Waaipoort Formation

The Waaipoort Formation is a geologic formation in South Africa. It preserves fossils dating back to the Visean, in the Carboniferous period.

Geology

The Waaipoort formation consists of mudstones, siltstones, and fine sandstones and is around 35 meters thick. Fish-bearing localities are common and in most of these, the fish are present in calcitic or phosphatic nodules. At the Schiethoogte locality in the Eastern Cape, a 15 cm thick black layer made up of siltstone and fine sandstone contains two horizons where actinopterygian fossils are closely packed. These are thought to represent mass mortality events.

Paleoenvironment

The Waaipoort formation has most commonly been interpreted as a marginal marine environment, possibly a lagoon or a delta. The fauna, composed mostly of paleoniscoids, is a large divergence from the predominantly placoderm- and sarcopterygian- dominated faunas of previous Witteberg Group formations like the Witpoort Formation.

Fossil content

Acanthodians

Chondrichthyes

Palaeonisciformes

Eurypterids

Bivalves

Flora