#hunsrück slate

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Results from the Devonian Hunsrück Slate #Paleostream! 

Look at all these weird little critters!

[leaping-laelaps-art]

Conulariids are an extinct group of probable cnidarians with 4-sided pyramidal thecae. They are relatively uncommon fossils but ranged from the Cambrian (possibly Ediacaran?) to the Triassic, comprising tens of genera and hundreds of described species (Lucas 2012).

Here are the reconstructed thecae of a small selection of species from every period of the conulariids' range, starting from the Cambrian in the top left and reaching all the way to the Triassic in the bottom right.

Since their soft parts are virtually never preserved (due to them being cnidarians and all that) (Van Iten & Südkamp 2010), most of our knowledge of conulariid biology and evolution is based on their more fossil-friendly thecae, which were composed of thin organophosphatic lamellae (Leme et al. 2008). Live conulariids were attached to the substrate by the apex of their theca; they probably captured suspended food particles or small prey using tentacles, just like other cnidarians, but it's hard to go in any more (non-speculative) detail without preserved soft tissues.

References:

Babcock, L. E. (1986). Devonian and Mississippian conulariids of North America. Part B. Paraconularia, Reticulaconularia, new genus, and organisms rejected from Conulariida. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 55, 411–479. https://doi.org/10.5962/p.215204

Guimarães Simões, M., Coelho Rodrigues, S., Moraes Leme, J. de, & Van Iten, H. (2003). Some Middle Paleozoic Conulariids (Cnidaria) as Possible Examples of Taphonomic Artifacts. Journal of Taphonomy, 1(3), 163–184.

Hughes, N. C., Gunderson, G. O., & Weedon, M. J. (2000). Late Cambrian Conulariids from Wisconsin and Minnesota. Journal of Paleontology, 74(5), 828–838. https://doi.org/10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<;0828:LCCFWA>2.0.CO;2

John, D. L., Hughes, N. C., Galaviz, M. I., Gunderson, G. O., & Meyer, R. (2010). Unusually preserved Metaconularia manni (Roy, 1935) from the Silurian of Iowa, and the systematics of the genus. Journal of Paleontology, 84(1), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1666/09-025.1

Leme, J. M., Simões, M. G., Marques, A. C., & Van Iten, H. (2008). Cladistic Analysis of the Suborder Conulariina Miller and Gurley, 1896 (cnidaria, Scyphozoa; Vendian–Triassic). Palaeontology, 51(3), 649–662. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00775.x

Lucas, S. (2012). The Extinction of the Conulariids. Geosciences, 2, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences2010001

Sendino, C., & Zagorsek, K. (2011). The Aperture and Its Closure in an Ordovician Conulariid. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 56, 659–663. https://doi.org/10.4202/app.2010.0028

Slater, I. L. (1907). A monograph of British Conulariæ. Printed for the Palæontographical Society.

Thomas, G. A. (1969). Notoconularia, a New Conularid Genus from the Permian of Eastern Australia. Journal of Paleontology, 43(5), 1283–1290.

Van Iten, H., Konate, M., & Moussa, Y. (2008). Conulariids of the Upper Talak Formation (Mississipian, Visean) of Northern Niger (West Africa). Journal of Paleontology, 82(1), 192–196. https://doi.org/10.1666/06-083.1

Van Iten, H., Muir, L., Simões, M. G., Leme, J. M., Marques, A. C., & Yoder, N. (2016). Palaeobiogeography, palaeoecology and evolution of Lower Ordovician conulariids and Sphenothallus (Medusozoa, Cnidaria), with emphasis on the Fezouata Shale of southeastern Morocco. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 460, 170–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.03.008

Van Iten, H., & Südkamp, W. H. (2010). Exceptionally preserved conulariids and an edrioasteroid from the Hunsrück Slate (Lower Devonian, SW Germany). Palaeontology, 53(2), 403–414. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00942.x

Waterhouse, J. B. (1979). Permian and Triassic conulariid species from New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 9(4), 475–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.1979.10421833

敏郎杉山. (1942). 156. 日本産Conularidaの研究. 日本古生物学會報告・紀事, 1942(25), 185-194_1. https://doi.org/10.14825/prpsj1935.1942.185

[newlabdakos]

Schinderhannes bartelsi

(temporal range: 408-400 mio. years ago)

[text from the Wikipedia article, see also link above]

Schinderhannes bartelsi is a species of hurdiid radiodont (anomalocaridid) known from one specimen from the lower Devonian Hunsrück Slates. Its discovery was astonishing because previously, radiodonts were known only from exceptionally well-preserved fossil beds (Lagerstätten) from the Cambrian, 100 million years earlier.

[statecryptids]

Another Pride Radiodont for Pride Month!

Schinderhannes bartelsi in Pansexual flag colors!

Schinderhannes is a personal favorite of mine. It was the first radiodont/anomalocarid discovered outside of the Cambrian period- it came from the Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany- revealing that there was a whole lost lineage of radiodonts that hadn't been discovered yet. So this guy here is what sparked my interest in speculative radiodonts.

[jessebeckerms]

Mosel: Saar

“The wine for before sport, during sport, after sport” - Martin Foradori, Dr. Fischer

"Saar" stems from the Celtic word Sara (streaming water), and that's what it is: a shallow river that rises from the Vosges and flows northward from France to Germany, where the Saar empties into the Mosel at Konz. It's the last 12 kilometers of the Mosel's largest tributary, where you'll find a series of steep, south-facing vineyards that read like a Grand-award winning wine list: Saarburger Rausch, Ayler Kupp, Kanzemer Altenberg, and, of the most famous of them all, Scharzhofberg.

In his classic book, The Wines of Germany, Frank Schoonmaker wrote of Saar wines, "There is a combination of qualities that I can best describe as indescribable." Saar wines taste distinctly different from the Middle Mosel due to their elevation, proximity to the Hunsrück mountains, and cooler climate. The wines are generally lighter, intensely aromatic, and often come with piercing acidity.

Like the rest of the Mosel, Riesling is a dominant variety, and Devonian slate characterizes all the best vineyards. There are pockets of volcanic diabase, most famously at Saarburger Rausch, and reddish iron layers of Rotliegiend in several sites, including the Scharzhofberg and Kanzemer Altenberg. For a survey of Saar's top vineyard sites, I recommend the VDP's online tool: VDP.Vineyard.Online, which identifies the vineyards classified as VDP.Grosse Lage, aka, the grand crus.

Starting way upriver in Serrig, the monopole site of Schloss Saarstein is the Serriger Schloss Saarstein. Greywacke soil with slate, this steep vineyard overlooking the Saar climbs to 220 meters of elevation, and the wines have accentuated acidity and long-aging potential. The next village of Saarburg is home to the Saarburger Rausch, a well-protected vineyard facing the charming town of Saarburg. Devonian slate with volcanic basalt, known as diabase, gives these wines a distinct character. Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken and Dr. Wagner are the producers to know here.

In Ockfen is the famous amphitheater-shaped Ockfener Bockstein, a classic Saar site of Devonian slate cultivated since Roman times; Bockstein is capable of some of the Saar's finest wines. The Bockstein has many owners, and Von Othegraven makes outstanding wines here. The Ayler Kupp is a 50-hectare hillside of several historic parcels, bottled separately by Peter Lauer: Unterstenberg, Stirn, Kern, and Neuenberg.

At this point in our journey towards the Mosel, the Saar appears to split due to a manufactured canal between Biebelhausen and Hamm, creating an artificial island in arguably the filet section of the Saar. Here, perched above the Saar, is the impressive Van Volxem winery, with holdings of several VDP.Grosse Lage sites throughout the Saar Valley. Wawern lies in a side valley to the west where Van Volxem has holdings in Ritterpfad and Goldberg. It's also where you'll find Von Othegraven's monopole: Großer Herrenberg.

Skipping to the other side of the island, we've now arrived at Scharzhofberg, an Orsteil belonging to the village of Wiltigen and Germany's most famous vineyard. While several excellent VDP estates like Von Hövel, von Kesselstatt, and Van Volxem have holdings here, Scharzhofberg links directly to Egon Müller. Weathered slate with high iron content, good aeration, and perfect exposure, the Egon Müller Scharzhofberg gives legendary wines with incredible longevity and jaw-dropping prices at auction.

Flowing downstream, the final bends in the river give us the spectacularly steep Gottesfuß (Van Volxem, von Kesselstatt), Braune Kupp (Le Gallais/Egon Müller), Wiltigen Kupp (Von Othegraven), and last but not least the Kanzemer Altenberg. The Altenberg, "as steep as the Matterhorn," as Von Othegraven's owner Günther Jauch likes to say, is an exceptional site with iron-laden sections of weathered Devonian slate.

[extinctworld-ua]

Cheloniellon

Cheloniellon — це монотипний рід хелоніелідних (Cheloniellida) членистоногих, відомий лише за одним видом, Cheloniellon calmani, що був виявлений у нижньому девоні Hunsrück Slate в Німеччині.

Повний текст на сайті "Вимерлий світ":

https://extinctworld.in.ua/cheloniellon/

[nuadox]

Finding a rare fossilized comb jelly reveals new gaps in the fossil record

- By Richard Cloutier , Christian Klug , Mike Lee , The Conversation -

They look like jellyfish but they aren’t. They seem inoffensive but are efficient predators — occasionally, they even eat fish. They are gelatinous and very delicate — and extremely rarely do they fossilize!

Ctenophores, also known as comb jellies, are colourful, translucent animals, that drift through oceanic waters. Unlike jellyfish, ctenophores don’t have stinging cells, and typically capture prey using long, sticky tentacles.

Our research describing a fossilized ctenophore from Eastern Canada, published recently in Scientific Reports, suggests that our creature was a very late survivor from the very dawn of animals. It also means that a very controversial idea about early animal evolution can’t be rejected by the fossil record.

The new ctenophore fossil, Daihuoides jakobvintheri, was found in the fine sediments from Miguasha cliffs along the Restigouche River in the Gaspé Peninsula, eastern Québec. (Johanne Kerr), Author provided

Common today but rare as fossils

There are approximately 200 species of living ctenophores, and many are locally abundant. Some well-known modern comb jellies include the sea gooseberry (Pleurobrachia pileus) found in the open water in the northern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, and the ribbon-like Venus girdle (Cestum veneris) that can be seen in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide.

However, their delicate bodies generally lack hard parts, meaning very few fossil ctenophores have been preserved and discovered: only about a dozen species have been found globally. Fossilization of these soft-bodied animals requires exceptional conditions such as very rapid burial with very fine sediments in an oxygen-poor aquatic environment, which suppresses the activities of decomposing and scavenging organisms. Other environmental parameters also play an important role in the preservation.

Until the early 1980s, comb jellies were unknown from the fossil record. The first comb jelly fossil to be discovered came from the Early Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany, deposited some 405 million years ago.

Since then, records of spectacularly preserved early relatives of comb jellies were described from the 518-million-year-old Chengjiang Biota in southern China, the 505-million-year-old Burgess Shale of British Columbia in Western Canada and other similar deposits.

In August, two new species of Cambrian comb jellies were also reported from Utah. Our new fossil, named Daihuoides jakobvintheri, adds substantially to this scant record.

Two alternative life reconstructions of the fossil comb jelly Daihuoides jakobvintheri, (A) as a pelagic animal like modern comb jellies, and resembles a jellyfish, and (B) as a benthic animal, like many Cambrian comb jellies, and resembles a sea anemone. (Scientific Reports), Author provided

Strange anatomical symmetry

Most living ctenophores have a translucent spherical or cylindrical body, frequently showing bright-coloured bioluminescence, vaguely reminiscent of colourful disco mirror balls. Most use a pair of long tentacles, armed with non-venomous sticky cells (colloblasts), to trap small prey and convey it to their mouth on the top of their body.

Ctenophores propel themselves using comb rows: beating hairs (cilia) organized into longitudinal bands. The presence, number and organization of these comb rows are taxonomically important. The single specimen of our fossil Daihuoides reveals a circular disk-shaped body (calyx), approximately six centimetres in diameter, with 18 radiating comb rows, each one distinguished by a clear zigzag pattern.

The presence of comb rows permitted us to identify this fossil as a ctenophore, but their high number was puzzling. This number is unusual in a living ctenophore, but rather common in very ancient Cambrian ctenophores. Cambrian comb jellies from the Chinese Chengjiang fauna, belonging to the genera Daihua, Xianguangia and Dinomischus, share a hexaradiate-based symmetry, meaning being six-fold or a multiple thereof, such as 18-fold.

Exceptional conditions

The fossil comb-jelly Daihuoides jakobvintheri, showing 18 radially-arranged comb rows. (Scientific Reports), Author provided

Our new fossil comes from the well-documented Devonian fossil site from Miguasha along the south coast of the Gaspé Peninsula in Eastern Canada.

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it preserves an exceptional diversity of early fishes, including a transitional form between fishes and land vertebrates (tetrapods). This trove of fossils, known as the Escuminac assemblage, is 375 million years old — and was once an estuary near the equator!

Since 1842, more than 21,000 fossil fish belonging to 20 different species have been found. Many of these fossils represent near-complete skeletons with most bones still in place.

In contrast to the plethora of fishes, invertebrates are rare and less diverse. In fact, only 10 species have been found. Most of them only known from a handful of specimens, and are primarily arthropods (hard-bodied invertebrates with jointed legs, represented today by things such as crabs and insects).

The base of the tree of life

The Cambrian Explosion refers to the near-simultaneous appearance of the major groups of animals in the fossil record, between 540 and 520 million years ago.

Before then, animals were very simple and largely microscopic, but in the geological blink of an eye, most of the modern phyla of animals (metazoans) appeared, including arthropods, molluscs and vertebrates. Ctenophores have long been thought to be near the base of the animal tree of life, resembling other primitive forms such as cnidarians (corals and jellyfish). Sponges look primitive because they lack a nervous system and organized tissues, and they only have a few cell types.

Ctenophores and cnidarians, despite their relative simplicity, are much more complex than sponges, so it was traditionally assumed that sponges were at the absolute base of the animal family tree — the “sponges-first hypothesis.”

However, some recent genomic studies have proposed that comb jellies are actually even lower on the family tree than sponges, a “ctenophores-first” hypothesis. This radical idea remains highly controversial because sponges have been assumed to be more primitive than ctenophores for more than 150 years.

If true, it could mean that many of the traits ctenophores share with typical animals (such as a nervous system, gut and complex muscles) might have evolved twice: once in comb jellies and separately in all other animals.

Comb jellies would be true evolutionary aliens compared to all other animals.

In the light of our discovery, we tested whether the anatomy of fossil ctenophores better supports the sponges-first or ctenophores-first hypothesis. Surprisingly, and contrary to a previous study, the fossils were equally consistent with both ideas.

Lazarus fossil

According to the Bible, Jesus restored Lazarus of Bethany to life four days after his death. In paleontology, a “Lazarus taxon” is an organism that disappears from the fossil record for a lengthy period, only to reappear much later.

Reconstruction of a fossil ctenophore from the Cambrian Period, Ctenorhabdotus capulus, which is some 140 million years older than Daihuoides but still very similar. (Apokryltaros/Wikipedia), CC BY

Our new fossil ctenophore, Daihuoides, is a perfect example of such a Lazarus taxon and postdates its Cambrian relatives by over a hundred million years. Our creature resembles a primitive type of ctenophore with 18 sets of organs radially arranged. These forms were known from the Cambrian (over 500 million years ago) and then assumed to have gone extinct soon afterwards.

Daihuoides shows that these primitive comb jellies survived for a further 140 million years, into the Devonian, approximately 375 million years ago. This discovery demonstrates the huge gaps in the known fossil record, and implies many wonderful fossils are yet to be discovered.

Johanne Kerr, researcher at Parc national de Miguasha, co-authored this article.

Richard Cloutier, Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR); Christian Klug, Professor, Curator of the Palaentological Museum, University of Zurich, and Mike Lee, Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), Flinders University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

--

Header image: The bodies of comb jellies like Mertensia ovum are soft, meaning they rarely fossilize. (Alexander Semenov), CC BY-SA.

Read Also

We discovered a 115,000-year-old iguana nest fossil in the Bahamas

[thatswhywelovegermany]

The Natural Regions of Germany (3): The Central Uplands

South of the Northern German lowlands, there is a belt of mid-sized wooded mountain ranges separated by fertile valleys, which is commonly referred to as the “Mittelgebirge”. These mountains are of highly diverse origin, shaped in parts by tectonic, in parts by volcanic activity. Some of them are among the oldest mountain ranges worldwide and much older than the Alps. As diverse as they are by origin, they are by appearance and character.

The most prominent mountain range is the Harz, which abruptly rises from the Northern German plains. Its highest peak is the more than 1,100 m high Brocken (= “lump”), which raises above the tree line. A railway featuring the strongest German narrow gauge steam locomotives muscles tourist trains right to the top of the mountain. It is also an ancient mining area where silver and other ores were mined. The mines of Goslar are part of the UNESCO world cultural heritage.

The Weser Uplands are the north-western part of the Central German uplands, surrounding the valley of the river Weser. These lovely rolling hills are the origin of some of the famous fairy tales: Sababurg is said to be the castle of Sleeping Beauty, and the Trendelburg the tower of Rapunzel.

The Hessian parts of the Central German uplands are characterized by quaint towns nestled between the wooded rolling hills. Among the notable mountains is the Meißner, origin of the legend of Mother Hulda or Old Mother Frost who shakes her bed and out comes snow from heaven. The Vogelsberg is the largest volcanic formation of central Europe. Some of the valleys hold artificial water reservoirs such as the Edersee, paradise for water sports.

The Western part of the Central German uplands is made up by the Rhenish Slate Mountains, divided into Eifel, Westerwald, Hunsrück, and Taunus. The Eifel is a geologically young volcanic area, which still shows signs of activity. The four parts are divided by the rivers Mosel, Lahn, and Rhine. The spectacular Middle Rhine Valley lined with romantic castle ruins is a top tourist destination.

The South-East is made up of the Thuringian and Franconian Forests and the Ore Mountains. In the latter area, ore was mined since the prehistoric bronze age. More recently, uranium was mined there, contributing to most of the Russian nuclear arsenal during the cold war. These mountains continue into the Czech Republic. Winter sports and hiking tourism are prevalent here. The Ore Mountains are known for skilled craftsmanship producing wooden toys and folk art, including the classical nutcrackers.

[geoworldtravel]

Yesterday was a day of 2 halves: the morning was vulcanological and was in the #vulkaneifel #geopark while the afternoon was palaeontological in the famous Hunsrück Slate, a Devonian #lagerstätte with exception soft tissue preservation. The first stop was Winsborn Scoria cone, which formed 80,000 years ago and now contains a crater lake. Then we visited Pulvermaar, at 11,000 years old this is the youngest volcano in Germany and forms a perfect circular crater occupied by a lake. After this we moved to the village of Strohn. Here we saw the famous lava bomb. The huge 120 ton ball of lava actually formed by beinging repeatedly fired away from the eruptive vent, each time rolling back down the inside of the scoria cone receiving a new coating of lava. Additionally in Strohn we visited a section cut into the side of a scoria cone, and went to the Vulcan Cafe and Museum where the erupting fissure of the scoria cone has been recovered from a quarry and is on display. We then relocated to Bundenbach where we were given a personalised underground tour in the Herrenberg slate mine, and afterwards we went fossil hunting in a disused slate quarry. The Hunsrück Slate fossils are some of the most important fossils in the world, with soft body parts beautifully preserved as pyrite. The organisms were living on a shallow sea bed and would periodically be catastrophically buried by anoxic sediments that had a low organic content but a high Fe content. Once buried sulphate reducing anaerobic bacteria broke down the organic material producing sulfide. This then converted to iron monosulfide and aerobic bacteria oxidized it to pyrite. The mudstone was later converted to slate in the Variscan orogeny and the reason why the fossils can be recovered is that in the Bundenbach area, tight folding means the cleavage and bedding planes are parallel. Fossils recovered include echinoderms, fish and rare marrellomorphs and anomalocarids which are also founded in the 100 ma older Burgess Shale of Canada. (at Bundenbach) https://www.instagram.com/p/B33pxahp6tK/?igshid=1hald3nv0sjxg

[cloudydamage3]

SHADES OF BLACK: DER ROTE MILAN, NUSQUAMA, ONDFØDT, BLUE HUMMINGBIRD ON THE LEFT, OMEGAVORTEX

I wasn’t able to write a SHADES OF BLACK column for last Sunday due to feeling like hell. I felt somewhat better than hell yesterday, and decided to pull this together now rather than wait until next Sunday. I have more new music from the black realms that I’d like to recommend, and will try to fold them into a different kind of round-up later this week. What you’ll find below are songs from four albums slated for release early next year and a mid-2018 promo EP that I’ve just discovered.

DER ROTE MILAN

Der Rote Milan‘s 2016 debut album Aus der Asche was an intense blending of grim ferocity and melancholy beauty, a powerfully affecting sequence of songs that makes their new album also worth close attention. Entitled Moritat, it will be released by Unholy Conspiracy Deathwork on February 1st.

The new album, we’re told, narrates local stories (in German lyrics) based on real events that transpired during The Thirty Years’ War fought primarily in Central Europe during the 17th century:

“A central character is the historical figure Schinderhannes, an outlaw considered by some to be the German Robin Hood. These stories, which take place in the southwestern Germany’s Hunsrück region, are connected to the present through themes of freedom, fear, and fighting oneself in the face of death”.

“Die Habsucht” is the new album’s opening track. Slow crystalline notes and shimmering ambient sound lull the listener into a moody yet blissful reverie at first, but the band rudely terminate the dream with a typhoon of pummeling percussion, frenzied/jolting riffing, and caustic shrieks. Filaments of melody gleam through that violent surge before it subsides, replaced for a time with beautiful strings that emerge over a heavy bass-and-drum rhythm, reintroducing that early feeling of dreamlike wistfulness… before the music boils again.

Moritat will be released in digipack-CD and red vinyl editions.

PRE-ORDER: https://unholyconspiracydeathwork.bigcartel.com/category/der-rote-milan https://derrotemilan.bandcamp.com/album/moritat

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/derrotemilan

NUSQUAMA

Nusquama is a new collaboration among members of Laster, Fluisteraars, and Turia. If you know the music of any of those Dutch black metal bands, you’ll know that whatever they’re doing together in Nusquama will be well worth hearing. And what they’ve done is to record a six-track album named Horizon Ontheemt, which they’ll perform in its entirety at the next edition of the Roadburn festival. To quote from the press release we received:

“There’s a melancholic – sometimes almost resigned – feeling ebbing and flowing throughout the songs, befitting of the story behind the NUSQUAMA name. The word is Latin for ‘nowhere,’ but, more importantly, it was the word used by Thomas More to describe both the necessity of a hopeful alternative, as well as its impossibility. The story goes that it was how he referred to what would become of Utopia”.

Nusquama, I’ve since discovered, was the working title of More’s most famous book all the way up to publication, when its title became Utopia — Greek for “no place”, which also resonates in the distinction Plato drew in The Republic between the city of his birth and that other city “whose home is in words, for I think it can be found nowhere on earth”.

What I’ve heard from the album so far is the track below, “Vuurslag“. Hard-hitting drumwork and warm, vibrant bass notes provide a compelling undercurrent for a wash of scintillating guitar vibrations, whose melody indeed has an unearthly quality, with a beguiling brightness that contrasts with the fireball of pain that emerges in the vocals. The soft guitar notes that echo across an interlude in the song make the music even more mesmerizing, and there is a sense of grandeur that comes through, in which melancholy and wonder seem equally present, when the main line of the song resumes.

Horizon Ontheemt was mastered by Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studio. It will be released by Eisenwald (CD and LP) on March 22nd, with a cassette tape edition coming from Haeresis Noviomagi. Pre-orders will be launched in January.

(Thanks to Miloš for alerting me to this track.)

BANDCAMP: https://nusquama.bandcamp.com/track/vuurslag-2

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/NusquamaOfficiel/

ONDFØDT

The Finnish black metal band Ondfødt released their debut album, Hexkonst, in 2014. Their new one, Dödsrikets Kallelse, will be released on January 25th by Immortal Frost Productions.

“Den Sanna“, the first song to be revealed from the album, gets the pulse pounding from the very beginning. There’s a heavy pounding and bounding undercurrent in the song that you can feel in your spine, and a whirling, dervish-like quality in the riffing, along with a soul-spearing gloriousness in the vibrating lead that soon surfaces. With further intensity added by the wild savagery of the vocals, the song overpowers the senses with a feeling of unbridled freedom, though it’s lined near the end with a sense of ominous peril.

This is the kind of track that seems to end too soon, picking you up and sending you aloft and then suddenly leaving you up in the air, and falling. Fortunately, it’s very easy to just play it again (and again).

(Thanks once again to Miloš for recommending this track.)

BANDCAMP: https://digital.immortalfrostproductions.com/album/d-dsrikets-kallelse

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Ondfodt666/

BLUE HUMMINGBIRD ON THE LEFT

Occasional NCS contributor Conchobar wrote me about this next track by Blue Hummingbird on the Left, whose members are within Southern California’s respected Black Twilight Circle. Their name is a translation of the name of the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli, and as Conchobar wrote to me, the track below —  “Hail Huitzilopochtli” — is “as ferocious as its namesake”.

The song comes from the band’s debut album, Atl Tlachinolli, which will be released on February 8th by Iron Bonehead Productions, Nuclear War Now! Productions, and Crepúsculo Negro. It strikes fast and hard, the battering-ram drum rhythms laying into your skull as the fiery guitar work sets the air boiling in your lungs and the cacophonous, reverberating vocal tirades put fear in your heart. It’s an electrifying and utterly warlike experience, segmented by massive, neck-bending grooves and with an atmosphere that does begin to seem mythic.

BANDCAMP: https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/atl-tlachinolli

OMEGAVORTEX

Omegavortex is a new name for the German black/death metal band formerly known as Ambevilence, and based on the promo EP you’ll find below, it’s a well-chosen name.

The four tracks on the EP are raw mixes of new material that will be included on the band’s debut album, on which work is still progressing, and these four are absolutely ferocious. These may be raw mixes, but the sound is extremely powerful, and the thrashing energy that rushes through the music is almost breathtaking. The drumming is fury incarnate; the riffs are a blood-boiling, mind-warping representation of chaos and lunacy; the soloing is hot enough to melt lead; the scalding vocals are terrifyingly bestial.

The technical capabilities of the performers are especially impressive when the band are moving at lunatic speed, but the songs deliver more than speed and savagery. There are potent, head-moving hooks within these songs as well as brute-force, heavy-weight rhythms and flurries of strange and sorcerous melody that give the music a distinctly occult air, and the band do switch things up enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.

The EP is an evil, four-track thrill-ride that will kick the adrenaline in your bloodstream to the max and put shivers down your spine. Can’t wait to hear the debut album — though I can’t imagine what they can do with these four songs in finished form to make them any stronger.

BANDCAMP: https://omegavortex.bandcamp.com/album/promo-2018

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/OMEGAVORTEXblackdeath

Source: https://www.nocleansinging.com/2018/12/18/shades-of-black-der-rote-milan-nusquama-ondfodt-blue-hummingbird-on-the-left-omegavortex/

[winenoodle]

Schlossgut Diel, Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Spätlese Nahe 2002

Schlossgut Diel, Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Spätlese Nahe 2002

Imported by Langdon-Shiverick, Cleveland OH. This AP #7. Yellow-gold.  Hunsrück intimations of woodland blackberry and spring’s early-flowering, as if wisteria could blossom right out of the slate.  Polished, high-cheekboned in profile and the virtuous finish is for those who value symmetry above all.  Now – 2020+.

[leaping-laelaps]

at first I thought Heroldina was some sort of weird placoderm, but I wasn't sure so I looked it up and

"[...] relatively giant fossil phyllocarids of the Hunsrück Slate, such as Heroldina rhenana, which reached a total length of more than 60 cm" (from Rust et al. 2016)

60 cm-long phyllocarid crustaceans??? hello???

Results from the Devonian Hunsrück Slate #Paleostream! 

Look at all these weird little critters!

[jessebeckerms]

Franken, Silvaner's Heimatland

Würzburg's famous castle and Stein vineyard facing the Main.

Franken, by the numbers

Hectares under vine: 6,306 hectares (2023), sixth largest in Germany Climate: Continental, dry, hot, but short summers, cold winters Soils: Bundtsandstein (colored sandstone), Muschelkalk (shell-limestone), Keuper (marl-gypsum) Varieties: [82% white, 18% red] Silvaner (24.8%), Müller-Thurgau (24.3%), Bacchus (12.3%), Riesling (4%), Kerner, Rieslaner, Spätburgunder (5%), Domina, Dornfelder, Berieche: (3) Meinviereck, Maindreieck, Steigerwald Einzellagen: (218) including Klingenberger Schlossberg, Bürgstadter Centragrafenberg, Homburger Kallmuth, Würzburger Stein, Würzburger Innere Leiste, Randersackerer Teufelskeller, Randersackerer Pfülben, Esherndorfer Lump, Iphöfer Julius-Echter-Berg

Franken, in a nutshell

Franken is Bavaria’s only wine region bordering on the Baden district of Tauberfranken in the south, with most of its vineyards situated steeply along the Main. The river forms a gigantic “W” shape, with the region beginning in earnest at Aschaffenburg before reaching the city of Würzburg at its center, then ending at Zeil-am-Main in the east. Würzburg is Franken’s commercial center. Heavily bombed during the final weeks of WWII, the town rebuilt itself, and the famous old bridge in Würzburg’s Altstadt straddles the Main and provides a view of the Würzburg castle and the iconic Stein vineyard (source of Goethe’s favorite wine).

Silvaner is Franken’s signature variety, usually bottled in a PDO-protected Bocksbeutel, but some of Germany’s finest dry Rieslings and Spätburgunders come from Franken, although grown in tiny quantities. The Rieslings and Silvaners are bone dry, sometimes to the point of austerity, which has given the rest of Germany a term for describing bone dry wines: fränkisch trocken means no more than 4 g/L residual sugar. Much emphasis fell on Müller-Thurgau and other early ripening or high-yielding crossings in the past, but producers today seem keen on leading with quality and clear priority shifting to Silvaner, at least from Franken’s quality sector.

Bavaria, especially Munich, is the world’s beer capital, and while Würzburger Stein is undoubtedly famous (so much so that the term Steinwein once meant all Franken wines), a Stein of Würzburger Edelbräu is equally good, and I would suggest necessary after a full day of wine tasting. Visitors to the region might want to visit a Frankenheckenwirtschaft for some real, local flavor. These simple eating and drinking places have particular rules: vintners may sell their products to the public without a restaurant license, operate on a calendar opening eight weeks a year, have only 40 seats, and no hot food served. Look for a branch cut from a hedge (Hecke) above the entrance to locate one that’s open. Heckenwirtschaften aside, Franken clearly understands the importance of wine tourism, and there seems to be a much higher level of hotels and restaurants with excellent cooking compared to the relatively scant offerings in other Rheinland regions. The wine villages along the Main are charming, and its city of Würzburg is a must.

Franken’s districts and geology

Mainviereck

Franken’s three Bereiche are roughly based on three Triassic geological zones. Mainviereck in the west is home to Franken’s (and some of Germany’s) best red wines, especially from the historic Klingenberg, and the village of Bürgstadt (a sub-district known as Churfranken), where the weather is milder than the rest of Franken, and the soil base is Buntsandstein (colored sandstone). These conditions favor Spätburgunder and Frühburgunder with a lifted, aromatic profile. Weingut Rudolf Fürst is the superstar of this area with its trio of top-class Grosses Gewächs, Spätburgunder Schlossberg GG, Spätburgunder Centgrafenberg GG, and Spätburgunder Centgrafenberg Hunsrück GG. There are slate, quartzite, and gneiss soils around Michelbach and Hörstein, which favor Riesling. Both red and white wines are more delicate than in other districts. Homburger Kallmuth, a monopole of Fürst Löwenstein, is the steepest vineyard in Franken, with Bundtsandstein and Muschelkalk soils. Miltenberg is a popular town for wine tourists to take in the architecture and sample the local wines.

Maindreieck

Maindreieck is the center of Franken viticulture and is based on Muschelkalk (shell limestone), especially at Würzburger Stein. 70% of Franken wines come from this district, and 210 hectares of vines are within the city’s limits. It is the driest area in the region. Steinwein has a distinctive smoky note thanks to the soil, which strengthens with time in the bottle. Three producers: Juliusspital, Bürgerspital, and Hofkeller, control most of Würzburg’s viticulture. South of Würzburg are Randersacker Teufelkeller, Pfülben, and Marsberg; all feature southwestern exposures facing the river. Neighboring Frickenhausen features sandy soils and is home to the south-facing classified site Kapellenberg. Continuing upriver, the village of Sulzfeld is notable for its Maustal vineyard and outstanding producer Zehnthof Luckert. The area near Volkach and its surrounding villages is home to a high-quality co-op at Sommerach and its Katzenkof vineyard, grand cru Escherndorfer Lump with limestone, loess, clay, and Volkacher Ratsherr. By the way, the name Lump was explained to me as a Schimpfwort (an insult), “but only a moderate Schimpfwort,” and why that would be the name of a vineyard, I do not know. The alternative explanation seems more plausible: as vineyard plots divided over generations, holdings were reduced to only the size of a Lump! Silvaner is the top variety in Maindreieck, but there are excellent, bone-dry Rieslings from this district, Weissburgunder, and aromatic varieties.

Steigerwald

Keuper defines the district of Steigerwald, which is layered high up the mountainsides. The black Keuper soil has a warming effect that aids grape ripening, even at high elevations. A concentration of classified sites can be found between Rödelsee and the walled town of Iphofen and again at Castell (the Castell family owns all the vineyards of this village, including the top site Schloßberg), believed to be where Silvaner was first planted in Franken centuries ago. The area is home to famous sites like Küchenmeister, Kronsberg, Julius-Echter-Berg, Kalb, Casteller Schloßberg, and many top producers like Hans Wirsching, Weltner, and Johann Ruck. The black Keuper (marl with gypsum) produces more structured, flinty, smoky, and easily identifiable wines. Silvaner on Keuper can age magnificently, as can Silvaner on Muschelkalk. I strongly liked the Silvaners on Keuper in a recent soil comparison tasting, especially those with ten years or more in the bottle.

[geoworldtravel]

Today was the first day of our #germany trip. Our first stop was the #messelpit #worldheritage site situated in the Bergerstraße-Odenwald UNESCO #geopark This incredible location is the discovery site of some of the world's best #eocene #fossils that were preserved in an anoxic lake that formed in the explosion crater of a maar volcano that erupted 43.7 million years ago. Messel is most famous for its mammals which include 70 specimens of ancestral horses, bats, anteaters, pangolins, tapirs, rhinos, and "Ida" the most complete primate fossil known. Other fossils 6 species of crocodiles, turtles, many birds, amphibians, fish and beautiful insect fossils as well as many plant species. The site is one of the world's Lagerstatten where exceptional circumstances have led to the preservation of soft tissues. In this case algal blooms probably led to anoxic conditions on the lake floor. Our second site of the day was the #hessischeslandesmuseumdamstadt where we saw many of the best Messel fossils on display. In the museum we also saw some Hunsrück Slate fossils (we will visit their discovery site on Sunday) and saw the zoological dioramas for which the museum is famous. Pic 1 shows the group at the entrance to the Messel Pit. Pic 2 shows the group on the Messel Pit observation platform. Pic 3 shows a replica of the famous "Ida" (Darwinius masillae) primate fossil. The original 2 halves are in the USA and Norway. Pic 4 shows a bat fossil, with the ears, wing membranes and fur preserved. Bats are the most numerous mammal fossils in Messel and the animals probably began overcome by toxic fumes as they flew over the lake. Pic 5 is a pregnant horse and foetus in the Hessisches Landesmuseun, Damstadt. Pic 6 shows a snake in the Hessisches Landesmuseun, Damstadt. Pic 7 shows a frog in the Hessisches Landesmuseun, Damstadt. Fossil amphibians are quite rare in the Messel Pit but the frogs are exquisitely preserved. Pic 8 is a crocodile in the Hessisches Landesmuseun, Damstadt. Pic 9 is of a Hunsrück Slate starfish and Pic 10 shows an Arctic diorama. (at Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3xHD5OpsiP/?igshid=5k2bx0fp48y9