Tra-Tra Formation (3rd Shale), Grootrivier (Devonian of South Africa)

Where: South Africa (32.6° S, 19.4° E: paleocoordinates 65.7° S, 154.3° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Tra-Tra Formation (Bokkeveld Group), Eifelian (393.3 - 387.7 Ma)

• Age call from ref. 9618.

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; bioturbated, intraclastic siltstone and bioturbated, intraclastic, silty mudstone

• Ref. 9618 gives interpretation of Bokkeveld Group as a series of shallowing-upward packages, with argillaceous unit below and arenaceous unit above. Tra-Tra Formation is the "third shale", i.e. the third argillaceous unit. The shallowing upward sequence is interpreted as representing environments from the shelf up to deltaic systems. Most fossils come from lower mudstones, often in lenses.
• Ref. 9616 refers only to "shale". Ref. 9617, for formation as a whole, cites "Siltstone and silty mudstone and minor thin-bedded, sandstone, ripple and micro cross laminated, abundant ripple marks, bioturbation and trace fossils, thin intraclast lenses, plant fragments"

Primary reference: R. D. F. Oosthuizen. 1984. Preliminary catalogue and report on the biostratigraphy and palaeogeographic distribution of the Bokkeveld fauna. Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa 87:125-140 [M. Foote/M. Foote/M. Foote]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 35596: authorized by Michael Foote, entered by Michael Foote on 30.12.2003

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

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Rhynchonellata
 Spiriferida - Hysterolitidae
Australospirifer ? antarcticus
Crinoidea
  -
Crinoidea indet.
Crinoidea indet. Miller 1821 Sea lily