Late middle Eocene epoch of Libya yields earliest known radiation of African anthropoids

المجلة: Nature Publishing Group UK

سنة النشر: 2010

تاريخ النشر: 2010-10-28

Reconstructing the early evolutionary history of anthropoid primates is hindered by a lack of consensus on both the timing and biogeography of anthropoid origins1,2,3. Some prefer an ancient (Cretaceous) origin for anthropoids in Africa or some other Gondwanan landmass4, whereas others advocate a more recent (early Cenozoic) origin for anthropoids in Asia1,2,5, with subsequent dispersal of one or more early anthropoid taxa to Africa. The oldest undoubted African anthropoid primates described so far are three species of the parapithecid Biretia from the late middle Eocene Bir El Ater locality of Algeria6 and the late Eocene BQ-2 site in the Fayum region of northern Egypt7. Here we report the discovery of the oldest known diverse assemblage of African anthropoids from the late middle Eocene Dur At-Talah escarpment in central Libya. The primate assemblage from Dur At-Talah includes diminutive species pertaining to three higher-level anthropoid clades (Afrotarsiidae, Parapithecidae and Oligopithecidae) as well as a small species of the early strepsirhine primate Karanisia. The high taxonomic diversity of anthropoids at Dur At-Talah indicates either a much longer interval of anthropoid evolution in Africa than is currently documented in the fossil record or the nearly synchronous colonization of Africa by multiple anthropoid clades at some time during the middle Eocene epoch.

Fault-scarp degradation in the central exmouth plateau, north west shelf, Australia

المجلة: The Geological Society of Lond

سنة النشر: 2020

تاريخ النشر: 2018-07-05

Latest Triassic–earliest Late Jurassic domino-style extensional faulting in the central Exmouth Plateau, North West Shelf of Australia, exhibits footwall degradation scarps with up to 1.8 km of scarp retreat of the Upper Triassic Mungaroo Formation. Extensional fault-propagation folding, rotation and uplift produced gravitationally driven scarp collapse of the incompetent and mudstone-dominated uppermost Mungaroo Formation. Scarp degradation occurred along the entire extent of the footwalls of three major faults within the research area. Individual segments display listric fault surfaces in cross-section and scoop-shaped scars in three dimensions. The listric collapse faults dip towards the erosional scarp and sole out at different levels within the upper Triassic Mungaroo Formation. Footwall crestal collapse formed coalesced, scoop-shaped degradation scarps with Mungaroo Formation debris deposited as wedges within the adjacent hanging-wall synclines. Maximum scarp degradation occurred at the fault centres and decreased towards the fault tips. This study proposes new three-dimensional evolutionary structural models for the fault-scarp degradation in the central Exmouth Plateau.

3D structure and evolution of an extensional fault network of the eastern Dampier Sub-basin, North West Shelf of Australia

المجلة: Journal of Structural Geology

سنة النشر: 2020

تاريخ النشر: 2020-03-01

nsights of spatial and temporal development of fault network in 3D is crucial for understanding the process evolution of complex fault network and for evaluating the regional and local stresses control on structure development. We demonstrate a fault network on the eastern Dampier Sub-basin, North West Shelf of Australia, which consists of (1) a ENE-trending fault array that has a through-going segment at depth and a series of left-stepping fault splays at upper levels, and (2) a network of ENE- and NNE-trending intersecting faults decoupled from the basement structures. This research shows that the segmented ENE-trending fault array developed through three extensional phases in the Late Paleozoic, in the Early Jurassic, and in the Late Middle Jurassic. Fault analysis shows that the summed displacement of the segmented, en échelon faults behaves as a single fault and that the basement fault controlled the fault array in the upper section through vertical linkages– a typical coherent fault system. The NNE- and ENE-trending intersecting faults formed simultaneously in the Late Middle Jurassic; as such, they might have controlled by 3D strain field released from the Rosemary and Mermaid fault systems bounding the fault network. This implies that fault geometry derived from 3D seismic interpretation need to be treated with caution as the alignment of fault sets may not directly relate to regional, far-field stress but, in some cases, significantly modified by local stresses induced by reactivated larger faults. This study provides an analogue for the interpretation of other rift systems, where structures were controlled by competing forces of regional and local stresses and where reactivated and newly-formed structures coexist in polyphase of extensions.