are roughly steeper, higher and longer, as well as having larger critical wedge angles and height. It accommodates a number of foreland-vergent thrusts, larger fault spacing and displacement rates than those of low- to medium-velocity shortening, which indicates a weak velocity-dependence in geometry of the wedge. Moreover, models with a high velocity of shortening undergo larger amounts of volumetric strain and total layer-parallel shortening than models with low- to medium-velocity shortening. The former accommodate a greater development of back thrusts and asymmetric structures; a backwards-to-forwards style of wedge growth therefore occurs in the frontal zone under high-velocity shortening.