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Geological Setting and Age of Australopithecus sediba from Southern Africa.
- Source :
-
Science . 4/9/2010, Vol. 328 Issue 5975, p205-208. 4p. - Publication Year :
- 2010
-
Abstract
- We describe the geological, geochronological, geomorphological, and faunal context of the Malapa site and the fossils of Australopithecus sediba. The hominins occur with a macrofauna assemblage that existed in Africa between 2.36 and 1.50 million years ago (Ma). The fossils are encased in water-laid, clastic sediments that were deposited along the lower parts of what is now a deeply eroded cave system, immediately above a flowstone layer with a U-Pb date of 2.026 ± 0.021 Ma. The flowstone has a reversed paleomagnetic signature and the overlying hominin-bearing sediments are of normal polarity, indicating deposition during the 1.95- to 1.78-Ma Olduvai Subchron. The two hominin specimens were buried together in a single debris flow that lithified soon after deposition in a phreatic environment inaccessible to scavengers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00368075
- Volume :
- 328
- Issue :
- 5975
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 49483797
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1184950