419
Views
15
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Memoir Articles

Taphonomy and paleoenvironments of Middle Triassic bone accumulations in the Lifua Member of the Manda Beds, Songea Group (Ruhuhu Basin), Tanzania

, , , ORCID Icon &
Pages 65-79 | Received 01 Sep 2016, Accepted 24 Nov 2017, Published online: 27 Mar 2018

LITERATURE CITED

  • Abdala, N. F., and R. M. H. Smith. 2009. Gondwanan Middle Triassic cynodonts and the Namibian connection. Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 29:837–851.
  • Abdala, N. F., C. A. Marsicano, R. M. H Smith, and R. Swart. 2012. Strengthening western Gondwanan correlations: a Brazilian dicynodont (Synapsida, Anomodontia) in the Middle Triassic of Namibia. Gondwana Research 23:1151–1162.
  • Ahmad, N. 1983. Vertisols; pp. 91–123 in L. P. Wilding, N. E. Smeck, and G. F. Hall (eds.), Pedogenesis and Soil Taxonomy. II. The Soil Orders. Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  • Angielczyk, K. D., P. J. Hancox, and A. Nabavizadeh. 2018. A redescription of the Triassic dicynodont Sangusaurus (Therapsida, Anomodontia), with an analysis of its feeding system; pp. 189–227 in C. A. Sidor and S. J. Nesbitt (eds.), Vertebrate and Climatic Evolution in the Triassic Rift Basins of Tanzania and Zambia. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 17, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(6, Supplement).
  • Attridge, J., H. W. Ball, A. J. Charig, and C. B. Cox. 1964. The British Museum (Natural History) – University of London joint palaeontological expedition to Northern Rhodesia and Tanganyika, 1963. Nature 201:445–449.
  • Bertoni-Machado, C., and M. Holz. 2006. Biogenic fossil concentration in fluvial settings: an example of a cynodont taphocoenosis from the Middle Triassic of southern Brazil. Revista Brasileria de Paleontologia 9:273–282.
  • Blair, T. C., and W. L. Bilodeau. 1988. Development of tectonic cyclothems in rift, pull-apart, and foreland basins: sedimentary response to episodic tectonism. Geology 16:517–520.
  • Bao, H., P. L. Koch, and R. P. Hepple. 1998. Hematite and calcite coatings on fossil vertebrates. Journal of Sedimentary Research 68:727–738.
  • Behrensmeyer, A. K., D. Western, C. Badgley, J. H. Miller, and F. L. Odock. 2012. The impact of mass mortality on the land surface bone assemblage of Amboseli Park, Kenya. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(Programs and Abstracts):62–63.
  • Bishop, W. W. 1963.The evolution of fossil environments in East Africa. Transactions of the Leicester Library and Philosophical Society 7:22–44.
  • Boonstra, L. D. 1953. A report on a collection of fossil reptilian bones from Tanganyika. Annals of the South African Museum 43:5–18.
  • Bordy, E. M., and O. Catuneanu. 2002. Sedimentology of the lower Karoo Supergroup fluvial strata in the Tuli Basin, South Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences 35:503–521.
  • Bown, T. M., and M. J. Kraus. 1981. Vertebrate fossil-bearing paleosol units (Willwood Formation, Lower Eocene, northwest Wyoming, U.S.A.): implications for taphonomy, biostratigraphy, and assemblage analysis. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 34:31–56.
  • Brewer, R. 1964. Fabric and Mineral Analysis of Soils. John Wiley, New York, 470 pp.
  • Catuneanu, O., H. Wopfner, P. G. Eriksson, B. Cairncross, B. S. Rubidge, R. M. H. Smith, and P. J. Hancox. 2005. The Karoo basins of south-central Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences 43:211–253.
  • Charig, A. J. 1956. New Triassic archosaurs from Tanganyika including Mandasuchus and Teleocrater. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K., 503 pp.
  • Charig, A. J. 1963. Stratigraphical nomenclature in the Songea Series of Tanganyika. Report of the Geological Survey of Tanganyika 10:47–53.
  • Conybeare, A., and G. Haynes. 1984. Observations on elephant mortality and bone in watering holes. Quaternary Research 22:189–200.
  • Cox, C. B. 1991. The Pangaea dicynodont Rechnisaurus and the comparative biostratigraphy of Triassic dicynodont faunas. Palaeontology 34:767–784.
  • Cox, L. R. 1932. Lamellibranchia from the Karroo Beds of the Ruhuhu coalfields, Tanganyika Territory. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 88:623–633.
  • Crompton, A. W. 1955. On some Triassic cynodonts from Tanganyika. Proceedings of the Zoological Society, London 125:617–669.
  • Cruickshank, A. R. I. 1965. On a specimen of the anomodont reptile Kannemeyeria latifrons (Broom) from the Manda Formation of Tanganyika, Tanzania. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 176:149–157.
  • Cruickshank, A. R. I. 1967. A new dicynodont genus from the Manda Formation of Tanzania (Tanganyika). Journal of Zoology 153:163–208.
  • Cruickshank, A. R. I. 1970. Taxonomy of the Triassic anomodont genus Kannemeyeria. Palaeontologia africana 13:47–55.
  • Cruickshank, A. R. I. 1986a. Archosaur predation on an East African Middle Triassic dicynodont. Palaeontology 29:415–442.
  • Cruickshank, A. R. I. 1986b. Biostratigraphy and classification of a new Triassic dicynodont from East Africa. Modern Geology 10:121–131.
  • Díaz-Molina, M. 1993. Geometry and lateral accretion patterns in meander loops. Examples from the Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene, Loranca Basin, Spain. Special Publication of the International Association of Sedimentologists 17:115–132.
  • D'Alessando, A., and R. G. Bromley. 1987. Meniscate trace fossils and the Meunsteria-Taenidium problem. Palaeontology 49:93–114.
  • Eberth, D. S., and A. D. Miall. 1991. Stratigraphy, sedimentology and evolution of a vertebrate-bearing, braided to anastomosed fluvial system, Cutler Formation (Permian-Pennsylvanian), north-central New Mexico. Sedimentary Geology 72:225–252.
  • Haynes, G. 1988. Mass deaths and serial predation: comparative taphonomic studies of modern large mammal death sites. Journal of Archaeological Science 15:219–235.
  • Gates, T. A. 2005. The Late Jurassic Cleveland-Lloyd dinosaur quarry as a drought-induced assemblage. Palaios 20:363–375.
  • Gay, S. A., and A. R. I. Cruickshank. 1999. Biostratigraphy of the Permian tetrapod faunas from the Ruhuhu Valley, Tanzania. Journal of African Earth Sciences 29:195–210.
  • Groenewald, G. H., J. Welman, and J. A. MacEachern. 2001. Vertebrate burrow complexes from the Early Triassic Cynognathus Zone (Drie-koppen Formation, Beaufort Group) of the Karoo Basin, South Africa. Palaios 16:148–160.
  • Haughton, S. H. 1932. On a collection of Karroo vertebrates from Tanganyika Territory. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 88:634–668.
  • Hajek, E. A., P. L. Heller, and B. A. Sheets. 2010. Significance of channel-belt clustering in alluvial basins. Geology 38:535–538.
  • Hancox, P. J. 1998. A stratigraphic, sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental appraisal of the Triassic Beaufort-Molteno contact in the vicinity of Sterkstroom, Eastern Cape Province. Ph.D. dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 328 pp.
  • Hancox, P. J., K. D. Angielczyk, and B. S. Rubidge. 2013. Angonisaurus and Shansiodon, dicynodonts (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from subzone C of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (Middle Triassic) of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33:655–676.
  • Hancox, P. J., M. A. Shiskin, B. S. Rubidge, and J. W. Kitching. 1995. A threefold subdivision of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, South Africa) and its palaeogeographical implications. South African Journal of Science 91:143–144.
  • Holz, M., and C. L. Schultz. 1998. Taphonomy of the south Brazilian Triassic herpetofauna: fossilization mode and implications for morphological studies. Lethaia 31:335–345.
  • Holz, M., E. Troccoli, and M. Vieira. 2014. Sequence stratigraphy of continental rift basins: a conceptual discussion of discrepant models; pp. 9–13 in R. Rocha, J. Pais, J. C. Kullberg and S. R. Finney (eds.), STRATI 2013. Springer International Publishing, Cham, Switzerland.
  • Huene, F. von. 1942. Die anomodontier des Ruhuhu-Gebietes in der Tübinger Sammlung. Palaeontographica Abteilung A 94:154–184.
  • Huene, F. von. 1944. Pareiasaurierreste aus dem Ruhuhu-Gebiet. Paläontologisches Zeitschrift 23C:386–410.
  • Huene, F. von. 1950. Die theriodontier des ostafrikanischen Ruhuhugebietes in der Tübinger Sammlung. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 92:47–136.
  • Kaaya, C. Z. 1992. Depositional environment of Late Permian Karoo beds in the Ruhuhu Basin and Mikumi area of Tanzania. Geologisches Institut, Universität zu Köln, Sonderveröffentlichungen 83:1–126.
  • Kreuser, T. 1990. Permo-Trias im Ruhuhu-Becken in Oost-Tanzania. Geologisches Institut, Universitat zu Köln. Sonderveröffentlichungen 75:1–130.
  • Klappa, C. F. 1980. Rhizoliths in terrestrial carbonates: classification, recognition, genesis and significance. Sedimentology 27:613–629.
  • Lucas, S. G. 1998. Global Triassic tetrapod biostratigrpahy and biochronology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 143:347–384.
  • Lucas, S. G. 2010. The Triassic timescale based on nonmarine tetrapod biostratigraphy and biochronology; pp. 447–500 in S. G. Lucas (ed.), The Triassic Timescale. Geological Society of London, Special Papers 334.
  • Lucas, S. G., S. K. Harris, J. A. Spielmann, D. S. Berman, and A. C. Henrici. 2005. Vertebrate Biostratigraphy and biochronology of the Pennsylvanian Permian Cutler Group, El Cobre Canyon, northern New Mexico; pp. 128–139 in S. G. Lucas, K. E. Zeigler, and J. A. Spielmann (eds.), The Permian of Central New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin No. 31.
  • Mack, G. H., and M. R. Leeder. 1999. Climatic and tectonic controls on alluvial-fan and axial-fluvial sedimentation in the Plio-Pleistocene Palomas half graben, southern Rio Grande rift. Journal of Sedimentary Research 69:635–652.
  • Markwort, S. 1991. Sedimentation und diagenese der untertriasdischen Karoo-Stichchen des Ruhuhu Becken, SW Tansania. Geologisches Institut, Universitat zu Köln, Sonderveröffentlichungen 80:1–118.
  • Marsicano, C. A., R. B. Irmis, A. C. Mancuso, R. Mundil, and F. Chemale. 2016. The precise temporal calibration of dinosaur origins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113:509–513.
  • Nesbitt, S. J., C. A. Sidor, K. D. Angielczyk, R. M. H. Smith, and L. A. Tsuji. 2014. A new archosaur from the Manda beds (Anisian: Middle Triassic) of southern Tanzania and its implications for character optimizations at Archosauria and Pseudosuchia. Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 34:1357–1382.
  • Nesbitt, S. J., C. A. Sidor, R. Irmis, K. D. Angielczyk, R. M. H. Smith, and L. A. Tsuji. 2010. Global radiation of an ecologically distinct dinosaurian sister-group. Nature 464:95–98.
  • Nesbitt, S. J., M. R. Stocker, W. G. Parker, T. A. Wood, C. A. Sidor, and K. D. Angielczyk. 2018. The braincase and endocast of Parringtonia gracilis, a Middle Triassic suchian (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia); pp. 122–141 in C. A. Sidor and S. J. Nesbitt (eds.), Vertebrate and Climatic Evolution in the Triassic Rift Basins of Tanzania and Zambia. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 17. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(6, Supplement).
  • Nesbitt, S. J., R. J. Butler, M. D. Ezcurra, P. M. Barrett, M. R. Stocker, K. D. Angielczyk, R. M. H. Smith, C. A. Sidor, G. Niedźwiedzki, A. Sennikov, and A. J. Charig. 2017. The earliest bird-line archosaurs and assembly of the dinosaur body plan. Nature 544:484–487.
  • Neveling, J., P. J. Hancox, and B. S. Rubidge. 2005. Biostratigraphy of the lower Burgersdorp Formation (Beaufort Group; Karoo Supergroup) of South Africa—implications for the stratigraphic ranges of early Triassic tetrapods. Palaeontologia africana 41:81–87.
  • Nowack, E. 1937. Zur Kenntnis der Karruformation im Ruhuhu-Graben (D.O.A.). Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie Beilage-Band Abteilung B 78:380–412.
  • Ottone, E. G., M. Monti, C. A. Marsicano, M. S. de la Fuente, M. Naipauer, R. Armstrong, and A. C., Mancuso. 2014. A new Late Triassic age for the Puesto Viejo Group (San Rafael depocenter, Argentina): SHRIMP U-Pb zircon dating and biostratigraphic correlations across southern Gondwana. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 56:186–199.
  • Platt, N. H. 1989. Continental Sedimentation in an evolving rift basin: the Lower Cretaceous of the western Cameros Basin (northern Spain). Sedimentary Geology 64:91–109.
  • Renaut, A. J. 2000. A re-evaluation of the cranial morphology and taxonomy of the Triassic dicynodont Kannemeyeria. Ph.D. dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 214 pp.
  • Rogers, R. R. 1990. Taphonomy of three dinosaur bone beds in the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of northwestern Montana. Palaios 5:394–413.
  • Rogers, R. R., and S. M. Kidwell. 2007. A conceptual framework for the genesis and analysis of vertebrate skeletal concentrations; pp. 1–65 in R. R. Rogers, D. A. Eberth, and A. Fiorillo (eds.), Bonebeds—Genesis, Analysis and Paleobiological Significance. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Rubidge, B. S. 2005. Re-uniting lost continents—fossil reptiles from the ancient Karoo and their wanderlust. South African Journal of Geology 108:135–172.
  • Shipman, P. 1975. Implications of drought for vertebrate fossil assemblages. Nature 257:667–668.
  • Sidor, C. A., and J. A. Hopson. 2018. Cricodon metabolus (Cynodontia: Gomphodontia) from the Triassic Ntawere Formation of northeastern Zambia: patterns of tooth replacement and a systematic review of the Trirachodontidae; pp. 39–64 in C. A. Sidor and S. J. Nesbitt (eds.), Vertebrate and Climatic Evolution in the Triassic Rift Basins of Tanzania and Zambia. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 17. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(6, Supplement).
  • Sidor, C. A., and S. J. Nesbitt. 2018. Introduction to vertebrate and climatic evolution in the Triassic rift basins of Tanzania and Zambia; pp. 1–7 in C. A. Sidor and S. J. Nesbitt (eds.), Vertebrate and Climatic Evolution in the Triassic Rift Basins of Tanzania and Zambia. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 17. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(6, Supplement).
  • Smith, N. D., T. A. Cross, J. P. Dufficy, and S. R. Clough. 1989. Anatomy of an avulsion. Sedimentology 36:1–23.
  • Smith, R. M. H. 1993. Sedimentology and ichnology of floodplain palaeosurfaces in the Beaufort Group (Late Permian), Karoo Sequence, South Africa. Palaios 8:339–357.
  • Smith, R. M. H., and R. Swart. 2002. Arid zone sedimentary environments and vertebrate taphonomy in a mid-Triassic rift valley: the Omingonde Formation, Central Namibia. Palaios 17:249–267.
  • Smith, R. M. H., P. A. Eriksson, and W. J. Botha. 1993a. A review of the stratigraphy and sedimentary environments of the Karoo-aged basins of Southern Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences 16:143–169.
  • Smith, R. M. H., T. R. Mason, and J. D. Ward. 1993b. Flash flood sediments and ichnofacies of the Late Pleistocene Homeb Silts, Kuiseb River, Namibia. Sedimentary Geology 85:579–600.
  • Stockley, G. M. 1932. The geology of the Ruhuhu coalfields, Tanganyika Territory. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 88:610–622.
  • Stockley, G. M., and F. Oates. 1931. Report on geology of the Ruhuhu coalfields. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Tanganyika 2:1–68
  • Temp-Muller, R., H. I. de Araujo, A. S. Schiller Aires, L. Roberto-da-Silva, and S. Dias-da-Silva. 2015. Biogenic control on the origin of a vertebrate monotypic accumulation from the Late Triassic of southern Brazil. Geobios 48:331–340.
  • Tsuji, L. A. 2018. Mandaphon nadra, gen. et sp. nov., a new procolophonid from the Manda Beds of Tanzania; pp. 80–87 in C. A. Sidor and S. J. Nesbitt (eds.), Vertebrate and Climatic Evolution in the Triassic Rift Basins of Tanzania and Zambia. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 17. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(6, Supplement).
  • Tsuji, L. A., C. Sidor, R. Smith, and K. Angielczyk. 2013. The first procolophonid from the Manda Beds of southern Tanzania and its implications for Middle Triassic biogeography. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(Programs and Abstracts):228.
  • Veevers, J. J., and C. M. C. A. Powell. 1994. Permian-Triassic Pangean Basins and Foldbelts along the Panthalassan Margin of Gondwanaland. Geological Society of America, Memoir 184:1–368.
  • Veevers, J. J., A. Clare, and H. Wopfner. 1994. Neocratonic magmatic sedimentary basins of post-Variscan Europe and post-Kanimblan eastern Australia generated by right-lateral transtension of Permo-Carboniferous Pangea. Basin Research 6:141–157.
  • Wopfner, H. 1990. Rifting in Tanzanian Karoo basins and its economic implications; pp. 217–220 in G. Rocci, and M. Deschamps (eds.), Etudes recentes sur la Geologie de l'Afrique. Centre International pour la Formation et les Echanges Geologiques (CIFEG), Orleans, Occasional Publication 22.
  • Wopfner, H. 1994. The Malagasy Rift, a chasm in the Tethyan margin of Gondwana. Journal of Southeast Asian Earth Sciences 9:451–461.
  • Wopfner, H. 2002. Tectonic and climatic events controlling deposition in Tanzanian Karoo basins. Journal of African Earth Sciences 34:167–177.
  • Wopfner, H., S. Markwort, and P. M. Semkiwa. 1991. Early diagenetic laumontite in the Lower Triassic Manda Beds of the Ruhuhu Basin, southern Tanzania. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 61:65–72.
  • Wynd, B. M., C. A. Sidor, M. R. Whitney, and B. R. Peecook. 2018. The first occurrence of Cynognathus in Tanzania and Zambia, with biostratigraphic implications for the age of Triassic strata in southern Pangea; pp. 228–239 in C. A. Sidor and S. J. Nesbitt (eds.), Vertebrate and Climatic Evolution in the Triassic Rift Basins of Tanzania and Zambia. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 17. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(6, Supplement).
  • Yates, A. M., F. H. Neumann, and P. J. Hancox. 2012. The earliest post-Paleozoic freshwater bivalves preserved in coprolites from the Karoo Basin, South Africa. PLoS ONE 7:e30228. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030228.
  • Memoirs editor: Randall Irmis.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.