Asma Tahir, Huazhou Yao, Junaid Khan, Yangui Li, He Zhao, Yue Yu, Tang Yuan
{"title":"藏东高原贡觉盆地首次记录中始新世大象祖先的足迹","authors":"Asma Tahir, Huazhou Yao, Junaid Khan, Yangui Li, He Zhao, Yue Yu, Tang Yuan","doi":"10.1007/s12583-023-1946-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>It is the first time that the fossil footprints of a group of Middle Eocene elephant ancestors have been discovered in the Gonjo Basin, East Tibet Plateau. The Gonjo Formation is attributed to the Middle Eocene Epoch (U-Pb age = 44.7 ± 1.2 Ma) and consists mainly of purplish-red, medium- to coarse-grained sandstones, siltstones interbedded with mudstones, and conglomerates with sedimentary structures like ripple marks, rip-up clasts, and trough-cross bedding, suggesting fluvial-lacustrine systems. The group of fossil footprints has a characteristic oval-concave shape, and the toe impressions are absent. Some fossil footprints are overstepped with a pockmarked texture resembling <i>Proboscipeda enigmatica</i>. More than 165 fossil footprints of the group are relatively well-preserved with different diameters, which is evidence of highly social behavior and trackmakers of different ages, including calves, juveniles, adolescents, and adults. The size frequency of the fossil footprints enabled us to deduce the body mass, shoulder height, and hip-height distribution of the trackmakers that crossed the East Tibet Plateau 44.7 Ma ago. The trackmakers comprised an estimated average hip-height of 111.8 cm, an average shoulder height of 172.8 cm for males/155.9 cm for females, and an average body mass of approximately 1 218.1 kg for males/907.8 kg for females. The abundance of fossil footprints reveals that in the Middle Eocene Epoch, the environment was extraordinarily conducive for the elephant ancestors to live in the East Tibet region.</p>","PeriodicalId":15607,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Earth Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"First Record of Middle Eocene Elephant Ancestors’ Footprints in the Gonjo Basin, East Tibet Plateau\",\"authors\":\"Asma Tahir, Huazhou Yao, Junaid Khan, Yangui Li, He Zhao, Yue Yu, Tang Yuan\",\"doi\":\"10.1007/s12583-023-1946-6\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p>It is the first time that the fossil footprints of a group of Middle Eocene elephant ancestors have been discovered in the Gonjo Basin, East Tibet Plateau. The Gonjo Formation is attributed to the Middle Eocene Epoch (U-Pb age = 44.7 ± 1.2 Ma) and consists mainly of purplish-red, medium- to coarse-grained sandstones, siltstones interbedded with mudstones, and conglomerates with sedimentary structures like ripple marks, rip-up clasts, and trough-cross bedding, suggesting fluvial-lacustrine systems. The group of fossil footprints has a characteristic oval-concave shape, and the toe impressions are absent. Some fossil footprints are overstepped with a pockmarked texture resembling <i>Proboscipeda enigmatica</i>. More than 165 fossil footprints of the group are relatively well-preserved with different diameters, which is evidence of highly social behavior and trackmakers of different ages, including calves, juveniles, adolescents, and adults. The size frequency of the fossil footprints enabled us to deduce the body mass, shoulder height, and hip-height distribution of the trackmakers that crossed the East Tibet Plateau 44.7 Ma ago. The trackmakers comprised an estimated average hip-height of 111.8 cm, an average shoulder height of 172.8 cm for males/155.9 cm for females, and an average body mass of approximately 1 218.1 kg for males/907.8 kg for females. The abundance of fossil footprints reveals that in the Middle Eocene Epoch, the environment was extraordinarily conducive for the elephant ancestors to live in the East Tibet region.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":15607,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Journal of Earth Science\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":4.1000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-08-14\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Journal of Earth Science\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"89\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-023-1946-6\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"地球科学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Earth Science","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-023-1946-6","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
First Record of Middle Eocene Elephant Ancestors’ Footprints in the Gonjo Basin, East Tibet Plateau
It is the first time that the fossil footprints of a group of Middle Eocene elephant ancestors have been discovered in the Gonjo Basin, East Tibet Plateau. The Gonjo Formation is attributed to the Middle Eocene Epoch (U-Pb age = 44.7 ± 1.2 Ma) and consists mainly of purplish-red, medium- to coarse-grained sandstones, siltstones interbedded with mudstones, and conglomerates with sedimentary structures like ripple marks, rip-up clasts, and trough-cross bedding, suggesting fluvial-lacustrine systems. The group of fossil footprints has a characteristic oval-concave shape, and the toe impressions are absent. Some fossil footprints are overstepped with a pockmarked texture resembling Proboscipeda enigmatica. More than 165 fossil footprints of the group are relatively well-preserved with different diameters, which is evidence of highly social behavior and trackmakers of different ages, including calves, juveniles, adolescents, and adults. The size frequency of the fossil footprints enabled us to deduce the body mass, shoulder height, and hip-height distribution of the trackmakers that crossed the East Tibet Plateau 44.7 Ma ago. The trackmakers comprised an estimated average hip-height of 111.8 cm, an average shoulder height of 172.8 cm for males/155.9 cm for females, and an average body mass of approximately 1 218.1 kg for males/907.8 kg for females. The abundance of fossil footprints reveals that in the Middle Eocene Epoch, the environment was extraordinarily conducive for the elephant ancestors to live in the East Tibet region.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Earth Science (previously known as Journal of China University of Geosciences), issued bimonthly through China University of Geosciences, covers all branches of geology and related technology in the exploration and utilization of earth resources. Founded in 1990 as the Journal of China University of Geosciences, this publication is expanding its breadth of coverage to an international scope. Coverage includes such topics as geology, petrology, mineralogy, ore deposit geology, tectonics, paleontology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry, geophysics and environmental sciences.
Articles published in recent issues include Tectonics in the Northwestern West Philippine Basin; Creep Damage Characteristics of Soft Rock under Disturbance Loads; Simplicial Indicator Kriging; Tephra Discovered in High Resolution Peat Sediment and Its Indication to Climatic Event.
The journal offers discussion of new theories, methods and discoveries; reports on recent achievements in the geosciences; and timely reviews of selected subjects.