Cainozoic mammals from coastal Namaqualand, South Africa

Abstract

Fossil mamma ls from various stratigraphic levels in coastal Namaqualand reveal that the littoral marine deposits, hitherto correlated to the Plio-Pleistocene, range in age from Early Miocene to Ple istocene and Holocene. The faunal assemblages, described in stratigraphic orde r, consist predominantly o f large mammals, but most of the faunas also contain marine vertebrates and invertebrates. Faunas of Early Miocene(ca 17 Ma), Middle Miocene(ca 13- 12Ma), Late Miocene(ca 6-5 Ma), Plio-Pleistocene (ca 3-2.5 Ma) and younger age are documented .