The Bushveld Sandstone is a geological formation dating to roughly between 201 and 189 million years ago and covering the Carnian to Norian stages. The Bushveld Sandstone is found in Transvaal, South Africa, and is a member of the Stormberg Group. As its name suggests, it consists mainly of sandstone. Fossils of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus have been recovered from the Bushveld Sandstone.[1]
| Bushveld Sandstone | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Hettangian-Sinemurian ~ | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Stormberg Group |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Sandstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 22°48′S 29°18′E / 22.8°S 29.3°E |
| Approximate paleocoordinates | 37°54′S 4°42′E / 37.9°S 4.7°E |
| Region | Mpumalanga, Limpopo |
| Country |  South Africa |
  Bushveld Sandstone (South Africa) | |
The Bushveld Sandstone was thought to be Late Triassic age, but was considered to be temporally correlative to the Clarens Formation by Smith et al. (1993).[2]
Vertebrate fauna
editDinosaur tracks are located in Transvaal.[1]
| Dinosaurs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
| Gigantoscelus[1] | G. molengraaffi[1] | Geographically located in Transvaal.[1] | Remains now considered to be of indeterminate prosauropod origin.[1] "Distal femur."[3] | |
| Gryponyx[1] | G. transvaalensis[1] | Geographically located in Transvaal.[1] | Remains now considered to be of indeterminate prosauropod origin.[1] "Ungual, distal metatarsal."[3] | |
| Massospondylus[4] | M. carinatus[4] | Geographically located in Transvaal. Geochronologically located in Early Jurassic strata.[4] |  | |
Color key
|
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Triassic, Africa)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 528–529. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
- ^ Smith RMH, Eriksson PG, Botha WJ. A Review of the Stratigraphy and Sedimentary Environments of the Karoo-Aged Basins of Southern Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences. 1993;16:143–169. doi: 10.1016/0899-5362(93)90164-L.
- ^ a b "Table 12.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 236.
- ^ a b c Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Jurassic, Africa)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 535–536. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.