Clay mineralogy indicates a mildly warm and humid living environment for the Miocene hominoid from the Zhaotong Basin, Yunnan, China



Zhang, Chunxia, Guo, Zhengtang, Deng, Chenglong, Ji, Xueping, Wu, Haibin, Paterson, Greig A ORCID: 0000-0002-6864-7420, Chang, Lin, Li, Qin, Wu, Bailing and Zhu, Rixiang
(2016) Clay mineralogy indicates a mildly warm and humid living environment for the Miocene hominoid from the Zhaotong Basin, Yunnan, China. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 6 (1). 20012-.

Access the full-text of this item by clicking on the Open Access link.
[img] Text
Zhang et al., 2016, Clay mineralogy indicates a mildly warm and humid living environment for the Miocene hominoid from the Zhaotong Basin.pdf - Published version

Download (2MB)

Abstract

Global and regional environmental changes have influenced the evolutionary processes of hominoid primates, particularly during the Miocene. Recently, a new Lufengpithecus cf. lufengensis hominoid fossil with a late Miocene age of ~6.2 Ma was discovered in the Shuitangba (STB) section of the Zhaotong Basin in Yunnan on the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau. To understand the relationship between paleoclimate and hominoid evolution, we have studied sedimentary, clay mineralogy and geochemical proxies for the late Miocene STB section (~16 m thick; ca. 6.7-6.0 Ma). Our results show that Lufengpithecus cf. lufengensis lived in a mildly warm and humid climate in a lacustrine or swamp environment. Comparing mid to late Miocene records from hominoid sites in Yunnan, Siwalik in Pakistan, and tropical Africa we find that ecological shifts from forest to grassland in Siwalik are much later than in tropical Africa, consistent with the disappearance of hominoid fossils. However, no significant vegetation changes are found in Yunnan during the late Miocene, which we suggest is the result of uplift of the Tibetan plateau combined with the Asian monsoon geographically and climatically isolating these regions. The resultant warm and humid conditions in southeastern China offered an important refuge for Miocene hominoids.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Animals, Hominidae, Aluminum Silicates, Climate, Fossils, China, Clay
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 25 Jan 2018 14:37
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 06:42
DOI: 10.1038/srep20012
Open Access URL: http://doi.org/10.1038/srep20012
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3016842