Sosnowsky’s hogweed (Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden.) mericarps were collected from satellite and stem branch umbels for comparative anatomical investigation. Located near Vilnius city, the habitat of Heracleum sosnowskyi, formerly a natural forest edge has recently been densely occupied by plants of this species. SEM micrographs of abaxial and adaxial surfaces of mericarps obtained from satellite and stem branch umbels of H. sosnowskyi were similar, but morphometrical analysis revealed statistically significant differences in mericarps collected from satellite umbels, which were longer and wider than mericarps from stem branch umbels. The data on longitudinal sections of H. sosnowskyi mericarps clearly showed that embryos of satellite umbels were at later torpedo stage compared to embryos of stem branch umbels, which were at earlier heart stage. These data represent unequal development of the embryos in mericarps from different types of umbels. Such different development can be treated as an adaptation of the invasive plant to occupy the current habitat and survive in the seed bank by allowing the embryo to complete development within a seed and germinate when new conditions permit.

In the western East European Craton (EEC), southern Lithuania, a suite of fine-grained, thinly bedded rocks of unusual composition has been shown to have originally comprised intermediate and felsic volcanic rocks. They extruded at ca. 1.83 Ga and were hydrothermally altered prior to metamorphism, which converted them into garnet-, gedrite-, anthophyllite-, staurolite- and cordierite-bearing schists. After the rocks have experienced a 630°C and 7 kbar metamorphism, they were uplifted to 15 km (5 kbar) probably at ca. 1.73 Ga. They were reheated to 640°C at ca. 1.50 Ga (monazite age). The monazite age of ca. 1.50 Ga is coeval with the emplacement of the neighboring 1.50 Ga Anorthosite-Mangerite-Charnockite-Granite (AMCG) Mazury complex. The ca. 1.83 Ga volcanic suites in Lithuania and northern Poland, together with the Oskarshamn-Jönköping belt (OJB) in south-central Sweden, may belong to the same chain of volcanic island arcs, and thus provide information on the evolution of the entire western EEC. The ca. 1.50 Ga metamorphic reworking and the replacement of the Mazury AMCG suite may have been triggered by the Danopolonian orogeny further west and, at a larger scale, accretion of the continental margin of Columbia.

Titanite is widely used in geochronology and petrogenetic studies, yet its behaviour during fluid-mediated alteration remains insufficiently constrained. This study investigates titanite alteration and element redistribution in the Mesoproterozoic Kabeliai granitoids (southern Lithuania) to evaluate their response to magmatic and hydrothermal processes. Petrography, EPMA, LA-ICP-MS, U-Pb geochronology, and mass balance modeling were combined to characterise titanite textures, chemistry, and isotopic evolution. Three titanite types were distinguished. Type 1 titanite preserves magmatic compositions and yields U-Pb ages of 1508 ± 19 (MSWD = 0.91; 2σ) and 1527 ± 9 Ma (MSWD = 0.54; 2σ), consistent with late magmatic crystallisation. Type 2 titanite represents a transitional fluid-altered stage, characterised by a porous texture. Type 3 titanite is interpreted to record hydrothermal recrystallisation, trace element depletion (Y, REE, Nb, Zr), and U-Pb resetting, with ages of 1454 ± 14 Ma (MSWD = 0.48; 2σ) and 1475 ± 23 Ma (MSWD = 0.63; 2σ) partially overlapping molybdenite mineralisation at ca. 1486 Ma. Mass balance modeling indicates that alteration was dominated by coupled albitisation and chloritisation, and by the redistribution of Ca, Si, and REE. In contrast, Ti remained relatively immobile at the rock scale and was locally redistributed among secondary phases via dissolution–reprecipitation. These results suggest that different titanite domains may preserve distinct stages of magmatic and hydrothermal evolution and highlight the importance of microstructural context when interpreting U-Pb ages in altered granitoid systems.