The Elliot Formation is a

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

and forms part of the

Stormberg Group The Stormberg Group is one of the four geological groups that comprises the Karoo Supergroup in South Africa. It is the uppermost geological group representing the final phase of preserved sedimentation of the Karoo Basin. The Stormberg Group ro ...

, the uppermost geological

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

that comprises the greater

Karoo Supergroup The Karoo Supergroup is the most widespread stratigraphic unit in Africa south of the Kalahari Desert. The supergroup consists of a sequence of units, mostly of nonmarine origin, deposited between the Late Carboniferous and Early Jurassic, a pe ...

Outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...

s of the Elliot Formation have been found in the northern Eastern Cape, southern Free State, and in the eastern

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

provinces of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. Outcrops and exposures are also found in several localities in

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a populatio ...

such as Qacha's Neck, Hill Top,

Quthing Moyeni is the capital city or camptown of Quthing District in Lesotho. Quthing was established in 1877, abandoned in the Gun War of 1880, and then rebuilt at its present site – the southernmost town in Lesotho.Maseru Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. ...

. The Elliot Formation is further divided into the lower (LEF) and upper (UEF) Elliot formations to differentiate significant sedimentological differences between these layers. The LEF is dominantly Late

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

(

Norian The Norian is a division of the Triassic Period. It has the rank of an age ( geochronology) or stage (chronostratigraphy). It lasted from ~227 to million years ago. It was preceded by the Carnian and succeeded by the Rhaetian. Stratigraphic ...

Hettangian The Hettangian is the earliest age and lowest stage of the Jurassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 201.3 ± 0.2 Ma and 199.3 ± 0.3 Ma (million years ago). The Hettangian follows the Rhaetian (part of the Triassi ...

) in age while the UEF is mainly Early

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

(

Sinemurian In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series. It spans the time between 199.3 ± 2 Ma and 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Sinemurian is preceded by the Hettangian an ...

Pliensbachian The Pliensbachian is an age of the geologic timescale and stage in the stratigraphic column. It is part of the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series and spans the time between 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma and 182.7 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The ...

) and is tentatively regarded to preserve a continental record of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in southern Africa. This geological formation is named after the town of

Elliot Elliot (also spelled Eliot, Elliotte, Elliott, Eliott and Elyot) is a personal name which can serve as either a surname or a given name. Although the given name has historically been given to males, females have increasingly been given the nam ...

in the Eastern Cape, and its

stratotype A stratotype or type section in geology is the physical location or outcrop of a particular reference exposure of a stratigraphic sequence or stratigraphic boundary. If the stratigraphic unit is layered, it is called a stratotype, whereas the stan ...

locality is located on the Barkly Pass, 9 km north of the town.

Geology

The Elliot Formation

unconformably An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval o ...

overlies the

Molteno Formation The Molteno Formation is a geological formation found in several localities in Lesotho and South Africa. It lies mainly south of Maseru, near Burgersdorp, Aliwal North, Dordrecht, Molteno, and Elliot. It extends as far north as Matatiele in the ...

and is conformably overlain by the Clarens Formation. Due to the reddish colour of the rocks, the Elliot Formation is colloquially referred to as the “Red Beds” in older geologic literature. The Elliot Formation is dominated by mudstones and

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, ...

s that can be finely

laminated Lamination is the technique/process of manufacturing a material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength, stability, sound insulation, appearance, or other properties from the use of the differing material ...

. However, the internal structures in the mudstones are often not visible due to locally poor laminations.

Calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an a ...

nodules Nodule may refer to: *Nodule (geology), a small rock or mineral cluster *Manganese nodule, a metallic concretion found on the seafloor *Nodule (medicine), a small aggregation of cells *Root nodule Root nodules are found on the roots of plants, p ...

are also found in the mudstone layers and become more frequent up section into the UEF. The mudstones range in colour from greyish purple red in the LEF and turn a more brick red colour with more mature palaeosols in the UEF. Localized intraformational

pebble A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules ( in diameter) and smaller than cobbles ( in diameter). A rock made predomina ...

conglomerates that comprise intrabasinal

clasts Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks ...

that comprise mud chips,

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...

pebbles,

pedogenic Soil formation, also known as pedogenesis, is the process of soil genesis as regulated by the effects of place, environment, and history. Biogeochemical processes act to both create and destroy order (anisotropy) within soils. These alterations l ...

, and

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

bone fragments only occur in the UEF. The lower and upper Elliot formations both contain

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 but they vary in their internal geometries. The sandstones of the LEF mainly comprise laterally accreting channel

deposits A deposit account is a bank account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and withdraw money. Deposit accounts can be savings accounts, current accounts or any of several other types of accounts explained below. ...

that are multi-story and contain trough, low angle, and planar,

cross-bedding In geology, cross-bedding, also known as cross-stratification, is layering within a stratum and at an angle to the main bedding plane. The sedimentary structures which result are roughly horizontal units composed of inclined layers. The origina ...

. Ripple cross laminations with good horizontal lamination are also present. In the UEF, sandstone beds are single story and mainly reflect downstream

accretion Accretion may refer to: Science * Accretion (astrophysics), the formation of planets and other bodies by collection of material through gravity * Accretion (meteorology), the process by which water vapor in clouds forms water droplets around nuc ...

channel geometries and are more tabular in appearance. Common internal

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

structures of UEF sandstones are planar, low angle cross-bedding, horizontal and ripple-cross laminations. The LEF was deposited in a

fluvio 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 flu ...

lacustrine A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

environment where rivers were more

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

and formed

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...

ing channel geometries, as evidenced by the presence of lateral accretion. However, this depositional environment changed at the onset of the UEF deposits where evidence of shallower river channels, longer periods of

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

stasis (mature palaeosols) and flash flood events (

nodule conglomerates) shows that the climate became more

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

Correlation

The Elliot Formation is currently considered to correlate chronostratigraphically with

s of the

Bodibeng Sandstone Bodibeng is a village in North-West District of Botswana. It is located in the southern part of the district, close to the Okavango Delta and Lake Ngami, and has a primary school. The population was 472 in 2001 census. References North ...

of the

Tuli Basin Tuli may refer to: Modern places (alphabetical by country) * Tülü, Balakan, Azerbaijan * Tülü, Lerik, Azerbaijan * Tuli (Trebinje), a settlement in the city of Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina * Tuli Block, a small region of Botswana * Tu ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

, the

Omingonde Formation The Omingonde Formation is an Early to Middle Triassic (Anisian to Ladinian) geologic formation, part of the Karoo Supergroup, in the western Otjozondjupa Region and northeastern Erongo Region of north-central Namibia. The formation has a maximum t ...

of the Etjo Basin in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

, and the

Chinle Formation The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. In ...

of the

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Paleontology

The Elliot Formation is well known for its diverse

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s. The most common dinosaur

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

is of the

sauropodomorph Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had l ...

species ''

Massospondylus carinatus ''Massospondylus'' ( ; from Greek, (massōn, "longer") and (spondylos, "vertebra")) is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic. (Hettangian to Pliensbachian ages, ca. 200–183 million years ago). It was described by S ...

''. Other species include '' Blikanasaurus cromptoni'', ''

Aardonyx celestae ''Aardonyx'' ( Afrikaans ''aard'', "earth" + Greek , "nail, claw") is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It is known from the type species ''Aardonyx celestae'' found from the Early Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa. ''A. c ...

'', ''

Euskelosaurus browni ''Euskelosaurus'' ("good leg lizard") is a sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic of South Africa and Lesotho. Fossils have only been recovered from the lower Elliot Formation in South Africa and Lesotho, and in one locality in Zi ...

'', ''

Antetonitrus ingenipes ''Antetonitrus'' is a genus of sauropod dinosaur found in the Early Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa. The only species is ''Antetonitrus ingenipes''. As one of the oldest known sauropods, it is crucial for the understanding of the o ...

'', ''

Pulanesaura eocollum ''Pulanesaura'' is an extinct genus of basal sauropod known from the Early Jurassic (late Hettangian to Sinemurian) Upper Elliot Formation of the Free State, South Africa. It contains a single species, ''Pulanesaura eocollum'', known from p ...

'', and the largest sauropodomorph yet found, ''

Ledumahadi mafube ''Ledumahadi'' (meaning "giant thunderclap" in Sesotho language) is a genus of lessemsaurid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Elliot Formation in Free State Province, South Africa. The type and only species is ''L. mafube'', ...

''. Fossilised ''Massospondylus''

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s, some with the fossilized remains of

embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sperm ...

s intact, have been recovered from UEF deposits in the

Golden Gate Highlands National Park Golden Gate Highlands National Park is located in Free State, South Africa, near the Lesotho border. It covers an area of . The park's most notable features are its golden, ochre, and orange-hued, deeply eroded sandstone cliffs and outcrops, es ...

. ''Euskelosaurus'' fossils are more common in the LEF while ''Massospondylus'' are only found in the UEF. The

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

ornithischia Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek ...

n dinosaurs, '' Heterodontosaurus tucki'', ''

Lesothosaurus diagnosticus ''Lesothosaurus'' is a monospecific genus of ornithischian dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic in what is now South Africa and Lesotho. It was named by paleontologist Peter Galton in 1978, the name meaning "lizard from Lesotho". The gen ...

'', ''

Abrictosaurus consors ''Abrictosaurus'' (; "wakeful lizard") is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic in what is now in parts of southern Africa such as Lesotho and South Africa. It was a bipedal herbivore or omnivore and was ...

'', and ''

Lycorhinus angustidens ''Lycorhinus'' is a genus of heterodontosaurid ornithischian dinosaur from the Early Jurassic (Hettangian to Sinemurian ages) strata of the Elliot Formation located in the Cape Province, South Africa. Description ''Lycorhinus'', includin ...

'' have also been recovered from the UEF. In addition this

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 ...

has yielded various

crocodylomorph Crocodylomorpha is a group of pseudosuchian archosaurs that includes the crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They were the only members of Pseudosuchia to survive the end-Triassic extinction. During Mesozoic and early Cenozoic times, cro ...

species, namely ''

Litargosuchus leptorhynchus ''Litargosuchus'' is a sphenosuchian crocodylomorph, a basal member of the crocodylomorph clade from the Early Jurassic of South Africa. Its genus name ''Litargosuchus'' is derived from Greek meaning "fast running crocodile" and its species nam ...

'', ''

Sphenosuchus acutus ''Sphenosuchus'' ("wedge crocodile") is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph from the Early Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa, discovered and described early in the 20th century. The skull is preserved very well but other than elements ...

'' and ''

Orthosuchus stormbergi ''Orthosuchus'' (meaning "straight crocodile") is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodyliform that lived during the Early Jurassic, about 196 million years ago. It was first discovered in 1963 in the Red Beds Formation in the Qacha's Nek Pr ...

''. A large theropod dinosaur, ''

Dracovenator regenti ''Dracovenator'' () is a genus of Neotheropoda, neotheropod dinosaur that lived approximately 201 to 199 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic Period (geology), Period in what is now South Africa. ''Dracovenator'' was a medium-s ...

'', has been found in the UEF.

Synapsid Synapsids + (, 'arch') > () "having a fused arch"; synonymous with ''theropsids'' (Greek, "beast-face") are one of the two major groups of animals that evolved from basal amniotes, the other being the sauropsids, the group that includes rep ...

s from the formation include the

dicynodont Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivorous animals with a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, typica ...

Pentasaurus goggai ''Pentasaurus'' is an extinct genus of dicynodont of the family Stahleckeriidae, closely related to the well known '' Placerias''. It was found in the Lower Elliot Formation of South Africa, dated to the Norian of the Late Triassic period ...

'' the tritheledontid

cynodont The cynodonts () ( clade Cynodontia) are a clade of eutheriodont therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 mya), and extensively diversified after the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Cynodonts had a wide variet ...

'' Elliotherium kersteni'' and the

mammaliaform Mammaliaformes ("mammalian forms") is a clade that contains the crown group mammals and their closest extinct relatives; the group radiated from earlier probainognathian cynodonts. It is defined as the clade originating from the most recent ...

Megazostrodon rudnerae ''Megazostrodon'' is an extinct genus of basal mammaliaforms belonging to the order Morganucodonta. It is approximately 200 million years old.

''. More recent

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxon, taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with vertebral column, backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the ...

fossil finds near the town Qhemegha in the Eastern Cape have yielded possible fossil material of a

poposauroid Poposauroidea is a clade of advanced pseudosuchians (archosaurs closer to crocodilians than to dinosaurs). It includes poposaurids, shuvosaurids, ctenosauriscids, and other unusual pseudosuchians such as '' Qianosuchus'' and '' Lotosaurus''. ...

pseudosuchia Pseudosuchia is one of two major divisions of Archosauria, including living crocodilians and all archosaurs more closely related to crocodilians than to birds. Pseudosuchians are also informally known as "crocodilian-line archosaurs". Prior to ...

n. The mudstones of the LEF sometimes yield

petrified wood Petrified wood, also known as petrified tree (from Ancient Greek meaning 'rock' or 'stone'; literally 'wood turned into stone'), is the name given to a special type of '' fossilized wood'', the fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. ' ...

, fossil plant matter,

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

es, and

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked ...

s while the

s of the upper Elliot Formation more often contain various

trace fossil A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, ...

s. These include vertebrate trackways of basal ornithischian dinosaurs found in the Leribe,

Mafeteng Mafeteng is a city in Lesotho, and the Camptown (capital city) of the district of Mafeteng. It is located about 76 kilometres south of the country's capital, Maseru and has a population of approximately 61,000. The South African border town to M ...

, and Mohales Hoek Districts of

. Possible trackways of the dicynodont ''Pentasaurus'' have been found on Morobong Hill in the

Mohales Hoek District Mohale's Hoek is a district of Lesotho. Mohale's Hoek is the capital city or camptown, and only town in the district. In the southwest, Mohale's Hoek borders on South Africa, while domestically, it borders on Mafeteng District in northwest, Ma ...

Dinosaurs of the Elliot Formation

Suchians of the Elliot Formation

Synapsids of the Elliot Formation

References

{{Geology of South Africa, formations Geologic formations of Lesotho Geologic formations of South Africa Stormberg Group Jurassic System of Africa Early Jurassic Africa Triassic System of Africa Late Triassic Africa Jurassic South Africa Triassic South Africa Norian Stage Rhaetian Stage Hettangian Stage Limestone formations Sandstone formations Mudstone formations Paleontology in Lesotho Paleontology in South Africa Karoo Geography of the Eastern Cape Geography of the Free State (province) Mafeteng District Maseru District Quthing District