Galerie d'images
Toutes les images de la base — taxons, formations et intervalles géologiques.
⚠ La fonctionnalité de récupération des images est en cours de test, des images non pertinentes peuvent apparaître.
296 image(s)
Earth during the Middle Ordivician Period @ 460 Ma. Gondwana is seen above the equator (Australia & South China) and bellow the equator (North China, Kazakh terranes, Tarim, Antartica, India, Madagascar, Africa and South America). Laurentia, Baltica & Sibera are seperate continents, with Avalonia on its way to collide Baltica to form the Calledonian Orogeny, and Acadia on its way to collide Laurentia to form the Acadian Orogeny. Legend: Dark blue = ocean Light blue = shallow seas Tan = landmass Black outlines = modern day coastlines showing their respective positions
Rock from the Skiddaw Group, of Ordovician (Tremadocian) age, at Scawgill Bridge quarry in Cumbria, England, UK.
A mollweide map of Earth 480 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 465 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 465 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 495 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 495 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 505 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 530 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 510 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 600 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 690 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
A mollweide map of Earth 750 million years ago, overlayed by a black outline of present-day countries in their respective locations.
This is a collage that represents three periods of Neoproterozoic and is composed of three images from Commons: File:Otavia antiqua 3D reconstruction.jpg represents Tonian period (1000-720 mya), marked by start of evolution of animals. File:AntarcticaDomeCSnow.jpg represents Cryogenian period (720-635 mya), marked by worldwide glaciations (aka "Snowball Earth"). File:Life in the Ediacaran sea.jpg represents Ediacaran period (635-541 mya), marked by first recognizable animal fauna - vendobionts.
A map of Proto-Rodinia on 1040 mya.
A reconstruction of the earth's continents during the Ectasian period, circa 1260 Ma.
A reconstruction of the earth's continents during the Calymmian period, circa 1590 Ma.
Banded fine-grained pyrite in shale from the Precambrian of Australia. (public display, Leadville Mining Museum, Leadville, Colorado, USA) A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are over 4900 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates. The sulfide minerals contain one or more sulfide anions (S-2). The sulfides are usually considered together with the arsenide minerals, the sulfarsenide minerals, and the telluride minerals. Many sulfides are economically significant, as they occur commonly in ores. The metals that combine with S-2 are mainly Fe, Cu, Ni, Ag, etc. Most sulfides have a metallic luster, are moderately soft, and are noticeably heavy for their size. These minerals will not form in the presence of free oxygen. Under an oxygen-rich atmosphere, sulfide minerals tend to chemically weather to various oxide and hydroxide minerals. Pyrite is a common iron sulfide mineral (FeS2). It’s nickname is “fool's gold”. Pyrite has a metallic luster, brassy gold color (in contrast to the deep rich yellow gold color of true gold - www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/sets/72157651325153769/), dark gray to black streak, is hard (H=6 to 6.5), has no cleavage, and is moderately heavy for its size. It often forms cubic crystals or pyritohedrons (crystals having pentagonal faces). Pyrite is common in many hydrothermal veins, shales, coals, various metamorphic rocks, and massive sulfide deposits. The rock shown above consists of numerous bands of fine-grained pyrite interbedded with dark shale. Published research has shown that the pyrite is diagenetic, formed by sulfate reduction from sulfate-bearing groundwater that moved along bedding planes of the Urquhart Shale host rocks (see Painter et al., 1999). The sulfate source was evaporitic gypsum-anhydrite-barite in the same stratigraphic unit. Stratigraphy: Urquhart Shale, Mount Isa Group, Mesoproterozoic, ~1655 Ma Age of metamorphism: peak greenschist-facies metamorphism at ~1505 Ma during the Isan Orogeny Locality: Mount Isa Mines, northwestern Queensland, northeastern Australia Some info. from: Kawasaki & Symons (2010) - Dating of Mesoproterozoic metamorphism in the Mount Isa and George Fisher Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag deposits, Australia, by paleomagnetism. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, Abstract GP33C-0953. Painter et al. (1999) - Sedimentologic, petrographic, and sulfur isotope constraints on fine-grained pyrite formation at Mount Isa Mine and environs, northwest Queensland, Australia. Economic Geology 94: 883-912. Photo gallery of pyrite: www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=3314
A reconstruction of the earth's continents during the Statherian period, circa 1740 Ma.
A reconstruction of the earth's continents during the early Orosirian, circa 2000 Ma.
This image shows a 2.1 billion year old rock containing black-banded ironstone. The rock weighs about 8.5 tons, and is approximately two meters high, three meters wide, and one meter thick. It was found in North America and belongs to the National Museum of Mineralogy and Geology, Dresden, Germany. The rock is located at +51°2'34.84" +13°45'26.67".
A collage depicting four major events during the Proterozoic eon: File:Snowball Huronian.jpg File:Ramathallus lobatus.png File:AntarcticaDomeCSnow.jpg File:Ediacaran ecosystem diorama NMNH.jpg
A reconstruction of the earth's continents during the middle Neoarchean, circa 2650 Ma.
Banded iron formation from the Precambrian of Wyoming, USA. (~10.9 cm across at its widest) Banded iron formations, or BIFs, are unusual, dense sedimentary rocks consisting of alternating layers of iron-rich oxides and iron-rich silicates. Most BIFs are Proterozoic in age (although some are Late Archean), and do not form today - they're “extinct”! Many specific varieties of iron formation are known, and some are given special rock names. For example, jaspilite is an attractive reddish & silvery gray banded rock consisting of hematite, red chert (“jasper”), and specular hematite or magnetite. Because of their age, most BIFs have been around long enough to have been subjected to one or more orogenic (mountain-building) events. As such, most BIFs are folded and/or metamorphosed to varying degrees. BIFs are known from around the world, but some of the most famous & extensive BIF deposits are found in the vicinity of North America’s Lake Superior Basin. Many BIFs have economic concentrations of iron and are mined. BIFs are the most important variety of iron ore on Earth. Some iron mines in west-central Wyoming exploit BIFs in the Goldman Meadows Formation, a Mesoarchean unit exposed in the Wind River Range. These rocks have been multiply metamorphosed during the Precambrian. The result of this metamorphism is highly contorted folding and fracturing. The rock shown above is a folded quartz-hematite-limonite meta-BIF. Stratigraphy: iron formation member (probably the upper iron formation member) of the Goldman Meadows Formation, upper Mesoarchean, 2.87 Ga (metamorphosed in the Archean at 2.8 Ga and in the Mesoproterozoic at 1.4 Ga) Geologic context: northwestern flank of the South Pass Greenstone Belt, southern Wind River Range Locality: Atlantic City Iron Mine (open-pit mine; sample possibly collected from tailings piles around the now-flooded pit) (E1/2 of section 26, T30N, R100W, Miners Delight 7.5' USGS topographic quadrangle), South Pass-Atlantic City Mining District, along Rt. 28, southwestern side of South Pass, north of Atlantic City, southwestern Fremont County, west-central Wyoming, USA (mine is at 42° 32' 45" North latitude, 108° 44' 33" West longitude)
Reconstruction of Vaalbara supercontinent
Greenlandite (fuchsite-quartz gneiss) (2.7 cm across at its widest) from the Precambrian of southwestern Greenland. Green = fuchsite; gray = quartz; a few small, scattered pyrite crystals (brassy gold-colored) are also visible. Attractive greenish-colored gneisses in southwestern Greenland that contain the minerals fuchsite (green) and quartz (gray) have been informally called greenlandite. Fuchsite is a chromian muscovite mica (K(Al,Cr)2AlSi3O10(OH,F)2 - potassium chromium hydroxy-fluoro-aluminosilicate); it is typically encountered in schistose rocks. Greenland greenlandite is part of a 3.8 billion year old, highly metamorphosed succession of rocks. These represent the oldest known supracrustal rocks on Earth (the oldest crustal Earth rocks include 4.03 billion year old Acasta Gneiss, 4.28 b.y. rocks from the eastern Hudson Bay area, and 4.45-4.55 b.y. rocks in the subsurface of Baffin Island, Canada). Locality: undisclosed locality in the Godthåbsfjord area or Nuuk area, southwestern Greenland. Age: Eoarchean boundary, 3.8 billion years.
This artist's concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that a high-speed collision of this sort occurred a few thousand years ago around a young star, called HD 172555, still in the early stages of planet formation. The star is about 100 light-years from Earth.
Chert & phosphorite in the Permian of Wyoming, USA. The Permian-aged Phosphoria Formation has a significant component of phosphorite, a scarce, phosphate-rich sedimentary rock. This material is mined in southern Idaho as a source of phosphorus for the fertilizer industry, the fireworks industry, and other uses. Phosphorites are generally considered to have >15-20% phosphate content. Texturally, phosphorites can be obviously granular, with fossil fragments or oolites or peloids or lithic fragments, or they can be composed of extremely fine-grained, phosphate-rich mud. Compositionally, the phosphate component in phosphorites is principally a mix of apatite minerals: chlorapatite (Ca5(PO4)3Cl), fluorapatite (Ca5(PO4)3F), hydroxyapatite (Ca5(PO4)3OH)), and carbonate fluorapatite (Ca10(PO4,CO3)6F2-3). Phosphorites are generally marine sedimentary rocks. They range in age from Precambrian to Holocene. In modern oceans, they tend to occur along the eastern margins of some ocean basins where deep-water upwelling occurs under areas of high biologic productivity. Stratigraphy: Rex Chert Member over Meade Peak Member, Phosphoria Formation, Roadian Stage to Wordian Stage, lower Guadalupian Series, mid-Permian Locality: roadcut on the northern side of Route 26/Route 89 at the town of Astoria Hot Springs, Snake River Canyon, southern Teton County, northwestern Wyoming, USA
Hadrocheilus aff. fragilis (Pictet & Loriol) Upper Valanginian, Komshitsa, Sofia Province, (Coll. G. Mandov) at the Sofia University 'St. Kliment Ohridski' Museum of Paleontology and Historical Geology
Hadrocheilus (Dentatobecus) gibber Till. Valanginian, Borima, Lovech Province, (Coll. G. Mandov) at the Sofia University 'St. Kliment Ohridski' Museum of Paleontology and Historical Geology
Elasmobranchs teeth from the Thanetian phosphatic serie of Jebel Dyr (Algerian-Tunisian border area); 14. Nebrius bequaerti; 15. Archaeomanta priemi; 16. Burnhamia daviesi; 17. Ginglymostoma subafricanum; 18. Myliobatis sulcidens; 21. Hemiscyllium daimeriesi; 23. Squatiscyllium nigeriensis. a: labial; b: lingual; c: lateral; d: occlusal; e: oral; f: basilar views.
Elasmobranchs teeth from the Thanetian phosphatic serie of Jebel Dyr (Algerian-Tunisian border area); 7. Brachycarcharias lerichei; 8. Anomotodon novus; 9. Mustelus biddlei 10. Brachycarcharias lerichei; 11. Mennerotodus sp; 12. Abdounia beaugei; 13. Galeorhinus mesetaensis. a: labial; b: lingual; c: lateral views.
Elasmobranchs teeth from the Thanetian phosphatic serie of Jebel Dyr (Algerian-Tunisian border area); 1. Abdounia beaugei; 2. Palaoegaleus vincenti; 3. Galeorhinus mesetaensis. a: labial; b: lingual; c: lateral; d: occlusal views.
Elasmobranchs teeth from the Thanetian phosphatic serie of Jebel Dyr (Algerian-Tunisian border area); 1. Abdounia beaugei; 2. Palaoegaleus vincenti; 3. Galeorhinus mesetaensis; 4. Delpitoscyllium africanum; 5. Squatina prima; 6. Brachycarcharias lerichei. a: labial; b: lingual; c: lateral; d: occlusal views.
“Golden spike” at the GSSP of the Selandian stage (lower Upper Paleocene) at Zumaia section, Spanish Basque Country. The spike sits on the top plane of the uppermost limestone bed of the Aitzgorri Limestone Formation which is identical to the basal plane of the overlying red marls of the lowest part of the Itzurun Formation (right-hand outside the picture).[1]
Information sign for the GSSP of the Seelandian stage (lower Upper Paleocene) at Zumaia section, Spanish Basque Country. The sign is mounted near the “golden spike” on the top plane of the uppermost limestone bed of the Aitzgorri Limestone Formation which is identical to the basal plane of the overlying red marls of the lowest part of the Itzurun Formation (right-hand outside the picture).[1]
Shetwemys, Plastral remains of the podocnemidid turtle S. fajumensis (Erymnochelyini). (a–b) NHMUK R3435, anterior plastral lobe, in ventral (a) and dorsal (b) views. (c–d) NHMUK R8441, plaster cast of the specimen CGM C8509, anterior plastral lobe, in ventral (c) and dorsal (d) views. (e–f) AMNH 5093, articulated epiplastra and entoplastron, in ventral (e) and dorsal (f) views. (g–h) SMNS 11233/6, anterior plastral lobe, in ventral (g) and dorsal (h) views. (i–j) NHMUK R3103, partial anterior plastral lobe, in ventral (i) and dorsal (j) views. (k–l) SMNS 11233/5, right hypoplastron, in ventral (k) and dorsal (l) views. (m–n) SMNS 11233/3, articulated left hypoplastron and xiphiplastron, in dorsal (m) and ventral (n) views, and detail of the outer ornamental pattern (o). Gebel Quatrani Formation, Fayum depression, Egypt, Lower Oligocene (Rupelian)
Shetwemys, Shell remains of the podocnemidid turtle S. fajumensis (Erymnochelyini). (a–c) SMNS 11233/2, partial carapace, in dorsal (a), ventral (b), and left lateral (c) views. (d) Ventral view of the anterior lobe the holotype of the species, currently lost, based on the fig. 2C in plate 8 of Andrews (1903). (e–g) SMNS 12647, plastron, in ventral (e), dorsal (f), and left lateral (g) views. (g’) corresponds to an enlarged photograph of the posterior plastral lobe, in left lateral view, in which the thickness in the regions close to the hypo-xiphiplastral suture (in blue), between the pelvic scars (in green), and at the level of the anal notch (in red), have been represented by arrows (h–i), SMNS 12646, plastron, in ventral (h) and dorsal (i) views. Gebel Quatrani Formation, Fayum depression, Egypt, Lower Oligocene (Rupelian)
Shetwemys, Shell remains of the podocnemidid turtle S. fajumensis (Erymnochelyini). (a–f) AMNH 5087, carapace and partial plastron, in dorsal (a), ventral (b), anterior (c), posterior (d), left lateral (e), and right lateral (f) views. (g–h) SMNS 11233/1, partial carapace, in dorsal (g) and ventral (h) views. Gebel Quatrani Formation, Fayum depression, Egypt, Lower Oligocene (Rupelian)
Kleigroeve in de Formatie van Boom te Kruibeke
Crommium angustatum Grateloup, 1827 fossil snail shell (apical view) from the Oligocene of France. (42 mm across at its widest) Of all the molluscs, the gastropods (snails) have made the most ecological adaptations. They can be found in almost all fundamental environments: marine, freshwater, terrestrial. Most gastropods live in the ocean, and have a single, asymmetrically coiled, external shell of calcium carbonate (CaCO3 - usually aragonite). The hard calcareous shell is the most easily fossilized part of the gastropod. The soft parts of a snail (the “slug” portion) include a well developed head having eyes, tentacles, and a mouth, and a well developed, strong, muscular foot used principally for locomotion. The shell is carried upright on the snail’s back, or is partially dragged behind. When threatened by a predator, many snails can retract their soft parts into the shell’s interior for protection. Many fossil snails in the Paleozoic rock record are often not well preserved, or are preserved as internal molds. The original aragonite of many gastropod shells is not stable on geologic time scales, and often recrystallizes or dissolves completely away. Fossil snail shells in Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks are usually better preserved. Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Naticoidea, Ampullinidae Age: Rupelian Stage (Stampian Stage), Lower Oligocene Locality: Gaas, Landes Department, Aquitaine, southwestern France
Crommium angustatum Grateloup, 1827 fossil snail shell (apical view) from the Oligocene of France. (42 mm across at its widest) Of all the molluscs, the gastropods (snails) have made the most ecological adaptations. They can be found in almost all fundamental environments: marine, freshwater, terrestrial. Most gastropods live in the ocean, and have a single, asymmetrically coiled, external shell of calcium carbonate (CaCO3 - usually aragonite). The hard calcareous shell is the most easily fossilized part of the gastropod. The soft parts of a snail (the “slug” portion) include a well developed head having eyes, tentacles, and a mouth, and a well developed, strong, muscular foot used principally for locomotion. The shell is carried upright on the snail’s back, or is partially dragged behind. When threatened by a predator, many snails can retract their soft parts into the shell’s interior for protection. Many fossil snails in the Paleozoic rock record are often not well preserved, or are preserved as internal molds. The original aragonite of many gastropod shells is not stable on geologic time scales, and often recrystallizes or dissolves completely away. Fossil snail shells in Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks are usually better preserved. Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Naticoidea, Ampullinidae Age: Rupelian Stage (Stampian Stage), Lower Oligocene Locality: Gaas, Landes Department, Aquitaine, southwestern France
Crommium angustatum Grateloup, 1827 fossil snail shell (abapertural view) from the Oligocene of France. (57 mm tall) Of all the molluscs, the gastropods (snails) have made the most ecological adaptations. They can be found in almost all fundamental environments: marine, freshwater, terrestrial. Most gastropods live in the ocean, and have a single, asymmetrically coiled, external shell of calcium carbonate (CaCO3 - usually aragonite). The hard calcareous shell is the most easily fossilized part of the gastropod. The soft parts of a snail (the “slug” portion) include a well developed head having eyes, tentacles, and a mouth, and a well developed, strong, muscular foot used principally for locomotion. The shell is carried upright on the snail’s back, or is partially dragged behind. When threatened by a predator, many snails can retract their soft parts into the shell’s interior for protection. Many fossil snails in the Paleozoic rock record are often not well preserved, or are preserved as internal molds. The original aragonite of many gastropod shells is not stable on geologic time scales, and often recrystallizes or dissolves completely away. Fossil snail shells in Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks are usually better preserved. Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Naticoidea, Ampullinidae Age: Rupelian Stage (Stampian Stage), Lower Oligocene Locality: Gaas, Landes Department, Aquitaine, southwestern France
Amaltheenton, Bachriss des Pliensbach bei Zell unter Aichelberg
Pleuroceras spinatum (Bruguière 1789)- Amaltheidae; Pyritic specimen. biozone index to the end of Pliensbachian. Stage : Pliensbachian from 189,6 ± 1,5 Ma to -183,0 ± 1,5 Ma (million years ago) (Domerian) Locality: Lanuéjols, Gard, France Size : 4.5x3.8x1.45 cm 30.6g
Permineralized Jurassic fern rhizome from Korsaröd (Sweden) of Osmundastrum pulchellum. It has preserved Nuclei and Chromosomes, a fine subcellular detail has rarely been documented in fossils. It´s Rooted in DNA content was used to extrapolate relative genome, finding relationships with extant Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, and confirmed a monophyletic Osmunda. Osmundastrum pulchellum is one of the earliest fossil Osmundastrum rhizomes known so far, and the first of its kind from the Mesozoic of Europe. Its impressive preservation has lead to know even the biotic interactions with the Plant. It also has recovered the only know case know to preserve the ongoing mitosis processes in plant cells via calcification from volcanic hydrothermal brine.
Early Jurassic (Lias γ, Pliensbachian) ferruginous limestone (the bed below the hammer) and marl (the bed ‘behind’ the hammer) in the cap rocks of the oolithic iron ore deposit at the village of Rottorf am Klei, Lower Saxony, Germany, largely obscured by weathered material of the same rocks.
Arminisaurus schuberti (NAMU ES/jl 36052), a plesiosaurian from the Pliensbachian of Bielefeld (Germany). Right scapula in medial view.
Arminisaurus schuberti (NAMU ES/jl 36052), a plesiosaurian from the Pliensbachian of Bielefeld (Germany). Rear part of right lower jaw ramus in side view.
