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Context The climate on Earth is changing due to the increased emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere, and these changes are expected to have a predominantly negative impact, with potentially dramatic economic, social and environmental consequences. The increased concentrations of CO2 are already resulting in acidification of the oceans, which adds further to the environmental pressure. Reducing the emissions of CO2 is therefore of prime importance. CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) is considered as an essential element in the portfolio of measures, and has the potential to reduce the CO2 emissions from large industrial facilities to nearly zero. This has been recognised by the international community and especially Europe is being proactive in stimulating the development and implementation of CCS. Policy related research on CCS in Belgium has been centralised in the PSS-CCS projects (Policy Support System for Carbon Capture and Storage). Phase one (PSS-CCS I) started at the end of 2005 and the results were integrally published in 2009 (Piessens et al., 2009). This work was continued in the projects PSS-CCS II, the actual phase two, and the international valorisation project PSS-CCS BeNe which extended the scope to the Netherlands and created official bridges between the national CCS projects in Belgium and the Netherlands (CATO-2). Objectives From the start, the PSS-CCS projects (Policy Support System for Carbon Capture and Storage) have promised to provide detailed and objective insights in the role that CCS can play in the CO2 mitigation efforts of Belgium. Achieving this central objective is only possible by bringing together information, data and methodologies from widely different fields. The list below gives a brief overview of these activities, which have often resulted in deliverables which are usually to be regarded as important achievements in their own right. - Inventory of the industrial emission sources for CO2 in Belgium at plant and sector level, for providing an actual view on these emissions and the need to replace aging infrastructure. - Economic and technical analysis of the different technologies and their performance that allow capturing CO2 from power plants and other industrial facilities. - Development and calibration of a least-cost routing application for transport of CO2 by pipeline. - Summary of the geological data to identify geological reservoirs (aquifers and coal related storage options) that are potentially suited for geological storage of CO2. - Risk evaluation of different types of reservoirs and a techno-economic overview of the different techniques to monitor a CO2 reservoir. - Overview of the storage options in neighbouring countries accessible from Belgium, and an assessment on the domestic use of these reservoirs in those countries. - Analysis of the production, conversion and consumption of energy in Belgium using the TIMES-BE model, including CCS technologies. - Development of the PSS II simulator for detailed and ad-hoc predictions of CCS implementation in Belgium. - Evaluating the simulation results of the two models regarding the economic and environmental role that CCS can play under different scenarios. Conclusions The PSS-CCS projects have looked into the different, but related aspects of CCS. Capture of CO2 in the power sector is retaken and update in this report, but particular attention is given to how capture technologies can be integrated in industrial production processes. Particular attention is given to the production of cement, iron and steel, hydrogen, ammonia, refineries and industrial boilers, making this report a reference document for the capture from industrial sources. Cost estimates of those technologies are provided where possible, often indicating that capture can be more cost efficiently than in the power sector (e.g. steel, hydrogen...). For others, such as refineries, it may be quite challenging because of the complexity of such installations. The storage of CO2 is only of secondary importance when considering only costs, but is essential in the project planning and communication. This is why, now demonstration projects in neighbouring countries have become a reality, this topic is attracting an increasing amount of attention. This report in particularly looks at storage in coal bearing sequences by evaluating the different potential migration routes of CO2. In an attempt to quantify the amounts of CO2 that may migrate to the surface, a comparison is made with published estimates. Conservative estimates for leakage along abandoned wells would be below the health concentration of CO2, and vertical migration of CO2 in the Campine Basin in absence of such wells or conductive faults would be below meter scale at a 100y time resolution. Migration of CO2 out of the coal-bearing strata would be even more difficult, since coal acts as both a reservoir and seal, and additional sealing layers are present within the heterogeneous sequence. Nevertheless, as also required by European law, extensive monitoring is required. A portfolio of different technologies is required to achieve a the resolution required for confirming that CO2 is not leaking from the reservoir, leading to relatively high monitoring costs for small reservoirs or reservoirs with low injectivity. A comprehensive overview of the coal sequences in the Hainaut Basin indicates a storage potential of 500 to 700 Mt in this area. Injection strategies for coal are discussed acknowledging the geological particularities of this coal basin. The capacity of the Dinantian aquifer in this area is comparable to that of coal, but of particularly interest because of the high injectivity. The databases of the PSS simulator have been updated and extended according to the newly acquired data in this project, and have been calibrated for pipeline routing against confidential data from industry. Together with the important improvements, the current version (PSS II) produces realistic and reliable forecasts on power technologies based on coal, natural gas and biomass, as well as for the steel sector. PSS II is used in parallel with TIMES-BE, using large the same databases to make the results compatible. These models show that CCS will be a likely economic option in the power sector, but especially in industry. However, relatively high ETS prices for CO2 emissions are required to trigger large scale implementation of CCS in especially the power sector. An essential factor in assuring that very low emission targets are realised by 2050, a portfolio of technologies is required: if technologies are left out, the probability that the low targets are reached decreases dramatically. Technology lock-in additionally poses a real threat, but can be mitigated with appropriate policy measures. When it comes to storage, the development of domestic storage capacity is justified, although Belgium will additionally have to rely on the export of CO2. Contribution of the project in a context of scientific support to a sustainable development policy During the more or less five years during which the PSS-CCS projects have been active, they have been able to fill the need for information and follow-up on the topic of CCS in Belgium. This resulted in a large and active follow-up committee representing over 30 institutes, including many administrations and stakeholders that weigh on environmental and economic policy. The different valorisation events of the project were initially strongly focussed on the dissemination of correct and objective information on CCS, for which the international interest was strongly growing. This was in line with the activities within the project of which the earliest tasks were focussed on gathering and organising the data required for modelling the role of CCS. Energy models in Belgium were at that time also looking to include data on CCS technologies as a future option, leading to a direct feed of information into e.g. the Belgian TIMES- BE model. Also the reports of the Federal Planning Bureau (PRIMES model) cite PSS-CCS as a main reference. An important surge for information was during the preparation of the European CCS directive (Directive 2009/31/EC). Technical information regarded mainly the storage of CO2, the prime focus of the directive, but also the outlooks produced by the project were used to consider the scale and relevance of CCS for Belgium. Also other organisations and networks called upon the PSS-CCS partners for direct advice, or for presentations on the topic. The reader is referred to chapter 4 (DISSEMINATION AND VALORISATION) for an overview of the main and official valorisation activities originating from the PSS-CCS projects. Within Belgium and its regions, CCS is a well-known and documented option in mid- and long-term energy projections thanks to the catalytic role of the PSS-CCS projects. The now fully mature PSS II simulator and its databases currently play an important role in exchange activities with other countries through European collaboration and network projects (e.g. Welkenhuysen & Piessens, 2011b). This export of expertise may result in an impact in those countries, comparable to that of the PSS-CCS projects in Belgium.

The Ypresian Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich herpetological fauna including snakes, lizards and amphibians, but strangely, lizards are only represented by Acrodonta. Here we describe the acrodontan assemblage based on numerous, diverse and well-preserved dentaries, premaxillae, and maxillae. Among the five taxa described one new genus and species characterised by a short splenial represents the youngest occurrence of the extinct family Priscagamidae. The other four taxa belong to the extant family Agamidae. Two of them previously known, Vastanagama susanae and Tinosaurus indicus, are here revised. The two other taxa are new. The first one, Suratagama neeraae gen. and sp. nov., is characterised by the presence of six small pleurodont teeth with a nearly cylindrical shaft and an obtusely pointed apex. The second one, Indiagama gujarata gen. and sp. nov., has rectangular teeth in lateral view, unicuspid crowns forming a nearly horizontal cutting edge, and wear facets on both the lingual and labial sides of the dentary. Our results confirm that Acrodonta is the only lizard group present in Vastan, whereas many other groups are already present from the beginning of the Early Eocene on the other continents. The diversity of the agamids in Vastan and the absence of non-acrodontan lizard in India tentatively support the Out-of-India hypothesis for agamids.

We describe new avian fossils from the Boom Formation of Belgium, which almost double the number of bird taxa known from this part of the Rupelian stratotype. Three galliform species can, at least tentatively, be assigned to the paraortygid species Paraortyx brancoi, P. lorteti, and Pirortyx major. Among the fossils is a partial sternum, which shows that Paraortyx lacks a spina interna. The absence of this structure is plesiomorphic for Galliformes and probably related to the absence of a large crop, thus indicating that Paraortygidae were not yet adapted to the regular processing of coarse and dry food. Two distal humeri belong to Trogoniformes (trogons) and Upupiformes (hoopoes, woodhoopoes, and allies), respectively. A femur is tentatively assigned to Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds), and a carpometacarpus is, likewise tentatively, referred to Threskiornithidae (ibises and spoonbills). We finally comment on the affinities of “Anas” benedeni Sharpe, 1899 and detail that this species most likely belongs to Gaviiformes (loons).

Didymoconidae are an enigmatic group of Asian endemic insectivorous mammals. We describe the new didymoconid species Archaeoryctes wangi sp. nov. from the Upper Member of the Wanghudun Formation (Middle Paleocene). This new species from the Qianshan Basin (Anhui Province, China) forms an interesting geographical intermediate between A. notialis from South China and A. borealis and A. euryalis from the Mongolian Plateau. To better understand the origin and evolutionary diversification of Didymoconidae, we performed a cladistic and stratocladistic study of the Didymoconidae and various outgroups. This study of dental material did not resolve the higher level affinities of Didymoconidae, but confirms the validity of the family and its distinctiveness from the morphologically similar Sarcodontidae. Moreover, our results corroborate the current didymoconid classification with the distinction of three subfamilies: “Ardynictinae”, Kennatheriinae and Didymoconinae; “Ardynictinae” are a paraphyletic stemgroup for the two other subfamilies. Our results suggest three distinct didymoconid radiations: (1) primitive ardynictines appeared in South China from the start of the Nongshanian; their evolution continues on the Mongolian Plateau with (2) the radiation of more evolved ardynictines and kennatheriines at the start of the Middle Eocene Arshantan and (3) the origin of didymoconines at the start of the Late Eocene Ergilian.

The earliest Eocene Erquelinnes site was discovered in 1880, but its mammal fauna has been frequently ignored. This paper provides the first detailed overview of the Erquelinnes mammals since 1929. The new faunal list doubles the known diversity at Erquelinnes to a total of 16 species, now also including amphilemurids, hyaenodontids, mesonychids, louisinids, equids and diacodexeids. The majority of the Erquelinnes species is also present in the earliest Eocene Dormaal MP7 reference fauna, with as most notable exceptions the presence of a potentially dwarfed specimen of Dissacus, and of two perissodactyl taxa at Erquelinnes. The ceratomorph perissodactyl Cymbalophus cuniculus is also known from the earliest Eocene of England, but a specimen identified as cf. Sifrhippus sandrae is closely similar to contemporaneous primitive North American equids. This specimen represents the oldest unambiguous European equid and highlights faunal similarities between Europe and North America during this time interval. Faunal differences between Erquelinnes and Dormaal seem mostly due to depositional differences, and the Erquelinnes fauna represents a typical earliest Eocene fauna, closely similar to other MP7 and PEI faunas in Europe.

Background: The Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages of Romania are famous for geographically endemic dwarfed dinosaur taxa. We report the first complete egg clutches of a dwarf lithostrotian titanosaur, from Totes¸ti, Romania, and its reproductive adaptation to the ‘‘island effect’’. Methodology/Findings: The egg clutches were discovered in sequential sedimentary layers of the Maastrichtian Saˆnpetru Formation, Totes¸ti. The occurrence of 11 homogenous clutches in successive strata suggests philopatry by the same dinosaur species, which laid clutches averaging four ,12 cm diameters eggs. The eggs and eggshells display numerous characters shared with the positively identified material from egg-bearing level 4 of the Auca Mahuevo (Patagonia,Argentina) nemegtosaurid lithostrotian nesting site. Microscopic embryonic integument with bacterial evidences was recovered in one egg. The millimeter-size embryonic integument displays micron size dermal papillae implying an early embryological stage at the time of death, likely corresponding to early organogenesis before the skeleton formation. Conclusions/Significance: The shared oological characters between the Hat¸eg specimens and their mainland relatives suggest a highly conservative reproductive template, while the nest decrease in egg numbers per clutch may reflect an adaptive trait to a smaller body size due to the ‘‘island effect’’. The combined presence of the lithostrotian egg and its embryo in the Early Cretaceous Gobi coupled with the oological similarities between the Hat¸eg and Auca Mahuevo oological material evidence that several titanosaur species migrated from Gondwana through the Hat¸eg Island before or during the Aptian/Albian. It also suggests that this island might have had episodic land bridges with the rest of the European archipelago and Asia deep into the Cretaceous.