• Drabon
et al. (2024) study the environmental effects of a giant meteorite impact during the
Paleoarchean, based on data from the
Fig Tree Formation (
South Africa, and find that in short term the effects of the impact likely harmed shallow-water photosynthetic microbes, while in the medium term it provided influx of phosphorus and the injection of iron-rich deep water into shallow waters that initiated a bloom of iron-cycling microbes. • Evidence from the study of the nitrogen isotopic composition of 2.68-billion-years-old marine sedimentary deposits of the Serra Sul Formation (Brazil), interpreted as likely resulting from
oxygenic photosynthesis that predated the
Great Oxidation Event, is presented by Pellerin
et al. (2024). • A study on the
Paleoproterozoic seawater biogeochemical conditions in the Francevillian sub-basin (
Gabon) is published by Chi Fru
et al. (2024), who report evidence of enrichment of seawater with phosphorus approximately 2.1 billion years ago, of comparable magnitude to Ediacaran seawater levels that supported the rise of the Ediacaran biota, and argue that this previously unrecognized seawater nutrient enrichment initiated the emergence of the
Francevillian biota. • A study on the oxygenation of atmosphere and oceans and on marine productivity during the
Neoproterozoic and
Paleozoic is published by Stockey
et al. (2024), who find no evidence of the wholesale oxygenation of Earth's oceans in the Neoproterozoic, but report evidence of a late Neoproterozoic increase in atmospheric oxygen and marine productivity, which likely increased oxygenation and food supply in shallow marine habitats at the time of the first radiation of major animal groups. • Huang
et al. (2024) report evidence of a period in the Ediacaran when Earth's magnetic field was weakened, lasting 26 million years, overlapping temporally with atmospheric and oceanic oxygenation and potentially causing it and ultimately allowing diversification of the Ediacara Fauna. • 563-million-year-old horizontal markings with similarities to horizontal animal trace fossils, reported from the Itajaí Basin (
Brazil), are interpreted as
pseudofossils of tectonic origin by Becker Kerber
et al. (2024), who propose a set of criteria which can be used to evaluate the identity of putative trace fossils. • Evidence of links between increased continental weathering and marine transgression during the assembly of Gondwana, changes in seawater conditions and biotic turnovers during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is presented by Deng
et al. (2024). • Evidence of preservation of internal organs of soft-bodied organisms from the interbedded background mudstone beds of the Cambrian Yu'anshan Formation (China) as carbonaceous compressions is presented by Lei
et al. (2024). • Neuweiler
et al. (2024) study the composition and structure of the
stromatolite Cryptozoon from the Cambrian strata in eastern
New York State, and reject claims of preservation of fossil material of non-spiculate sponges in the studied stromatolite. • A study on the variations of preservation of animal fossils from the Ordovician
Fezouata Formation (
Morocco) is published by Saleh
et al. (2024), who report evidence of better preservation of predators/scavengers compared to animals with other feeding strategies, as wells as evidence of better preservation of
Tremadocian animals than
Floian ones. • Smelror
et al. (2024) report the discovery of trace fossils of polychaetes associated with cold to temperate waters in marine deposits in the Central Norwegian Caledonides, and interpret this finding as evidence of previously unrecognized deep-ocean circulation and upwelling of cold water along the subtropical Laurentian margin of the
Iapetus Ocean in the early to mid-Ordovician. • A study on
silicified fossils from the Ordovician
Edinburg Formation (
Virginia,
United States), aiming to determine sources of potential bias in fossil recovery, is published by Jacobs
et al. (2024). • A study on the oceanic
cadmium cycle during the Ordovician-Silurian transition, providing evidence that increased marine productivity resulted in increased burial of organic matter, CO2 drawdown and ultimately in the
Hirnantian glaciation, is presented by Zhao
et al. (2024). • Purported Precambrian trace fossil
Rugoinfractus ovruchensis is interpreted as mud cracks preserved in Devonian strata by Dernov (2024). • Stacey
et al. (2024) report possible evidence that Devonian and early Carboniferous oceanic oxygenation was related to the evolution of large vascular plants and the first forests, as well as evidence of susceptibility of shallow marine settings to redox instability, possibly related to extinctions and reef collapse events in the studied time interval. • Evidence from the Bicheno-5 core in eastern Tasmania (
Australia), interpreted as indicative of
carbon cycle perturbations in the middle Permian,
Carnian and
Norian which triggered climatic and environmental changes within the Permian and Triassic Antarctic circle, is presented by Lestari
et al. (2024). • A study on mercury concentrations and isotopic compositions of limestones from the Xiongjiachang section of southwestern China is published by Huang
et al. (2024), who interpret their findings as indicative of a temporal link between
Emeishan Traps volcanism and the
Capitanian mass extinction event. • Evidence interpreted as indicative of strong ozone depletion of the atmosphere at the onset of the Permian–Triassic extinction event is presented by Li
et al. (2024). • A study on Permian–Triassic boundary sections in North and South China is published by Chu
et al. (2024), who interpret their findings as indicating that the onset of the end-Permian terrestrial biotic crisis in North China preceded that in South China by at least 300,000 years, and that the onset of environmental changes that caused end-Permian extinctions varied regionally. • Sun
et al. (2024) argue that increase of
partial pressure of carbon dioxide at the end of the Permian led to collapse of the
meridional overturning circulation, contraction of the
Hadley cell and intensification of
El Niños, causing environmental changes that ultimately resulted in the Permian–Triassic extinction event. • Li
et al. (2024) present evidence of existence of persistently active El Niño–Southern Oscillation throughout the past 250 million years, and study the causes of variations in its amplitude throughout the studied time interval. • Wang
et al. (2024) report the discovery of a fossil forest of
Neocalamites plants from the Middle Triassic Yanchang Formation (China), and interpret this finding as evidence of wide-scale intensification of the
water cycle during the Triassic prior to the
Carnian pluvial episode. • A study on the lower Carnian basinal succession from the Polzberg
Lagerstätte (
Austria), providing evidence of deposition during the onset of the Carnian pluvial episode and of peculiar oceanographic conditions affecting the Reifling Basin at the time, is published by Lukeneder
et al. (2024). • Rigo
et al. (2024) report evidence of a previously unknown oceanic
anoxic event of global extent that spanned the
Norian-
Rhaetian transition, likely related to extinctions and diversity losses among radiolarians, bivalves, ammonites, conodonts and marine vertebrates. • Evidence indicating that the
Triassic–Jurassic extinction event coincided with the initial major pulse of
Central Atlantic magmatic province volcanism is presented by
Kent et al. (2024). • Evidence from mercury anomalies and fern spores from the Lower Saxony Basin (
Germany), interpreted as indicative of persistence of volcanic-induced mercury pollution after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event resulting in high abundances of malformed fern spores during the Triassic–Jurassic transition and during the
Hettangian, is presented by Bos
et al. (2024). • Evidence of global expansion of marine anoxia during the
Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, interpreted as indicating that anoxic waters covered ~6 to 8% of the global seafloor during the peak of the event, is presented by Remírez
et al. (2024). • Evidence from the study of trace fossils from the earliest Cretaceous Botucatu Formation (Brazil), interpreted as indicative of the presence of dry environment with episodic wet events, is presented by Peixoto
et al. (2024). • Song
et al. (2024) determine the fossil strata of the Baiwan Formation (Henan, China) bearing fossils of the
Jehol Biota to be approximately 123.6 million years old. • Rangel
et al. (2024) describe a vertebrate burrow from the Lower Cretaceous Três Barras Formation (Brazil), likely produced by a lungfish or a lizard, and interpret the studied formation as preserving evidence of periods of flooding in a meandering river zone in the marginal areas of the Early Cretaceous eolian setting. • Evidence from the study of microfossils from the Lower Cretaceous Sanfranciscana Basin (Brazil), interpreted as indicative of multiple marine incursions into the continental setting of the southwest Gondwana during the
Aptian, is presented by Fauth
et al. (2024). •
Jacobs et al. (2024) study the geological setting of the Early Cretaceous fossiliferous basins of northern
Cameroon, preserving dinosaur tracks similar to footprints found in northeastern
Brazil, and determine the geographic limits and environmental setting of the land corridor that connected Africa and South America during the pre-
Aptian Cretaceous and made faunal exchanges between the continents possible, termed the Borborema-Cameroon Dinosaur Dispersal Corridor by the authors. • MacLennan
et al. (2024) interpret exceptional preservation of fossils (including early birds and feathered non-avian dinosaurs) from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation (China) as unlikely to be linked to violent volcanic eruptions. • Li
et al. (2024) constrain the onset of the
Selli Event to approximately 119.55 million years ago, and identify the
Ontong Java Plateau volcanism as a probable cause of this anoxic event. • Evidence interpreted as indicative of impact of emergence of the coastal mountain range in eastern South China during the Early Cretaceous on Asian atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns, prompting eastward desert expansion in Asia, is presented by Li
et al. (2024). • Woolley
et al. (2024) attempt to quantify the amount of phylogenetic information available in the global fossil records of non-avian theropod dinosaurs, Mesozoic birds and squamates, and find that the studies of the phylogenic relationships of extinct animals are less affected by disproportionate representation of taxa from specific geologic units (especially
Lagerstätten) in the evolutionary tree when the entire global fossil record of the studied groups, rather than just fossils from specific geologic units, preserves higher amount of phylogenetic information; the authors also find that Late Cretaceous squamate fossils from the
Djadochta and
Barun Goyot formations (
Mongolia) provide a diproportionally large amount of phylogenetic information available in the squamate fossil record. • Almeida
et al. (2024) provide new
paleocurrent measurements for the Cretaceous and Paleogene in the eastern Amazonia region, and find persistent pattern of the river flow to the East in the Amazonas Basin from the Cretaceous to the present to be more likely than a reversal from the westward river flow to the eastward one. • Eberth (2024) revises the
stratigraphic architecture of the
Campanian Belly River Group (
Alberta,
Canada). •
Rogers et al. (2024) revise the
lithostratigraphy and
chronostratigraphy of the
Two Medicine Formation (
Montana, United States). • Evidence of a change in nitrogen isotope ratios of the organic matter bound in Campanian and Maastrichtian fish
otoliths from the
East Coast of the United States, interpreted as related to expansion of oxygen-deficient zones in the ocean during the Campanian-to-Maastrichtian climate cooling, is presented by Rao
et al. (2024). • A study on the environmental conditions in the Late Cretaceous
Western Interior Seaway is published by Wostbrock
et al. (2024), who reconstruct
δ18O seawater values consistent with open ocean during greenhouse climate for the Campanian and consistent with more evaporative conditions for the Maastrichtian. • Evidence of a short-term (lasting less than 10,000 years) cooling event beginning approximately 30,000 years before the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition, interpreted as likely related to
Deccan volcanism, is presented by O'Connor
et al. (2024). • New data interpreted as supporting an impact origin of the
Nadir crater is provided by Nicholson
et al. (2024). • Evidence from the study of ruthenium isotopes in the impact deposits from the
Chicxulub crater, interpreted as indicating that the impactor that produced the crater was a carbonaceous asteroid that formed beyond the orbit of Jupiter, is presented by Fischer-Gödde
et al. (2024). • During
et al. (2024) reeavualute data from analyses of fossil fish remains from the
Tanis fossil site (
North Dakota, United States) performed by DePalma
et al. (2021), originally presented as evidence indicating that the end-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact occurred during boreal Spring/Summer, and report anomalies interpreted by the authors as unlikely to be the result of analytical work. • Evidence indicating that, in spite of high global temperatures, oxygen availability in the waters of the tropical North Pacific actually rose during the
Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, is presented by Moretti
et al. (2024), who argue that this oxygen rise in the ocean might have prevented a mass extinction during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. • Crespo & Goin (2024) argue that a biogeographical barrier (called the Weddell Line by the authors) existed between East and West Antarctica during early Paleogene times and prevented
eutherian mammals from reaching Australia from South America. • Evidence indicating that West Antarctica's Pacific margin was not covered by
West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Early Oligocene Glacial Maximum is presented by Klages
et al. (2024). • A study on body mass, tooth wear and functional traits of teeth of mammalian herbivores from the Miocene to Pleistocene strata from the Falcón Basin (
Venezuela), interpreted as indicative of a gradual decline in precipitation and tree cover in the environment of the studied mammals since the late Miocene, is published by Wilson
et al. (2024), who argue that such data from mammal remains can be used of paleoenvironmental reconstructions at other South American localities. • Yu
et al. (2024) provide new age estimates for the Aves Cave and Milo's Cave deposits (
Bolt's Farm cave complex in the
Cradle of Humankind,
South Africa), and argue that there are no definitive examples of cave deposits in the Cradle of Humankind that are older than 3.2 million years. • Bierman
et al. (2024) report the discovery of insect, plant and fungal remains collected from below 3 km of ice at Summit, Greenland, providing evidence of ice-free, tundra environment in central Greenland during the Pleistocene. • Butiseacă
et al. (2024) report evidence from the Pleistocene Marathousa 1 (Megalopolis Basin,
Greece) interpreted as indicative of vegetation changes related to the cooling during the
Marine Isotope Stage 12, as indicating that the studied area was a
refugium during the MIS 12 glaciation and that the hominin presence at the site was associated with the end of the MIS 12 glacial maximum. • Evidence of change in fire regime in northern
Australia that happened at least 11,000 years ago, resulting in fires becoming more frequent but less intense and interpreted as resulting from Indigenous fire management, is presented by Bird
et al. (2024). • Uhl
et al. (2024) review known record of
maar and other volcanogenic lake fossil sites ranging from the Cretaceous period to the Pliocene. • Evidence from the study of
tests of Miocene
Ammonia, indicating that fossils of marine calcifiers (studied for reconstructions of deep ocean and sea-surface temperatures in the past) remain more susceptible to
diagenetic isotope exchange with seawater than abiotic
calcites even millions of years after sedimentation and burial, is presented by Cisneros-Lazaro
et al. (2024). • Wiseman, Charles & Hutchinson (2024) compare multiple reconstructions of the musculature of
Australopithecus afarensis, evaluating the capability of different models to maintain an upright, single-support limb posture, and find that models which are otherwise identical might be either able or unable support the body posed on an extended limb solely as a result of changing the input architectural parameters and including or excluding an elastic tendon. • Sullivan
et al. (2024) argue that the process of generating rigorous reconstructions of extinct animals can lead to fresh inferences about the anatomy of the studied animals, and support their claims with examples from dinosaur paleontology. • Gayford
et al. (2024) review problems that affect body size estimations of extinct animals that use extant animals as proxies, and propose precautionary measures that can address these problems. • Wright, Cavanaugh & Pierce (2024) compare the accuracy of two body mass estimation methods in extant tetrapods, and apply the compared methods to a sample of Permian and Triassic tetrapods including
Eryops megacephalus,
Diadectes tenuitectus,
Orobates pabsti,
Bradysaurus baini,
Edaphosaurus boanerges,
Ophiacodon uniformis,
Dimetrodon milleri,
Tapinocaninus pamelae,
Dinodontosaurus turpior,
Lisowicia bojani,
Scaloposaurus constrictus and
Procynosuchus delaharpeae. • Didier &
Laurin (2024) propose a new model-based approach which can be used to study the diversification of fossil taxa, and apply it to the fossil record of
ophiacodontids,
edaphosaurids and
sphenacodontids, finding evidence that the diversification of the studied synapsids slowed down around the
Asselian/
Sakmarian transition but no evidence of a late Sakmarian or
Artinskian extinction event, and interpreting
Olson's Extinction as a protracted decline in biodiversity over 20 million years rather than a rapid extinction event. • Cooper, Flannery-Sutherland & Silvestro (2024) present a deep learning approach which can be used to estimate biodiversity through time from the incomplete fossil record, and use this approach to estimate global biodiversity dynamics of marine animals from the Late Permian to Early Jurassic and
proboscideans. • Hauffe, Cantalapiedra & Silvestro (2024) present a
Bayesian model that can be used to determine diversification dynamics from fossil occurrence data and apply it to the fossil record of proboscideans. • Benoit (2024) interprets the painting of an unidentified animal with two enlarged tusks from the Horned Serpent panel in the Koesberg mountains (South Africa), dated between 1821 and 1835, as possible evidence that the
San people discovered dicynodont fossils before the scientific description of the first known dicynodont. • Reumer (2024) hypothesizes that
Beringer's Lying Stones represent the first recorded case of an intentional paleontological fraud in history, and might have been perpetrated by
Johann Beringer himself.
Paleoclimate • A multibillion-year history of seawater δ18O, temperature, and marine and terrestrial clay abundance is reconstructed by Isson & Rauzi (2024), who report evidence interpreted as indicative of temperate Proterozoic climate, and evidence indicating that declines in clay
authigenesis coincided with Paleozoic and Cenozoic cooling, the expansion of siliceous life, and the radiation of land plants. • Judd
et al. (2024) present a reconstruction of the global mean surface temperature over the past 485 million years, and report evidence of constant change of global mean surface temperature of approximately 8°C in response to a doubling of CO2 in the studied time interval, whether the climate was warm or cold. • Evidence from the study of the Ordovician carbonate record from the Baltic Basin, interpreted as indicative of lower values of oxygen isotopic composition of Ordovician seawater than estimated in earlier studies, is presented by Thiagarajan
et al. (2024), who interpret their findings as justifying reassessmeny of climate records based on oxygen isotopes. • A study on Lower Triassic marine shales and cherts, providing evidence of enhanced
reverse weathering which might have contributed to the persistence of elevated temperatures in the aftermath of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, is published by Rauzi
et al. (2024). • Gurung
et al. (2024) use a new vegetation and climate model to study links between plant geographical range, the long-term carbon cycle and climate, and find that reduced geographical range of plants in
Pangaea resulted in increased atmospheric CO2 concentration during the Triassic and Jurassic periods, while the expande geographical range of plants after the breakup of Pangaea amplified global CO2 removal. • A study on the geochemistry of Jurassic deposits of the External Rif Chain (
Morocco), providing evidence of climate changes in northwest
Gondwana during the Jurassic period (from cool climate with low rainfall and productivity during the Early Jurassic, to moister, warmer climate during the Middle and Late Jurassic, subsequently returning to arid and cool climate during the Late Jurassic), is published by Kairouani
et al. (2024). • Evidence indicating that small to large ice sheets were present in Antarctica throughout much of the Early Cretaceous, briefly melting in response to episodic volcanism, is presented by Nordt, Breecker & White (2024). • A study on calcite from Early Cretaceous
belemnite rostra from the Mahajanga Basin (
Madagascar), providing evidence of the
Valanginian cooling event in the Southern Hemisphere, is published by Wang
et al. (2024). • Evidence interpreted as indicative of a link between ocean deoxygenation during the Early Cretaceous
Selli Event, volcanic CO2 emissions and the crossing of an associated
climate threshold is presented by Bauer
et al. (2024). • Evidence from oxygen isotope values of shell material of Late Cretaceous ammonites from the
Western Interior Seaway, interpreted as indicative of ~18 °C cooling from the
Cretaceous Thermal Maximum in the
Turonian until the late
Maastrichtian, is presented by McCraw
et al. (2024). • A study on the environmental conditions of the
Foremost Formation (
Alberta, Canada) during the
Campanian is published by Thompson
et al. (2024). • Evidence from the study of late Paleocene and early Eocene planktic foraminifera from the Pacific Ocean, interpreted as indicative of strong coupling between atmospheric CO2 and sea surface temperature over the long- and short-term in the studied time interval, is presented by Harper
et al. (2024). • Evidence from the study of the middle Cenozoic
palynological records across the United Kingdom and Ireland, interpreted as overall indicative of temperate climate in the studied time interval but also as indicative of short-lived appearances of the tropical rainforest during the
Priabonian or
Rupelian and during the late Oligocene warming event, is presented by McCoy
et al. (2024). • Clark
et al. (2024) present a new reconstruction of global temperature changes over the past 4.5 million years, interpreted as consistent with changes in the carbon cycle. • Amarathunga
et al. (2024) present evidence indicative of a humid period in North Africa lasting from 3.8 to 3.3 million years ago, possibly sustaining persistent green corridors that facilitated early hominin connectivity and migration. • An
et al. (2024) present evidence indicating that growth of the Antarctic ice sheets from 2 to 1.25 million years ago preceded and likely induced expansion of ice sheets of the Northern Hemisphere after 1.25 million years ago. ==Deaths==