Hole number CY-4 of the Cyprus Crustal Study Project penetrated the lower sheeted dyke complex, gabbros and ultramafic cumulates of the Troodos ophiolite. The lower part of the drill core sampled a coarse-grained plutonic complex revealing phase and cryptic layering and one major magma chamber replenishment. This magma chamber intruded medium-grained gabbroic rocks showing intricate chemical evolution trends reflecting several magma replenishments. In the upper part of the core, the gabbroic cumulates are intruded by fine-grained dykes, which grade into the sheeted dyke complex and chemically can be correlated with the lavas of the lower pillow sequence. The upper pillow lavas are best correlated with the ultramafic cumulates. A study of coexisting plagioclase (An) and mafic mineral (opx Mg #) compositions in the drill core revealed three main rock types: (1) a primitive group (An95–98, Mg #75–85) represented by the lower, coarse-grained gabbroic and ultramafic cumulates. (2) an intermediate group (An86–95 and Mg #70–78) represented by the upper level gabbroic cumulates, and (3) the lower part of the sheeted dyke complex (An60–80 and Mg #60–70). The plagioclase of the gabbros and ultramafic cumulates have an unusually high An content. Numerical simulation of the expected anhydrous, one atmosphere, crystallization trends show that the Troodos trends cannot be reproduced from known spreading or subduction related glasses. Mineralogical evidence indicates that the extrusives and the cumulate sequences of the Troodos ophiolite are genetically related. Glasses from the extrusives, nevertheless, also fail to reproduce the mineral crystallization trends observed in the plutonics. Attempts to model high PH2O crystallization produced trends more consistent with those observed in the cumulates. The very sodium-poor nature of the plagioclase may therefore mainly reflect high PH2O crystallization. High water content is consistent with the inferred subduction zone basin origin for the Troodos ophiolite.

Upper Cretaceous carbonate sequences contain omission surfaces, hardgrounds and intercalations of ‘clays’. These ‘clays’ are largely associated with submarine biogeochemical carbonate dissolution that was caused by high biological productivity in the pelagic zone. The Maastrichtian-Danian ‘boundary clays’ probably accumulated during a maximum productivity that led to the exhaustion of nutrients, development of phenomena comparable to present-day red tides, and mass mortality of marine biota. There was a type of ecological break in the seas and oceans at the time of the Maastrichtian-Danian boundary.

Granulites occur in and around an anorthosite massif (commonly referred to as the Bengal anorthosite) in eastern India. The central part of the anorthosite is massive in nature with locally developed ‘fluxion structure’ in isolated blocks. Banding in the peripheral part is typical of that of the massif anorthosites of Anderson & Morin. The granulites bear imprints of polyphase deformation, and the xenoliths of granulites within the anorthositic massif maintain their regional structural alignment. The Anorthosite, syntectonic with the second fold movement in the terrane, has developed second generation structures.

Hornblende, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, plagioclase and quartz with or without garnet and other minor phases consitute the granulites. In the anorthosites, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, hornblende, and magnetite with or without garnet may constitute more than 15% of the mode. Garnet, when present in the rocks, is a late overprint. Symplectitic growth of garnet with one or more of the phases such as ilmenite, quartz, clinopyroxene and sodic plagioclase indicates genesis of garnet through decomposition of orthopyroxene and/or prograde hornblende in the presence of calcic plagioclase. The garnet formed during prograde dehydration reactions, rather than cooling of the complex.

Chemical characteristics of the mafic phases in the rocks indicate attainment of exchange equilibrium with respect to the major cations in closely associated hornblende, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and garnet. Estimated physical conditions of metamorphism from contrasted assemblages suggest a final equilibration of different granulitic assemblages as well as of the anorthositic assemblages under similar conditions. There was, however, belated building up of water pressure in the anorthositic domains stabilizing a late hornblende during cooling of the complex. Absence of chilled margins in the anorthosite as well as absence of contact aureoles in the enveloping and enclosed granulites indicate emplacement of the anorthosite in a hot environment, prior to cooling of the complex.

Previous views on the relationship between the thick continental deposits of the Dingle Group and the older fossiliferous Silurian rocks of the Dunquin Group are briefly reviewed. Detailed field evidence is presented showing that in the coastal sections of Coosgorrib, Coosglass, and Coosshaun there is faulting between the two groups. The same situation obtains at the northern end of the Great Blasket island. Fortunately inland exposures are sufficient to show that there is stratigraphical continuity from the lower Ludfordian (Ludlow) beds of the Croaghmarhin Formation, at the top of the Dunquin Group, into the purple siltstones of the Dingle Group. The Dingle Group is followed uncomformably by Upper Old Red Sandstone (essentially Upper Devonian).

The Lower Carboniferous (Asbian) sediments and volcanics of the Pettycur region in Fife, Scotland, yield several important anatomically preserved floras including that from the famous ‘Pettycur Limestone’. The plant fossils are preserved as calcareous permineralizations and fusain within limestone blocks which occur at the base of basaltic lava flows or within pyroclastic sequences. The geology and sedimentology of these plant deposits have been investigated, and it is demonstrated that a number of plant-bearing facies can be recognized which reflect different modes of transport, deposition and fossilization. Of these facies the ‘Pettycur Limestone’ is the most well known. The lithology is composed of a distinct assemblage dominated by lycopods and the pteridosperm, Heterangium. Other assemblages include a limestone dominated by zygopterid ferns which are frequently fusainized and the Kingswood Limestone which contains a completely different flora to that at Pettycur, being dominated by pteridosperms, other gymnosperms and the lycopod Oxroadia. Each sediment type is characterized by a distinct mineralization history of the plants reflecting different sites of fossilization.

A hypothesis concerning the original ecology of the plant assemblages within the basaltic volcanic terrain is proposed. It is suggested that the Pettycur Limestone represents an established original peat within which the plants were permineralized. The zygopterid ferns occupied sites which were susceptible to wildfire and did not establish long-lived peat-forming communities. The Kingswood flora was established in a region where plants were prone to fire and then subsequently transported into an area of limestone deposition along with unburnt plant fragments. This flora was separated by space and/or time from the Pettycur floras. Lakes developed on lava surfaces and provided sites of fossilization for plant fragments as compressions.

An encysted portion of a crustoid stolotheca of Graptoblastoides sp. has revealed possible cellular tissue, but no gross zooidal morphology. Two explanations are suggested: one regarding the cellular complex as remnants of entrapped soft parts; the other, less likely, indicating a local disturbance in the secretion of the blastocrypt material. The cellular tissue is figured and described, and the opportunity is taken to review the extent of knowledge with respect to graptolite soft parts, and to compare the structures described with features of extant Rhabdopleura species.

In the Eastern European region Vendian strata are divisible into two complexes: the lower one, only locally developed, is composed of alternating tillites, volcanics, sandy–clay rocks and dolomites; and the upper one, of alternating sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone strata with medusoid fauna, resting transgressively on the lower complex and older rocks. The lower complex is associated with sheet glaciation; the upper one was formed in a post-glacial isostatic basin. The name ‘Vendian’ should be applied only to the upper complex; the lower one should be called ‘Waranger’.