Modes of Pangean lake level cyclicity driven by astronomical climate pacing modulated by continental position and CO[Formula: see text].

Orbital cyclicity is a fundamental pacemaker of Earth's climate system. The Newark-Hartford Basin (NHB) lake sediment record of eastern North America contains compelling geologic expressions of this cyclicity, reflecting variations of climatic conditions in tropical Pangea during the Late Triassic and earliest Jurassic (~233 to 199 Ma). Climate modeling enables a deeper mechanistic understanding of Earth system modulation during this unique greenhouse and supercontinent period.

Investigating Mesozoic Climate Trends and Sensitivities With a Large Ensemble of Climate Model Simulations.

The Mesozoic era (∼252 to 66 million years ago) was a key interval in Earth's evolution toward its modern state, witnessing the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea and significant biotic innovations like the early evolution of mammals. Plate tectonic dynamics drove a fundamental climatic transition from the early Mesozoic supercontinent toward the Late Cretaceous fragmented continental configuration. Here, key aspects of Mesozoic long-term environmental changes are assessed in a climate model ensemble framework.

New record of podocopid ostracods from Cretaceous amber.

Burmese Cretaceous amber (∼99 Ma, Myanmar) is famous for the preservation of a wide range of fauna and flora, including representatives of marine, freshwater and terrestrial groups. Here, we report on three ostracod specimens, that came visible as syninclusions to an aquatic isopod. The three specimens represent three different taxa, that were found preserved in a single piece of amber.

A gigantic marine ostracod (Crustacea: Myodocopa) trapped in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber.

The mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (~99 Ma, Myanmar), widely known for exquisite preservation of theropods, also yields microfossils, which can provide important contextual information on paleoenvironment and amber formation. We report the first Cretaceous ostracod in amber-the gigantic (12.9 mm) right valve of an exclusively marine group (Myodocopa: Myodocopida) preserved in Burmese amber.

Middle to Late Eocene paleoenvironmental changes in a marine transgressive sequence from the northern Tethyan margin (Adelholzen, Germany).

The northern Tethyan margin is a key region for determining environmental changes associated with the collision of continental and oceanic tectonic plates and Alpine orogeny. Herein we investigated Middle to Late Eocene neritic to bathyal sediments deposited during an interval of unstable climatic conditions. In order to quantify paleoenvironmental changes, we developed a detailed age model based on biozonations of planktic foraminifera, calcareous nannoplankton, and larger benthic foraminifera.