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Primary production (PP) is highly sensitive to changes in the ecosystem and can be used as an early warning indicator for disturbance in the marine environment. Historic indicators of good environmental status of the north-east (NE) Atlantic and north-west (NW) European Seas suggested that daily PP should not exceed 2–3 g C m−2 d−1 during phytoplankton blooms and that annual rates should be 300 g C m−2 yr−1. We use 21 years of Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS) Ocean Colour data from September 1997 to December 2018 to assess areas in the NE Atlantic with similar peak, climatology, phenology and annual PP values. Daily and annual thresholds of the 90th percentile (P90) of PP are defined for these areas and PP values above these thresholds indicate disturbances, both natural and anthropogenic, in the marine environment. Two case studies are used to test the validity and accuracy of these thresholds. The first is the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajökull, which deposited large volumes of volcanic dust (and therefore iron) into the NE Atlantic during April and May 2010. A clear signature in both PP and chlorophyll-a (Chl a) was evident from 28th April to 6th May and from 18th to 27th May 2010, when PP exceeded the PP P90 threshold for the region, which was comparatively more sensitive than Chl a P90 as an indicator of this disturbance. The second case study was for the riverine input of total nitrogen and phosphorus, along the Wadden Sea coast in the North Sea. During years when total nitrogen and phosphorus were above the climatology maximum, there was a lag signature in both PP and Chl a when PP exceeded the PP P90 threshold defined for the study area which was slightly more sensitive than Chl a P90. This technique represents an accurate means of determining disturbances in the environment both in the coastal and offshore waters in the NE Atlantic using remotely sensed ocean colour data.

In the summer 1886, the Neandertal fossils of Spy were unearthed in the so-called Betche aux Rotches cave. Ever since, they have been through many events and have been the stake of discords, sometimes impassioned, between the various protagonists of their discovery and their conservation. The succession of these events will be redrawn here and the positions of each cleared up in the light of the rereading of two archives collections coming from the discoverers, namely the correspondence collection of Maximin Lohest, which is Mrs Dallemagne-Ophoven’s property, and the correspondence collection of Marcel De Puydt, handed over to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), which we shall refer to as “the Vercheval collection”.

The anterior band of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) is an important stabilizer for valgus stress at the elbow. When practised intensively and repetitively, activities using overhead throwing motions can injure this ligament and its insertion. If these activities occur when the epiphyses are not yet fully fused, traction forces can result in bony detachments in the area of the MCL insertion. This study was based on commingled graves found in 16 Middle and Late Neolithic caves from Belgium. We recorded the presence of MCL lesions on 196 humeri and studied the relation between lesions, siding, and robusticity. 5.1% of the humeri displayed MCL lesions, which affected only the right robust humeri. Our results suggest a social division in throwing activities in Belgium during the Neolithic. They also suggest that throwing practice started from a young age, which invites us to re-examine the role of teenagers in prehistoric societies.

Here we report on anguimorph lizards from the earliest Eocene (MP 7) of the Dormaal locality in Belgium, from the time of the warmest global climate of the past 66 million years. Several clades can be identified in this site: Glyptosauridae, Varanidae, and Palaeovaranidae. Our study focuses on glyptosaurid specimens previously reported from the site, some of which had been provisionally described as a new species,?Placosaurus ragei, and some assigned to an unnamed Placosauriops-like ‘melanosaurine’. Our study presents data on new material, including an almost complete glyptosaurine frontal that has enabled us to assign much of the previously described material to a single genus and species. The specimens that had been assigned to both ?P ragei and the ‘melanosaurine’ share apomorphies (flat osteoderms and chevron-shaped osteoderms) with Gaultia, a glyptosaurid previously known from the earliest Eocene of Wyoming, USA. The Dormaal material represents the first record of this genus outside North America. In fact, the only potential evidence of the occurrence of ‘Melanosaurinae’ in Dormaal might be a single isolated vertebra described here. Here we also describe previously unfigured material of Saniwa and palaeovaranids from Dormaal. The presence of previously reported helodermatids cannot be supported in this Belgian site.

In February 1971, a meteorite fell on the roof of a barn belonging to Mr. E. Schmitz in Tintigny, a village in southern Belgium. Upon its recovery, its meteoritic origin was confirmed by the schoolteacher, Mr. A. Rossignon who then looked after the sample. In 2017, for the first time, the meteorite was given to specialists for a detailed examina-tion and classification. We used various analytical techniques to characterize its mineralogy, elemental, and isotopic composition. Based on the obtained data, we classified it as a polymict eucrite, a meteorite originating from 4 Vesta, and named it Tintigny [1]. Tintigny is partly covered by shiny black fusion crust. Its interior mainly exhibits a light grey color and shows a brecciated texture composed of a fine-grained matrix, hosting darker crystals and cm-sized dark grey clasts. Under the microscope, a brecciated sub-ophitic basaltic texture mainly composed of plagioclase/maskelynite and clinopy-roxene is dominant. In addition to the dominant sub-ophitic texture, at least three distinct textures exposed in clasts are observable. At least two generations of shock effects (such as fractures), are present in the sample: those limited to clasts and large crystals, and those that crosscut both the large grains and the matrix. The accessory minerals include troilite, ilmenite, chromite, FeNi metal, and silica. Mineral chemistry calculations of pyroxene end-members show ranges from 8.5 to 60.7 mol% for enstatite, 30.1–70.0 mol% for ferrosilite, and 2.6–38.4 mol% for wollastonite. Based on these values, most pyroxenes in Tintigny are pigeonite and augite [2]. The Fe/Mn ratios of pyroxenes range from 27.1 to 39.3, with the highest ratio observed in pyroxene from the symplectitic clast. Fe/Mn and Fe/Mg ratios in low-Ca pyroxene (Wo<10) are 30.2±4.4 and 0.8±0.3, respectively. These ratios in high-Ca pyroxene (n=8) are 34.3±3.7 for Fe/Mn and 2.6±2.4 for Fe/Mg. The average pyroxene Fe/Mn ratio for all pyroxene is 32.5±4.4 (SD, n=14). Fe/Mg ranges from 0.6 to 8.2, with an average value of 1.8±2.0 (SD, n±14). Considering pyroxene Fe/Mn ranges of 40±11, 62±18, 32±6, and 30±2 for basaltic rocks from the Earth, Moon, Mars, and 4 Vesta (eucrites), respectively, and based on our data, particularly those of low-Ca py-roxene, Tintigny falls in the range of basaltic eucrites [3]. The bulk rock Fe/Mn and Fe/Mg ratios of Tintigny are 33.9 and 3.1, respectively. These values overlap with those measured for howardite-eucrite-diogenite (HED) and martian meteorites [4]. With a Ga/Al ratio of 4.17×10-5, Tintigny falls within the range of those of eucrites. Using the CI-normalized elemental concentration, we can see strong simi-larities between Tintigny and noncumulate eucrites, which is also reflected based on the abundance of TiO2 (0.63) and FeO/MgO ratio (2.66) in Tintigny. The bulk oxygen isotopic composition of Tintigny, as determined by laser fluorination, is also consistent with it being an HED (δ17O=1.72±0.04 ‰; δ18O=3.76±0.08‰; Δ17O=-0.25±0.01 ‰ (n=2, errors 2SD)), with a composition that plots close to the Eucrite Fractionation Line [5]. Based on the Meteoritical Bulletin Database, only 70 HED falls have been reported so far. Including Tintigny, only 39 eucrite falls are known to date, 11 of them occurred in Europe, with Tintigny being the only one from Belgium. In addition to the scientific importance of studying a eucrite fall like Tintigny, we emphasize the significance of the discovery of a historical meteorite fall by drawing attention to national scientific heritage that must be properly un-derstood and safeguarded for generations of scientists, scholars, and amateurs to come. Nowadays, together with four other meteorites from Belgium (Hautes Fagnes LL5, Lesves L6, St. Denis Westrem L6, and Tourinnes-la-Grosse L6), the Tintigny achondrite is exhibited in the meteorite gallery of the Institute of Nat-ural Sciences in Brussels and is open to the public for visits.