Gandhera Quarry, A Unique Mammalian Faunal Assemblage From the Early Eocene of Baluchistan (Pakistan)

Gingerich, Philip D.; Arif, Muhammad; Khan, Intizar H.; Ul-Haq, Munir; Bloch, Jonathan I.; Clyde, William C.; Gunnell, Gregg F.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1271-4_10

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…In the past few decades, several basal hyaenodontids have been described from faunas in the Eocene of South Asia, including the early Eocene Gandhera Quarry (Upper Ghazij Formation) of Pakistan (Gingerich et al, 2001), and the middle Eocene Subathu Group of Jammu and Kashmir in India (Ranga Rao, 1973;Kumar, 1992), Kuldana Formation in Pakistan (Thewissen et al, 2001), and the Pondaung Formation in central Myanmar (Egi et al, , 2005Peign e et al, 2007). Of these, the fossils from the Gandhera Quarry are yet to be described, but the remainder have been placed in five species representing four genera, with an additional species with unclear generic affiliation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Craniodental and postcranial morphology ofIndohyaenodon raoifrom the early eocene of india, and its implications for ecology, phylogeny, and biogeography of hyaenodontid mammals

Rana

Kumar

Zack

et al. 2015

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

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2015): Craniodental and postcranial morphology of Indohyaenodon raoi from the early Eocene of India, and its implications for ecology, phylogeny, and biogeography of hyaenodontid mammals, Journal of Vertebrate PaleontologyTo link to this article: http://dx.ABSTRACT-New remains of the early Eocene hyaenodontid Indohyaenodon raoi are described from the Vastan Lignite Mine in Gujarat, western India, including the first known rostrum, upper dentition, and postcrania, substantially expanding our knowledge of the species and providing insights into its functional morphology and relationships. Craniodental morphology suggests that I. raoi had a broad diet, including non-vertebrate material as well as flesh of a diversity of prey species. Postcranial morphology is broadly similar to that of other early hyaenodontids and suggests a scansorial locomotor repertoire. Dental morphology indicates that I. raoi is closely related to other South Asian hyaenodontids, with shared features including strong cingula, narrow premolars, and a reduced P4 protocone. We present the most comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Hyaenodontidae to date, which corroborates this relationship but finds South Asian hyaenodontids to be the stem of a group that includes most African hyaenodontids. This and other higher-level relationships within Hyaenodontidae are, however, weakly supported, and substantially different alternative hypotheses of relationships are not significantly less parsimonious, reflecting strong character conflict. Factors contributing to this conflict include the isolation of hyaenodontid faunas on different continents during much of the Eocene, canalization and simplification of carnivorous dentitions, and a lack of non-dental material for critical hyaenodontid groups. The new phylogeny is consistent with either an African or an Asian origin for the group.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Craniodental and postcranial morphology ofIndohyaenodon raoifrom the early eocene of india, and its implications for ecology, phylogeny, and biogeography of hyaenodontid mammals

Rana

Kumar

Zack

et al. 2015

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

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“…The most precise estimates for the timing of obduction for the western Pakistan ophiolite belt is early Paleocene [130] which is significantly older than the age of the syntectonic deposits discussed here and the petrographic data reported here provide very little direct evidence for widespread ophiolite unroofing at this time. More importantly, mammal faunas from the Ghazij and similar units in India unequivocally record the dispersal of taxa between the Indian subcontinent and Eurasia by early Eocene time supporting a close continental connection between the two continents at this time [7,44,98,[135][136][137][138].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The [44,96,[98][99][100]. The upper Ghazij Formation at Mughal Kot and Drazinda contains thick red mudstone intervals with lesser amounts of sandstone.…”

Section: Northeastern Region Of Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Foraminifera [52,[88][89][90][91][92], marine invertebrates [61,93,94] and vertebrate faunas [44,[95][96][97][98][99][100] from within and above the Ghazij Formation constrain its age to be latest Paleocene to early Eocene [95]. The Hunting Survey Corporation [52] collected the oldest fossils in the Ghazij Formation from a few feet above the basal unconformity near Umai and Zawar Kanr villages in the Kach area (see Figures A1-A3 for detailed locations).…”

Section: Geological Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, the upper Ghazij follows the same thickening and thinning pattern as for the middle Ghazi in this region, with thick deposits of the upper Ghazij (more than 800 m) present in Pir Ismail Ziarat that thin towards the south and southeast in Mach and Harnai (Figures 3 and A2). Fossil mammals have been recovered from both the middle and upper Ghazij Formation in this part of the field area [44,[95][96][97][98][99][100].…”

Section: Central Region Of Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lower Paleogene Tectonostratigraphy of Balochistan: Evidence for Time-Transgressive Late Paleocene-Early Eocene Uplift

Khan

Clyde

2013

Geosciences

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Analysis of lithofacies, paleoflow directions, and sandstone petrography of upper Paleocene-lower Eocene paralic and continental sediments exposed along the transpressional suture zone of the western margin of the Indian plate indicate that the process of deformation and uplift of the carbonate shelf in this area had started by late Paleocene time. This tectonic uplift and deformation is documented by: (1) an overall shallowing upward synorogenic sequence of sediments, (2) proximal conglomerate facies (consisting of lower Paleocene and Mesozoic clasts) dominating in the western part of the study area and distal facies of sandstone and shale dominating in the eastern part of the study area, (3) the existence of an unconformity of late Paleocene-early Eocene age in the Quetta and Kalat regions, (4) paleocurrent directions in deltaic and fluvial deposits indicating southeastward flowing sediment dispersal paths during late Paleocene-early Eocene time, which is opposite to that found in the late Cretaceous, suggesting a reversal in the depositional slope of the Cretaceous shelf, and (5) petrographic study of sandstones indicating a collision suture/fold thrust belt provenance. This episode of uplift and deformation could be the result of India-Arabian transpression with associated ophiolite obduction or, more likely, to represent the local response to initial India-Asia contact. The unroofing pattern and uplift geometry of the western Indian shelf suggests that this tectonism first started in the southern part of the study area (Kalat-Khuzdar area) during the late Paleocene-early Eocene and proceeded northward in a time-transgressive fashion

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Deep Time and the Search for Anthropoid Origins

Miller

Gunnell

Martín

2005

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

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Gandhera Quarry, A Unique Mammalian Faunal Assemblage From the Early Eocene of Baluchistan (Pakistan)

Cited by 20 publications

References 11 publications

Craniodental and postcranial morphology ofIndohyaenodon raoifrom the early eocene of india, and its implications for ecology, phylogeny, and biogeography of hyaenodontid mammals

Craniodental and postcranial morphology ofIndohyaenodon raoifrom the early eocene of india, and its implications for ecology, phylogeny, and biogeography of hyaenodontid mammals

Lower Paleogene Tectonostratigraphy of Balochistan: Evidence for Time-Transgressive Late Paleocene-Early Eocene Uplift

Deep Time and the Search for Anthropoid Origins

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