- Title
- Coombs Hill: A Late Devonian fossil locality in the Witpoort Formation (Witteberg Group, South Africa)
- Creator
- Harris, Christopher, Gess, Robert W, Penn-Clarke, Cameron R, Rubidge, Bruce S
- Subject
- To be catalogued
- Date
- 2021
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480418
- Identifier
- vital:78440
- Identifier
- https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v117-n3-a24
- Description
- Coombs Hill, a new fossil locality in the Witpoor t Formation (Witteberg Group) of South Africa, preserves a record of Famennian (Late Devonian) life in Gondwana. Fossil plants collected at Coombs Hill are preliminarily assigned to several classes. Shelly inver tebrates include a variety of bivalve mollusc forms, some of which appear to be preserved in life position. Biodiversity at Coombs Hill is comparable to that of the well-known Waterloo Farm lagerstätte in ordinal diversity, but exhibits differences in species composition. Ongoing taxonomic analysis will provide a rare window into the ecology of high-latitude environments during this pivotal stage of Ear th history, which immediately preceded the end-Devonian extinction. Sandstone dominated sedimentary facies at Coombs Hill suggest a high-energy coastal marine setting, with brackish back-barrier estuarine/lagoonally derived fossiliferous mudstones. Exact stratigraphic placement within the Witpoor t Formation is hampered by structural deformation, and precise age comparisons with Waterloo Farm are currently tenuous.
- Format
- 5 pages, pdf
- Language
- English
- Relation
- South African Journal of Science, Harris, C., Gess, R.W., Penn-Clarke, C.R. and Rubidge, B.S., 2021. Coombs Hill: A Late Devonian fossil locality in the Witpoort Formation (Witteberg Group, South Africa). South African Journal of Science, 117(3-4), South African Journal of Science volume 117 number 3-4 1 5 2021 1996-7489
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Sabinet Terms and Conditions Statement (https://www.sabinet.co.za/terms-conditions)
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Collections
Gess, Robert W (Dr)
RU Department of Geology
RU Albany Museum
SDG 15. Life On Land
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
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| View Details | SOURCE1 | Coombs Hill.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details |