GONA WESTERN MARGIN

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Gona Western Margin, Ethiopia

6 - 4.3 Ma

During the 2004 GPRP field season, 1,225 faunal specimens from 86 sites were collected, brought to the Ethiopian National Museum in Addis Ababa, cleaned, and catalogued. The stratigraphically provenienced fossils were collected from a variety of previously identified sites as well as a number of new fossil localities. Most of the sites are either Early Pliocene (As Duma sites, Sagantole Formation) or Late Miocene (Escarpment sites) in age. The discovery of additional Miocene-age deposits and the sampling of deposits (As Ayla) slightly younger than As Duma, have provided the opportunity to broaden our study of faunal evolution and Afar basin formation during the Late Miocene and the Early Pliocene. Plus, these GPRP deposits are located at an important time and place for understanding the biogeography of African mammals, particularly that of Late Miocene and Early Pliocene hominoids, and the formation of the Ethiopian portion of the East African Rift.

Image courtesy S. Semaw.