ammonites
Waboomberg Formation (4th Shale), Tafelberg (Devonian of South Africa)

Where: South Africa (33.0° S, 19.4° E: paleocoordinates 66.0° S, 154.6° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Waboomberg Formation (Bokkeveld Group), Eifelian (391.9 - 388.1 Ma)

• Upper Eifelian. Age call from ref. 9618.

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; bioturbated, intraclastic siltstone and bioturbated, intraclastic mudstone

• Ref. 9618 gives interpretation of Bokkeveld Group as a series of shallowing-upward packages, with argillaceous unit below and arenaceous unit above. Waboomberg Formation is the "fourth shale", i.e. the fourth argillaceous unit. The shallowing upward sequence is interpreted as representing environments from the shelf up to deltaic systems. Most fossils come from lower mudstones, often in lenses.
• Ref. 9616 refers only to "shale". Ref. 9617, for formation as a whole, cites "Siltstone and mudstone, rare thin bedded sandstone, massive or horizontal and ripple laminated, intraclast lenses bioturbated, fossiliferous lenses"

Primary reference: R. D. F. Oosthuizen. 1984. Preliminary catalogue and report on the biostratigraphy and palaeogeographic distribution of the Bokkeveld fauna. Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa 87:125-140 [M. Foote/M. Foote/M. Foote] more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 35597: authorized by Michael Foote, entered by Michael Foote on 30.12.2003, edited by Pete Wagner