The Paleontology of Gran Barranca: Evolution and Environmental Change through the Middle Cenozoic of Patagonia

by Edited by Richard H. Madden , Alfredo A. Carlini , Maria Guiomar Vucetich , Richard F. Kay

• ISBN13: 9780521872416
• ISBN10: 0521872413
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-07-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Gran Barranca in Patagonia exposes the most complete sequence of middle Cenozoic paleofaunas in South America. It is the only continuous continental fossil record of the Southern Hemisphere between 42 and 18 million years ago, when climates at high latitudes transitioned from warm humid to cold dry conditions. This volume presents the geochronology of the fossil mammal sequence and a compilation of the latest studies of the stratigraphy, sedimentology, mammals, plants, invertebrates and trace fossils. It is also the first detailed treatment of the vertebrate faunal sequence at Gran Barranca, providing important new evidence about biotic diversity and evolution in the native species. A revised taxonomy allows a reevaluation of the origination and extinction of herbivorous mammals, marsupials, and xenarthrans, and the earliest occurrence of rodents and primates in southern latitudes. Academic researchers and advanced students in vertebrate paleontology, geochronology, sedimentology and paleoprimatology will value this wealth of new information.

Table of Contents

Preface

List of contributors

Notes toward a history of vertebrate paleontology at Gran Barranca

Geology

Physical stratigraphy of the Sarmiento Formation (middle Eocene - lower Miocene) at Gran Barranca, central Patagonia

Paleomagnetism and magnetostratigraphy of the Sarmiento Formation (Eocene-Miocene) at Gran Barranca, Chubut, Argentina

A geochronology for the Sarmiento Formation at Gran Barranca

Systematic Palaeontology

Middle Eocene - Oligocene gastropods of the Sarmiento Formation, central Patagonia

Middle Tertiary marsupials from central Patagonia (early Oligocene of Gran Barranca): understanding South America's Grande Coupure

Middle Eocene - Early Miocene Dasypodidae (Xenarthra) of southern South America: biostratigraphy and palaeoecology

The 'Condylarth' Didolodontidae from Gran Barranca: history of the bunodont South American mammals until the Eocene-Oligocene transition

The Notohippidae (Mammalia, Notoungulata) from Gran Barranca: preliminary considerations

Rodent-like notoungulates (Typotheria) from Gran Barranca, Chubut Province, Argentina: phylogeny and systematics

The Leontiniidae (Mammalia, Notoungulata) from the Sarmiento Formation at Gran Barranca, Chubut Province, Argentina

Colhuehuapian Astrapotheriidae (Mammalia) from Gran Barranca south of Lake Colhue Huapi

The rodents from La Cantera and the early evolution of caviomorphs in South America

Colhuehuapian rodents from Gran Barranca and other Patagonian localities: the state of the art

A new primate from the early Miocene of Gran Barranca, Chubut Province, Argentina: paleoecological implications

Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from Gran Barranca (early Miocene, Colhuehuapian), Chubut Province, Argentina

Patterns of Evolution and Environmental Change

The Mustersan age at Gran Barranca: a review

A new mammal fauna at the top of the Gran Barranca sequence and its biochronological significance

Loessic and fluvial sedimentation in Sarmiento Formation pyroclastics,middle Cenozoic of central Patagonia

Paleosols of the Middle Cenozoic Sarmiento Formation, central Patagonia

Ichnofacies analysis of the Sarmiento Formation (middle Eocene-early Miocene) at Gran Barranca, central Patagonia

Phytolith studies in Gran Barranca (central Patagonia, Argentina), the middle-late Eocene

Stable isotopes of fossil teeth and bones at Gran Barranca as a monitor of climate change and tectonics

Hypsodonty and body size in rodent like notoungulates

Regional Applications

Vegetation during the Eocene-Miocene interval in central Patagonia: a context of mammal evolution

Paleogene climatic and biotic events in the terrestrial record of the Antarctic Peninsula: an overview

Mid-Cenozoic palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic trends in the southwestern Atlantic basins, a dinoflagellate view

Divisaderan land mammal age or local fauna?

Summary

Gran Barranca: a twenty-three million year record of Middle-Cenozoic faunal evolution in Patagonia

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.