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Ostracods, Charophytes, and Pollen from the Baynunah Formation

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Sands of Time

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

Ostracods, charophytes and pollen were retrieved from sediments of the Baynunah Formation. Autoecological characteristics of the ostracods and the charophytes, together with detailed observations on the taphonomy of ostracod valves, provide a reconstruction of the depositional environments of the Baynunah freshwater system. These microfossil assemblages indicate the presence of a large floodplain with a slow-flowing river with high suspended sediment load, as well as a system of shallow, possibly isolated, water bodies with clear waters and submerged meadows of macroalgae. The water bodies were characterized by fluctuating salinities that could be linked to phases of evaporation-desiccation and regeneration of the freshwater environment, i.e. alternation of humid and dry periods. Pollen remains indicate associations of herbaceous plants typical of open woodland to grassland habitats, with halophytes growing close to the water bodies.

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Acknowledgements

Ingeborg Soulié-Märche (University of Montpellier, France) identified the charophyte remains. Marco Albano (CNR IGAG) took the SEM pictures of ostracods and charophytes. IM wishes to thank Faysal Bibi and Mathieu Schuster for thinking that the ostracod fauna could make a contribution to the paleoenvironmental interpretation of the fossil vertebrate rich Baynunah Formation. The Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT, formerly the Tourism and Culture Authority) supported IM’s fieldwork. Without the organizational skills, the expertise and the enthusiasm of Mark Jonathan Beech, head of the Coastal Heritage and Palaeontology Section at DCT, both the fieldwork and the sample export would have been impossible. We thank three anonymous reviewers, Brian Kraatz and Faysal Bibi for their critical reviews and valuable suggestions that helped improve this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Council (CNR), Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, Area della Ricerca di Roma 1 – Montelibretti, Via Salaria km 29300–00015, Monterotondo (Rome), Italy

    Ilaria Mazzini

  2. Department of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Ilkovičova 6, Mlynská dolina, 84215, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Marianna Kováčová

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  1. Ilaria Mazzini
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Correspondence to Ilaria Mazzini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany

    Faysal Bibi

  2. Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, USA

    Brian Kraatz

  3. Historic Environment Department, Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Mark J. Beech

  4. Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Andrew Hill

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Mazzini, I., Kováčová, M. (2022). Ostracods, Charophytes, and Pollen from the Baynunah Formation. In: Bibi, F., Kraatz, B., Beech, M.J., Hill, A. (eds) Sands of Time. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83883-6_6

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