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Gorongosa by the sea: First Miocene fossil sites from the Urema Rift, central Mozambique, and their coastal paleoenvironmental and paleoecological contexts

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dc.contributor.authorHabermann, Jörg M.
dc.contributor.authorAlberti, Matthias
dc.contributor.authorAldeias, Vera
dc.contributor.authorAlemseged, Zeresenay
dc.contributor.authorArcher, Will
dc.contributor.authorBamford, Marion
dc.contributor.authorBiro, Dora
dc.contributor.authorBraun, David R.
dc.contributor.authorCapelli, Cristian
dc.contributor.authorCunha, Eugenia
dc.contributor.authorda Silva, Maria Ferreira
dc.contributor.authorLuedecke, Tina
dc.contributor.authorMadiquida, Hilario
dc.contributor.authorMartinez, Felipe I.
dc.contributor.authorMathe, Jacinto
dc.contributor.authorNegash, Enquye
dc.contributor.authorPaulo, Luis M.
dc.contributor.authorPinto, Maria
dc.contributor.authorStalmans, Marc
dc.contributor.authorRegala, Frederico Tata
dc.contributor.authorWynn, Jonathan G.
dc.contributor.authorBobe, Rene
dc.contributor.authorCarvalho, Susana
dc.date.accessioned2020-07-24T10:52:59Z
dc.date.available2020-07-24T10:52:59Z
dc.date.issued2019-01
dc.description.abstractThe East African Rift System (EARS) has played a central role in our understanding of human origins and vertebrate evolution in the late Cenozoic of Africa. However, the distribution of fossil sites along the rift is highly biased towards its northern extent, and the types of paleoenvironments are primarily restricted to fluvial and lacustrine settings. Here we report the discovery of the first fossil sites from the Urema Rift at Gorongosa National Park (central Mozambique) at the southern end of the EARS, and reconstruct environmental contexts of the fossils. In situ and surface fossils from the lower member of the Mazamba Formation, estimated to be of Miocene age, comprise mammals, reptiles, fishes, invertebrates, palms, and dicot trees. Fossil and geological evidence indicates a coastal-plain paleoenvironmental mosaic of riverine forest/woodland and estuarine habitats that represent the first coastal biomes identified in the Neogene EARS context. Receiving continental sediment from source terranes west of today's Urema Graben, estuarine sequences accumulated prior to rifting as compound incised-valley fills on a low-gradient coastal plain following transgression. Modern environmental analogues are extremely productive habitats for marine and terrestrial fauna, including primates. Thus, our discoveries raise the possibility that the Miocene coastal landscapes of Gorongosa were ecologically-favorable habitats for primates, providing relatively stable maritime climate and ecosystem conditions, year-round freshwater availability, and food both from terrestrial and marine sources. The emerging fossil record from Gorongosa is beginning to fill an important gap in the paleobiogeography of Africa as no fossil sites of Neogene age have previously been reported from the southernmost part of the EARS. Furthermore, this unique window into past continental-margin ecosystems of central Mozambique may allow us to test key paleobiogeographic hypotheses during critical periods of primate evolution.
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Geographic SocietyNational Geographic Society [GEFNE169-16]
dc.description.sponsorshipJohn Fell Fund, University of Oxford [153/086]
dc.description.sponsorshipPhilip Leverhulme Prize [PLP-2016-114]
dc.description.sponsorshipFoundation for Science and Technology (FCT-Portugal)
dc.description.sponsorshipDFGGerman Research Foundation (DFG) [LU 2199/1-1]
dc.description.sponsorshipSt. Hugh's College, University of Oxford
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.09.032
dc.identifier.issn0031-0182
dc.identifier.issn1872-616X
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/14431
dc.language.isoeng
dc.peerreviewedyes
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.subjectTool-use
dc.subjectAfrican
dc.subjectMalawi
dc.subjectOrigins
dc.subjectHistory
dc.subjectBasin
dc.titleGorongosa by the sea: First Miocene fossil sites from the Urema Rift, central Mozambique, and their coastal paleoenvironmental and paleoecological contexts
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.endPage738
oaire.citation.startPage723
oaire.citation.titlePalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
oaire.citation.volume514
person.familyNameHabermann
person.familyNamealdeias
person.familyNameBobe
person.familyNameCarvalho
person.givenNameJörg M.
person.givenNamevera
person.givenNameRené
person.givenNameSusana
person.identifier356037
person.identifier.ciencia-id9A14-DE8D-BABF
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-2494-8528
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-7680-182X
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-9059-2203
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-1300-1953
person.identifier.ridF-3872-2016
person.identifier.scopus-author-id55052739100
rcaap.rightsrestrictedAccess
rcaap.typearticle
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relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery82512493-f3d1-4d00-9e67-2b43e50f67c8

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