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Giant rhinoceros Paraceratherium and other vertebrates from Oligocene and middle Miocene deposits of the Kağızman-Tuzluca Basin, Eastern Turkey

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Abstract

A recent fieldwork in the Kağızman-Tuzluca Basin in northeastern Turkey led us to the discovery of three vertebrate localities which yielded some limb bones of the giant rhino Paraceratherium, a crocodile tooth, and some small mammals, respectively. These discoveries allowed, for the first time to date some parts of the sedimentary units of this basin. This study also shows that the dispersal area of Paraceratherium is wider than it was known before. Eastern Turkey has several Cenozoic sedimentary basins formed during the collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates. They are poorly documented for vertebrate paleontology. Consequently, the timing of tectonic activities, which led to the formation of the East Anatolian accretionary complex, is not constrained enough with a solid chronological framework. This study provides the first biostratigraphic evidences for the infill under the control of the compressive tectonic regime, which built the East Anatolian Plateau.

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Acknowledgements

The May 2010 fieldwork in the Kağızman-Tuzluca Basin was financially supported by project no. 108Y026 grants from TUBITAK (Turkey) and DARIUS Research Program (France). The French ANR-ERC Palasiafrica Program (ANR-08-JCJC17) founded access to comparative rhino material (POA). Inès Loridant helped with the screen-washing of the matrix for small vertebrates. The initial version of this paper was critically read by Celal Şengör and completed with his valuable suggestions on the tectonic evolution and basin developments in Eastern Anatolia. Philippe Loubry has performed SEM photos of small mammals and crocodile teeth. France de Broin helped with the determination of the crocodile tooth. We acknowledge the referees Madeleine Böhme, George Koufos and two anonymous ones for their valuable suggestions. We are grateful to all of them.

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  1. Laboratoire de Paléontologie du Muséum, CR2P-CNRS, 8 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France

    Sevket Sen

  2. Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, CC064, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095, Montpellier, France

    Pierre-Olivier Antoine

  3. Faculty of Engineering, Department of Geological Engineering, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Baki Varol, Turhan Ayyildiz & Koray Sözeri

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Sen, S., Antoine, PO., Varol, B. et al. Giant rhinoceros Paraceratherium and other vertebrates from Oligocene and middle Miocene deposits of the Kağızman-Tuzluca Basin, Eastern Turkey. Naturwissenschaften 98, 407–423 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0786-z

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