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Mzamba Fossil beds Nomination- 9/2/503/0025

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Case Type: 

ProposalDescription: 

The Mzamba Fossil Bed is the earliest Upper Cretaceous fossil deposit known. The Formation gives a compacted record of the era between 80 and 86 million years ago, when the region had a beach and a shallow environment. The formation contains enormous trees, marine reptiles, extinct ammonites, and gigantic [up to one meter] mussels, sea urchins, snails, and other shell fossils. Dinosaur bone fragments have also been discovered near the mouth of the Mzamba River. Ammonites are significant indicator fossils that assist estimate the age of rocks and where continents united.

Expanded_Motivation: 

The Petrified Forest is a stretch of beach in the Eastern Cape Wild Coast that runs from the Wild Coast Casino to the Mzamba River Mouth. Large tree logs, turtle scutes, reptile remnants, comminuted shell material, shark teeth, and ammonites are among the fossils found in the cliffs and along the coastline. During low tide, foreshore reefs are visible for more than a kilometer along the beach. It is typical to see silicified tree trunks oriented east-northeast. Some are huge (up to five meters), while others are little bigger than a piece of braai wood. These logs have been petrified (rendered to stone), and their original shape has been preserved. The Mzamba Formation provides a compacted record of a beach and shallow sea environment in this location between between 86 and 80 million years ago (Klinger pers. comm.), with big trees, marine reptiles, extinct ammonites, and enormous (up to 1 m) mussels, sea urchins, snails, and other shell fossils. The Natural History Museum in London, the Northern Flagship Institution in Pretoria (Transvaal Museum), and Iziko, Museums of Cape Town (South African Museum), and the Albany Museum now hold the biggest collections of fossils from this locality. Because the fossil site covers a small time span compressed into less than 10 meters of rock, any fossil gathering should be done with caution.

ApplicationDate: 

Wednesday, October 13, 2021 - 14:37

CaseID: 

17323

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