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Geochronology, stratigraphy and geochemistry of Cindery Tuff in Pliocene hominid-bearing sediments of the Middle Awash, Ethiopia

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Abstract

Cindery Tuff is a subalkaline, rhyolitic air-fall deposit that was probably produced by a mixed-magma eruption. It is a distinctive, datable, regional isochronous marker bed within the Pliocene sediments of the Middle Awash district, and is stratigraphically situated between two new fossil hominid discoveries. Based on 40Ar/39Ar analyses of plagioclase, rhyolitic glass and basaltic glass, as well as fission-track analyses of zircons, we estimate its age to be 3.8–4.0 Myr. This implies that associated hominid skull fragments are at least 3.9 Myr old.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A7

    C. M. Hall & D. York

  2. Department of Geology, Scarborough College, University of Toronto, West Hill, Ontario, Canada, M1C 1A4

    R. C. Walter & J. A. Westgate

Authors
  1. C. M. Hall
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  2. R. C. Walter
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  3. J. A. Westgate
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  4. D. York
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Hall, C., Walter, R., Westgate, J. et al. Geochronology, stratigraphy and geochemistry of Cindery Tuff in Pliocene hominid-bearing sediments of the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature 308, 26–31 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/308026a0

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