The Chitarwata Formation is a geological formation in western Pakistan, made up of Oligocene and early Miocene terrestrial fluvial facies. The sediments were deposited in coastal depositional environments (estuarine, strandplain and tidal flats) when Pakistan was partly covered by the Tethys Ocean.
Chitarwata Formation | |
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Stratigraphic range: Early Oligocene (Tabenbulakian)-Early Miocene ~ | |
Type | Geological formation |
Sub-units | Bugti Member |
Overlies | Vihowa Formation |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone |
Other | Claystone |
Location | |
Coordinates | 29°00′N 69°00′E / 29.0°N 69.0°E |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 19°24′N 67°42′E / 19.4°N 67.7°E |
Region | Balochistan |
Country | ![]() |
Type section | |
Named for | Chitarwata |
Paleomagnetic data indicates an age range of around 28 to 17 million years ago, with its base in the Oligocene, and its upper boundary, where it meets the overlying Vihowa Formation, of the Early Miocene.
Together with the Vihowa Formation, the Chitarwata Formation records the sedimentation of the Himalayan foreland basin during the collision of the Indian and Asian tectonic plates, the transition from marginal marine to fluvial environments, and the rise of the Himalayas.
Fossil content
editThe Chitarwata Formation has provided a wealth of terrestrial mammal fossils of the late Paleogene and early Neogene, or Tabenbulakian; the last of the Asian land mammal ages (ALMA).
Among many others, the following fossils are reported from the formation:[1]
Mammals
editArtiodactyl
editAnthracothere
editAnthracotheriidaes of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Anthracotherium | A. adiposum | |||||
A. bugtiense | ||||||
A. silistrense | ||||||
Bugtitherium | B. grandincisivum | |||||
Microbunodon | M. silistrense | |||||
Parabrachyodus | P. hyopotamoides | |||||
Sivameryx | S. palaeindicus |
Entelodonts
editEntelodonts of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Paraentelodon | P. sp. |
Giraffid
editGiraffids of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Progiraffa | P. exigua |
lophiomerycids
editlophiomerycidaes of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Nalameryx | N. savagei | |||||
N. sulaimani | ||||||
Lophibaluchia | L. pilbeami | |||||
Lophiomeryx | L. kargilensis |
Ruminants
editRuminants of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Bugtimeryx | B. pilgrimi | |||||
Paalitherium | P. gurki |
Perissodactyl
editParaceratheriidae
editParaceratheriidaes of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Buzdartherium | B. gulkirao | |||||
Paraceratherium | P. bugtiense |
Rhinocerotidae
editRhinocerotidaes of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Aprotodon | A. smithwoodwardi | |||||
Brachypotherium | B. fatehjangense | |||||
Epiaceratherium | E. magnum | |||||
Pleuroceros | P. blanfordi |
Marsupials
editMarsupials of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Asiadidelphis | A. akbarbugtii |
Rodents
editRodents of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Atavocricetodon | A. paaliense | |||||
Baluchimys | B. barryi | |||||
B. chaudryi, | ||||||
B. ganeshapher | ||||||
Bugtimys | B. zafarullahi | |||||
Downsimys | D. margolisi | |||||
Fallomus | F. ginsburgi | |||||
F. quraishyi | ||||||
F. razae | ||||||
Hodsahibia | H. azrae | |||||
H. beamshaiensis | ||||||
H. gracilis | ||||||
Lindsaya | L.derabugtiensis | |||||
Primus | P. cheemai | |||||
P. microps | ||||||
Spanocricetodon | S. sulaiman | |||||
Prokanisamys | P. arifi | |||||
P. kowalskii | ||||||
Pseudocricetodon | P. nawabi | |||||
Zindapiria | Z. quadricollis |
Primates
editPrimates of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Bugtilemur | B. mathesoni | |||||
Bugtipithecus | B. inexpectans | |||||
Guangxilemur | Guangxilemur singsilai | |||||
Phileosimias | P. brahuiorum | |||||
P. kamali |
Proboscidean
editProboscideans of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Deinotherium | D. sp. |
Reptiles
editReptiles of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Asifcroco | A. retrai | A crocodilian. | ||||
Astorgosuchus | A. bugtiensis | A crocodilian. |
Fish
editFishs of the Chitarwata Formation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Materials | Notes | Image | |
Carcharhinus | C. balochenisis | |||||
C. perseus | ||||||
Cretolamna | Cretolamna twiggensis | |||||
Hemipristis | H. heteropleurus | |||||
Nebrius | N. obliquum |
References
edit- ^ Chitarwata Formation at Fossilworks.org
Further reading
edit- S. Adnet, P. -O. Antoine, S. R. Hassan Baqri, J. Crochet, L. Marivaux, J. Welcomme, and G. Métais. 2007. New tropical carcharhinids (chondrichthyes, Carcharhiniformes) from the late Eocene–early Oligocene of Balochistan, Pakistan: Paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic implications. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 30(2):303-323
- G. Métais, P.-O. Antoine, S. R. H. Baqri, M. Benammi, J.-Y. Crochet, D. Franceschi, L. Marivaux and J.-L. Welcomme. 2006. New remains of the enigmatic cetartiodactyl Bugtitherium grandincisivum Pilgrim, 1908, from the upper Oligocene of the Bugti Hills (Balochistan, Pakistan). Naturwissenschaften 93(7):348-355
- E. H. Lindsay, L. J. Flynn, I. U. Cheema, J. C. Barry, K. Downing, A. R. Rajpar, and S. M. Raza. 2005. Will Downs and the Zinda Pir Dome. Palaeontologia Electronica 8(1):19A:1-18
- L. Marivaux, P.-O. Antoine, S. R. H. Baqri, M. Benammi, and Y. Chaimanee. 2005. Anthropoid primates from the Oligocene of Pakistan (Bugti Hills): Data on early anthropoid evolution and biogeography. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102(24):8436-8441
- P.-O. Antoine, J.-L. Welcomme, L. Marivaux, I. Baloch, M. Benammi and P. Tassy. 2003. First record of Paleogene Elephantoidea (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Bugti Hills of Pakistan. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(4):977-980
- J.-L. Welcomme and L. Ginsburg. 1997. Mise en évidence de l'Oligocène sur le territoire des Bugti (Balouchistan, Pakistan). Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série IIA 325(12):999-1004
- L.J. Flynn, L.L. Jacobs, and I.U. Cheema. 1986. Baluchimyinae, A New Ctenodactyloid Rodent Subfamily from the Miocene of Baluchistan. American Museum Novitates 2841:1-58