Lower Permian Terrestrial Paleoenvironments and Vertebrate Paleoecology of the Tambach Basin (Thuringia, Central Germany): The Upland Holy Grail

Abstract

Other| August 01, 2000 Lower Permian Terrestrial Paleoenvironments and Vertebrate Paleoecology of the Tambach Basin (Thuringia, Central Germany): The Upland Holy Grail DAVID A. EBERTH; DAVID A. EBERTH 1Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Box 7500, Drumheller, Alberta T0J 0Y0, Canada Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar DAVID S BERMAN; DAVID S BERMAN 2Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar STUART S. SUMIDA; STUART S. SUMIDA 3Department of Biology, California State University, San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA 92407-2397 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar HAGEN HOPF HAGEN HOPF 4Thuringian Geological Survey, Carl-August-Allee 8-10, 99423 Weimar, Germany Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar PALAIOS (2000) 15 (4): 293–313. https://doi.org/10.1669/0883-1351(2000)015<0293:LPTPAV>2.0.CO;2 Article history accepted: 12 Apr 2000 first online: 03 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation DAVID A. EBERTH, DAVID S BERMAN, STUART S. SUMIDA, HAGEN HOPF; Lower Permian Terrestrial Paleoenvironments and Vertebrate Paleoecology of the Tambach Basin (Thuringia, Central Germany): The Upland Holy Grail. PALAIOS 2000;; 15 (4): 293–313. doi: https://doi.org/10.1669/0883-1351(2000)015<0293:LPTPAV>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyPALAIOS Search Advanced Search Abstract The Bromacker section of the Lower Permian, Tambach Formation, in central Germany, yields an important fossil-vertebrate assemblage that was deposited in an upland setting near the center of a small, internally-drained paleo-graben. The fossil-vertebrate assemblage shares many taxa in common with others that are well-documented from North America, but is atypical in the: (1) unusually large abundance of the terrestrial herbivore Diadectes; (2) complete absence of aquatic and semi-aquatic vertebrates; and (3) rarity of medium-to-large carnivorous synapsids. The graben setting and the low-diversity, terrestrial, fossil-vertebrate assemblage together comprise a unique upland paleoecosystem, heretofore undocumented in the Early Permian. The composition of and relative abundances within the assemblage at Bromacker suggest that experiments with "high-fiber" vertebrate herbivores as the dominant or significant basal component of vertebrate food webs had begun by the Early Permian, but only in settings with few or no aquatic and semi-aquatic vertebrates.The combined stratigraphic section at Bromacker consists of portions of two conformable stratigraphic intervals—the Lower and the Upper beds. Depositional events in both were dominated by seasonal-to-subseasonal cycles of flooding in an ephemeral, alluvial-to-lacustrine setting that was hot year-round with annual precipitation similar to that of a wet-and-dry tropical or wetter climate. Excellently preserved, articulated and disarticulated fossil vertebrates indicate subaerial exposure times of short duration and limited reworking. In the case of articulated specimens, death and burial were probably coeval events, most likely caused by floods. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.