Chilga: Chattian, Ethiopia

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Mammalia - Embrithopoda - Arsinoitheriidae
Arsinoitherium sp. Beadnell 1902
said to be new
    = Arsinoitherium giganteum n. sp. Sanders et al. 2004
Sanders et al. 2004
Mammalia - Proboscidea - Deinotheriidae
Deinotheriidae indet. Bonaparte 1845
said to be new
    = Chilgatherium harrisi n. gen., n. sp. Sanders et al. 2004
Sanders et al. 2004
Mammalia - Proboscidea - Gomphotheriidae
cf. Gomphotherium sp. Burmeister 1837
said to be new
Mammalia - Proboscidea - Palaeomastodontidae
aff. Palaeomastodon informal sp. nov. A Andrews 1901
aff. Palaeomastodon informal sp. nov. B Andrews 1901
Mammalia - Proboscidea
Phiomia sp. Andrews and Beadnell 1902
said to be new
    = Phiomia major n. sp. Sanders et al. 2004
Sanders et al. 2004
Mammalia - Hyracoidea - Pliohyracidae
Megalohyrax sp. Andrews 1903
said to be new
Bunohyrax sp. Schlosser 1910
Pachyhyrax sp. Schlosser 1910
said to be new
aff. Pachyhyrax sp. Schlosser 1910
said to be new
Mammalia - Creodonta
Hyainailouros sp. Stehlin 1907
Lewis and Morlo 2010
see common names

Geography
Country:Ethiopia
Coordinates: 12.6° North, 37.1° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:10.1° North, 34.2° East
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Altitude:1950 meters
Geographic resolution:local area
Time
Period:Paleogene Epoch:Oligocene
Stage:Chattian 10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 4
Key time interval:Chattian
Age range of interval:27.82000 - 23.03000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphic resolution:member
Stratigraphy comments: "Sedimentary rocks total at least 130 m [with vertebrate localities spanning about 55 m in the composite section] and are exposed in a series of stream and gully cuts" that "comformably overlie the uppermost Ethiopian plateau flood basalts. A basalt sample from the base of the section... provides a whole-rock K-Ar date of 32.4 +/- 1.5 Myr... Duplicate 40Ar-39Ar analyses of K-feldspar from a tuff within the fossiliferous portion of the sedimentary section yield ages with a weighted average of 27.36 +/- 0.11 Myr... These data, along with the results from palaeomagnetic studies, support a correlation of the Chilga section with Chron C9n [i.e., Chattian]"
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: lignite
Secondary lithology: siltstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "reworked volcaniclastics, common but usually thin lignites, and claystones and siltstones that often represent palaeosols with varying degrees of maturity": illustrated section includes only tuff, lignite, and siltstone and indicates that tuffs are rare and vertebrates mostly or entirely derive from siltstones
Environment:fluvial indet.
Geology comments: "channel and floodplain deposits"
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Disassociated minor elements:many
Fragmentation:frequent
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:field collection
Reason for describing collection:general faunal/floral analysis
Taxonomic list comments:"vertebrates, invertebrates, plant macrofossils and trace fossils" were collected, but only mammals are listed
Metadata
Database number:71941
Authorizer:J. Alroy, P. Coster, M. Uhen Enterer:J. Alroy, P. Coster, M. Uhen
Research group:vertebrate
Created:2007-05-17 17:58:03 Last modified:2007-05-17 20:58:03
Access level:the public Released:2007-05-17 17:58:03
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
24322. J. Kappelman, D. T. Rasmussen, W. J. Sanders, M. Feseha, T. Bown, P. Copeland, J. Crabaugh, J. Fleagle, M. Glantz, A. Gordon, B. Jacobs, M. Maga, K. Muldoon, A. Pan, L. Pyne, B. Richmond, T. Ryan, E. R. Seiffert, S. Sen, L. Todd, M. C. Wiemann and A. Winkler. 2003. Oligocene mammals from Ethiopia and faunal exchange between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia. Nature 426:549-552 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]

Secondary references:

57657 M. E. Lewis and M. Morlo. 2010. Creodonta. In L. Werdelin, W. J. Sanders (eds.), Cenozoic Mammals of Africa 549-566 [P. Coster/P. Coster]
24375 W. Sanders, J. Kappelman, and D. T. Rasmussen. 2004. New large−bodied mammals from the late Oligocene site of Chilga, Ethiopia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 49(3):365-392 [B. Beatty/B. Beatty]