A new paper:
Paul M. Barrett, Lara Sciscio, Pia A. Viglietti, Timothy J. Broderick, Celina A. Suarez, Glenn R. Sharman, Andrew S. Jones, Darlington Munyikwa, Steve F. Edwards, Kimberley E.J. Chapelle, Kathleen N. Dollman, Michel Zondo & Jonah N. Choiniere (2020)
The age of the Tashinga Formation (Karoo Supergroup) in the Mid-Zambezi Basin, Zimbabwe and the first phytosaur from sub-Saharan Africa.
Gondwana Research (advance online publication)
doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2019.12.008https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1342937X20300289Highlights
New Late Triassic fossil vertebrate sites discovered on the shoreline of Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe
Radiometric date for the Tashinga Formation gives a maximum age of 209.2âMa.
We report the first phytosaur from sub-Saharan Africa, part of a Karoo-aged freshwater biome.
Abstract
Correlations between continental sequences within the Karoo-aged basins of southern and eastern Africa are difficult due to the dearth of shared index fossils and a lack of radioisotopic dates for key formations. Here we describe four sites along the southeastern shoreline of Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe, within the Mid-Zambezi Basin, that yield material of phytosaurs (Archosauromorpha: Phytosauria) from within the informal Tashinga Formation (Upper Karoo Group). These phytosaur remains are the first to be recovered from sub-Saharan Africa, representing a major geographic range extension for this group into high southern latitudes. Furthermore, an LA-ICPMS maximum depositional age of 209.2âÂâ4.5âMa (late Norian/early Rhaetian) derived from detrital zircons provides the first absolute age estimate for any of these sites. The phytosaurs are associated with lungfish and metoposaurid amphibians, forming part of a terrestrial-aquatic dominated biota, a previously undocumented biome from the Late Triassic of southern Africa.
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