A new vertebrate fauna from the Cretaceous Red Sandstone Group, Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania

O’Connor, Patrick M.; Gottfried, Michael D.; Stevens, Nancy J.; Roberts, Eric M.; Ngasala, Sifael; Kapilima, Saidi; Chami, Remigius

doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2005.11.022

Cited by 44 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…gittelmani and M . dixeyi further supports the notion that the Dinosaur Beds of Malawi and the Galula Formation may only be partially coeval units, and as a consequence, that they would only share limited faunal similarity as had been previously postulated [4]. This may, in part, be a temporal bias as the Aptian assignment for the Dinosaur Beds is based on two fragmentary ostracodes and relatively coarse vertebrate biostratigraphy [34, 116].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

A new African Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation (Mtuka Member), Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania

Gorscak

O’Connor

2019

PLoS ONE

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The African terrestrial fossil record has been limited in its contribution to our understanding of both regional and global Cretaceous paleobiogeography, an interval of significant geologic and macroevolutionary change. A common component in Cretaceous African faunas, titanosaurian sauropods diversified into one of the most specious groups of dinosaurs worldwide. Here we describe the new titanosaurian Mnyamawamtuka moyowamkia gen. et sp. nov. from the Mtuka Member of the Galula Formation in southwest Tanzania. The new specimen preserves teeth, elements from all regions of the postcranial axial skeleton, parts of both appendicular girdles, and portions of both limbs including a complete metatarsus. Unique traits of M . moyowamkia include the lack of an interpostzygapophyseal lamina in posterior dorsal vertebrae, pronounced posterolateral expansion of middle caudal centra, and an unusually small sternal plate. Phylogenetic analyses consistently place M . moyowamkia as either a close relative to lithostrotian titanosaurians (e.g., parsimony, uncalibrated Bayesian analyses) or as a lithostrotian and sister taxon to Malawisaurus dixeyi from the nearby Aptian? Dinosaur Beds of Malawi (e.g., tip-dating Bayesian analyses). M . moyowamkia shares a few features with M . dixeyi , including semi-spatulate teeth and a median lamina between the neural canal and interpostzygapophyseal lamina in anterior dorsal vertebrae. Both comparative morphology and phylogenetic analyses support Mnyamawamtuka as a distinct and distant relative to Rukwatitan bisepultus and Shingopana songwensis from the younger Namba Member of the Galula Formation with these results largely congruent with newly constrained ages for the Mtuka Member (Aptian–Cenomanian) and Namba Member (Campanian). Coupled with recent discoveries from the Dahkla Oasis, Egypt (e.g., Mansourasaurus shahinae ) and other parts of continental Afro-Arabia, the Tanzania titanosaurians refine perspectives on the development of African terrestrial faunas throughout the Cretaceous—a critical step in understanding non-marine paleobiogeographic patterns of Africa that have remained elusive until the past few years.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

A new African Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation (Mtuka Member), Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania

Gorscak

O’Connor

2019

PLoS ONE

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“…Recovered divergence dates for South American and African titanosaurian sister lineages follow the gradual northward 'unzipping' of these two continents and may have promoted the semi-isolation of subequatorial African faunas [32,33] prior to final separation (approx. 100 Ma; [34][35][36][37][38] (c) Late Cretaceous (Turonian-Maastrichtian)…”

Section: (B) Mid-cretaceous (Aptian -Cenomanian)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Time-calibrated models support congruency between Cretaceous continental rifting and titanosaurian evolutionary history

Gorscak

O’Connor

2016

Biol. Lett.

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“…Lake Albert may be similar to the other oblique trend in the western branch associated with Lake Rukwa, where Cretaceous and Karroo trends underlie Cenozoic sediments [ Roberts et al , 2004]. Recent vertebrate fossil discoveries indicate that the lower part of the Red Sandstone Group in the Rukwa rift is of Cretaceous age [ Krause et al , 2003, O'Connor et al , 2006]. Consequently out of ∼10km thickness of sedimentary rock (Karroo, Cretaceous and Tertiary) [ Morley et al , 1999] only a maximum of ∼4 km maybe of late Tertiary age.…”

Section: Numerical Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonic inheritance and continental rift architecture: Numerical and analogue models of the East African Rift system

et al. 2007

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[1] The western branch of the East African Rift is composed of an arcuate succession of elongate asymmetric basins, which differ in terms of interaction geometry, fault architecture and kinematics, and patterns of uplift/subsidence and erosion/sedimentation. The basins are located within Proterozoic mobile belts at the edge of the strong Tanzanian craton; surface geology suggests that the geometry of these weak zones is an important parameter in controlling rift development and architecture, although other processes have been proposed. In this study, we use lithosphere-scale numerical models and crustal-scale analogue experiments to shed light on the relations between preexisting structures and rift architecture. Results illustrate that on a regional scale, rift localization within the mobile belts at the curved craton's western border results in an arcuate rift system, which implies that under a constant extensional stress field, part of the western branch experienced orthogonal extension and part oblique extension. Largest depocenters are predicted to form mostly orthogonal to the extension direction, and smaller depocenters will form along the oblique parts of the rift. The varying extension direction along the rift zone furthermore results in lengthwise varying rift asymmetry, segmentation characteristics, and border fault architecture (trend, length, and kinematics). Analogue models predict that discrete upper crustal fabrics may influence the location of accommodation zones and control the architecture of extension-related faults at a local scale. Models support that fabric reactivation is responsible for the oblique-slip kinematics on faults and for the development of Zshaped or arcuate normal faults typically documented in nature. Citation: Corti, G., J. van Wijk, S. Cloetingh, and C. K.Morley (2007), Tectonic inheritance and continental rift architecture: Numerical and analogue models of the East African Rift system, Tectonics, 26, TC6006,

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A new vertebrate fauna from the Cretaceous Red Sandstone Group, Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania

Cited by 44 publications

References 73 publications

A new African Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation (Mtuka Member), Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania

A new African Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation (Mtuka Member), Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania

Time-calibrated models support congruency between Cretaceous continental rifting and titanosaurian evolutionary history

Tectonic inheritance and continental rift architecture: Numerical and analogue models of the East African Rift system

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