More than a hundred feared to have died in South African gold mine blocked off by authorities since November.

More than a hundred illegal miners are feared to have died in a mine at Stilfontein in North West Province, South Africa, after authorities blocked off an exit in August 2024. The operation was intended to flush the miners out of the mine, and involved removing a system of ropes and pullies from one entrance to the mine and thereby capture the miners as they escaped from the second entrance. However, local people have protested that the two shafts were not collected, and that miners had therefore been trapped underground with no means of escape other than a climb up a vertical shaft described as about 2 km deep.

The entrance to a mine in Stilfontein, South Africa, where over a hundred miners are feared to have died. AFP.

South Africa is home to some of the deepest gold mines in the world, but many of these mines are now reaching the end of their lives and are being closed down by their owners. This has led to an increasing number of unemployed miners close to an obvious source of income - the mines in which they formerly worked, and many have returned to these pits, along with migrants from other parts of Africa, in informal mining operations. These are seen as illegal by the South African government, which claims that as much as 10% of the gold mined in South Africa may come from unofficial operations, costing the economy billions of Rand each year, and that the illegal mining fuels a black market in smuggled minerals controlled by violent criminals.

The approximate location of the Stilfontein mine. Google Maps.

Miners descend into deep pits on ropes, and due to the length of the descent typically take supplies and equipment which enables them to stay underground for weeks or even months at a time. Entering such mines to try to arrest miners far more familiar with the environment is clearly an unattractive proposition to South African police officers, leading to operations such as the one at the Buffelsfontein, where mineshafts are blocked off by police to prevent family members sending food and water to the miners. Since the mine entrances were blocked off in August, about 1500 miners have emerged from one, leading the police to conclude that the operation was going successfully, but local people have been protesting that as many as 900 miners who had entered the second shaft were in fact trapped and could not escape. On Friday 10 January 2025 the High Court of South Africa agreed with a petition by Zinzi Tom, a local woman whose brother is one of those trapped in the mine, and ordered that a rescue mission be mounted.

Rescue work begining at the Buffelsfontein Mine in Stilfontein, South Africa. The Mail & Guardian.

On Monday 13 January, Mines Rescue Services, a commercial mine rescue company, began operations at the mine, lowering a cage into the shaft from a mobile crane, to bring out emaciated miners and the bodies of their less fortunate comrades. By the end of operations on Tuesday 14 January, 82 survivors and 36 bodies had been pulled from the shaft, in an operation which is likely to go on for days or even weeks. South African Police have been arresting survivors deemed fit enough to be charged, while others have been taken to a local hospital where they will be treated before also being arrested.

An emaciated miner being caried from the Buffelstein Mine in Stilfontein, South Africa, on 14 January 2024. Ihsaan Haffejee/Ground Up.

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Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake off the east coast of Kyūshū Island, Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency recorded a Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake at a depth of about 30 km, beneath the Hyūganada Sea, off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture on Kyūshū Island, Japan, slightly before 9.20 pm Japan Standard Time (slightly before 12.20 pm GMT) on Monday 13 January 2025. One person was slightly injured by the event, due to falling on some stairs, minor damage to several buildings reported, and train services stopped temporarily while lines were checked. A tsunami warning was issued after the initial event, with concerns a wave as high as one metre could be triggered, although in the event a wave only 20 cm high was reported in Miyazaki Port.

The approximate location of the 13 January 2025 Hyūganada Sea Earthquake. USGS.

Japan has a complex tectonic situation, with parts of the country on four different tectonic plates. Kyūshū Island lies on the margin where the the Eurasian Plate is overiding the Philipine Plate, with the Pacific Plate being subducted beneath the Okhotsk Plate to the east. This is not a smooth process; the rocks of the two plates constantly stick together, only to break apart again as the pressure builds up, causing Earthquakes in the process.

The movement of the tectonic plates beneath Japan. University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.

Earthquakes along subductive margins are particularly prone to causing tsunamis, since these often occur when the overlying plate has stuck to the underlying plate, being pulled out of shape by its movement. Eventually the pressure builds up to far and the overlying plate snaps back, causing an Earthquake and a tsunami. 

Simplified graphic showing tsunami generation along a convergent margin. NASA/JPL/CalTech.

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Ahvaytum bahndooiveche: A Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the mid-late Carnian of Wyoming.

The Carnian (237 to 227 million years ago) is the first epoch of the Middle Triasssic, and is noted for the appearance and spread of the Dinosaurs and their close relatives, while other groups, such as the Rhynchosaurs, Dicynodonts, and Stereospondyl Amphibians, which had dominated Early and Middle Triassic assemblages, began to decline significantly. However, all known Carnian Dinosaurs to date come from the Southern Hemisphere, with the oldest known Dinosaur from the Northern Hemisphere, the Theropod Lepidus praecisio from the Otis Chalk of Texas, being at most 221 million years old.

Carnian-aged Dinosaurs are known from a number of Southern Hemisphere locations, including Brazil, Argentina, Zimbabwe, and India (today in the Northern Hemisphere, but during the Triassic in the Southern Hemisphere). All of these are from high latitude locations (i.e. they were from a long way from the equator), which has been suggested to indicate that a hostile climate probably stopped them from spreading into other areas, at least until the Carnian Pluvial episode, between 234 and 232 million years ago, during which the global climate shifted, becoming significantly more humid.

This has led palaeontologists to conclude that the first Dinosaurs appeared during the early Carnian (or possibly a little earlier) in the Southern Hemisphere. However, this hypothesis is based upon the absence of Dinosaur fossils from other areas, something which could equally be caused by poor sampling of early Carnian rocks from the Northern Hemisphere. This alternative merits serious consideration, as Carnian deposits are rare in the Northern Hemisphere, and often poorly dated. Furthermore, a number of rock formations in the Northern Hemisphere which have been dated to the early Carnian have produced trace fossils which are attributed to Dinosaurs, strongly indicating their presence in areas where body fossils have not been found.

In a paper published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society on 8 January 2024, David Lovelace and Aaron Kufner of the Department of Geoscience and Geology Museum at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Adam Fitch, also of the Geology Museum at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Kristina Curry Rogers of the Biology and Geology departments at Macalester College, Mark Schmitz and Darin Schwartz of the Department of Geosciences at Boise State University, Amanda LeClair-Diaz and Lynette St.Clair of Fort Washakie Schools, Joshua Mann of the Eastern Shoshone Tribal Historic Preservation Office, and Reba Teran, a Shoshone Language Consultant  at Wind River Reservation, describe a Sauropodomorph Dinosaur, as  well as an indeterminate Silesaurid, from the mid-late Carnian Popo Agie Formation of Wyoming.

The Popo Agie Formation is a Carnian-aged deposit which outcrops across western Wyoming, western Colorado, and Utah. It was laid down in a series of lakes and rivers which are thought to have covered much of what is now the American Southwest at this time. Vertebrate fossils are rare in the Popo Agie Formation, though it has produced Metoposaurid Temnospondyls, Hyperodapedontine Rhynchosaurs, and Loricatan Archosaurs, and has two notable horizons with mass-death assemblages of Metoposaurid and Latiscopid Stereospondyls.

The fossils described by Lovelace et al. come from a site 1 km south of the confluence of the East Fork of the Wind River and Spear Creek called Garrett’s Surprise, in reference to its discoverer, Garrett Johnson, who found the site while working as an undergraduate field assistant on undergraduate field assistant. The discovery was surprising because the surrounding geology is dominated by the Eocene Wind River Formation, with the much older Popo Agie Formation exposed in an erosional gully. 

The Sauropodomorph Dinosaur is described from a single isolated left astragalus, with the proximal end of a left femur which shows o clear Saurischian affinities also referred to the same species. This femur fragment was found within 5 m of the original specimen, and both specimens are encrusted with a similar micritic carbonate. The new species is named Ahvaytum bahndooiveche, where 'Ahvaytum' means 'long ago' and 'bahndooiveche' means 'handsome young man', 'Salamander', or 'Dinosaur' in the Shoshone language.

Holotype left astragalus of Ahvaytum bahndooiveche. (UWGM 1975). 3D model in (A) medial, (B) lateral, (C) lateral transparent, (D) posterior transparent, (E) distal, (F) proximal, (I) anterior, and ( J) posterior orthographic views. Photographs in (G) proximal and (H) distal views. Abbreviations: amc, anteromedial corner; ap, ascending process of the astragalus; g, groove; f, foramen; ff, fibular facet; ldn, laterodistal notch (= lateroventral depression); mf, medial fossa; nf, non-articular fossa (= dorsal basin, = semi-elliptical fossa); p, platform; plp, posterolateral process; plr, posterolateral ridge; tf, tibial facet. Diagonal lines indicate broken surfaces. Arrows indicate anterior direction. Scale bar is 1 cm. Lovelace et al. (2025).

Lovelace et al. note that Western taxonomy has a history deeply rooted in colonialism, with taxa often given names that reflect geographic features, regions, or waterways named by colonizers who did not recognize or validate pre-existing Indigenous names. In recognition of this, the name 'Ahvaytum bahndooiveche' was chosen by a collaborative project involving the Fort Washakie Schools 7th grade cohort of 2022, along with educators, Eastern Shoshone Tribal Historic Preservation Office, and Tribal Elders.

A reconstruction of Ahvaytum bahndooiveche as a small Sauropodomoph Dinosaur, along with an audio-explanation of the origin of its name. Lovelace et al. (2025).

The specimens assigned to Ahvaytum bahndooiveche were recovered from the surface of the upper part of a sandstone layer within the Popo Agie known as the Purple Unit. Uranium/lead analysis of zircons from this layer have yielded ages of between 227.34 and 229.04 million years before the present, with the layer which produced Ahvaytum bahndooiveche no more than 228 million years old. This places the fossils in the early Carnian, only slightly after the Carnian Pluvial Event.  Zircon is a volcanic mineral that forms as liquid magma slowly cools to form solid rock. As zircon forms it can incorporate a variety of different elements into its crystal matrix, including uranium but not lead. This is useful as over time uranium decays to form lead, so any lead in a zircon mineral must be the result of the decay of uranium. Since the decay of uranium to lead occurs at a steady rate, it is possible to determine the age of zircons by measuring the ratio of uranium to lead within them.

Proximal end of a left femur UWGM 7549 (A)–(E) referred to Ahvaytum bahndooiveche. 3D model in (A) anteromedial, (B) posterolateral, (C) proximal, (D) anterolateral, and (E) posteromedial orthographic views. Abbreviations: alt, anterolateral tuber; amt, anteromedial tuber; ce, concave emargination; dlt, dorsolateral trochanter; ft, fossa trochanterica (= facies articularis antitrochanterica); gt, ‘greater trochanter’; pmt, posteromedial tuber; ve, ventral emargination. Arrows indicate anterior direction. Scale bar is 1 cm. Lovelace et al. (2025).

As well as the specimens assigned to Ahvaytum bahndooiveche, the Purple Unit yielded the distal end of a left humerus (UWGM 7550) and the proximal end of a right femur (UWGM 7407), which Lovelace et al. determined to belong to a Silesaurid Dinosauriform.

Photographs of Sulcimentisaurian Silesaurid elements from the Garrett’s Surprise locality. Distal end of a left humerus UWGM 7550 (A)–(E) in (A) anterior, (B) posterior, (C) medial, (D) lateral, (E) and distal views. Proximal end of a right femur UWGM 7407 (F)–(J) in (F) proximal, (G) anterolateral, (H) posteromedial, (I) posterolateral, and ( J) anteromedial views. Abbreviations: alt, anterolateral tuber; amt, anteromedial tuber; at, anterior trochanter; dlt, dorsolateral trochanter; ect, ectepicondyle; ent, entepicondyle; g, groove; gt, ‘greater trochanter;’ ipmt, incipient posteromedial tuber; n, notch; rc, radial condyle; uc, ulnar condyle. Arrows point in the anterior direction. Scale bar equals 1 cm. Lovelace et al. (2025).

Silosaurids have long been considered the sister group to the Dinosaurs. However, a number of recent phylogenetic analyses, including that of Lovelace et al. have been unable to demonstrate that they are a separate clade, less closely related to Saurischian Dinosaurs than Ornithopod Dinosaurs are. This raises the posibility that Silosaurids are Dinosaurs, either being an early diverging group of Ornithpods, a separate group more closely related to Saurischians, or a polyophyletic group, potentially including both plus some in the original Dinosaur-sister-group position (many Silosaurids are known from highly fragmentary remains, so this would not be surprising). If the Silodaurids are Dinosaurs, then they increase the age of the Dinosaurs as a group, as they are present in the Ladinian Epoch (between 241 and 237 million years ago), whereas the oldest known non-Silosaurid Dinosaur fossils all date from the Carnian. Either way, Silosaurids have previously only been known from Southern Hemisphere sights before the discovery of the Garrett's Surprise specimen.

Finally, Lovelace et al. describe a partial foot print from the upper Jelm Formation at Red Wall in Natrona County, Wyoming. This is small, roughly 8.0 x 5.6 cm, and comprises a partial hindlimb print with digits II–IV, with a very faint associated possibly forelimb trace. The pes digits are relatively straight, long, and slender with small acuminate claw impressions. Pads are observable, but not sharply defined. Lovelace et al. consider that this could be assigned to either of the ichnogenera Atreipus or Grallator. The trace is preserved on a slab which has fallen from the Red Wall (a cliff), but can confidently be sourced to a section 1-2 m thick, about 15 m beneath the top of the Jelm Formation, which stratigraphically underlies the Popo Agie Formation. 

UWGM 7435 (left) is an isolated slab containing a single tridactyl pes and possible manus impression attributed to an Atreipus–Grallator plexus tracemaker from the upper Jelm Formation, Natrona County, Wyoming, USA. (A) Digital surface-depth map (right) produced in METASHAPE (v.2.0.3; Agisoft) from surface light-scans demonstrates the depth and toe pad delineations of pes (p) digits II–IV. The manus impression may be present (m?); other than a very slight depression there are no morphological features to confidently identify it as such. Scale bar is in 1-cm increments. Lovelace et al. (2025).

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Mars approaches perigee.

The planet Mars will reach perigee, the closest point on its orbit to Earth, slightly after 1.30 pm on Sunday 12 January 2025, when it will be 0.67 AU (i.e. 0.67 times the average distance between the Earth and the Sun) from the Earth. Mars orbits the Sun at an average distance of 1.52 AU, but at a slower speed (the speed at which a body orbits another body is determined by the distance between them, with a greater distance resulting in a slower speed), so that a Martian year is 687 days long. Most outer planets (i.e. planets which are in our Solar System, but further from the Sun than the Earth) tend to be at their closest to the Earth close to when they are at opposition (i.e. when they are directly on the opposite side of us to the Sun), but because the orbits of all planets are elliptical (Mars veries between 1.38 and 1.67 AU from the Sun, while the Earth varies between 1.47 and 1.52 AU from the Sun) these seldom match up, with the effect that this year Mars will be at opposition four days after its perigee, on Thursday 16 January.

The relative positions and orbits of Mars,  Earth, Venus, and Mercury at 1.00 pm GMT on Sunday 12 January 2025. JPL Small Body Database.

While the relative positions of the planets have no direct influence on life on Earth, the perigee and opposition of a planet do present the best oportunites for observations of by Earth-based observers. Between 12 and 16 January 2025, Mars will appear as a bright object in the constellation of Gemini, although a Full Moon on Monday 13 January, in the constellation of Cancer, will hamper viewing somewhat.

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Cochimicetus convexus: A new species of Eomysticetid Whale from the Late Oligocene of Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Baleen Whales, Mysticetes, are the largest Animals alive today, and, as far as we can tell, the largest Animals ever to have lived. They are able to achieve this huge size by a unique feeding mechanism; using a system of keratinaceous baleen plates  to filter food items (such as Crustaceans of small Fish) from the water. The largest Baleen Whales are lunge feeders, capable of engulfing whole shoals of prey-items, then  trapping them on the baleen plates as the accompanying water is pushed out through. The earliest Mysticetes appeared in the Late Eocene, though these were still Toothed Whales, little different from the ancestors of today's Odontocetes. The first true Baleen Whales were the Eomysticetids, a group which appeared in the Early Oligocene. Eomysticetids had baleen plates similar to those of modern Baleen Whales, but appear to have lacked the ability to lunge-feed in the same way, and were not capable of reaching the same sizes.

In a paper published in the journal Palaeontologica  Electronica in January 2025, Cielo Cedillo-Avila and Gerardo González-Barba of the Museo de Historia Natural at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur,  and Azucena Solis-Añorve, also of the  Museo de Historia Natural, and of Posgrado of Ciencias Marinas and Costeras at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, describe a new species of Eomysticetid Whale from the Late Oligocene San Gregorio Formation of Baja California Sur.

The new species is described from a single specimen comprisng a partially complete skull with a length of 147 cm, along with both mandibles and tympanic bulla. It is named Cochimicetus convexus, where 'Cochimicetus' refers to the indigenous Cochimi people, a nomadic group who once inhabited the northern part of Baja California Sur, and 'convexus' refers to the convex shape of the anterior tip of the tympanic bulla, which tends to be pointed in other Eomysticetid Whales.

Dorsal view of the holotype of Cochimicetus convexus. (A) Image showing the identified structures. (B) photography with scale 10 cm. Cedillo-Avila et al. (2025).

Cochimicetus convexus is the fourth species of Eomysticetid Whale from the Oligocene of Baja California Sur, demonstrating the importance of the area for our understanding of the early evolution of the Mysticetes. 

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