Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8913710 | Journal of African Earth Sciences | 2018 | 25 Pages |
Abstract
Vulcanodon karibaensis is one of the earliest-branching members of Sauropoda and a forerunner of the largest terrestrial animals ever to have lived. Its stratigraphic position has most recently been given as Toarcian (latest Early Jurassic), making it a contemporary of the northern African taxon Tazoudasaurus, but some literature suggests that it may be considerably older. This uncertainty obscures our understanding of the timing of major sauropod evolutionary events, such as the onset of the major body size increases that characterize the clade. To improve constraints on the geological age of Vulcanodon, we revisited the type locality and collected new, higher precision stratigraphic and sedimentological data. Our results show that Vulcanodon is from lower in the stratigraphy than previously documented, lying within the uppermost Forest Sandstone rather than the interbedded sandstones of the Batoka Basalt Formation. Sedimentological data suggest that the upper part of the Forest Sandstone correlates with the Clarens Formation of the main Karoo Basin, implying that Vulcanodon is likely Sinemurian-Pliensbachian in age, and potentially â¼10-15 million years (Ma) older than previously thought.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Geology
Authors
Pia A. Viglietti, Paul M. Barrett, Tim J. Broderick, Darlington Munyikwa, Rowan MacNiven, Lucy Broderick, Kimberley Chapelle, Dave Glynn, Steve Edwards, Michel Zondo, Patricia Broderick, Jonah N. Choiniere,