The Elisabeth Bay Formation, alternatively spelled as Elizabeth Bay Formation, is an

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 Ma to 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). It was p ...

( Aquitanian to

Burdigalian The Burdigalian is, in the geologic timescale, an age or stage in the early Miocene. It spans the time between 20.43 ± 0.05 Ma and 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). Preceded by the Aquitanian, the Burdigalian was the first and longest war ...

, around 21 Ma) geologic

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

in the Sperrgebiet,

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of southwestern

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, overlying the Blaubok Conglomerate.Dauteuil et al., 2018, p.6 The freshwater green and red

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

s, intercalations of conglomerates and

claystone Mudrocks are a class of fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The varying types of mudrocks include siltstone, claystone, mudstone, slate, and shale. Most of the particles of which the stone is composed are less than and are too sm ...

s of the formation were deposited in a

fluvial In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluv ...

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, infilling a paleovalley incised during the Oligocene low sea stand, which backfilled during the

marine transgression.Pickford, 2018, p.88 The Elisabeth Bay Formation provides many fossil mammals, snakes and other reptiles.

Fossil content

The following fossils are reported from the formation:Grillental
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cre ...

.org ;Mammals * '' Afrosmilus africanus'' * '' Apodecter stromeri'' * '' Bathyergoides neotertiarius'' * '' Diamantomys luederitzi'' * '' Leptoplesictis senutae'' * '' Metapterodon kaiseri'' * '' Miohyrax oswaldi'' * '' Namasector soriae'' * '' Parapedetes namaquensis'' * '' Promicrogale namibiensis''Pickford, 2018, p.89 * '' Isohyaenodon sp.'' * '' Ysengrinia sp.'' * Viverridae indet. ;Reptiles * '' cf. Python'' * Amphisbaenia indet. * Boidae indet. * Colubridae indet. * Colubroidea indet. * Gekkonidae indet. * Lacertilia indet. * Viperidae indet.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite LSA , last=Pickford , first=Martin , year=2018 , title=Tenrecoid mandible from Elisabethfeld (Early Miocene) Namibia , url=http://www.mme.gov.na/files/publications/5bf_Pickford2018_Tenrecoid%20mandible%20from%20the%20Sperrgebiet.pdf , journal=Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia , volume=18 , pages=87–92 , accessdate=2018-08-26

Fossil content

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading