Plio-Pleistocene Deposits Research Articles

Molar microwear and dietary reconstructions of fossil cercopithecoidea from the Plio-Pleistocene deposits of South Africa

The South African Plio-Pleistocene cave deposits have yielded a diverse cercopithecoid fauna. In this study, the possible dietary proclivities of these extinct species are examined using details of molar microwear. Although sample sizes are often small, wear patterns suggest possible temporal changes in the diets of Parapapio jonesi from Makapansgat to Sterkfontein, of Papio robinsoni from Sterkfontein to Swartkrans, and Cercopithecoides williamsi from Makapansgat to Sterkfontein to Swartkrans. However, there does not appear to have been a significant change in the dietary habits of Parapapio broomi over time. The microwear patterns of the two temporally successive congeners, Theropithecus darti and T. oswaldi show no significant differences from one another. The sympatric congeners, Parapapio broomi and Pp. jonesi, have microwear signatures that differ significantly at Makapansgat (Members 3 and 4) but not at Sterkfontein (Member 4). Finally, the microwear analyses suggest that the extinct cercopithecoid species did not necessarily have diets similar to those of their closest living relatives.

A new flightless gallinule (Aves: Rallidae: Gallinula) from the Oligo-Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, Australia

Flightlessness in birds occurs in a taxonomically diverse array of families, but is best exemplified in the rails (Rallidae). Most flightless species of rails live on islands, where the absence of native mammalian predators may make flight superfluous. Fossil rails from Oligo-Miocene sites at Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, Australia, are considered to represent a single species of gallinule Gallinula, described here as new. Compared with four Quaternary species of Gallinula from Australasia (two volant, two non-volant), it shows similarities with the flightless species in the development of the fore- and hindlimb elements and in other characteristics of limb bone morphology associated with flightlessness. These indicate that the Riversleigh species was non-volant. Its relationships with the Quaternary species, including the flightless Gallinula mortierii, now restricted to Tasmania, but known from Plio-Pleistocene deposits in eastern mainland Australia, are considered.

Utilization of savanna-based resources by Plio-Pleistocene baboons

13 C values of five cercopithecoid taxa from the Plio-Pleistocene deposits of Swart- krans Members 1 and 2 and Sterkfontein Member 4. These data were used to determine the relative proportions of C3 and C4 bio- mass consumed by extinct baboons and contemporary non-human primates. We compared these results with data on modern Papio hamadryas ursinus from different savanna areas in South Africa, as well as with published isotopic data and dietary interpretations based on molar morphology of these taxa. The data reveal little evidence for use of grasses or grass-based foods by modern South African baboons. The fossil papionins Papio hamadryas robinsoni, Papio (Dinopithecus) ingens, and Parapapio spp., however, utilized more savanna-based C4 resources than previously predicted (particularly in the case of P. (D.) ingens). Theropithecus oswaldi had 13 C values depicting, as expected, a largely grass-based diet, and we confirm earlier conclusions that this species incorporated a wider range of food items into its diet than do modern T. gelada, as reported in the literature. The colobine monkey, Cercopithecoides williamsi, made extensive use of savanna-.based C4 foods, confirm- ing some degree of terrestrial foraging by the species.

Derivation of the chalk superficial deposits of the North Downs, England: an application of discriminant analysis

Stepwise discriminant analysis was used on particle size and heavy mineral data from 276 sediment samples, including 39 from published sources, to distinguish between Palaeocene and Plio–Pleistocene deposits, found above the Cretaceous Chalk in southeast England, and to determine parent materials of the soils and superficial deposits of the central North Downs. Of 71 known cases (in situ deposits), 85.9% were correctly classified using textural data (sig. 99.9%), and 89.7% of 29 known cases (sig. 99.9%), using heavy mineral data. The best textural discriminating variables were %sand, graphic mean, %clay and graphic skewness, and the best heavy mineral discriminants were %kyanite plus staurolite, %andalusite and %garnet. Discriminant analysis has achieved good differentiation between marine Plio–Pleistocene sands, Clay-with-flints, loess and Palaeocene groups, and allowed objective classification of sediments of unknown origin. The distribution of parent materials revealed, strongly upholds the earlier interpretation [Z. Geomorphol. 39 (1995) 433] that in the central North Downs, except where Palaeocene residuals survive, the superficial cover above the Chalk consists of in situ Clay-with-flints sensu stricto, beneath Plateau Drift and loess. Clay-with-flints is seen as residual, and Plateau Drift as a Pleistocene soliflucted deposit. Textural affinities of Reading Beds Clay and Clay-with-flints elicited by a third discriminant analysis, using additional published data from 22 samples, suggest their common derivation from Chalk residua.

Calcareous nannofossil, ostracode and foraminifera biostratigraphy of Plio-Pleistocene deposits, Rhodes (Greece), with a correlation to the Vrica section (Italy)

Abstract. The Kalithea Bay section is situated on the southeastern coast of the island of Rhodes. The section comprises a sedimentary sequence ranging from brackish water gravel and nearshore sand to deep-water clay. The brackish water and nearshore deposits are assigned to the Kritika Formation, while the deep-water deposits are assigned to the Lindos Bay clay. Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy shows that the age of the marine sequence is Early Pleistocene. The brackish water sediments cannot be dated with any degree of certainty. The marine deposits are rich in ostracodes and foraminifera and several species have been recognized, which previously have been used as biostratigraphic markers in the Plio-Pleistocene deposits of Rhodes. Biostratigraphic correlation between the Kalithea Bay section and the Plio-Pleistocene boundary stratotype at Vrica, southern Italy, shows that the ostracodes and foraminifera events generally are diachronous relative to the calcareous nannofossil events. The only exception is the first occurrence of the benthic foraminifera Hyalinea balthica. As calcareous nannofossil events are thought to be virtually synchronous within the Mediterranean region, it is concluded that the diachroneity is due to a relative delay in the appearance of ostracodes and foraminifera at Kalithea, caused by differences in the palaeobathymetric settings between the two sites.

Old World Monkeys

Paul F. Whitehead and Clifford J. Jolly (Editors), 2000, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 528 p. (Hardcover $115) ISBN: 0-521-57124-3. Old World monkeys (Order Primates; Superfamily Cercopithecoidea) are the most numerous and diverse group of living African and Asian primates, and they are found frequently in Plio-Pleistocene deposits throughout the Old World including Europe. Their fossil representatives are useful in biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Studies of cercopithecoids contribute richly to evolutionary biology, in general, and particularly to human evolutionary biology. Except for apes, they are our closest biological relatives; they experience their world with human-like vision and dexterity. They shared our ancestors' habitat extensively: hominid fossil sites usually contain lots of monkeys and pitifully few humans. It is humbling to realize how rare ancient people were and how successfully our monkey cousins flourished in the Plio-Pleistocene. Only by the close of the Pleistocene did the hominids begin to exert their hegemony on the world. This collection of 19 papers explores the biology of this successful and diverse group. There are 27 authors whose affiliations include departments of zoology, anthropology, conservation, biology, anatomy, genetics, psychology, neuropsychiatry, and primatology. The papers are original contributions that explore many themes …

The mineralised springs of the Adriatic region, central Italy

In the Adriatic region of central Italy, there are many mineralised (salt and sulphureous) springs, often used for therapeutic purposes. The hydrogeological characteristics of the springs and their tectonic set-up are examined in this paper. The salt springs generally emerge from the Plio-Pleistocene and Messinian deposits. The waters emerging from the Messinian deposits originate from marine waters subjected to evaporation. This leads to the precipitation of gypsum and formation of brines isolated by clayey deposits. Even the salt waters emerging from the Plio-Pleistocene deposits originate from marine waters trapped in the arenaceous Pliocene deposits. The waters are subjected to an ultra-filtration process through the clayey membrane with the formation of brines.
 The study reveals that the springs are located in the main thrust fronts, and the springs with higher salinity emerge in the thrusts that squeezed out the brine waters from the post-orogenic Plio-Pleistocene sequence.
 The sulphureous springs emerge from the Messinian and Plio-Pleistocene deposits and from the Apennine Meso-Cenozoic limestone ridges. The sulphureous springs emerging from the terrigenous sequence are connected with the Messinian evaporites, while the sulphureous springs emerging from the limestone ridges are related to the Messinian and Triassic evaporite deposits of the Umbrian-Marchean sequence.
 In the emergence zones of the salt waters, typical mud volcanoes or puddles are present due to suspended mud in the waters. Generally, the sulphureous springs emerge along streams whose waters are whitish and emit the typical smell because of sulphur precipitation.

Resultados paleomagnéticos de los depósitos pliopleistocenos de la cuenca de Palma (Mallorca, España)

The results from the paleomagnetic analysis of the plio-pleistocene deposits located in the eastern (Bahia Azul Section) and western (Banc d'Eivissa) borders of the Palma Basin are presented in this paper. The Bahia Azul section is composite by a marine terrace at +70-74 m a.s.1., overlapped by nine littoral dune systems separated by erosional surfaces. The Banc d'Eivissa section is constituted of a lower marine terrace at +24-25 m a.s.l., buried by two dune systems, although there are more numerous in the vicinity. The lithological spectrum at both sections holds a main calcarenitic nature, but the available outcrops display a different degree of weathering making difficult the establishment of a continuous magnetoestratigraphic sequence. The paleontological content (Rosello y Cuerda, 1973) and paleomagnetic results of the Banc d'Eivissa deposits are no sufficient to establish a precise chronological sequence, and only is possible to locate them within the reverse polarity Matuyama epoch. On the contrary, the lower half of the Bahia Azul sequence (marine terrace plus the 3 first dune systems) presents a consistent reverse polarity. The paleontological content of these materials indicates an early Pleistocene age (Emilian cycle: Cuerda y Sacares, 1992) which agree with the obtained paleomagnetic results. Therefore, the whole sequence is interpreted to be located between the normal polarity chrons of Jaramillo and Olduvay (Clr. 1n and C2n of Cande and Kent, 1995) within the Matuyama epoch, but can not be totally rejected the possibility that them could be placed after the Olduvai Chron.

Plio-Pleistocene deposits on the mid-Norwegian margin and their implications for late Cenozoic uplift of the Norwegian mainland

Plio-Pleistocene deposits on the mid-Norwegian margin and their implications for late Cenozoic uplift of the Norwegian mainland

The Plio-Pleistocene age of B�y�k Menderes and Gediz grabens and their tectonic significance on N-S extensional tectonics in West Anatolia: mammalian evidence from the continental deposits

The Büyük Menderes and Gediz grabens form the two main E–W trending structures in the western Anatolian extensional province. This paper concerns the dating of continental deposits within these grabens based on their small mammal content, and its implications for the stratigraphy and tectonics of the region. Four new small mammal localities yielded an Arvicolidae fauna including Mimomys cf. ostramosensis and Kalymnomys major, indicating a late Pliocene–early Pleistocene age for the deposits, related to the graben systems. The Plio-Pleistocene deposits in these localities have a discordant relationship with the older depositional systems revealing a regional disconformity in the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary interval. The age of accessible sedimentary infills and their localization along the grabens suggest that the N–S extension produced significant effects in the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary interval. The E–W normal faults chopped up and uplifted the late Pliocene–early Pleistocene deposits. This indicates that these grabens formed mainly during the Quaternary. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Plio‐Pleistocene age of Büyük Menderes and Gediz grabens and their tectonic significance on N‐S extensional tectonics in West Anatolia: mammalian evidence from the continental deposits

The Büyük Menderes and Gediz grabens form the two main E–W trending structures in the western Anatolian extensional province. This paper concerns the dating of continental deposits within these grabens based on their small mammal content, and its implications for the stratigraphy and tectonics of the region. Four new small mammal localities yielded an Arvicolidae fauna including Mimomys cf. ostramosensis and Kalymnomys major, indicating a late Pliocene–early Pleistocene age for the deposits, related to the graben systems. The Plio-Pleistocene deposits in these localities have a discordant relationship with the older depositional systems revealing a regional disconformity in the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary interval. The age of accessible sedimentary infills and their localization along the grabens suggest that the N–S extension produced significant effects in the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary interval. The E–W normal faults chopped up and uplifted the late Pliocene–early Pleistocene deposits. This indicates that these grabens formed mainly during the Quaternary. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Two ‘Oldowan’ assemblages in the Plio-Pleistocene deposits of the Orce region, southeast Spain

Stone artefacts reported from the Orce region (Grenada, Spain) indicate a first human presence in western Europe as early as the Plio-Pleistocene boundary, making a ‘long chronology’ for European hominids against the claims for a briefer human presence. Excavations of Barranco León-5 and Fuentenueva-3a in 1995 have produced two groups of lithic artefacts of ‘Oldowan’ type, seen as the most ancient of western Europe by faunal associations and palaeomagnetic study.

Identification of large reptilian teeth from Plio-Pleistocene deposits of Australia

Identification of large reptilian teeth from Plio-Pleistocene deposits of Australia

The status of the african fossil suids Kolpochoerus limnetes ( Hopwood, 1926), K. Phacochoeroides ( Thomas 1884) and “K.” Afarensis ( Cooke, 1978)

Kolpochoerus limnetes is the name widely used for an abundant suid in East African Plio-Pleistocene deposits. A recent publication ( Pickford 1994) suggests that the holotype of “ Sus limnetes” from Kaiso could be a Nyanzachoere and proposes that this specific name should be restricted to the Type specimen and also that the other East Africa fossils be given the prior name of Kolpochoerus phacochoeroides. It is shown here that, although the Kaiso Type specimen is morphologically compatible with Kolpochoerus, this single tooth is now an unsatisfactory type specimen in view of the questionable stratigraphic source indicated by the preservation colour. Accordingly the name should be restricted only to that specimen as Pickford suggests. The use of the specific name phacochoeroides is inappropriate as Geraads (1993) has demonstrated that collections from Ahl al Oughlam, Morocco, belong to the North African K. phacochoeroides and are clearly different from the East African species. Accordingly the East African material is best referred in future to K. heseloni. Based on Geraads evaluation of other species and reconsideration of the material, it is proposed here that the Hadar species described as Kolpochoerus afarensis should now be placed in Potamochoerus as P. afarensis.

Plio-Pleistocene deposits adjacent to the Manix fault: implications for the history of the Mojave River and transverse Ranges uplift

A nearly continuous sedimentary record encompassing more than 2 million years of Plio-Pleistocene history is exposed by downcutting of the Mojave River adjacent to the Manix fault in the central Mojave Desert. This stratigraphic record, combined with local structural information, suggests that north-south crustal shortening took place adjacent to the Manix fault between about 1 and 0.5 Ma. Strike-slip deformation predominated along the Manix fault in the study area since 0.5-0.3 Ma and continues today.No evidence is found within the deposits for sustained eastward flow of the Mojave River system prior to 0.5 Ma, even though the Transverse Ranges uplift at San Bernardino Arch, the headwater region of the modern river system, has been estimated between 1.0 and 0.7 Ma. Understanding recent deformation in this region is especially warranted by the proximity and geometry between the Manix fault and a conspicuous gap in seismicity following the 1992 Landers earthquake sequence.

Non-steady behaviour in the Cenozoic polar North Atlantic system: the onset and variability of Northern Hemisphere glaciations

Changes of the extent of the Arctic Ocean sea-ice cover over the past century, the geological record of the Arctic Ocean seafloor of the youngest geological past, as well as the evidence of a pre-Glacial temperate to warm Arctic Ocean during Mesozoic and Palaeogene time are witnesses of dramatic revolutions of the Arctic oceanography. The climate over northwestern Europe on a regional scale as well as the global environment have responded to these revolutions instantly over geological time scales. Results of ocean drilling in the deep northern North Atlantic document an onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation towards the end of the middle Miocene (10-14 Ma). While the available evidence points to early glaciations of modest extent and intensity centred around southern Greenland, the early to mid-Pliocene intervals record a sudden intensification of ice-rafting in the Labrador and Norwegian Greenland seas as well as in the Arctic Ocean proper. The Greenland ice cap seems to have remained rather stable whereas the northwest European ice shields have experienced rapid and dramatic changes leading to their frequent complete destruction. Many sediment properties seem to suggest that orbital parameters (Milankovitch-frequencies) and their temporal variability control important properties of the deep-sea floor depositional environment. Obliquity (with approximately 40 ka) seems to be dominant in pre-Glacial (middle Miocene) as well as Glacial (post late Miocene) scenarios whereas eccentricity (with approximately 100 ka) only dominated the past 600-800 ka. PlioPleistocene deposits of the Arctic Ocean proper, of the entire Norwegian Greenland and of the Labrador seas have recorded the almost continuous presence of sea-ice cover with only short ‘interglacial’ intervals when the eastern Norwegian Sea was ice-free. The documentation of long-term changes of the oceanographic and climatic properties of the Arctic environments recorded in the sediment cover of the deepsea floors might also serve to explain scenarios which have no modern analog, but which might well develop in the future under the influence of the anthropogenic drift towards warmer global climates.

Vegetation change in a climatic cycle of Early Pleistocene age in the Leffe Basin (Northern Italy)

The Plio-Pleistocene deposits of the Leffe Basin in the Lombardian Pre-Alps in Italy, first investigated in quarry and lignite mine shafts by Lona in 1950, were recently cored. The pollen record of part of this core reveals a sequence of four climatic cycles. One of them, which is about −1.6 Ma old and particularly characteristic, is discussed here. A long interglacial stage can be identified by the dominance of pollen of deciduous trees of temperate climate. It clearly shows a forest succession of a mixed oak forest of dry-temperate climate, followed by a strong development of a Juglandaceae assemblage rich in Arcto-Tertiary elements, some of them indicating a wet climate. In particular, the Carya peaks appear to be linked to a warm-temperate (14–16°C mean annual temperature), humid, maritime climate with a long growth season, if we compare them with modern and fossil analogs. This stage is followed by a cooling leading to a long phase of wet coniferous forest. This forest succession is subsequently interrupted by a brief period of open vegetation, indicating a drier and colder, continental climate, followed by a new vegetational cycle. The climate evolution is discussed in comparison with other recent pollen successions of uppermost Pliocene age in the Mediterranean area. The cycle described is estimated to have lasted about 30 ka. The entire Leffe lacustrine succession records eight climatic cycles of moderate amplitude. We suggest that this cyclicity has been induced by obliquity forcing. Correlation of the cold phases with the major glacial events of the Southern Alps, as proposed by Venzo (1950) and Lona (1950), is excluded.

Sedimentology of the Malawi Rift: Facies and stratigraphy of the Chiwondo Beds, northern Malawi

Abstract Shallow water, nearshore lake beds and fluviatile deposits exposed in the Karonga District (northern Malawi) are subdivided into several depositional units which are bounded by unconformities reflecting sedimentary breaks. Prior to the formation of a major perennial lake which also flooded the area studied, sedimentation was characterized by extensive fluviatile deposits mainly formed by reworked material of Jurassic red beds. Formation of a major lake after this episode is reflected by widespread lacustrine silts and sands with interbedded, mollusc-rich layers. Tectonic reorganization of the rift finally led to localized uplift resulting in an angular unconformity and exposure of the Plio-Pleistocene deposits. The hominid fossil at Uraha Hill occurs in an interchannel or swamp-related alluvial setting.

Paleobiogeography of the Malawi Rift: Age and vertebrate paleontology of the Chiwondo Beds, northern Malawi

Abstract The Hominid Corridor Research Project has conducted paleontological surveys of Plio-Pleistocene deposits (Chiwondo Beds) in northern Malawi with the aim of characterizing the geographic role of southeast Africa in the origin and dispersion of Plio-Pleistocene faunas including early hominids. The faunal assemblages derive from two main fossil bearing regions (northerly localities near the town of Karonga, and more southerly localities near the village of Uraha) within the Malawi Rift. These assemblages date from somewhat older than 4·0 Ma to less than 1·6 Ma based on biochronological comparisons to radiometrically dated biostratigraphic horizons in eastern Africa. Comparisons between the Chiwondo Beds fauna and endemic Plio-Pleistocene faunas of eastern and southern Africa indicate that the Malawi Rift belongs largely within the paleoecological domain of eastern Africa, though it also records the northernmost transgressions of several southern African endemic taxa. Continental position and climatic conditions responsible for the tropical/temperate zonation in Africa are suggested to partly account for the large mammal barrier in the vicinity, of the Zambezian Ecozone today. However, faunal dispersion from southern to eastern Africa dominates after 2·5 Ma suggesting that this zonation drifted equator-ward during Late Pliocene climate change in accordance with the Habitat Theory of Vrba (1992). Interpretation of the Chiwondo Beds faunal assemblage has potential implications for the presumed dates of first appearance in southern African Pliocene assemblages, and may further contribute ecological criteria to scenarios of faunal phylogenesis.

Stratigraphic context of fossil hominids from the Omo group deposits: northern Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia.

The chronometric framework developed for Plio-Pleistocene deposits of the northern Turkana Basin is reviewed in light of recent advances in lithostratigraphy, geochemical correlation, paleomagnetic stratigraphy, and isotopic dating. The sequence is tightly controlled by 20 precise ages on volcanic materials. These ages are internally consistent but are at variance with estimates for the boundaries of the magnetic polarity time scale by about 0.07 my. This discrepancy can be only partially resolved at present. Based on the established chronometric framework and stratigraphic sequences, depositional ages can be estimated for significant marker beds. These ages can in turn be used to constrain the 449 hominid specimens thus far reported from the basin. Ages for most hominid specimens can be estimated with a precision of +/- 0.05 my. In addition, the chronometric framework will be applicable to other paleontological collections, archeological excavations, and future discoveries in the basin.