#cenozoic — Public Fediverse posts

"Coral reef factories appear to be resilient, compromised only by extreme heat or combined stressors."
The nice thing, this study shows this to be the case across the last 50(ish) million years.

Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0037073826000989

#Coral #Reef #Cenozoic

Mammals have developed some unusual eating habits over the past 100 million years, but a new study has uncovered the surprising lengths to which some have gone to satisfy one of the more peculiar—a taste for #ants and #termites.

Mammals independently evolved specialized adaptations for exclusively feeding on ants and termites at least 12 times since the #Cenozoic era began, roughly 66 million years ago.

The #convergent #evolution among #mammals toward this dietary strategy—called #myrmecophagy—emerged following the K-Pg #extinction and fall of non-avian dinosaurs, which reshaped ecosystems and set the stage for ant and termite colonies to rapidly expand worldwide.

Over 200 mammal #species are known to eat ants and termites today, yet only about 20 true myrmecophages—such as giant anteaters, aardvarks and pangolins—have evolved traits like long sticky tongues, specialized claws and stomachs, and reduced or missing teeth, to efficiently consume thousands of these insects daily as their sole food source.

#evolution #ecology #biology
https://phys.org/news/2025-07-mammals-evolved-ant-eaters-dinosaur.html

Vida et al. (2025):
https://academic.oup.com/evolut/article-abstract/79/10/2315/8155241

Earth’s 8th Continent Buried Under The Pacific Finally Mapped By Scientists [Zealandia / Te Riu-a-Māui - “Finally”? ~wink~]
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https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/10/earth-8th-continent-finally-mapped/ <-- shared (somewhat) technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2023TC007961 <-- shared 2023 paper
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https://youtu.be/DDbc4K7bgnA?si=EZFmmPFybPLLyND7 <-- shared animation
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"KEY POINTS
• Basalts and pebbly to cobbly sandstones have been dredged from the Fairway Ridge, Coral Sea
• Dating of the rocks and interpretation of magnetic anomalies allow mapping of major geological units across North Zealandia
• This work completes offshore reconnaissance geological mapping of the entire 5 million square km Zealandia continent…”
#geology #doggerland #Zealandia #TeRiuaMaui #godwana #godwanaland #cretaceous #mapping #geologicmapping #spatialanalysis #model #modeling #NewZealand #SouthPacific #continent #sampling #sediment #dredging #petrography #geochemistry #isotope #analyses #research #cenozoic #intraplate #platetectonics #tectonics #eocene #remotesensing #geophysics #geomagnetism

#Sanidine from the Fish Canyon Tuff is essential to understanding the pace of events in the #Cenozoic

High potassium, quickly erupted and cooled, and old enough to have accumulated sufficient 40Ar from radioactive decay. These crystals calibrate neutron flux for 40Ar/39Ar dating. The 28.2 Ma age of the FCT sanidine has been fine-tuned using #Milankovitch cycles of other ash beds in stable sedimentary basins.

photo from MinDat.org by Dan Polhemus

#MinCup25 #Geochronology #DeepTime #Colorado

Unaweep Canyon - Two Creeks Flow Out Of Either End Of This [Colorado] Canyon In Opposite Directions
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https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/unaweep-canyon <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01112.1 <-- shared paper
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[seems like a motorcycle road trip is in order - and happy to visit this beautiful part of the world again]
#geology #colorado #paleovalley #UnaweepCanyon #unaweep #precambrian #unique #divide #water #hydrology #underfit #drainage #EastCreek #WestCreek #Dolores #Uncompahgre #UncompahgrePlateau #erosion #Gunninson #canyon #Tabeguache #mapping #geologicmapping #fieldwork #Cenozoic #gravel #sediment #rockcore #coring #lacustrine #geomorphology #geomorphometry #dating #landform #volcanics #tectonics

Pulga del Cenozoico que quedó atrapada en el ámbar hace 20 millones de años. En su probóscide contiene lo que se cree una cepa ancestral de Yersinia pestis, regurgitada porque forma una masa viscosa en el proventrículo, impidiendo que se alimente de sangre. 📷George Poinar, Jr. #cenozoico #cenozoic

Ancient marine #animal had inventive past despite being represented by few species https://phys.org/news/2024-07-ancient-marine-animal-species.html

Morphological innovation did not drive diversification in #Mesozoic–#Cenozoic brachiopods https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02491-9

#Brachiopods were evolving in new directions but this did not become an evolutionary success in terms of the numbers of species... The findings shed light on some core principles of the #evolution of modern #biodiversity.

Mantle Convection Linked To Seaway Closure That Transformed Earth's Oceanographic Circulation Patterns
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https://phys.org/news/2024-03-mantle-convection-linked-seaway-closure.html <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118615 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #model #modeling #paleogeography #paleoclimatology #tethys #geology #structuralgeology #ContinentalDrift #platetectonics #oceancirculation #climate #Paleogene #Cenozoic #arctic #neotethys #WestSiberianSeaway #bathymetry #paleobathymetry #mantle #plates #topography #paleoenvironment #DEMs #geophysics #seismology #Eocene #convection #seaway #oceangraphy #circulation #marine

Electroscincus zedi: Compound Osteoderms preserved in #Amber reveal the Oldest Known Skink https://novataxa.blogspot.com/2024/07/electroscincus.html

"#Scincidae is one of the most species-rich and cosmopolitan clades of squamate #reptiles. Abundant disarticulated #fossil material has also been attributed to this group, however, no complete pre-#Cenozoic crown-scincid specimens have been found. A specimen in #Burmite (99 MYA) is the first fossil that can be unambiguously referred to this clade."

#WeekendReading: Swain et al., taking a remarkably detailed look at #foraminifera diversity trends across latitudes through the entire #Cenozoic.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07337-9

Three New Species of #Fossil Kangaroos Discovered in Australia and New Guinea https://www.sci.news/paleontology/protemnodon-kangaroos-12857.html

Systematics and #palaeobiology of #kangaroos of the late Cenozoic genus Protemnodon (Marsupialia, Macropodidae) https://mapress.com/mt/article/view/megataxa.11.1.1

"The three #NewSpecies belong to the extinct #kangaroo genus #Protemnodon, which were common members of #Cenozoic communities across #Australia and #NewGuinea until their #extinction in the Late #Pleistocene."

Cenozoic Exhumation Across The High Plains Of Southeastern Colorado From (U-Th)/He Thermochronology
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https://doi.org/10.2113/2023/lithosphere_2023_310 <-- shared paper
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[as a geologist and an adventure rider – and a Colorado resident that loves history - I have travelled all over this area; first photo is mine, my motorcycle under the Apishapa Arch in Aguilar, Colorado, a 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps project through a volcanic dyke, ‘coincidentally’ providing better access to land that a senator had purchased up around Cuchara and Cordova Passes]
#GIS #spatial #mapping #geology #Colorado #structuralgeology #Cenozoic #Thermochronology #model #modeling #3dmodeling #HighPlains #RockyMountains #Tertiary #intrusives #volcanics #vulcanism #SpanishPeaks #ApishapaArch #dates #dating #erosions #peneplanation #dikes #dykes

"We explore the #Mesozoic to #Cenozoic Patagonian #Andes #tectonic evolution, combining U-Pb zircon ages, bulk rock εNd, and new detrital #zircon εHf from the retroarc basin to understand the associated magmatic arc evolution during retreat and advance of the margin. Our results reveal a protracted phase of isotopically juvenile magmatism between 150 and 80 Ma, which began during backarc extension and persisted long after the margin switched to a contractional regime."

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/doi/10.1130/G51918.1/635693/Detrital-isotopic-record-of-a-retreating

#WeekendReading: Straume et al. on the dynamic topography and #Cenozoic #paleogeography of central asia. Fills in some key points about the evolution of the West Siberian Seaway.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X24000487