Photo above by Nicholaus Huchzermeyer
Overview
The Coombs Hill site was exposed in 2015 during upgrades to the N2 highway, eastwards of Makhanda (about 20 km east of Waterloo Farm). The Site is being developed as a palaeotourism node, where information boards will present the various fossil localities of the Witpoort Formation at a roadside picnic stopover.
Preliminary work has identified most of the known classes of plants known at Waterloo Farm, but taxonomic analysis shows differences in species composition. Bivalve molluscs of various kinds at Coombs Hill do not include the Naiaditid bivalves known from Waterloo Farm. The fossil rich muds at Coombs Hill were deposited in brackish water lagoons, a similar depositional setting to the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte.
Samples were excavated at the site during roadwork related quarrying by C. Harris and R.W. Gess, who curated a representative sample of the fossil biodiversity from the site. Most of the material awaits taxonomic analysis. Understanding the species composition of the site will allow a much more detailed comparison to the Waterloo Farm ecosystem. In his MSc dissertation, Harris described three lycopod species from Coombs Hill and noted that none of them are recorded at Waterloo Farm. A herbaceous lycopod, Colpodexylon mergae (2) was diagnosed from the site. This species has a three tipped leaf and it is a 'long tipped' species. A 'short tipped' congeneric species (C. pullumpedes) was simultaneously diagnosed from Waterloo Farm.
Precise stratigraphy of the site is hampered by complicated geological structure, but it is hypothesized that Coombs Hill is older than Waterloo Farm, and a mid Famennian age is postulated (1).
The Coombs Hill site was exposed in 2015 during upgrades to the N2 highway, eastwards of Makhanda (about 20 km east of Waterloo Farm). The Site is being developed as a palaeotourism node, where information boards will present the various fossil localities of the Witpoort Formation at a roadside picnic stopover.
Preliminary work has identified most of the known classes of plants known at Waterloo Farm, but taxonomic analysis shows differences in species composition. Bivalve molluscs of various kinds at Coombs Hill do not include the Naiaditid bivalves known from Waterloo Farm. The fossil rich muds at Coombs Hill were deposited in brackish water lagoons, a similar depositional setting to the Waterloo Farm lagerstätte.
Samples were excavated at the site during roadwork related quarrying by C. Harris and R.W. Gess, who curated a representative sample of the fossil biodiversity from the site. Most of the material awaits taxonomic analysis. Understanding the species composition of the site will allow a much more detailed comparison to the Waterloo Farm ecosystem. In his MSc dissertation, Harris described three lycopod species from Coombs Hill and noted that none of them are recorded at Waterloo Farm. A herbaceous lycopod, Colpodexylon mergae (2) was diagnosed from the site. This species has a three tipped leaf and it is a 'long tipped' species. A 'short tipped' congeneric species (C. pullumpedes) was simultaneously diagnosed from Waterloo Farm.
Precise stratigraphy of the site is hampered by complicated geological structure, but it is hypothesized that Coombs Hill is older than Waterloo Farm, and a mid Famennian age is postulated (1).
References:
1) Harris, C., Gess, R. W., Penn-Clarke, C. R., & Rubidge, B. S. (2021). Coombs Hill: A Late Devonian fossil locality in the Witpoort Formation (Witteberg Group, South Africa). South African Journal of Science, 117(3-4), 1-6.
2) Harris, C., Gess, R. W., Prestianni, C., & Bamford, M. K. (2021). A Late Devonian refugium for Colpodexylon (Lycopsida) at high latitude. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 293, 104481.
1) Harris, C., Gess, R. W., Penn-Clarke, C. R., & Rubidge, B. S. (2021). Coombs Hill: A Late Devonian fossil locality in the Witpoort Formation (Witteberg Group, South Africa). South African Journal of Science, 117(3-4), 1-6.
2) Harris, C., Gess, R. W., Prestianni, C., & Bamford, M. K. (2021). A Late Devonian refugium for Colpodexylon (Lycopsida) at high latitude. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 293, 104481.