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Recent extensive investigations in the SaltRange (Pakistan) yielded abundant, well-preserved ammonoid faunas of earliest to latest Smithian age that provided the basis for a major revision of Smithian ammonoid taxonomy and for the establishment of a high-resolution biostratigraphic sequence. Here, an additional new ammonoid fauna of typical early Smithian affinity from the uppermost part of the Ceratite Sandstone of the Nammal Gorge section is described. The new fauna, termed Euflemingites cirratus beds, is bracketed between the underlying early Smithian ''Flemingites flemingianus beds'', here renamed Clypeoceras superbum beds, and the overlying middle Smithian Brayardites compressus beds. Comparison with a recently published high-resolution biochronological scheme for the Smithian of the NIM (northern Indian Margin) based on the Salt Range, Spiti (Himachal Pradesh, northern India) and Tulong (South Tibet) basins shows that the Euflemigites cirratus fauna correlates with the Dieneroceras beds from Spiti based on the common occurrence of the ammonoid species Kraffticeras pseudoplanulatum. The transpanthalassic biogeographical distribution of Euflemingites cirratus allows correlating the new ammonoid fauna with part of the Meekoceras gracilitatis ammonoid zone of western USA. Three new species (Kashmirites weisserti, Arctoceras schalteggeri and Vercherites wyleri) are described.

Creating oxygen vacancies and introducing heterostructures are two widely used strategies in Co-based oxides for their efficient electrocatalytic performance, yet both strategies have rarely been used together to design a bifunctional electrocatalyst for an efficient overall water splitting. Herein, we propose a facile strategy to synthesize oxygen-defect-rich Co9S8/CoO hetero-nanoparticles with a nitrogen-doped carbon shell (ODR-Co9S8/CoO/NC) through the in situ conversion of heterojunction along with surface-induced oxygen vacancies, simply via annealing the precursor Co3S4/Co(OH)2/ZIF-67. The as-prepared ODR-Co9S8/CoO/NC shows excellent bifunctional catalytic activities, featuring a low overpotential of 217 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and 160 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This performance excellency is attributed to unique heterostructure and oxygen defects in Co9S8/CoO nanoparticles, the current work is expected to offer new insights to the design of cost-effective, noble-metal-free electrocatalysts.

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In human diet, vegetables play important role to maintain the physiological conditions. Due to anthropogenic activities and pollution, the food items become contaminated. The present study was performed to evaluate the level of heavy metals in the vegetables irrigated with wastewater across Chunian and Jamber, district, Kasur. Level of heavy metals from the study area like Zinc, Lead and chromium in the soil, water and vegetables was compared. The four sites of each city and 10 vegetables e.g. potato, radish, carrot, fenugreek, spinach, tomato, Onion, Turnip, Cauliflower, Pangalo were selected to conduct the experiment. The vegetables were irrigated with industrial wastewater and the concentration of heavy metals was measured by the atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). We concluded that the level of heavy metals was beyond the FAO limits in irrigated water due to industrial waste. In Jamber and Chunian, the level of Zn and Pb was high and beyond the FAO safe limits in the all water sample, the level of Cr was much higher only in the water sample of one site from Jamber. The concentration of zinc was higher in soil samples as compared to lead and chromium. Zn and Pb in vegetables of study area were labeled as priority pollutants but this concentration was within the safe limits set by FAO. However, constant inspection of heavy metals is recommended to avoid accumulation in the food chain and thus avoid human health risks. Keywords: Atomic absorption spectrophotometer, Heavy metals, Industrial wastewater, Vegetables.

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Authors' Contribution HAAK designed and performed the experiment, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. WA and SL helped in writing the manuscript. SM, SRA, KUR, SWA, MBC and SM helped in data collection and maintenance of stored-insects strains.