Volume 25 1984

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Browsing Volume 25 1984 by Keyword "Clarens Formation"

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    Biostratigraphy and paleontology of some conchostracan-bearing beds in southern Africa
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1984) Tasch, Paul
    The present field and laboratory study was undertaken in conjunction with a monograph being prepared on Gondwana estheriids. Detailed biostratigraphic reports are lacking on the southern African conchostracan-bearing beds. The available paleontological treatment ranges from mere mentions of certain fossils being present to spare systematics. During the summer of 1979 a limited exploration program was undertaken at localities in the Clarens Formation (Cave Sandstone) outcrop belt where conchostracans had been reported (Stockley 1947, Haughton 1924, and especially Ellenberger et al. 1964). In particular, sites at Siberia and Barkly Pass (both in the Republic of South Africa) and at Thabaneng and Mofoka's Store (both in Lesotho) were found to yield excellent new biostratigraphic and paleontological data. The exploration covered some 1500 square miles (2400km2 of the Clarens Formation (Cave Sandstone) outcrop belt (Text fig. 1). Conchostracan-bearing Cave Sandstone sites noted by Paul Ellenberger (1970) at Leloaleng, Masitisi, Mohaleshoek, Brakfontein and elsewhere were systematically explored. Because of the lack of precise locality data enabling one to pinpoint the fossiliferous bed(s) even an intensive search did not uncover the reported fossiliferous beds. Exploration of one of Ellenberger's localities at Wonderkop (RSA) was abandoned after a preliminary search due to time limitations. This site may yet prove productive.
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    A review of the reptile and amphibian assemblages from the Stormberg of southern Africa, with special emphasis on the footprints and the age of the Stormberg
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1984) Olsen, Paul E.; Galton, Peter M.
    The Molteno, Elliot, and Clarens formations comprise the continental Stormberg Group of the Karoo Basin of South Africa and Lesotho. The Molteno Formation contains a well preserved macro- and microfloral assemblage but apparently no vertebrates; the Elliot and Clarens formations contain abundant vertebrates but virtually no floral remains. The vertebrate taxa represented by skeletal remains are listed and divided into two assemblages - the lower Stormberg (lower Elliot) and upper Stormberg (upper Elliot and Clarens) assemblages. The abundant, diagnosable footprint taxa are revised and their names reduced to eight genera. These ichnotaxa also fall into two biostratigraphic zones that parallel the skeletal assemblages. Comparison of the faunal assemblages with those of the European type section strongly suggests that the lower Stormberg assemblage is Late Triassic (Carnian- Norian) in age while the upper Stormberg assemblage is Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Pliens- bachian) in age. Comparisons with other continental assemblages from other areas suggest that the upper Stormberg (upper Elliot and Clarens formations) assemblage broadly correlates with the upper Newark Supergroup of eastern North America, the Glen Canyon of the southwestern United States, and the lower Lufeng Series of China- all thought to be of Early Jurassic age on the basis of floral and/or radiometric evidence. Based on these correlations, previously published paleobiogeographic maps are revised; these show a shift from Late Triassic floral and faunal provinciality to Early Jurassic homogeneity. This shift was synchronous with a widening of the equatorial arid zone.