The Almalyk porphyry Cu-Au system of eastern Uzbekistan encompasses the giant ore deposits at Kal'makyr (2.5 Gt @ 0.38% Cu, 0.5 g/t Au) and Dalnee (2.8 Gt @ 0.36% Cu, 0.35 g/t Au). The Sarycheku orebody (200 Mt @ 0.5% Cu, 0.1 g/t Au) is part of the Saukbulak porphyry Cu-Au system, some 18 km to the south. Both systems are associated with the second, Middle- to Late-Carboniferous, pulse of magmatic activity within the Devono-Carboniferous Valerianov-Bertau-Kurama volcano-plutonic belt that is the main element of the Middle Tien Shan terrane in Central Asia. Previous K-Ar dating of the ore-related porphyry intrusive and the mineralisation has returned ages in the range of 310 to 290 Ma, whereas recent U-Pb zircon dating reported for the intrusive sequence in the Almalyk district partially overlaps in the range of 320 to 305 Ma, with ore-related porphyries 315 to 319 Ma.

Mineralisation at both Kal'makyr and Dalnee is predominantly in the form of stockworks with lesser disseminations, and is associated with Late Carboniferous quartz monzonite porphyry plugs intruding earlier dioritic and monzonitic intrusive rocks of the same magmatic complex. The orebodies take the form of a cap like shell developed above and draped over the flanks of the related quartz monzonite porphyry stock. The dominant hosts to ore are the monzonite and diorite wall rocks, with the quartz monzonite porphyry only containing ore in its outer margins, surrounding and/or overlying a barren core. The focus of stockwork development is fracturing related to both the intrusive contact of the porphyry stock and to crosscutting faulting. Alteration comprises an early K-silicate phase followed by albite-actinolite and peripheral epidote-chlorite-carbonate-pyrite propylites, overprinted by an abundant phyllic episode which is closely related to the final distribution of the ore. Associated mineralisation commenced with barren quartz-hematite veining, followed by quartz-magnetite, quartz-pyrite-molybdenite-chalcopyrite with the bulk of the contained gold, quartz-carbonate-polysulphide with lesser gold, then by zeolite-anhydrite, and finally carbonate and barite veining. Subsequent oxidation and uplift developed a layer of oxide ore, a limited leached cap and supergene sulphide enrichment, largely in zones of fault related fracturing.

If I were, at about age twenty as a budding paleozoologist and paleoartist, handed a copy of this book by a mysterious time traveler, I would have been shocked as well as delighted. The pages would reveal a world of new dinosaurs and ideas that I barely had a hint of or had no idea existed at all. My head would spin at the revelation of the therizinosaurs such as the wacky feathered Beipiaosaurus and at the biplane flying dromaeosaurids, not to mention the little halszkaraptors with their duck-like beaks, or the oversized shoulder spines of Gigantspinosaurus, the neck spines of Amargasaurus, the brow horns and atrophied arms of bulldog-faced Carnotaurus,

Pterosaur remains have been found by humans for millennia and may have helped form the basis for belief in mythical beasts, including winged dragons. In the prescientific West, the claim in the Genesis creation story that the planet and all life were formed just two or three thousand years before the great Egyptian pyramids were built hindered the scientific study of fossils. The discovery and subsequent detailed illustration of the virtually complete and articulated skull and skeleton of the small Pterodactylus found in fine-grained Lagerstätte sediments of Bavaria in the late 1700s began modern pterosaur paleozoology decades before the discovery of teeth and a few bones led to the recognition of land-bound dinosaurs in the 1820s. The strange pterodactyl skeleton posed a major problem for early science because it was still thought that major extinctions had not occurred. The creature had a hyperelongated single finger, which was radically different from the feathery airfoils of birds and also uite distinctive from the multifingered wings of bats. Nor did the very long, spike-toothed jaws belong to either group. <...>

The Productora prospect is situated 15 km SSW of the town of Vallenar in the Third Region, north-central Chile. It lies within the "Chilean Iron Belt" close to the north-trending Atacama Fault system. The belt contains a variety of Fe oxide ±Cu ±Au-bearing deposits including Candelaria (366 million tonnes averaging 1.08 % Cu, 0.26 g/t Au) which is situated in the Punta del Cobre region approximately 150 km north of Productora. The age, structural setting, alteration assemblages and styles of mineralisation in the Productora area resemble those present at Candelaria, but Productora differs in its spatial association with intrusive rocks and its lack of skarn assemblages.