The ancient and archaic mustelid Baranogale helbingi is a European endemit. Its occurrence is characteristic for the Pliocene, but the species occurred also during the early Pleistocene. Among 30 sites, where its occurrence is documented, 8 are located in Poland. Among them, the most abundant material was found at Węże 1, dated at 3.6–3.2 Myr. The newly described remains, with two relatively well preserved skulls, broadly expand knowledge about the species. Morphometrical analysis showed the important role of sexual dimorphism in the variability of the species. Like other European Ictonychini, B. helbingi vanished during the early Pleistocene, owing to competition with small Mustelinae that were extremely adaptable in terms of ecology.

This paper provides a brief overview of geology and petroleum geology of the Dniepr-Donets Basin (DDB) and the Ukrainian Carpathians. Selected examples reveal the significant undiscovered hydrocarbon potential of these provinces and show that it is due to the presence of a large number of promising but poorly explored hydrocarbon accumulations and traps. It is also shown that revision of the existing geological models of many known fields will significantly increase reserve estimates for these fields. This will permit an increase in the annual hydrocarbon production at each of the underexplored fields in a short period of time. The authors also show that the revision of geological models is needed for many structural traps. They failed to detect hydrocarbons, owing to ‘dry’ wells or wells that were not even tested, despite logging data, indicating the presence of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs. This will make it possible to bring into operation previously missed productive formations. Special attention is paid to predicting new hydrocarbon fields in underexplored areas of the Ukrainian Carpathians. Very important further research in the DDB should involve the revision of geological models of both productive and unproductive structural traps, associated with salt tectonics at depths penetrated by wells. As well, it should include exploration for new structural traps near salt stems and beneath the overhangs of salt diapirs, where they may be much more numerous than currently thought and larger in size. The implementation of the exploration and geological research discussed in this paper will ensure that Ukraine’s hydrocarbon resources will meet domestic demand for oil and gas and also become an important source of petroleum for Europe.

One hundred and nine taxa of carpological remains, 3 taxa of leaves, and 103 taxa of sporomorphs are identified from the late Oligocene to Early Miocene deposits at the Tetta Clay Pit, eastern Germany. Palynological analysis was performed for the first time for this site. Among the carpological remains, 82 taxa are documented for the first time for this site, including two new fossil-genera ( Paranothotsuga Kowalski gen. nov., Pterosinojackia Kowalski gen. nov.), and one new fossil-species ( Sparganium tuberculatum Kowalski sp. nov.). New combination s are also introduced ( Paranothotsuga jechorekiae (Czaja) Kowalski n. comb., Magnolia germanica (Mai) Kowalski n. comb., and Morella stoppii (Kirchheimer) Kowalski n. comb.). Discovered microremains of Pesavis tagluensis fungus extend the age range of the sedimentary sequence from the previously suggested Middle Miocene to at least the latest Oligocene. Two biostratigraphic units, the Rott-Thierbach and Wiesa-Eichelskopf floristic complexes are recognized for the first time in Tetta. Beech forests are indicated as the most common vegetation type. All of these fossil assemblages evidence a warm temperate climate, but a shift toward a warmer subtropical climate is inferred in the uppermost part of the studied profile.

The Pennsylvanian Atoka bank carbonates were deposited on the northwest shelf of the Delaware Basin in Eddy County, New Mexico, forming a stratigraphic trap for natural gas. Brecciation is common in the core samples of some wells. This paper describes the brecciation in the phylloid algal limestones and discusses its origin. In the core samples, brecciated dark areas, consisting of irregularly shaped fragments, are seen together with internal sediment-filled pores, characterized by light gray coloured areas. Detailed examination of the core samples reveals that the brecciated dark areas correspond to open space areas between phylloid algal colonies, on the basis of comparison with the well-preserved primary rock texture in the cores. Brecciation is mainly due to the selective dissolution of phylloid algae that produced phylloid algal moulds, later filled by sandy internal sediments under subaerial conditions. The subsequent compaction of the limestone caused the rock to break up and formed a breccia in situ . The sandy internal sediment prevented the moulds from collapse as well as breccia formation in the pore-filling area, owing to its loose character. Overall, the brecciation process, including the dissolution of phylloid algae and breakage of the rocks, significantly improved the reservoir quality, whereas the internal sediment reduced the reservoir quality, for it reduced the porosity.

Speleothems have been employed broadly in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction during the last thirty years. Speleothem-based studies have been performed in various geographic regions, except for the polar zones. A robust application of speleothems is provided by the precise determination of their crystallization age, which can be tied to various proxies that record past environmental conditions (e.g.,

An assemblage of 120 mammal remains of Pleistocene age has been collected from the fluvial deposits of river Raba at a gravel pit in the village of Targowisko, 30 km east of Kraków, southern Poland. Nearly 100 remains represent woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius . Other remains belong to four or five such mammal species as horse Equus ferus , woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis, red deer Cervus elaphus and steppe bison Bison priscus or aurochs Bos primigenius . Pleistocene coarse-grained deposits containing isolated bones, teeth and tusks occur in the lowermost part of the fluvial succession in the open pit, presently inundated by groundwater. The surfaces of the majority of bones and teeth show abrasion damages by fluvial transport, including their rounding and smoothing as well as scratches and grooves. Traces of carnivore activity are visible on mammoth and horse bones. The location, dimension and shape of these marks suggest wolf or cave hyena gnawing.

During the last sixty years, large collections of ichthyofauna, mainly isolated, microscopic, skeletal remains (ichthyoliths), from the Middle–Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous rocks of southern Poland have accumulated in the hands of Polish palaeontologists and in palaeontological institutions. Some parts of these collections were described in unpublished dissertations and others were published in dispersed papers, dealing mostly with selected regions or taxa. This review summarises the available data from the following regions: the Holy Cross Mountains, the Cracow Upland, the Sudetes and the Lublin Coal Basin (in the latter two cases, single localities). Altogether, 29 chondrichthyan species were identified and a few more still require classification. Of the Sarcopterygii, three species of onychodontiforms and one of the actinistians were found, in addition to a collection of dipnoans that was described much earlier. A few morphological types were distinguished among actinopterygian scales; otherwise the actinopterygian fossils are not referred to any lower-level taxon, and the same applies to the acanthodians. There were several attempts in the past to apply Polish ichthyoliths in biostratigraphy and palaeoecology, but after all these years, it appears that such propositions have only limited significance.

In the sandstones and conglomerates of the Idzików Conglomerate Member (Coniacian), exposed in the Idzików Quarry (SW Poland, Upper Nysa Kłodzka Graben), a moderately diverse assemblage of trace fossils has been recognized. The trace fossils include Arenicolites isp., Asterosoma isp., ? Bergaueria isp., Cylindrichnus isp., Conichnus conicus , Curvolithus simplex , Dactyloidites ottoi , Diplocraterion parallelum , ? Diplocraterion isp., Gyrochorte isp., Gyrophyllites aff. kwassizensis , Macaronichnus segregatis , Ophiomorpha nodosa , Ophiomorpha isp., ? Palaeophycus isp., ? Rhizocorallium isp., Rosselia isp., ?S colicia isp., Teichichnus isp. and Thalassinoides isp. Escape traces (fugichnia) and some unidentified trace fossils also were found. The following ichnoassociations are distinguished: (IA1) Ophiomorpha - Cylindrichnus , (IA2) Asterosoma - Conichnus and (IA3) Ophiomorpha-Arenicolites . IA1 probably represents a mixture of the impoverished proximal Cruziana ichnofacies and the distal Skolithos ichnofacies, which points to the lower, weakly storm-affected shoreface. IA2 is interpreted as the archetypal Skolithos ichnofacies (opportunistic colonization of tempestite beds) with some elements of the Cruziana ichnofacies (bioturbated, fair-weather background deposits) in the middle, moderately storm-affected shoreface. IA3 is assigned to the archetypal Skolithos ichnofacies, which indicates the upper shoreface-foreshore settings. The trace-fossil evidence implies that the Upper Cretaceous succession was deposited in a shallow, open basin with good oxygenation of the sea floor and normal salinity, under low- to moderately high-energy hydrodynamic conditions. On the basis of ichnological and sedimentological analyses, the deposits studied originated in a system of fan-delta and shallow-shelf settings with common transitional-proximal tempestites. They were deposited in the eastern part of the Upper Nysa Kłodzka Graben during the Coniacian regression.

The Outer Carpathians are known for a few sections, where transitions from the Upper Cretaceous to the Palaeogene, including the K-Pg boundary interval, were described. One of them, the Bąkowiec section in the Skole Nappe, was examined with reference to the record of biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental changes, mainly based on the analysis of calcareous nannofossil assemblages. This study shows no evidence for the K-Pg boundary; however, the presence of the nannofossil species Micula prinsii , marking the topmost Maastrichtian UC20dTP Zone, was noted. The appearance of this low-latitude taxon and relevant changes in the composition of nannofossil assemblages indicate an influx of Tethyan warm water into the northern Carpathian basins during the latest Maastrichtian, shortly before the K-Pg boundary event. Therefore, the authors infer that the upper part of the Bąkowiec section recorded the latest Maastrichtian warming of climate, probably triggered by Deccan volcanic activity.