Selected Devonian/Carboniferous boundary profiles in the Sauerland area (Rhenish massif)

Selected sections, containing Devonian/Carboniferous boundary beds, are described from the northern and northeastern margin of the Rhenish massif, especially from the Seiler region near Iserlohn and the Warstein area. These sections are from prospecting trenches, quarries and road cuts. The dominantly carbonate sequences were investigated in regard to the development of conodonts. The Devonian/Carboniferous boundary could be placed precisely in both areas by means of the phylogenetic transition from Siphonodella praesulcata to S. sulcata. Compared investigations lead to the following conclusions: - The basal part of the Hangenberg limestone is heterochronous. - The Devonian/Carboniferous boundary lies distinctly below the Hangenberg limestone, i. e. at the same stratigraphical level as the Stockum limestone. - The Imitoceras limestone lens of Stockum and the Stockum limestone represent a special facies within the Hangenberg schists. 80th belong either to the praesulcata- and sulcata-zone or are restricted only to the sulcata-zone. - Protognathodus kuehni appears together with Siphonodella sulcata. Where S. sulcata is lacking, P. kuehni may be considered as a valid index conodont indicating the beginning of the Carboniferous. - The upper part of the Wocklum beds, following above the Wocklum limestone, usually consists up to the lower Carbonilerous boundary in a more or less consistent facies, that of the Hangenberg schists. Only in the section 01 the northeastern wall of the eastern Provincial Quarry at Drewer and in the road profile Rüthen - Nuttlar, the Devonian/Carboniferous boundary is to be placed in a continuous carbonate sequence. - The eastern Provincial Quarry at Drewer is therefore proposed as a new candidate section for the Devonian/Carboniferous boundary stratotype. - In many places the carbonates at the Devonian / Carboniferous boundary and the Hangenberg limestone are characterized by an impoverished conodont fauna. - Using platform conodonts, biofacies models are developed, permitting to conclude on the position of the respective setting 01 sedimentation area, either close to a rise or a basin.

Table I: Schedule of the drilling operation and lengths of the recovered core material for the boreholes on Vernagtferner in 1979

In 1979 a core drilling project was carried out on Vernagtferner in the Oetztal Alps (Austria). This report describes the field work of the drilling project, the recovered core material and the occurrence of water in the boreholes and compiles the succeding investigation program.

Benthic isopod species in the Ross Sea and their distribution in the Southern Ocean

In this study isopod species of the Ross Sea were investigated. Literature until May 2008 was checked to provide an overview of all known and described species in the Ross Sea. This species checklist was then enlarged through material of the 19th Italica expedition in 2004. During this expedition for the first time a small mesh net (500 µm) was used. Nine thousand four hundred and eighty one isopod specimens were collected during this expedition. Through this material the number of isopod species in the Ross Sea increased from 42 to 117 species, which belong to 20 families and 49 genera. Fifty-six percentage of the isopods species collected during the Italica expedition are new to science. The zoogeography of the 117 species was investigated. A non-transformed binary presence-absence data matrix was constructed using the Bray-Curtis coefficient. The results were displayed in a cluster analysis and by nonmetric multidimensional scaling (MDS). This paper gives a first insight into the occurrence and distribution of the isopod species of the Ross Sea.

Isopoda E(S100) and surface sediment characteristics of ANDEEP I-III stations in the Southern Ocean deep sea

Shallow marine benthic communities around Antarctica show high levels of endemism, gigantism, slow growth, longevity and late maturity, as well as adaptive radiations that have generated considerable biodiversity in some taxa1. The deeper parts of the Southern Ocean exhibit some unique environmental features, including a very deep continental shelf2 and a weakly stratified water column, and are the source for much of the deep water in the world ocean. These features suggest that deep-sea faunas around the Antarctic may be related both to adjacent shelf communities and to those in other oceans. Unlike shallow-water Antarctic benthic communities, however, little is known about life in this vast deep-sea region2, 3. Here, we report new data from recent sampling expeditions in the deep Weddell Sea and adjacent areas (748-6,348 m water depth) that reveal high levels of new biodiversity; for example, 674 isopods species, of which 585 were new to science. Bathymetric and biogeographic trends varied between taxa. In groups such as the isopods and polychaetes, slope assemblages included species that have invaded from the shelf. In other taxa, the shelf and slope assemblages were more distinct. Abyssal faunas tended to have stronger links to other oceans, particularly the Atlantic, but mainly in taxa with good dispersal capabilities, such as the Foraminifera. The isopods, ostracods and nematodes, which are poor dispersers, include many species currently known only from the Southern Ocean. Our findings challenge suggestions that deep-sea diversity is depressed in the Southern Ocean and provide a basis for exploring the evolutionary significance of the varied biogeographic patterns observed in this remote environment.