Klein Spitzkop

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Skeletal imprints in whitish weathered claystones of the Whitehill Formation in the Spitzkoppe-Ost fossilization near Keetmanshoop , Namibia

In the central south of Namibia in the vicinity of the city of Keetmanshoop in the Keetmanshoop Land constituency, there are various sites of fossils , especially Mesosaurus , among others

  • on farm Spitzkoppe-Ost, No. 159 and
  • on Farm Klein Spitzkop, No. 153.

Spitzkoppe-Ost

The Spitzkoppe-Ost farm is characterized by the occurrence of numerous fossils of the Permian water reptile Mesosaurus . The site was discovered in 1988 by the farm owner Giel Steenkamp and his then ten-year-old son Hendrik while repairing a farm road.

geology

The location is on the southern edge of the Aranos Basin , the western sub-basin of the Kalahari Karoo Basin, in the outcrop of the Whitehill Formation of the Ecca group of the Karoo supergroup . see. Also called "White Band" called Formation consists of whitish verwitterndem, platy Schwarztonstein and is adjacent to the facies very similar Irati formation of the Paraná Basin in Brazil, the only common continental scale Mesosaurier-leading layer sequence. Both formations have been dated radiometrically to an early Permian age (approx. 280 million years). The Mesosaurus skeletons are typically preserved as imprints in the claystone . In addition to Klein Spitzkop, there are other Mesosaurus sites in the outcrop of the Whitehill Formation in the vicinity of Keetmanshoop , including the Kabus locality, from which Ernst Stromer reported the first Mesosaurus finds from Namibia in 1914 .

The occurrence of mesosaurs both in Brazil and in southern Africa served Alfred Wegener in 1915 as evidence for his theory of continental drift .

tourism

"Playground of the Giants"

The fossil site as well as the scenic and historical features of the region are geotouristically marketed under the names Mesosaurus Fossil Site or Mesosaurus Fossil Bush Camp . At the site of the find are, among other things, graves of members of the protection force for German South West Africa , ruins of a police station from the time of South West Africa , a quiver tree forest and a "playground of the giants". The latter means cubic dolerite formations. The farm owner offers daily guided tours and overnight accommodation. The camp is located around 40 km northeast of Keetmanshoop on the road to Koës .

Web links

Commons : Mesosaurus fossil site Keetmanshoop  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Mesosaurus Fossil Site. Official website
  2. ↑ a b Mario Werner: The stratigraphy, sedimentology, and age of the Late Palaeozoic Mesosaurus Inland Sea, SW-Gondwana: new implications from studies on sediments and altered pyroclastic layers of the Dwyka and Ecca Group (lower Karoo Supergroup) in southern Namibia. Dissertation, Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Würzburg, 2006, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 20-opus-21757
  3. ↑ John L. Isbell, Douglas I. Cole, Octavian Catuneanu: Carboniferous-Permian glaciation in the main Karoo Basin, South Africa: Stratigraphy, depositional controls, and glacial dynamics. Pp. 71-82 in: Christopher R. Fielding, Tracy D. Frank, John L. Isbell (Eds.): Resolving the Late Paleozoic Ice Age in Time and Space. Geological Society Special Paper 441, 2008, doi: 10.1130 / 2008.2441 (05)
  4. ^ A b Martin Pickford: Karoo-Supergroup palaeontology of Namibia and brief description of a thecodont from Omingonde. Palaeontologia africana. Vol. 32, 1995, pp. 51-66, PDF (4 MB)
  5. ↑ Burger W. Oelofsen, Dina C. Araújo: Mesosaurus tenuidens and Stereosternum tumidum from the Permian Gondwana of Both Southern Africa and South America. South African Journal of Science. Vol. 83, No. 6, 1987, ISSN  0038-2353 , pp. 370-372.
  6. ^ Robert Ianuzzi, Paulo A. Souza, Michael Holz: Stratigraphic and paleofloristic record of the Lower Permian postglacial succession in the southern Brazilian Paraná Basin. Pp. 113–132 in: Oscar R. López-Galmundi, Luis A. Buatois (Eds.): Late Paleozoic Glacial Events and Postglacial Transgressions in Gondwana. Geological Society Special Paper 468, 2010, doi: 10.1130 / 2010.2468 (05) , p. 117
  7. ↑ Ernst Stromer: The first fossil reptile remains from German South West Africa and their geological significance. Central Journal for Mineralogy, Geology and Paleontology. Born in 1914, pp. 530-541 ( BHL )

Coordinates: 26 ° 24 ′  S , 18 ° 30 ′  E