Abstract
The Baynunah Formation has produced a diverse assemblage of plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate fossils that provides the only window onto the terrestrial late Miocene record of the Arabian Peninsula. This chapter reviews and revises the age, biogeography, environments, and ecology of the Baynunah fauna. Biochronological estimates indicate an age of between 8 and 6 Ma, with several indicators favoring the older end of this range. Paleomagnetostratigraphic correlation more precisely favors an age between ~7.7 and 7.0 Ma, and a maximum duration of less than 720 kyr. Rough estimates of sedimentation rate based on assumptions of precessional control of carbonate formation in the upper parts of the Baynunah Formation here tentatively suggest a duration of ~250 kyr. The most common body fossils found are remains of fish (catfish and cichlids), turtles, and crocodiles, indicating the presence of a large but shallow and slow-moving river. A diverse community of mammalian herbivores subsisted along the banks of the Baynunah River, ranging from rodents to proboscideans, and carnivores included a mustelid, hyaenids, and a saber-toothed felid. The fauna, in conjunction with stable isotope data, indicates the presence of a highly seasonal semi-arid environment, characterized by open habitats with C4 grasslands and trees. The most common large mammals are equids, bovids, hippopotamids, and proboscideans. The high abundance of equids in the Baynunah Formation is unlike African late Miocene assemblages and more like those from the eastern Mediterranean, but the underlying ecological reasons for this are not clear. Baynunah species indicate dominantly African biogeographic influences combined with Eurasian elements. Genus-level comparisons indicate that the Baynunah fauna was part of the widespread Old World Savanna Paleobiome that covered much of Africa and Eurasia during the late Miocene. Food web (trophic network) analyses of the large mammals indicate a highly connected community similar to that of the modern Serengeti. Among the largest Baynunah herbivores (giraffids, proboscideans), only juveniles would have been vulnerable to predation, even under scenarios of cooperative hunting. In contrast to the fluvial Baynunah sediments, the underlying Shuwaihat Formation indicates arid conditions, and provides some of the oldest evidence for desertification in the Saharo-Arabian desert belt.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aranz Geo. (2016). LeapFrog Geo Software v.3.1 64 bit.: Aranz Geo Ltd.
Ataabadi, M. M., Bernor, R. L., Kostopoulos, D. S., Wolf, D., Orak, Z., Zare, G., et al. (2013). Recent advances in paleobiological research of the late Miocene Marageh fauna, northwest Iran. In X. Wang, L. J. Flynn, & M. Fortelius (Eds.), Fossil Mammals of Asia: Neogene Biostratigraphy and Chronology (pp. 546–565). Columbia University Press.
Badgley, C., Barry, J. C., Morgan, M. E., Nelson, S. V., Behrensmeyer, A. K., Cerling, T. E., et al. (2008). Ecological changes in Miocene mammalian record show impact of prolonged climatic forcing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(34), 12145–12149.
Barry, J. C., Morgan, M. E., Flynn, L. J., Pilbeam, D., Behrensmeyer, A. K., Raza, S. M., et al. (2002). Faunal and environmental change in the late Miocene Siwaliks of northern Pakistan. Paleobiology, 28(S2), 1–71.
Beden, M., & Brunet, M. (1986). Faunes de mammifères et paléobiogéographie des domaines indiens et péri-indiens au Néogène. Sciences De La Terre, 47, 61–87.
Behrensmeyer, A. K., & Barry, J. (2005). Biostratigraphic surveys in the Siwaliks of Pakistan: A method for standardized surface sampling of the vertebrate fossil record. Palaeontologia Electronica, 8(1), 1–24.
Bernor, R. L., Solounias, N., Swisher, C. C., III, & Van Couvering, J. A. (1996). The correlation of three classical “Pikermian” mammal faunas—Maragheh, Samos, and Pikermi—with the European MN unit system. In The Evolution of Western Eurasian Neogene Mammal Faunas. (pp. 137–154). Columbia University Press.
Bibi, F. (2011). Mio-Pliocene faunal exchanges and African biogeography: The record of fossil bovids. PLoS ONE, 6, e16688. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016688.
Bibi, F. (2022). Bovidae and Giraffidae from the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 217–239). Springer.
Bibi, F., Shabel, A. B., Kraatz, B. P., & Stidham, T. A. (2006). New fossil ratite (Aves: Palaeognathae) eggshell discoveries from the Late Miocene Baynunah Formation of the United Arab Emirates Arabian Peninsula. Palaeontologia Electronica, 9(2A), 13p.
Bibi, F., Kraatz, B. P., Craig, N., Beech, M. J., Schuster, M., & Hill, A. (2012). Early evidence for complex social structure in Proboscidea from a late Miocene trackway site in the United Arab Emirates. Biology Letters, 8(4), 670–673.
Bibi, F., Hill, A., Beech, M. J., & Yasin, W. (2013). Late Miocene fossils from the Baynunah Formation, United Arab Emirates: Summary of a decade of new work. In X. Wang, L. J. Flynn, & M. Fortelius (Eds.), Fossil Mammals of Asia: Neogene Biostratigraphy and Chronology (pp. 583–594). Columbia Univ. Press.
Bibi, F., Pante, M., Souron, A., Stewart, K. M., Varela, S., Werdelin, L., et al. (2018). Paleoecology of the Serengeti during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania: The mammal and fish evidence. Journal of Human Evolution, 120, 48–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.10.009.
Bibi, F., Kraatz, B., Beech, M. J., & Hill., A. (2022a). Fossil Trackways of the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 281–296). Springer.
Bibi, F., Beech, M. J., Hill., A, & Kraatz, B. (2022b). Fossil Localities of the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 9–22). Springer.
Bishop, L. C., & Hill, A. (1999). Fossil Suidae from the Baynunah Formation, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 254–270). Yale University Press.
Boaz, D. D. (1987). Taphonomy and paleoecology at the Pliocene site of Sahabi, Libya. In N. T. Boaz, A. El-Arnauti, A. W. Gaziry, J. de Heinzelin, & D. D. Boaz (Eds.), Neogene paleontology and geology of Sahabi (pp. 337–348). Alan R. Liss.
Boaz, N. T., El-Arnauti, A., Pavlakis, P., & Salem, M. J. (Eds.). (2008). Circum-Mediterranean Geology and Biotic Evolution During the Neogene Period: The Perspective from Libya, Benghazi, Libya. Garyounis Scientific Bulletin, Special Issue 5.
Boisserie, J. R. & Bibi., F. (2022). Hippopotamidae from the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, and A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 241–258). Cham: Springer.
Boisserie, J. R., Souron, A., Mackaye, H. T., Likius, A., Vignaud, P., & Brunet, M. (2014). A new species of Nyanzachoerus (Cetartiodactyla: Suidae) from the late Miocene Toros-Ménalla, Chad, Central Africa. PLoS ONE, 9(8), e103221.
Boisserie, J. R., Schuster, M., Beech, M. J., Hill, A., & Bibi, F. (2017a). A new species of hippopotamine (Cetartiodactyla, Hippopotamidae) from the late Miocene Baynunah Formation, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates. Palaeovertebrata, 41, e18562. https://doi.org/10.18563/pv.18541.18561
Boisserie, J. R., Suwa, G., Asfaw, B., Lihoreau, F., Bernor, R. L., Katoh, S., et al. (2017b). Basal hippopotamines from the upper Miocene of Chorora, Ethiopia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 37(3), e1297718.
Bristow, C. S. (1999). Aeolian and sabkah sediments in the Miocene Shuwaihat Formation, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 50–60). Yale University Press.
Bruijn, H. D. (1999). A late Miocene insectivore and rodent fauna from the Baynunah Formation, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. P. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 186–197). Yale University Press.
Carbone, C., Maddox, T., Funston, P. J., Mills, M. G. L., Grether, G. F., & Van Valkenburgh, B. (2008). Parallels between playbacks and Pleistocene tar seeps suggest sociality in an extinct sabretooth cat Smilodon. Biology Letters, 5(1), 81–85.
Cerling, T. E., Harris, J. M., MacFadden, B. J., Leakey, M. G., Quade, J., Eisenmann, V., et al. (1997). Global vegetation change through the Miocene/ Pliocene boundary. Nature, 389(6647), 153–158.
Csardi, G., & Nepusz, T. (2006). The igraph software package for complex network research. InterJournal, Complex Systems, 1695(5), 1–9.
de Bruijn, H., & Whybrow, P. J. (1994). A Late Miocene rodent fauna from the Baynunah Formation, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Proceedings Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie Van Wetenschappen, 97, 407–422.
de Bonis, L., Bouvrain, G., Geraads, D., & Koufos, G. (1992). Diversity and paleoecology of Greek late Miocene mammalian faunas. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 91(1–2), 99–121.
Deng, T. (2006). Paleoecological comparison between late Miocene localities of China and Greece based onHipparionfaunas. Geodiversitas, 28(3), 499–516.
Dormann, C. F., Gruber, B., & Fründ, J. (2008). Introducing the bipartite package: Analysing ecological networks. R News, 8(2), 8–11.
Eisenmann, V., & Whybrow, P. J. (1999). Hipparions from the late Miocene Baynunah Formation, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. P. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 234–253). Yale University Press.
El-Shawaihdi, M. H., Mozley, P. S., Boaz, N. T., Salloum, F., Pavlakis, P., Muftah, A., et al. (2016). Stratigraphy of the Neogene Sahabi units in the Sirt Basin, northeast Libya. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 118, 87–106.
Eronen, J. T., Ataabadi, M. M., Micheels, A., Karme, A., Bernor, R. L., & Fortelius, M. (2009). Distribution history and climatic controls of the Late Miocene Pikermian chronofauna. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 11867–11871.
Ferring, C. R. (1986). Rates of fluvial sedimentation: Implications for archaeological variability. Geoarchaeology, 1(3), 259–274.
Flynn, L. J., & Jacobs, L. L. (1999). Late Miocene small-mammal faunal dynamics: The crossroads of the Arabian peninsula. In P. J. Whybrow & A. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 412–419). Yale University Press.
Flynn, L. J., Winkler, A. J., Erbaeva, M., Alexeeva, N., Anders, U., Angelone, C., et al. (2014). The Leporid Datum: A late Miocene biotic marker. Mammal Review, 44(3–4), 164–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12016.
Forey, P. L., & Young, S. V. T. (1999). Late Miocene fishes of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. P. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 120–135). Yale University Press.
Friend, P. F. (1999). Rivers of the lower Baynunah Formation, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 39–49). Yale University Press.
Gentry, A. W. (1999). Fossil pecorans from the Baynunah Formation, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia (pp. 290–316). Yale University Press.
Geraads, D. (2019). A reassessment of the Bovidae (Mammalia) from the Nawata Formation of Lothagam, Kenya, and the late Miocene diversification of the family in Africa. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 17(2), 169–182.
Geraads, D., & Güleç, E. (1999). ABramatheriumskull (Giraffidae, Mammalia) from the late Miocene of Kavakdere (Central Turkey). Biogeographic and phylogenetic implications. Bulletin of the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute of Turkey, 121, 51–56.
Grange, S., Duncan, P., Gaillard, J.-M., Sinclair, A. R. E., Gogan, P. J. P., Packer, C., et al. (2004). What limits the Serengeti zebra population? Oecologia, 140(3), 523–532. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1567-6.
Grohé, C. (2022). Carnivora from the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 177–188). Springer.
Haile-Selassie, Y., & WoldeGabriel, G. (Eds.). (2009). Ardipithecus kadabba: Late Miocene Evidence from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. University of California Press.
Haile-Selassie, Y., Vrba, E. S., & Bibi, F. (2009). Bovidae. In Y. Haile-Selassie & G. WoldeGabriel (Eds.), Ardipithecus kadabba: Late Miocene Evidence from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia (pp. 277–330). University of California Press.
Hailwood, E. A., & Whybrow, P. J. (1999). Palaeomagnetic correlation and dating of the Baynunah and Shuwaihat Formations, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. P. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 75–87). Yale University Press.
Hammer, Ø., & Harper, D. A. T. (2006). Paleontological Data Analysis. Blackwell.
Harris, J. M., & Leakey, M. G. (2003). Lothagam birds. In M. G. Leakey & J. M. Harris (Eds.), Lothagam: The Dawn of Humanity in Eastern Africa (pp. 161–166). Columbia University Press.
Harrison, T. (1997a). Neogene Paleontology of the Manonga Valley, Tanzania: A Window into the Evolutionary History of East Africa. Springer.
Harrison, T. (1997b). Paleoecology and taphonomy of fossil localities in the Manonga valley, Tanzania. In Neogene Paleontology of the Manonga Valley, Tanzania (pp. 79–105): Springer.
Harrison, T., & Msuya, C. P. (2005). Fossil struthionid eggshells from Laetoli, Tanzania: Taxonomic and biostratigraphic significance. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 41, 303–315.
Head, J., & Müller, J. (2022). Amphibians and squamates from the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, and A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 111–123). Springer.
Holt, B. G., Lessard, J.-P., Borregaard, M. K., Fritz, S. A., Araújo, M. B., Dimitrov, D., et al. (2013). An update of Wallace’s zoogeographic regions of the world. Science, 339(6115), 74–78.
Huang, Y., Clemens, S. C., Liu, W., Wang, Y., & Prell, W. L. (2007). Large-scale hydrological change drove the late Miocene C4 plant expansion in the Himalayan foreland and Arabian Peninsula. Geology, 35(6), 531–534.
Janis, C. M. (1990). Correlation of cranial and dental variables with body size in ungulates and macropodoids. In J. Damuth & B. J. MacFadden (Eds.), Body Size in Mammalian Paleobiology (pp. 255–300). Cambridge University Press.
Karadenizli, L., Seyitoglu, G., Sen, S., Arnaud, N., Kazanci, N., Sarac, G., et al. (2005). Mammal bearing late Miocene tuffs of the Akkaşdağı region; distribution, age, petrographical and geochemical characteristics. Geodiversitas, 27(4), 553–566.
Katoh, S., Beyene, Y., Itaya, T., Hyodo, H., Hyodo, M., Yagi, K., et al. (2016). New geological and palaeontological age constraint for the gorilla–human lineage split. Nature, 530(7589), 215–218.
Kaya, F., Bibi, F., Zliobaite, I., Eronen, J. T., Hui, T., & Fortelius, M. (2018). The rise and fall of the Old World savannah fauna and the origins of the African savannah biome. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(2), 241–246. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0414-1.
Kingston, J. D. (1999). Isotopes and environments of the Baynunah Formation, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. P. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 354–372). Yale University Press.
Kostopoulos, D. S., & Bernor, R. L. (2011). The Marageh bovids (Mammalia, Artiodactyla): Systematic revision and biostratigraphic-zoogeographic interpretation. Geodiversitas, 33, 649–708.
Koufos, G. D., Kostopoulos, D. S., & Vlachou, T. D. (2009a). The late Miocene mammal faunas of the Mytilinii basin, Samos Island, Greece: New collection 16 Biochronology. Beiträge Zur Paläontologie, 31, 397–408.
Koufos, G. D., Kostopoulos, D. S., & Merceron, G. (2009b). The late Miocene mammal faunas of the Mytilinii Basin, Samos Island, Greece: New collection. 17. Palaeoecology-Palaeobiogeography. Beiträge Zur Paläontologie, 31, 409–430.
Kraatz, B. P., Bibi, F., Hill, A., & Beech, M. J. (2013). A new fossil thryonomyid from the Late Miocene of the United Arab Emirates and the origin of African cane rats. Naturwissenschaften, 100, 437–449.
Kraatz, B. (2022). Rodents from the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 189–199). Springer.
Laskar, J., Robutel, P., Joutel, F., Gastineau, M., Correia, A., & Levrard, B. (2004). A long-term numerical solution for the insolation quantities of the Earth. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 428(1), 261–285.
Leakey, M. G., & Harris, J. M. (2003a). Lothagam: The Dawn of Humanity in Eastern Africa. Columbia University Press.
Leakey, M. G., & Harris, J. M. (2003b). Lothagam: Its significance and contributions. In M. G. Leakey & J. M. Harris (Eds.), Lothagam: The Dawn of Humanity in Eastern Africa (pp. 625–660). Columbia University Press.
Lebatard, A.-E., Bourlès, D. L., Braucher, R., Arnold, M., Duringer, P., Jolivet, M., et al. (2010). Application of the authigenic 10Be/9Be dating method to continental sediments: Reconstruction of the Mio-Pleistocene sedimentary sequence in the early hominid fossiliferous areas of the northern Chad Basin. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 297(1), 57–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2010.06.003.
Louchart, A., Stewart, J., & Bibi, F. (2022). Birds from the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 125–139). Springer.
Lührs, M.-L., & Dammhahn, M. (2010). An unusual case of cooperative hunting in a solitary carnivore. Journal of Ethology, 28(2), 379–383.
Mazzini, I., & Kovacova, M. (2022). Ostracods, charophytes, and pollen from the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 65–77). Springer.
Mein, P., & Pickford, M. (2010). Vallesian rodents from Sheikh Abdallah, Western Desert, Egypt. Historical Biology, 22, 224–259.
Oksanen, J., Blanchet, F. G., Kindt, R., Legendre, P., Minchin, P. R., O’Hara, R. B., et al. (2013). vegan: Community Ecology Package. R package version 2.0–10. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=vegan.
Otero, O. (2022). Fishes from the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 79–109). Springer.
Packer, C., & Ruttan, L. (1988). The evolution of cooperative hunting. The American Naturalist, 132(2), 159–198.
Parker, A. G. (2010). Pleistocene climate change in Arabia: developing a framework for hominin dispersal over the last 350 ka. In The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia (pp. 39–49). Springer.
Peppe, D. J., Evans, D. A. D., Beech, M. J., Hill, A., & Bibi, F. (2022). Magnetostratigraphy of the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 35–54). Springer.
Pickford, M., Senut, B., & Dauphin, Y. (1995). Biostratigraphy of the Tsondab Sandstone (Namibia) based on gigantic avian eggshells. Geobios, 28(1), 85–98.
Pires, M. M., Koch, P. L., Fariña, R. A., de Aguiar, M. A. M., dos Reis, S. F., & Guimarães, P. R. (2015). Pleistocene megafaunal interaction networks became more vulnerable after human arrival. [https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1367]. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1814), 20151367.
Polissar, P. J., Rose, C., Uno, K. T., Phelps, S. R., & deMenocal, P. (2019). Synchronous rise of African C4 ecosystems 10 million years ago in the absence of aridification. Nature Geoscience, 12(8), 657–660. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0399-2.
Robbins, C. T., & Robbins, B. L. (1979). Fetal and neonatal growth patterns and maternal reproductive effort in ungulates and subungulates. The American Naturalist, 114(1), 101–116.
Roopnarine, P. D. (2006). Extinction cascades and catastrophe in ancient food webs. Paleobiology, 32, 1–19.
Sanders, W. J. (2022). Proboscidea from the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 141–176). Springer.
Schuster, M., Duringer, P., Ghienne, J. F., Vignaud, P., Mackaye, H. T., Likius, A., et al. (2006). The age of the Sahara Desert. Science, 311(5762), 821–821.
Schuster, M. (2022). Sedimentology and Stratigraphy of the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 23–34). Springer.
Suwa, G., Beyene, Y., Nakaya, H., Bernor, R. L., Boisserie, J.-R., Bibi, F., et al. (2015). Newly discovered cercopithecid, equid and other mammalian fossils from the Chorora Formation Ethiopia. Anthropological Science, 123(3), 19–39.
Tassy, P. (1999). Miocene elephantids (Mammalia) from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Palaeobiogeographic implications. In P. J. Whybrow & A. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 209–233). Yale University Press.
Teller, J. T., Glennie, K. W., Lancaster, N., & Singhvi, A. K. (2000). Calcareous dunes of the United Arab Emirates and Noah’s Flood: The postglacial reflooding of the Persian (Arabian) Gulf. Quaternary International, 68, 297–308.
Thomas, H., Taquet, P., Ligabue, G., & Del’Agnola, C. (1978). Découverte d’un gisement de vertébrés dans les dépots continentaux du Miocène Moyen du Hasa (Arabie Saoudite). Comptes Rendus Sommaires De La Société Géologique De France, 2, 69–72.
Timmermann, A., & Friedrich, T. (2016). Late Pleistocene climate drivers of early human migration. Nature, 538(7623), 92.
Uno, K. T., Cerling, T. E., Harris, J. M., Kunimatsu, Y., Leakey, M. G., Nakatsukasa, M., et al. (2011). Late Miocene to Pliocene carbon isotope record of differential diet change among East African herbivores. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(16), 6509–6514.
Uno, K. T., Polissar, P. J., & Jackson, K. E. (2016). Neogene biomarker record of vegetation change in eastern Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(23), 6355–6363.
Uno, K. & Bibi, F. (2022). Stable isotope paleoecology of the Baynunah Formation. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. J. Beech, & A. Hill (Eds.), Sands of Time: Ancient life in the late Miocene of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 297–329). Springer.
Valli, A. M. F. (2005). Taphonomy of the late Miocene mammal locality of Akkaşdağı, Turkey. Geodiversitas, 27(4).
Van Valkenburgh, B., Hayward, M. W., Ripple, W. J., Meloro, C., & Roth, V. L. (2016). The impact of large terrestrial carnivores on Pleistocene ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113, 862–867. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1502554112.
Vignaud, P., Duringer, P., Mackaye, H. T., Likius, A., Blondel, C., Boisserie, J. R., et al. (2002). Geology and palaeontology of the Upper Miocene Toros-Menalla hominid locality Chad. Nature, 418(6894), 152–155.
Wesselman, H. B., Black, M. T., & Asnake, M. (2009). Small mammals. In Y. Haile-Selassie & G. WoldeGabriel (Eds.), Ardipithecus kadabba: Late Miocene Evidence from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia (pp. 105–133). UC Press.
White, F. (1983). The Vegetation of Africa: A Descriptive Memoir to Accompany the UNESCO/AETFAT/UNSO Vegetation Map of Africa (Natural resources research). United Nations.
Whybrow, P. J., & Hill, A. (Eds.). (1999). Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Yale University Press.
Whybrow, P. J., Friend, P. F., Ditchfield, P. W., & Bristow, C. S. (1999). Local stratigraphy of the Neogene outcrops of the coastal area: Western Region, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In P. J. Whybrow & A. Hill (Eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, with Emphasis on the Late Miocene Faunas, Geology, and Palaeoenvironments of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (pp. 28–37). Yale University Press.
Zhang, Z., Ramstein, G., Schuster, M., Li, C., Contoux, C., & Yan, Q. (2014). Aridification of the Sahara desert caused by Tethys Sea shrinkage during the Late Miocene. Nature, 513(7518), 401.
Acknowledgements
Fieldwork underlying this study took place under an agreement between Yale University at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (currently the Department of Culture and Tourism). Main project support has come from ADACH / DCT, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and Yale University, the National Science Foundation (grant OISE-0852975 to Bibi), a Leibniz-DAAD scholarship (to Bibi), the Revealing Hominid Origins Initiative (NSF 0321893 to T. White and F. C. Howell), and the Institut de Paléoprimatologie, Paléontologie Humaine: Évolution et Paléoenvironnements (iPHEP, currently PALEVOPRIM) at the University of Poitiers. F.K. received support from Academy of Finland project number 316799 to Anu Kaakinen. S.V. was supported by an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship. We thank D. Su, W. McLaughlin, and a third anonymous reviewer for comments that helped improved this chapter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bibi, F., Kaya, F., Varela, S. (2022). Paleoecology and Paleobiogeography of the Baynunah Fauna. 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_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83883-6_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-83882-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-83883-6
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)